16 Best Restaurants in The Dolomites, Italy

Just off of the Strada del Vino (Wine Road), this charming eatery and wine bar lets you indulge in seasonal dishes while sampling some of the biodynamic wines produced by one of the Trentino area’s most well-known vintners. When the weather’s nice, dining in the pretty courtyard among lemon trees, with mountaintops visible just behind, really lives up to the “paradise” name.

Reinhold Messner's restored farmhouse, which is below Castel Juval, holds an old-style restaurant serving traditional local dishes. Not to be missed are the smoked hams and flavorful cheeses provided by the farm outside; they are well paired with the estate's Castel Juval wine.

Ask locals where they like to dine out, and odds are they'll tell you Vögele, one of the area's oldest inns, where the menu features Tyrolean standards such as canederli (bread dumplings) with speck and venison. The classic wood-paneled dining room on the ground level is often packed, but don't despair—the restaurant has two additional floors.

Locals hold animated conversations over pints of beer in this modern take on a traditional stube. Tasty South Tyrolean specialties include bierspeckknodeln (homemade beer bacon dumplings) and bauerngröstl (beef, onion, and potato fry-up), and there's also a wide menu of salads, pastas, and burgers.  This is a good place for a late bite, as food is served until 1 am most nights (midnight on Sunday).

A hip young crowd frequents the ground-floor bar of this modern bistro in the town's central arcade. Upstairs in the stylish dining room, an older crowd enjoys both contemporary cooking—heavy on beef, venison, and other meat specialties, including calf's liver—and attentive service.

Although most of Madonna's visitors dine at resort hotels, Italians consider an on-mountain meal in a remote, rustic refuge like this one to be an indispensable part of a proper ski week. You can drive or hike up in summer months, but in winter, you ski, snowshoe, or are collected by a Sno-Cat and ferried 10 minutes up the slopes; once there, you'll sit down to grill your own meats and vegetables over stone griddles.  You must call in advance to reserve a table and arrange transportation. 

Fried white würstel (sausage), sauerkraut, and grilled ribs complement the excellent home-brewed Austrian-style pilsner and wheat beer at this bustling pub-restaurant. Hopfen & Co. attracts Bolzano's students, young professionals, and tourists alike.

These Tirolean-style wood-paneled dining rooms near the Olympic ice-skating rink are a Cortina institution. Join the local clientele in sampling terrific pizza along with house specialties such as pasta with pork, radicchio, and ricotta, and ravioli with beetroot.

Located on a nondescript side street, this friendly family-run trattoria serves tasty regional dishes like rufioi (homemade ravioli stuffed with savoy cabbage) along with a fine selection of pizza. The wine list is also dominated by regional selections, which pair well with items on the menu.

A spacious, comfortable dining room near Via dei Portici is a dependable favorite with locals and visitors alike. A wide selection of Italian and German dishes are served to large tables of families enjoying their meals together.

This building was for centuries where justice was publicly served to accused witches, among others. Today, it's a great place to enjoy bewitching specialties like bresaola with rocket salad and Parmesan or pizzoccheri (buckwheat pasta) with garlic and winter vegetables.

To reach this charming eatery, which occupies an enviable position overlooking Merano and the peaks enveloping the town, climb the stairs behind the Duomo or hike up along the Passeggiata Tappeiner. The kitchen serves well-prepared dumplings, pasta, and other local specialties—just don't leave without trying the homemade breads.

More than 30 wines by the glass, accompanied by an excellent selection of local cheeses, are served in this chic eatery, which has outside seating in the piazza. Salads and regional specialties are prepared in the open kitchen by gourmet chefs; the downstairs room features graffito (graffiti) murals from local artist Luigi Senesi, while the Roman wall running under the Duomo is also in clear view.

If you have difficulty choosing from the long list of tasty pizzas here, ask the friendly English-speaking staff for help with the menu. You're unlikely to find a better selection of wine, or a more pleasant environment for sampling; you can also buy bottles of the locally produced vintages to take home.