Driving from UK to Dolomites?

Has anyone driven to the Dolomites from the UK??? Feasible, or just too much hassle compared to resorts with a shorter drive?

Not yet but have been thinking of doing it, stopping overnight somewhere on the way... 4 years...every time ending up booking a cheap flight either to Innsbruck or Venice Treviso :) Would be really interested to hear from somebody who's done it. No doubt driving would be a great way of getting to the Dolomites if time's no issue, the Dolomites are definitely worth it :)

Yes. From Manchester & Scotland.

I one time planned a 3/4 week trip. Had a couple of days in France, (can't remember where). Then Klosters, Davos, Arrabba, Wildschoenau.
Only hassle was the tunnel from Switzerland to Italy.

More to the point, your potential trip, perhaps Arrabba or Cortina should take about 12 hours, assuming two drivers, from Calais.

However, if, like me, you are a trillionaire, you leave a day or two early, and ski en-route.

We have frequently done a ski stop off en-route, ie drive from Calais to a resort, ski one or two days, then drive late afternoon/evening to the intended resort.

Having done many drive outs, we always seem to make the return in a single journey.

Hi Adders,

I have done the trip twice, both last season and just 4 weeks apart. The J2Ski trip to Folgarida was the first. The route used was France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy. Drove out Saturday during the day and stopped overnight at Memmmingan in Germany, about 30 miles before the Austrian border. It was then a simple drive to Folgarida on the Sunday morning. Journey was absolutely fine, no hold ups no delays (at least not due to the trip). Coming home, I did the trip form Folgarida straight back to Calais in one hit. Should also point out that I was the only driver of my car for this journey. If I recall correctly, we left Folgarida about 10am on the Sunday morning, and I was back in South London in time to get a kebab from my local shop before they closed, which is midnight on a Sunday night.

Sadly, the second trip was not so smooth. This time I was driving to Madonna Di Campiglio, Based on the first trip, we used the same route, but went out in one go. The bad news was that we suffered an awful jam at the German/Austria border, literally sitting on the autobahn for about 6 hours and only moving about a mile. This then caused slow traffic through the Austrian pass, and was also slow once we got to the Brenner pass the other side of Austria. Finally compounded by roadworks on the Italian motorway meaning a real terrible journey out.

Coming home was just as bad. A truck caught fire on the elevated section of the Brenner pass, causing total closure of the road for about 5 hours. Once we got through the pass though, it was fairly clear the rest of the way home.

I would do the drive again, but would almost certainly go via Munich as the road into Austria is a motorway and not a single lane mountain pass. I think I would probably try to stop on the outbound leg as well. Finally I would get as much news about the Brenner pass before getting there as possible, so alternate routes could be arranged instead if required.

I guess it depends on how you like to drive, but for me the ability to do high speeds on sections of the German Autobahn tends to negate the additional driving distance when compared to the 90mph you need to stick to in France.

Great info there, thanks - think I might park that on the maybe list for now then. 8)

Good free route down Fern pass can be hit or miss but Brenner I have normally found traffic free ....
My personal opinion is that it, is slightly to Far to drive
I Normally have one ok overnight stay ...

Many thanks for very useful info, definitely gives some food for thought. Suppose if time's no issue the drive and stop-over(s) are part of holiday discovering Europe and its roads :) My OH loves driving on German motorways, I find the speed scary when on the passanger seat :)