I am in beginner-intermediate skier travelling with family of 2 adults and 2 kids from UK, I have been to Wengen and SaaS Fe in Switzerland , Alpbach in Austria before but this time we want to try out in Italian Dolomite for a week during Christmas/New Year. I have narrowed down to higher locations for better snow conditions like Val Gardena (Ortisei, Selva) or Sesto/Sexten. I am confused which one to choose, here are my requirements
*Good Snow/Snow making facilities if bad weather
*Sledging runs as couple of family members don't ski they like sledging
*Family friendly villages/resorts, basically less walking to ski-lifts
*Christmas markets / New Year fireworks would give a nice touch
*Pretty villages near by to go around
Factoring the travel cost from UK I am looking for a resort that will give me value for money if not in budget, can anyone help me.
Any other resort happy to hear new suggestions!!!
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@pressi, Welcome to snowHeads!
I know Val Gardena quite well, having been there several times. However, I must confess to having no knowledge of Sesto/Sexten (in fact I had to google it to see where it is )
There are three main towns in the Val Gardena/Grödental valley as you go up the valley: Ortisei/St Ulrich, St. Christina and Selva/Wolkenstein (to give it it's dual Italian/German name).
I would say that Ortisei/St Ulrich is the prettiest of the three. It has skiing on either side of the valley. On one side is the Alpe di Suisi/Seiseralm which I believe is the largest Alpine meadow plateau in the Alps, and given the terrain it is mainly blue and red runs. On the other side is the Seceda, which has a lovely 10.5km long red run La Longia back to Ortisei. Here's a YouTube video someone posted of the run:
From Seceda you can ski across to St Christina and up to Ciampinoi from where you can ski down to Selva. Selva itself is directly on the famous Sella Ronda circuit which is a great thing to do and I would say could be done by any lower level intermediate, so probably best if you do it after a few days warming up so to speak. Incidentally there is a frequent skibus service that runs along the valley between the three towns. So if you were to be based in either Ortisei or St Christina it would probably be quicker doing the Sella Ronda if you first caught the bus direct to Selva rather than spend time skiing to Selva.
As regards toboganning, there is a 6km long toboggan track at Ortisei on the Rasciesa/Ratschötz mountain which is separate from the ski runs and served from town by a funicular.
You didn't say if you were intending going with a Tour Operator or DIY. If you're going with a TO then Selva seems to be the most popular, but if DIYing then you'll find loads of accommodation through the Val Gardena tourist office. For all of Val Gardena the most convenient airports are either Innsbruck or Verona, both of which are served by budget airlines.
Hope this helps about Val Gardena, maybe someone else can give advice on Sesto/Sexten!
P.S Val Gardena and the whole of the Sella Ronda area have invested massively in snow making, and their piste maintenance is excellent. I remember a few years back when there had been a shortage of snow and a lot of the surrounding ground was bare of snow, but the pistes themselves were fine.
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?
Thanks Alastair, that's very good amount of info put together very well for me. I like the video's of the run, I am going to look for some more videos now I am most likely to go with Val Gardena now, unless Sesto/Sexen proves to be very impressive than Val Gardena.
I am doing a DIY travel arrangements, will have to choose one of the airports that is cheapest, don't mind doing a bit of train travel to save money when travelling with a family of 4.
On one of the days we like to go around which is the nearest towns from Val Gardena for good Christmas markets, any suggestions?
How is the food, accommodation and general ambiance, I mean is it family friendly, economical and good food.
For Accommodation in Ortisei any suggestions for locations with access to lifts or town centres or any that I should stay away from bco'z of poor transport links
@pressi, In terms of transfers from Innsbruck or Verona train will only get you so far (I think Ponte Gardena/Waidbruck is the closest station) you'd then have to take a taxi the final leg , or if you get off at the almost as close station of Chiusa/Klausen there seems to be a bus transfer, see Alta Adige Transfer. Also at both Innsbruck and Verona airports you'd need to get a bus to the railway station. Edit: See my final paragraph comment about the 350 bus line which seems to serve both Ponte Gardena/Waidbruck and Chiusa/Klausen.
The coach transfer company Terravision used to do direct transfers from Innsbruck Airport and Verona Airport, but I don't know whether they will be running them this season, the page says "temporarily suspended". If these don't run this season then you could try arranging a private taxi from the airport, but obviously that will work out more expensive.
As regards accommodation, are you looking for self catering apartment or Hotel with half board? The only time I stayed in Ortisei was with some friends in an apartment, this one, which wasn't too far from the centre. In Selva I've stayed twice in Hotels, once at the Hotel Armin (which has excellent meals by the way), and once at the Hotel Corona/Krone (only on B&B although they do Half Board as well I believe). The Val Gardena tourist office website I linked to in my first post has details of all the accommodation in the valley.
As regards food generally I think you will be in for a treat. The cuisine is a mixture of Italian and Austrian (Val Gardena and the surrounding area are in Sud Tirol which was part of Austria up till the end of WW1). The mountain restaurants are excellent and good value too. The hot chocolate is also highly recommended - in most places they seem to just melt chocolate with the steam from the espresso machines, so it's incredibly dark and rich!
Booking wise you said you were looking for a week over Xmas/New Year. Most resorts tend to be busier over the New Year than Xmas, and New Year accommodation does tend to get booked up, so I would have thought that if you went over Xmas rather than New Year there'd be more availability.
Anyway, good luck with your planning, and if you have any more questions just ask.
Edit: With regards to your question about visiting a town, then Bozen/Bolzano isn't far away and there is a bus service from Val Gardena. It certainly has a large Xmas Market, and if you are there you might want to visit the Archaeological Museum in the centre of town which has the famous Ötzi the Iceman exhibit.
Edit: The Bus Line 350 runs between Val Gardena and Bozen/Bolzano and I see that in addition it has intermediate stops at both Ponte Gardena/Waidbruck railway station and Chiusa/Klausen, so that may be of use to you if you travel by train from the airport. Note that the timetable currently shown is the summer i.e one up to 12.12.2015, they'll replace it with a winter one after that. Also I don't know how much luggage space the bus will have, but at least some of them have a side luggage compartment which you can put your bags in rather than take them on board the bus. The 350 bus service is run by S.A.D, unfortunately the website is only in Italian or German but it gives their email address infor@sad.it so you could try sending them a question about taking luggage on the 350 bus if you are planning doing that.
Hope this helps.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@Alastair Pink,
Hello Alastair,
I am planning a trip to Val Gardenia this Christmas. We are a group of 12 ppl and have already booked in the Residence Hotel for half board. They are mostly young adults and one baby. what do you think of the hotel? I am personally not a skier but so I need to also know if there are activities around the village to spend in the day other than hiking. Any nearby villages or activities you recommend.
Thank you so much. I just noticed that this is an old post. But i will try my luck
You said you've booked in the Residence hotel, which town is that in, there seem to be a few hotels with Residence in the name e.g in Kastelruth, but I'm guessing you've booked into the Antares hotel in Selva? https://www.residencehotels.com/en/antares-hotel/
I don't know that hotel myself, but it looks good. As regards non skiing activities other than hiking well Ortisei/St Ulrich is the prettiest of the towns in the valley in my opinion and has a pedestrianised main street with some nice shops and restaurants, I particularly like the Mauriz Keller. Ortisei has a history of wood carving and you'll see some shops selling such items. There's also a museum in Ortisei about the Val Gardena valley and its history (including wood carving) and also a bit about the life of a local alpinist and film director Luis Trenker. You said you're not a skier, but if you fancy having a go on a toboggan then from Ortisei there's a funicular called the Resciasa where people take rented toboggans up to the top to use the toboggan track back down to the bottom: https://www.resciesa.com/en/ There are frequent bus services connecting Selva with St Christina and Ortisei, I gather that if you are staying in a hotel in the valley then you will get a free "Val Gardena Mobil Card" that covers you for all the buses in the valley. There's a scenic footpath through St Christina that follows the route of an old disused narrow gauge railway, so nice and flat.
Edit: if you fancy a day out there's a bus service from Val Gardena to Bozen/Bolzano (see my earlier post in this thread). Bozen has a pretty town centre and the archaelogical museum with Ötzi the Iceman
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Sat 17-09-22 8:09; edited 1 time in total
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@Alastair Pink,
You really do offer a wonderful service to the Snowheads community. I’ve been the recipient of your great advice myself.
Thanks.
After all it is free
After all it is free
@maya,
If you are looking for transfers and SAD (not an attitude but Società Automobilistica Dolomiti or similar!) doesn't appeal, have a look at Viaggi Gardena's website.
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