Mussolini did what he could to Italianize the region, including giving each town an Italian name. There's yogurt and yodeling for breakfast. Culturally as much as geographically, the area feels Austrian. Lifts, good trails, outdoor activityBoriented tourist offices, and a decent bus system make the region especially accessible. But things are expensive.
Beds usually come with a hearty breakfast.
Everything is open, booming, full price, and crowded from mid-July through September. After a dreary November, the snow hits and it's busy again until April. With limited time and no car, maximize mountain thrills and minimize transportation headaches by taking the train to Bolzano and the public bus from there into the mountains. This arcaded old town of 100,000, with a great open-air market on Piazza Erbe, is worth a Tirolean stroll and a stop at its Dolomite information center. Tourist offices in any Dolomite town are a wealth of information.