I grew up hiking in the Rocky Mountains, and I must say that the Dolomites are at least as spectacular as the rockies, and more hiker-friendly (no bears!)
The reason it's so easy for hikers is that the ski infrastructure has been completely leveraged: the lifts and gondolas function all summer to take hikers up and down the mountain. At the top, lots of marked hiking trails continue both upwards and back down, so there is a huge choice of hikes. I had some knee pain so we mostly hiked up, and took the gondola or lift down, which was really nice.
We stayed in the town of Ortisei, which is just northeast of Bolzano, in the Val Gardena. As its name suggests, the "Val" Gardena is a valley, so every morning we had a choice of several gondolas, each going up a different mountain, each with many hiking trails from the top. The trails are well-marked, well-worn, and our Val Gardena guidebook gave us lots of detail on the hikes, like length, difficulty, and what time to aim to be back at the bottom in order to catch the bus through the valley back to our hotel. We encountered a few other hikers but in general we didn't see many other people until we got back down to the town at the end of the day.
In Ortisei, as in much of the dolomite region, the local dialect is "Ladino" which is a cross between Italian and German. The people reminded us more of Germans than Italians: we found them very precise, punctual, and reliable (which is not necessarily the way things are run in the rest of Italy....!). The food also seemed more German, so we sort of forgot we were still in Italy.
When to go
I'd recommend July. It's warm enough to hike in shorts and a t-shirt, but in the mountains it still isn't too hot.
I'd avoid August unless you prepare for higher prices and crowds. The dolomites are a major tourist destination so, as with all tourist destinations in Italy in August, they get crowded and expensive. If you can't do July, try end of June or the beginning of September. Of course the days are longer in June which is a good thing when hiking!
Photos by Sanjay
