 Poster: A snowHead
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I'd really appreciate a recommendation on which village to stay at when skiing Dolomites.
We are looking for an aesthetically pleasing resort geared towards more advanced skiers (although we are not looking for off-piste), with lively apres-ski scene (if possible) and good connections to the area, including Sella Ronda, of course. Based on the preliminary research that I've done it sounds like Selva or Arabba may be good options, with Selva being larger, livelier and a bit more attractive (and easier to get to?) and Arabba having the more challenging terrain. But it also sounds like the terrain that you can easily access from either village differs quite a bit, aside from Sella Ronda itself, and so I am really not sure which village would work best for our group. Please help!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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alenchic, you are right in that the skiing from Arabba has some challenging options. It isn't what I exactly would call lively in the Apres department, although this was based on Christmas week, so perhaps not the best time for it. The town, whilst charming, seemed quite sedate with really only one notable bar that appeared geared to lively and some shacks by one of the lifts that were fun for early apres straight off the slopes.
I did transfer through Selva and that did indeed look to have quite a few more options. Perhaps someone in the know will be along soon to provide more insight.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I ski based in Arabba every year in early March and while there is some Apres ski in a couple of bars and in huts just above the village straight after skiing there is no night life to speak of. The ocation of Arabba is very good for advanced skiers with black runs into the village and good access to the Marmalada . If you want some night life Selva would be a better choice, if you want dinner and a quite beer or glass of wine then Arabba.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thank you so much for your insight! It sounds like Selva may be a better option for us. I still want to ski Arabba and Marmalada, but based on what I've read on these forums it's quite doable from Selva if you are a reasonably fast skier.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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alenchic, If you are staying in Selva (which is in the Val Gardena valley), then as well as the Sella Ronda you'll also want to check out the skiing in the rest of the valley resorts of St Christina and Ortisei/St Ulrich - there's some useful information about the Val Gardena skiing in this thread.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I stayed in Zoldo which is part of Civetta ski area (civetta = owl). A number of villages connected but I didn't visit other villages, apart from Zoldo, at night so can't comment on the night life. Zoldo is a nice little place and there were a couple of night clubs around at the time. As for skiing its great and very pretty and you can travel a good distance. Its not just a bowl. Snow was good at Christmas and February. Night skiing is fun on the lit pistes at Zoldo. So for a pretty resort next to what seems to be one of the main access points to the plateau I would say Zoldo would be a good choice. http://www.skimap.info/europe/italy/civetta/ski_map_civetta.jpg
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Have a think about Canazei. It arguably has the best apres in the Dolomites (though it might not be immediately obvious) and if you can ignore the limited number of lifts out of the valley and their regular peak time queues, it's actually very well placed.
As an aside, I'd have said that Arabba was more attractive than Selva.
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Stayed in Selva last Feb. Great for accessing the Sella Ronda but also Saslong area and runs that take you to Ortisei. I don't think we queued for a single lift all week- at one point there was us and about three other people in the cable car.
We found that we did the Sella Ronda before lunchtime (had been expecting it to take us longer!) so you could easily add diversions in to cover the separate ski areas
If you're looking for Apres Ski the Luiskeller is the perfect place! 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Ahh, the Luiskeller! You can do Marmolada and back from Selva in a day.
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My opinion, leaving aside the apres-ski, would be to prefer Arabba over Selva, because if you are going to find a hold up somewhere it would be the access to Marmolada (slow chairlift over towards it from Porta Vescovo and then the cable cars up it), so being based in Arabba lets you go straight from there. Starting from Arabba to go to Selva area I have not found to be a problem with queues etc, especially if you set off at the start of day, as you'll get a bunch of nice runs in to warm up and get into the Selva area without many holdups. A couple of years ago I stayed in San Cassiano and it was really frustrating that try as we might, by the time we got across to Arabba and up Porta Vescovo, the queue for the little lift across to access Marmolada was huge. Equally frustrating to ski all the way down to the bottom of the Marmolada cablecars and find a huge queue there, when you don't really have any idea what you'll find until you get there, and precious little choice but to wait it out (unless you fancy the long drag and chair back up the way you came).
But, as others will tell you, my idea of apres-ski is dinner and sleep 
Custard's suggestion is a good one, leaving there first thing might get you to Marmolada just ahead of the crowds, but note I've no real experience to base that view on other than it is two lifts up to the top of Belvedere, then a long ski down into Arabba itself which can be done pretty rapido.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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SteveM, With the new chair that opened last year from the Pont De Vauz area you do not have to ski down to Arabba if you are coming from the Canazei direction to acess the Marmolada area which would help you beat the crowds.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Thank you all! Really appreciate recommendations and suggestions on the ski lifts too.
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Corvara has more likely apres-ski than Arabba, but you're not too far away. Plus you've got Val de Mesdi above you. So it's not a bad choice. We often stay in San Cassiano, but head over to Posta Zirm for drinks.
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You know it makes sense.
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+1 for Corvara. Good access to Arabba & Marmolada. Livelier town. Also good access to Laguzoi and Cinque Torre.
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