Shorter Walks in the Dolomites. Gillian Price

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      The vast outlook from Rifugio Auronzo (Walk 9)

      The Dolomite mountains are in the northeastern part of Italy, near the Austrian border. They occupy an area in the shape of a parallelogram that extends across the regions of Trentino-Alto Adige (South Tyrol) and the Veneto. The main block is bordered by the Val Pusteria in the north, Santo Stefano di Cadore and the Piave river valley in the east, a line connecting Belluno, Feltre and Trento in the south and the busy Adige–Isarco river valley running up through Bolzano and Bressanone (as well as the Brenta group near Madonna di Campiglio) in the west.

      By plane

      The nearest international airports in Italy are at Verona www.aeroportoverona.it, Treviso www.trevisoairport.it and Venice www.veniceairport.it, and in neighbouring Austria at Innsbruck www.flughafen-innsbruck.at. All have good bus services for rail or other coach connections for onward travel.

      By train

      International lines serve the stations south of the Brenner Pass, as well as Verona to Venice. Eurail passes make train travel an attractive option for under-26-year-olds.

      Useful branch lines via Belluno and Vittorio Veneto reach Calalzo, while for the Val Pusteria change at Fortezza, north of Bressanone. See www.trenitalia.com for information and online booking.

      By car

      Via Europe’s extensive motorway system, the best entry to Italy is by the Brenner Pass from Austria on the A22 autostrada. This leads directly to the northwestern Dolomites, with handy exits from Bressanone southwards. Otherwise, leave the A4 Torino–Trieste via a link near Verona for the A22 northwards. From Mestre, outside Venice, the quiet A27 runs up via Vittorio Veneto, with good roads continuing for Belluno and towards Cortina for the eastern Dolomites.

      Well-maintained national roads, labelled SS for Strada statale or SP for Strada provinciale, run through the Dolomites and are referred to in this guidebook, where relevant, in the information box access section at the start of the walks.

      By bus

      Long-distance coaches from northern Italian cities provide convenient links with the Dolomites throughout the summer season:

Local transport

      The extensive network of trains and buses across the Dolomites is refreshingly inexpensive, easy to use and unfailingly reliable. All but two of the 50 walks in this guidebook start and finish at a point accessible by local public transport and the whole book was researched in this way. What’s more, the bus drivers know the mountain roads and conditions like the back of their hand, leaving passengers free to sit back and enjoy the views. Visitors to the Dolomites are invited to leave their car at home, thereby not contributing to air pollution and traffic congestion in these magical mountains. Many holiday resorts offer free or cut-price bus passes for their guests to encourage this habit. Strategically placed cable-cars and chair lifts are also used on the walks described.