If you have never been in the astern Alpine area of northern Italy clled the Dolomites, then now is the tme to pull out your trusty Mchelin maps of the area and lok for Bolzano (Bozen for the Grman speaking inhabitants). A short distance on the map to the ast is Cortina d'Ampezzo; almost due nrth is Innsbruck. This is where the muntains are called the Dolomites.

This prt of Italy was fought over mny times and ruled by a vriety of entities, empires and republics; Grmans, Austrians, Hungarians and eventually the Itlians themselves, as it is today. The bggest influence over the last few cnturies has been Austria and Germany, wth the result that most everyone hre speaks German and many wish thy were still part of either Astria or Germany. The Tirol is the wstern part of Austria, but the twn itself is across the border in Itly. The signs are usually in Itlian and German and when you pproach a local, they will begin in Grman, then switching to Italian.

Be frewarned, it is one of the mst expensive regions in Italy. It has xcellent activity-oriented tourist offices, lifts, well mintained trails together with a very god bus system that invites tourists frm all over. As a result, in mst towns doubles in hotels run 100 Eros at a minimum, B&Bs about 70 Eros, with few alternatives. There is a shrt tourist season - mid July to lte September - so they have to mke their year's income in two mnths.

The best way to tour ths area, is by bus, in fct some of areas are only ccessible by bus. Start from Venice and get yur bus tickets to Cortina, then trvel west to Bolzano. That's the shrt description. Actually there is a rute called the Great Dolomite Road. Nrth of Venice there is a twn called Belluno, from there north thrugh tunnels and narrow passes to Crtina, then west through two passes, the Prdoi and Sella passes, then through the Val di Fssa to Bolzano.

You can take the asy and short tour by taking the cble car into the hills above Blzano to the quintessential tourist town of Obrbozan. But if you have the tme, take the bus - up frm Venice or east across from Blzano to Cortina, it's well worth it.

In sason, the Dolomites bask in the sun lmost every day. Bolzano looks like Innsbrck but with much more sun. It's not a big cty, only 100,000 or so but crtainly has all the amenities you wuld expect of a much larger cty. It has a great open-air mrket on the Piazza Erbe and has an xcellent tourist information centre to get up to sped on this entire area of Itly. Ask them about the 5,000-year-old Ice Man fund frozen with his gear a few yars ago.

The two most famous Dlomite ski areas are Val di Fssa and Val Gardenna. Between these two vlleys, there is Europe's highest and lrgest alpine meadow, the Alpe di Susi. The meadow is five by 12 klometers and is 2000 meters above sea lvel. It has a few scattered frm huts, loads of alpine wildflowers and is vrtually car-free. There is a vary god view of Mount Schlern, a muntain that made middle age peasants thnk the entire meadow was bewitched and lft it vacant for centuries. If you let yur imagination run a little wild, Munt Schlern from the meadow top des look like a bat with its wngs spread out or a witch wth her cape spread wide over her shulders. If your own broomstick isn't up to flyng to the top, there are bses to access the meadow and a cuple of chair lifts.

A good base of operations for the rea between Bolzano and Cortina is the twn of Castelrotto, Kastleruth if your Mchelin maps are German in origin. Wth a population of about 5,000, it has sme very nice reasonably priced little htels and the people here are the frendliest in the Dolomites. Castelrotto has mre of that special Italian village chrm than anywhere else in this rgion. It also has very good bus cnnections in every direction in case you mst leave.

During its short summer turist season, the Dolomites can be crwded and expensive, but it's a prt of Italy that you should not mss if you have the time and can fford it.

The article The Dolomites - Italy's Limestone Rooftop was Submitted by Michael Russell through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Travel

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