Advice on a road trip to Dolomites

Question

This year, at the beginning of September, I am planning a road trip with my GF. The plan is to visit some sites in the Dolomites, Italy. Also, I would like to visit Franz Josef Hohe (I was there once before), to get a nice view of Grossglockner. If there is time, we would also steer a little bit off course to visit the southern part of Switzerland and some of Liechtenstein. The trip is currently planned over four days. The starting point is in Ljubljana, Slovenia. We would like to stay in B&Bs. We would like to spend one night in Heiligenblut (below Grossglockner). All other stays are negotiable.

I would like to get some advice on this specific road trip and also some general advice:

• What are the must-haves on road trips (if any, apart from the fully functioning car)?
• What are the must-sees in the Dolomites, once I am there? What about Switzerland and Liechtenstein? We enjoy nature and also historical monuments. Museums are not really our main interest.
• Do you have any suggested routes where to drive to the Dolomites and also through them (to do some sight-seeing from the car)? One part of the route would clearly be the road from Heiligenblut through Lienz to the Dolomites (or the other way around).
• Is it good to book B&Bs in advance or is it better to just arrive there and find the most suitable option?
• As regards the previous question, are there any recommended B&Bs you know of? Are there any you have had bad experiences with?
• The trip would be more of a student budget, so we will not stay in any high class hotels.

Answer 1

There are a lot of different questions in here. I tried to answer at least some of them:

1) Apart from a fully functioning car I would recommend to take a GPS navigation device with you. Check if the maps are up-to-date. Additionally, you should inform yourself, if you need any additional gear if you want to travel through foreign countries. If I remember correctly, you need for example a reflective vest in Italy for the driver as well as for the front passenger. Also think about the highway tolls. In Italy, the system is similar to the system in Slovenia. You pay at dedicated toll places on the highways. In Switzerland it is a little bit more difficult. You have to buy a so called Vignette that allows you to use Swiss highways for a whole year. In Austria you can decide between various toll schemes, but I think the shortest time period is 10 or 14 days.

2) The Dolomites are mountains, so to best experience them, you would spend there some time hiking around. Since you don't have time for that, I would recommend that you leave the highway there and drive through some valleys, for example the Höhlensteintal, the Tierser Tal or Valle del Boite. One of the most famous sights in the Dolomites are the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. From an Alpine hut close to it, you have a great view:

You can easily reach the Alpine hut (Auronzohütte) by car.

In Switzerland I would recommend to travel through Engadin, the most remote area in Switzerland. You can cross a few really high Alpine passes, for example Flüelapass. You could also drive through the Swiss National Park in the Val Müstair. There you will see a lot of small villages in mountainous regions, for example Santa Maria:

If you have enough time, you could think about doing a small detour to visit cities like Lucerne or Zurich.

In Liechtenstein, there isn't a lot to see if you're not interested in museums. The art museum is the most important sight to see in Liechtenstein. However, I would probably stop in Vaduz, get a drink there in the pedestrian area and then walk from there in 15 minutes up to the castle of the prince that is located above Vaduz.

After that you can drive through the rest of the country to the Austrian border and then from there cross Austria to get back to Slovenia. There you could also do a detour through Galtür if you want to see more mountains.

3) My suggested route for the whole trip would look like this (I included the hints mentioned above; A and J is Ljubljana):

4) From my experience, it is not necessary to book B&B in advance in this region in September. You will find a bed if you arrive in late afternoon or evening, and you're way more flexible if you don't book all the accommodations in advance.

5) I haven't any bad experiences. I can check if I can still find the names of those I stayed in.