Visiting the dolomites - when is best?

clutchspring

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What time of the year would people recommend doing a trip to the dolomites…..?

Thanks,
Ian.
 
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I have edited your post, putting the separate request for accommodation into the dedicated sub-sections to answer your questions.

Richard

 
as you will presumably ride through Northern Europe to get there, then no earlier than mid May and no later than October would be my choice.

I took a family holiday to Lake Garda in mid May after my son finished his exams. 25C down at the lake but we took a trip in the hire car up to 1500m at Madonna di Campiglio and it was -4C with snow still on the ground.
 
The Dolomites are the eastern end of the Alps. The area is huge, over 6,000 square miles, consisting largely of mountains. If you want (as I guess you do) to hoon, bimble or wobble to the top of the passes, I would say any time between the second two thirds of June, through to early October, maybe even middle of October if you are lucky, or early September, if you are unlucky. In other words, the warm to hot summer months and not much more beyond ie. Much as you might imagine a good time to go might be.

To give you a clue, this was the Stelvio on 14 September 2012. Very warm at the bottom and cold at the top. It had snowed at the higher levels a day or two before, which (had we arrived then) might have meant we couldn’t have gone up, if the road had been closed. Or, if it had been open, we might have been forced to slither up. In other words, it is sometimes a bit of a lottery once you get past the end of August and, even sometimes before, if you are unlucky.

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Have a look at the many posts in this section, telling all about the Dolomites - and other places - and asking what the weather will be like. In short, nobody knows exactly, what the weather will be like, least of all in the mountains. The best way to find out is to go, then look out of the window when you are there….. and even that might not be right.

PS By way of simple comparison, the county of Norfolk is only 2,000 square miles and a lot flatter….. and you were also asking where to stay and camp? :D

PPS If you are camping, it gets pretty chilly when the sun dips behind the mountains in the evening. Take a woolly hat.
 
17 to 30th July ish,
Ian.

You’d have been screwed, if the replies to your enquiry had all pointed to July being a bad choice :D

All you have to do now is work out where to stay, in which hotel or campsite.

Enjoy your holiday.

:beerjug:
 
The question should have been "What YEAR should I have toured the Dolomites" ;-)

Assuming you don't have a time machine to go back 5-10 years before speed cameras popped up everywhere, speed limits got reduced and they started banning motorccles from certain roads on certain days I would say the best time is before some more power rangers fuck off the powers that be and there is even less accessible ;-)

It can be really hot mid summer (July / August) but as its the Alps it could also be really cold, mid-late June would be my preferred time before too many hordes of cyclists and walkers rock up and spoil everything.

Check Local School holiday dates, IIRC they start and end a bit later than ours.

2nd / 3rd week in September might be good, maybe a bit cooler and not too busy, slightly higher cold / snow risk, shorter days and probably a bit nippy at altitude 1st thing in morning.

Lots of climate data online, but remember climate is what you expect and weather is what you will get.

Arabba is good base.

Best for Luxury;

https://www.hotelevaldo.it/en/hotel-dolomites/1-0.html

Best for quirkynes (Part of building is old WW1 Fort)

https://www.alforte.com/en/

If going for Al Forte book a package with food, firstly its very nice, secondly it works out quite economical, thirdly there is bugger all else in walking distance, have stayed twice but in large group (30+ Bikes, we had booked the whole Hotel - and got cracking deal on that basis) so not bothered about more remote location.

Lots of other choice in Arabba and Cortina, but between me and my friends they are the only hotels in the area we have used.

Don't worry too much about lack of car park, my mate has been going there regularly for decades with large groups, so far no bikes have gone walkies overnight, pretty sure they have never had a bike nicked from anywhere, but a few never made it back on time due to getting into an argument with the famous dolomite rocks.
 
The hotel Evaldo was one of the three hotels I have stayed in Arraba, twice or maybe three times.

The Alpen Rose, was another. I think it was just a B&B hotel then?

The third was the Sport.

All three, very good.
 
The best trip I had there was in early September. Just going off-season (my hotel was about shut up shop for a couple of months), but the weather was glorious and the roads empty...

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