One big road, and it goes straight up

The region has only one real axis, the one that climbs the Adige and then the Isarco up to the Brenner pass: the A22 motorway, the Brenner trunk road and the railway all run alongside each other there, and every valley branches off it. Those arriving from the south come through Verona, those from the north out of Austria.

By car and motorhome

The A22 Brenner motorway starts at Modena, passes Verona, Trento, Bolzano and Bressanone and reaches the pass at 1,372 metres; it is tolled for its whole length. In summer and on winter weekends it queues, above all between Trento and Bolzano and near the Pustertal exits.

For the campsites you leave at the exit for your valley and then climb: Rovereto sud for the upper Garda, Trento centro for the Valsugana, Egna Ora for Val di Fiemme and Fassa, Bressanone for Val Gardena, Brunico for the Pustertal. The last few kilometres are almost always valley road, wide but winding.

One local detail to watch: many Dolomite passes have limits and closures for long vehicles on certain summer days, and with a caravan it is better to check beforehand than to find out halfway up a hairpin.

By train

The Brenner line, opened in 1867, stops at Rovereto, Trento, Bolzano, Bressanone and Fortezza, and from Fortezza the Pustertal branch runs to San Candido and on into Austria. Trentino also has the Valsugana line towards Bassano and the Trento Male Marilleva, which reaches Val di Sole. Several valleys can therefore be reached without a car, and the campsites near the stations say so.

By plane

Bolzano airport has few connections; the useful ones are Verona, an hour from Trento, Innsbruck on the other side of the Brenner, and then Bergamo, Venice and Munich. From Verona and Innsbruck you can arrive by train without changing.