 Poster: A snowHead
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Tour Operator - Crystal
Flights - Edinburgh to Verona (Tui)
Transfer time - 75/90 minutes
Accommodation - Golf Hotel, Costa, Folgaria
Closest lift - within 50m
Ski Area - Alpe Cimbra https://www.alpecimbra.it/en/alpe-cimbra/1-0.html
Pre-holiday information was good & as everything was a package and there were only 2 of us it was easy to follow and travel went smoothly.
Tui still have 20kg allowance plus 10kg on board case plus small handbag or similar and we paid £50 for a ski bag.
At Verona airport there were plenty of Crystal reps to guide us (although one of them nearly guided us to Folgarida 
The resort is clearly not a very popular one with Crystal as we had a minibus to ourselves
The transfer was easy and we got to the hotel in time for dinner 
So, on to the ski area….as more cautious skiers, we’d chosen Alpe Cimbra for the range of blues. The whole area was promoted on that basis, lots of lovely lazy blues. However…the infrastructure is poor and the ski area is disjointed. From our accommodation, there was easy access to 3 blues and to get further, you’d have to take a red or a bus to the Fondo Grande side. We were told by the hotel, the pass information office and an instructor that the bus stopped outside the hotel - fab! However, on day 3 we waited for half an hour and the ski bus didn’t show up. Another guest ordered a taxi and we shared. I took a ski bus back but it only went halfway and the local transport (including taxis) stopped for over 2 hours over lunch, so there was no way to get back to resort…very frustrating. Obviously if you were a confident skier this wouldn’t be an issue but it was really disappointing. We had intended going to the Lavarone area later in the week as there was no way to get there on the slopes but after the bus fiasco, we decided against it.
There were significant differences between the maps …with runs showing as red or blue depending on which map (the portable ones v the larger ones on the hill). There were also differing opinions as to whether the Laverone / Alpe di Vezzena area was even included in the pass
A few of the gentler blue areas would have been classified as green elsewhere but that’s not such a big deal.
The lifts were good on the whole - mostly chairs.
There were queues on Sunday (possibly related to an Italian holiday) but the lifts and slopes were pretty quiet apart from that. That said, there were lots of ski schools on the hill all day.
There weren’t many places to eat or coffee on the hill but what was there was good quality and good value (not many resorts that you can get a coffee on the slopes for under €2 these days).
The Golf hotel was nice enough…it had a 4 rating with Crystal & didn’t deserve it compared to other Italian hotels that we’d stayed in. The room was noisy as it was above the bar and it was small compared to other places. It was a bit shabby and lacked basic things like sockets and WiFi (although Wi-Fi did show as public areas..which was also pushing the truth).
The food was a mixed bag - compared with other Italian resorts there was a bit more acceptance of the fact that everyone doesn’t eat meat (their menu had vegetarian and fish options) and some nice dishes but also some disappointing ones.
Overall, I’d rate the hotel and resort as a 5 out of 10. Poor information being the main issue.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Disappointing. I won't be going. There's no excuse for poor information, and that filters through to other areas of customer service
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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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Shame you didn't make it to Lavarone, I'm on a lift there as I type. The blues here are continuous and good fun. Despite the appearance of the piste map they run in a geographic straight line. Only trouble right now is the sun is making some blues very slow, should've taken the red 
Not exactly busy but it is a sunny Sunday. Tomorrow should be quiet
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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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Thanks for the report. Hoping to visit Folgaria / Lavarone in the next few years.
Sounds like the bus service and info about it was a bit rubbish - wonder if it's worth feeding that back to the resort / tourist office?
Just a note about the run gradings - there aren't any green runs in Italy. The issue of blues only being accessible by skiing a red run is a common one in Italy / Austria.
A quick check of the ski area website appears to show that Folgaria lift passes are indeed valid in Lavarone.
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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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The second valley over from Lavarone is 200m wide and flat bottomed, definitely greens to cross over and only just about makeable even in good conditions. You then reach a short magic carpet to get to the chairs.
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FAQ
. Fingers crossed the snow holds up over the warm spell next week 
