The Dolomites by bus and on foot

The free overview

Most people see the Dolomites through a windscreen, queueing for the same hairpins as everyone else. This guide is for doing it without a car: summer buses between the passes, walks that start where the bus stops, and one night in a hut above the tree line.

The route runs from Bolzano to Cortina over seven days, crossing Passo Gardena, Passo Sella, Passo Pordoi and Passo Falzarego. Every connection in the guide was ridden in June and again in September, and the timetable page tells you which ones stop running after the second week of September.

Walking

There are five day walks, from a flat two hours around the Seceda meadows to a full day on the Viel del Pan with a long drop on your left. Each one has distance, height gain, where to refill water and the last bus back.

Where to sleep

Valley hotels in August are expensive and forgettable. The guide lists family-run pensions in the side valleys, which is where most of the saving in the budget comes from, and explains how to book a hut room rather than a dormitory bunk.

When to go

Mid-June to late September. The buses and the lifts run on the same summer schedule, and outside it the passes are for drivers and skiers.