Where to stay in Dolomites to visit Tre Cime & public transport vs hire car?

The only town of any significance on the bus route from Tre Cime is Dobbiaco (german name Toblach). It certainly isn't the most exciting place I've ever stayed (pretty dead in the summer) but it's an undeniably gorgeous spot and has a handful of serviceable restaurants. This town has a train station that connects to a place called Fortezza where you can get onward services on to the rest of Italy or Austria.
Bus timetables are here. Direct service to the parking lot of Rifugio Lavaredo is route 444... last back is at 6:33.
How much walking do you like to do? For me a better route for a view of the Tre Cime is via the Val Fiscalina. To get here you take route 446 from Dobbiaco, and tell the driver you want to get out at the Hotel Dolomitenhof. The route via Rifugio Zsigmondi-Comici is stunning, but there is a lot of elevation gain/loss required. Saying that, my wife managed the route at 5 months pregnant.
Obviously it is easier having your own car, just wanted to flag that it is indeed possible to explore this area by public transport.

Thank you very much @banlieu_rouge, maybe will will walk both ways (he wants to walk around Tre Cime), so being up close and then seeing it from a distance on another day could be a good idea? I was thinking of staying in Cortina d'Ampezzo? But should we stay in the town you recommend instead? Can we get to other hiking tracks from there?
And considering my husband and I are staying for four days, could you advise on other good day walks from the same base? We are both pretty fit but I wouldn't call my self an experienced hiker by any means.
I will pass on your information to my husband. The Dolomites visit is really for him on this Italian trip.

We never went to Cortina, because it didn't have a train station and it was less convenient for buses to the trailheads we wanted. From what I understand it is pretty upscale and a lot more Italian than Dobbiaco.
As for other walks, I would just recommend the Cicerone walking guidebook for the Dolomites. I believe there's also a route from San Candido (near Dobbiaco) towards Sesto described in the LP Walking in Italy book.

Thanks @banlieu_rouge, we have ended out booking a hotel in Misurina because it is near Tre Cime. I'm not sure of other good walks around there, but we will figure it out when we get there and four days is not long. I will hunt down that guidebook you recommend :)

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