Scenic drives · Dolomites and Tre Cime

Can I still drive to the Tre Cime, and do I need to book the Dolomites passes?

Checked 2 October 2026 on Comune di Auronzo, Provincia di Bolzano and tourist-board pages · skynomad

The Tre Cime toll road is now a reservation, not a barrier

The Comune di Auronzo di Cadore runs the road and the car park at Rifugio Auronzo, and its own booking page is blunt: access is allowed only with an online booking ("solo previa prenotazione online"). The 2026 prices are €40 for a car, €26 for a motorbike, €60 for a caravan or motorhome, and €80 or €160 for a bus depending on seats. Disabled visitors and taxis are free; the taxi pass is capped at 30 minutes.

Your ticket runs for 12 hours from the booked entry time, or until you drive out, whichever comes first. You can change the number plate once, up to 23:59 the day before, and cancel free of charge up to the fifth day before. Sleeping in a motorhome at the top is allowed, but camping is not; for more than 12 hours you book several slots.

The Comune's page gives the season only as "generally late May to late October", weather permitting. According to Telepass's travel magazine, the road reopened on 23 May 2026. I found no published closing date for 2026, and nothing at all yet for 2027. I'd plan as if the season ends in mid-October: the province's Dobbiaco–Auronzo shuttle bus stops on 11 October 2026.

Lago di Braies: the 9-to-4 rule

The Province of Bolzano regulates traffic into the Braies valley and to Prato Piazza from 1 July to 15 September, between 9:00 and 16:00. In those hours you get in only by public transport, on foot, by bike, or with an online booking or transit permit. The valley's tourist office sells a combined ticket for €44: a full-day transit permit, a guaranteed parking space and a €22 voucher for its restaurants and shops.

Before 9:00 and after 16:00 you can drive in and pay to park without booking, though the tourist office warns that arriving early does not guarantee a space. Bus 443 from Monguelfo, Dobbiaco and Villabassa needs no booking. In October none of this applies, so I would go now and avoid the whole system.

The passes: no limits in 2026, but watch the calendar

There has been talk for years of capping cars on the Passo Gardena. What actually happened in 2026: nothing on the road. The municipality of Kastelruth, passing on the province's project, says in its own words there will be no traffic restrictions this autumn. September and October 2026 are a purely digital test of scenarios for a traffic-calming zone on the Gardena. A real test and possible rules could follow in 2027; nothing is decided. I found no 2026 limit, toll or booking on the Sella, Pordoi, Giau or Falzarego either.

What does close the passes is cycling. The Sellaronda Bike Day shut the Pordoi, Campolongo, Gardena and Sella to motor traffic on 6 June 2026 from 9:00 to 16:00, according to Arabba's tourist board. The Maratona dles Dolomites closed seven passes, the Giau and Falzarego among them, on 5 July 2026; the race publishes its own timetable at maratona.it. If your dates fall in early June or early July, check before you plan a loop.

Passo Giau and the speed camera

The Giau's fixed camera on the Colle Santa Lucia side is the one drivers talk about. According to Italian motoring press in August 2025, it was switched back on with the limit raised from 50 to 70 km/h, a change approved by Veneto Strade; the town collected close to €750,000 in fines in 2024. A foreign plate does not make you invisible: Italian fines follow you home. I'd keep to the limit on the descent even when the road is empty, because that is exactly when the camera pays.

Vehicles: motorhomes, trailers, Cortina

A motorhome can use the Tre Cime road at the €60 rate. On the passes, according to the South Tyrol listings site Südtirol Kompakt, vehicles with trailers are banned between Plan and the top of the Sella and between the Miramonti junction and Corvara on the Gardena, and semitrailers over 3.20 m high are banned on the last stretch of the Falzarego. I could not confirm these on an official page, so treat them as a warning to check the signs at the bottom. My advice for anyone towing is to leave the caravan in the valley. More on motorhomes in the Alps.

Cortina d'Ampezzo had a temporary ZTL during the 2026 Winter Olympics, with passes for hotel guests on race days only. A local paper reported in June 2026 that the town has commissioned plate-reading gates for a permanent zone. I found no published rules or start date, so for now: follow the signs and ask your hotel.

The drive: Bolzano to Cortina, then up to the Tre Cime

1. Bolzano, start of the Great Dolomite Road east through the Val d'Ega.
2. Passo Pordoi: closed to cars for the Sellaronda Bike Day each June.
3. Passo Falzarego: semitrailers over 3.20 m banned near the top (third-party listing).
4. Passo Giau (optional detour): speed camera, 70 km/h.
5. Cortina d'Ampezzo, then Misurina and the booked barrier at Lago d'Antorno.
6. Rifugio Auronzo, 2,333 m, end of the toll road and its car park.

For the city end, Venice is the usual arrival airport, Innsbruck is the Brenner side and Milan is the long way in.

Winter: the 15 November rule

From 15 November to 15 April, Italian roads with the sign require winter tyres fitted or chains on board, and the State Police accept M+S tyres. Mountain authorities can bring the date forward. The Tre Cime road will be shut long before then. Winter rules across the Alps.