Venice to Bolzano via Cortina: Driving Into the Italian Dolomites

Venice is our starting point, which means the car gets temporarily demoted while we wander canals, bridges and alleyways. But once we point the bonnet north towards Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy changes remarkably quickly. Flat Veneto gives way to valleys, the mountains start appearing ahead, and before long the Dolomites are towering over the windscreen.

This is a brilliant drive for couples, families with older kids, active travellers and anyone who believes getting there should be at least half the fun. It's also particularly good for Australians used to measuring road trips in hundreds of kilometres. The distances here aren't enormous. The scenery, however, is ridiculous.

Venice – Start Without the Car

If you're collecting a hire car in Venice, don't bother trying to introduce it to the historic centre. Cars stop at Piazzale Roma, so Venice is best explored on foot and by vaporetto before the proper driving begins.

For somewhere with a bit of character, Hotel Antiche Figure (opens in a new tab) occupies a restored 15th-century palazzo overlooking the Grand Canal and is only around five minutes' walk from Piazzale Roma — particularly handy when tomorrow involves retrieving luggage and finding your wheels.

Rather than eating beside the biggest tourist magnets, wander into Cannaregio. Tiny Osteria al Cicheto (opens in a new tab) is a seven-table Venetian bacaro tucked down a side street, serving traditional dishes and cicchetti with a serious selection of smaller Veneto and Friuli wines. It's exactly the sort of place we'd rather stumble across than another laminated-menu restaurant beside a souvenir shop.

Then get some sleep. Tomorrow Venice's gondolas are being replaced by hairpins.

Cortina d'Ampezzo – Things Get Vertical

Heading north, the road steadily transforms from transport into entertainment. Cortina sits surrounded by the Dolomites and has long carried a glamorous reputation, but you don't need to spend the day inspecting designer shop windows.

Get into the mountains.

The Cinque Torri area combines huge rock towers with something surprisingly sobering: preserved First World War trenches and military positions forming part of an open-air museum. Nearby Rifugio Cinque Torri (opens in a new tab) has just five rooms and 16 beds, serves traditional Ampezzo food and sits beneath those extraordinary rock formations. It closes during winter, but in the warmer months this would be our pick over another conventional hotel room.

If heights don't interfere with your appetite, Cortina's mountain huts take lunch with a view rather seriously. Rifugio Lagazuoi sits at 2,752 metres, while Rifugio Scoiattoli faces the Cinque Torri.

Before leaving Cortina, make time for Passo Giau. Surrounded by peaks including Nuvolau, Averau and Ra Gusela, it's the sort of mountain pass that makes you pull over, get out and stare for a while. Just remember you're meant to be watching the road occasionally too.

Cortina to Bolzano – The Main Event

Now comes the drive we've really come for.

The historic Great Dolomites Road connecting Cortina and Bolzano runs for roughly 110 kilometres across multiple mountain passes. Its origins stretch back to the late 19th century, when it helped open the Dolomites to international tourism. Today its hairpins attract classic-car enthusiasts and even film crews.

Don't rush it. This isn't a section where shaving 14 minutes off the sat-nav estimate deserves a medal. Stop in the alpine villages, grab a coffee, photograph the peaks and allow considerably longer than the kilometres suggest.

Bolzano itself feels different again. Italian and Central European influences collide here, right down to the architecture and food.

Stay at Hotel Greif (opens in a new tab) on Walther Square, where its 33 individually designed rooms combine antiques with contemporary artwork. For dinner, Batzen Häusl (opens in a new tab) is a long-established local beer house with its own brewery and the sort of hearty South Tyrolean atmosphere that seems entirely appropriate after several days in the mountains.

And before leaving, meet Bolzano's most famous resident: Ötzi the Iceman, preserved at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. Few road trips finish with a bloke who's been dead for more than 5,000 years, so points for originality.

DSP Pro Tips

Drive this route outside the peak summer rush if you can, and check mountain-pass conditions before setting off — weather at altitude can change the plan quickly. Don't judge driving times purely by distance; hairpins, village stops and compulsory “bloody hell, look at that” photo breaks all slow things down.

Most importantly, don't treat Cortina to Bolzano as a transfer day. The road is the attraction. That's the whole point.

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