 Poster: A snowHead
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Hey guys
Most likely going to check out the Dolomiti SuperSki area from 25th Feb to March 5th
Will have no car (Have to get ridiculously expensive private airport transfer) so ideally best place to be based for ski in ski out and least hassle
From what I've heard Selva seems to be the best place to stay, however I've also heard the non-pedestrianised factor means its a bit noisy
So my question is - Between Val Gardena (Selva, St. Christina, Ortisei), Alta Badia (Corvara, La Villa etc.) and Arabba Marmolada, and any others that you might wisely recommend, where is the best to stay for the time we are going ? It's just gna be my brother and I so don't really need any family conveniences, we also don't care much for nightlife on this trip. It's gna be mostly about the skiing and getting away from the hustle and bustle, so more secluded places with better access to the slopes works for us
Alternatively, Serre Chevalier and Cervinia/Zermatt were also on the cards for the same dates, in case you think those might be wiser choices
I leave our fates in your knowledgable and wisdomous hands 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Location of hotel will be more important than which resort. For example, in San Cassiano, this hotel is RIGHT on the side of the piste. https://www.frohsinn.it/en/
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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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You mentioned that you’re having to use an expensive transfer, we (3 of us) looked and felt hiring a car was a much better option. It also gives us flexibility once in resort.
We’ve booked for Alta Badia.
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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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@Jimbo94, where will you be flying into?
And what level do you ski at?
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Thu 12-01-23 23:33; edited 1 time in total
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@Jimbo94, car hire in Italy isn't expensive.
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Yeah I saw that hiring a car was far cheaper actually and it does definitely give you more flexibility ! But we didn't feel too comfortable with driving in bad conditions if they happened upon us, we are not too used to driving on the right side of the road (Done it once or twice), nor are we used to driving in the snow and using snow chains etc. so with the sensitivity of catching flights etc. we said maybe best to get a transfer :/
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Fair enough, and if three of you are sharing the transfer price, it's not too bad. But it does make a difference which airport you fly into, because of the geography.
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| Skiing Pants wrote: |
You mentioned that you’re having to use an expensive transfer, we (3 of us) looked and felt hiring a car was a much better option. It also gives us flexibility once in resort.
We’ve booked for Alta Badia. |
We are flying in to Innsbruck going to Selva
Return taxi is about the same price as a medium hire car - maybe even a touch cheaper once cross border charge and petrol is factored in (both work out at about €400. Of course with a longer transfer - say Treviso - will be better for a hire car. But unless you are going for the smallest hire car I can’t see how it’s much cheaper than a taxi?
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| Jimbo94 wrote: |
| Yeah I saw that hiring a car was far cheaper actually and it does definitely give you more flexibility ! But we didn't feel too comfortable with driving in bad conditions if they happened upon us, we are not too used to driving on the right side of the road (Done it once or twice), nor are we used to driving in the snow and using snow chains etc. so with the sensitivity of catching flights etc. we said maybe best to get a transfer :/ |
Unlikely to need snow chains. Winter tyres work well on snow. Have driven many times in Austria in snow (before hire car prices shot up due to Covid induced car shortages).
That said, I think transfers are better relative value now - especially from Austrian airports (Italy may be cheaper for hiring..?)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Check on cartrawler and holidayautos to get an idea of car hire costs. We've booked a compact car with snow chains for less than £50 for a week from Venice starting Jan 20th. Couldn't find a transfer for less than £400, complicated by our return flight leaving VCE at 08:45, so silly o'clock start on the return journey.
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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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| Judwin wrote: |
| Check on cartrawler and holidayautos to get an idea of car hire costs. We've booked a compact car with snow chains for less than £50 for a week from Venice starting Jan 20th. Couldn't find a transfer for less than £400, complicated by our return flight leaving VCE at 08:45, so silly o'clock start on the return journey. |
I look at Holiday Autos or AutoEurope. Innsbruck prices are €300 minimum for a week then there’s cross border charge and petrol. Seems that Austria is a bit expensive. £50 though… that can’t be economic for the rental company.
Winter tyres I hope - snow chains shouldn’t be needed. Never had them (in Austria though)
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You know it makes sense.
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@buchanan101, Italian hire cars don't generally have winter tyres
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@Judwin yeah I know, the car rentals are cheaper, maybe we should consider driving rather than a transfer, though now that the transfer price has come down to 280 each including return, it's not too bad compared to the original 390 pp and it's less hassle, also I've seen many companies quoting 900+ total (I.e 500 per person and above which is crazy)
@Buchanan101, cheers for the advice re: snow chains, hopefully I'll be skiing for many many years to come and if so I guess I will rent a car sooner or later instead of getting a transfer 
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Poster: A snowHead
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| pam w wrote: |
| @buchanan101, Italian hire cars don't generally have winter tyres |
Yikes! Winter tyres a much better solution than normal tyres in snow or having to fiddle around with snow chains if needed…
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@pam w, not sure if maybe you can pay extra for them
I know that in some places it's illegal not to have snow chains, like in Sicily if you are planning on skiing the limited terrain on Etna
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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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It's illegal not to have snowchains driving into the mountains from airports like Turin, Milan or Treviso. That's why the hire companies will tell you that snowchains are included "free". There's very often NO option to pay extra for winter tyres.
Loads of people drive into resorts with ordinary tyres and snowchains. In the French resort where I spent 15 winters, when it was very snowy more than 50% of cars chuntering round the resort were in chains. It's regarded by some people on Snowheads as an extraordinary event which hardly anybody has ever seen, but I can assure them it's quite normal in many places. Putting on snowchains is not rocket science, but it's messy and you need to practice. And I can absolutely understand why you'd prefer to pay a bit extra for a trouble-free transfer. Parking in resorts can be a problem and digging cars out of snowdrifts is a drag. I did it a lot before the garages were built at our apartments, and the novelty quickly wears off.
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| buchanan101 wrote: |
| I look at Holiday Autos or AutoEurope. Innsbruck prices are €300 minimum for a week then there’s cross border charge and petrol. Seems that Austria is a bit expensive. £50 though… that can’t be economic for the rental company. |
Economic or not - not really my problem. Once had a hire care for 1 euro for the week in Madrid. Course it might all turn to rats come Saturday week.
| buchanan101 wrote: |
| Winter tyres I hope - snow chains shouldn’t be needed. Never had them (in Austria though) |
Whilst I would much prefer winter tyres, I'm not at all bothered if we get summers+chains, and that;s actually what I expect we'll be getting. Have used that combo for donkeys years (including the Fluella in January) before buying Winters for my own car about 4 years ago. Yes it'll be a PITA if we actually have to fit them, but it always was, and I've had to use them about a dozen times in the past so it's nothing we haven't done before.
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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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I expect summers+chains out of Torino at the end of February. I'm good at snowchains, but nobody with any sense will grapple with them unless they have to. But I choose my spot - get off the road before grappling with them, have a cheap kids plastic beach spade to clear the snow from behind the wheel before you start and a big plastic bag to put them in when you take them off. And it beats driving up on a clear road, knowing that there's no snow on the lower runs at your destination resort.
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Yeah @pam w, think we will stick with the transfer since the price has come down considerably, also one of the big pro's of Selva after all is that most of it is all interconnected without needing to drive, or walk and just ski 
Madonna Di Campiglio for example is a different story, since there is only 150Km of slopes and within an hour drive of the area there's lots more to explore, so would make sense to get a car..
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I've not stayed in Selva, but was surprised how big it was, when I drove through it, and what a lot of fancy shops selling statues there seemed to be. I suspect that some hotels are quite a schlep from the lifts.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I'm a great fan of Corvara for it's relaxed and peaceful setting and good family skiing but it is quite an expensive place.
I wonder if Arabba might be a good choice for you. It seems to be the destination of choice for the Snowhead bashes, has some great value places to stay, has good access to lots of interesting skiing and is very small (peaceful?) compared to Corvara and Selva. A quick search suggests the populations are Selva @2,600, Corvara @1,300, Arabba @ 275 
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Any hotel I have stayed at in the Dolomites, that is a distance from the lifts, has run a shuttle bus to/from the lifts fir their guests. So I wouldn’t rule out a certain hotel because of location before finding out whether or not they offer a shuttle bus service.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@olderscot Yes I've heard a lot of good things about Corvara too, I was under the impression though, that Val Gardena was in the best location for the Dolomiti Superski because it is in the middle.. not sure if that is correct. I know that Alta Badia (And the best choice here is definitely Corvara) are also highly recommended, and as you are saying might be quieter than Selva
Regarding Arabba/Marmolada I actually have a hotel booked in Marmolada at the moment, with free cancellation before 11th February, so if I don't find a better option that is still one of the choices, the setting of the town seems incredible, it just has a smaller native ski area than the other 2 areas, but this doesn't really matter since we will be skiing the whole Dolomiti SuperSki anyway
Cervinia/Zermatt still on the cards too, as is Serre Chevalier (Though I believe this has become the least likely option now)
Hoping that somebody with experience in both Dolomiti and Cervinia can recommend the better option for the time we are going with regards to busyness (lift queues) and snow quality etc.
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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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@dode
Yes a few accommodations that I've spoken to have mentioned shuttle bus services, which is fine (I did this in Ischgl and I know it's very quick and easy)
But to be honest it's more important rather than going up in the morning, to be able to ski back to the accommodation at the end of the day, like that you can stay up past the closure time of the lifts and ski down at sun set when there is nobody there !
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Actually the reason I gave is not really relevant, since you can just ski down and then take a shuttle anyway
But I do just like staying on the slopes as much as possible and away from the roads, my ideal accommodation would definitely be on the slopes ski in ski out
Obviously not too far unless the accommodation offers half board, otherwise not as easy to go back and forth to the town for dinner
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You know it makes sense.
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Dolomiti Superski area has loads of plus points but lots of "ski in ski out on the slopes" isn't one of them.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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@pam w, +1, and for a good chunk of the accommodations offering ski in/ski out this means it’s only really beneficial if you are coming back/heading off in the same direction each day. Which, given the area is a loop, isn’t as handy as it is in other destinations. At least with a shuttle you can tell the driver which lift you want to go to, depending on which direction you want to set off in that day.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@buchanan101 Had seen that there was an interactive map but hadn't checked it out yet, cheers
Regarding %, yeah could be, not very clear, there must be a legend somewhere
I am thinking we can save Cervinia/Zermatt for later in the season next year, maybe mid March, hopefully there is less chance of wind, and the Cervinia/Zermatt connection being closed. Also at that time most other resorts, including Dolomiti will have a lot of slush risk so maybe best to go this season on our dates which are end Feb to beginning March and then go to Cervinia in the middle of March when it should be in perfect condition (likely)
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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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@dode
Hmm that's also a good point, but I thought that everything was linked, so you could go up the same lift and just take different routes
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@Jimbo94 You'd have thought that there would be a legend...but there isn't.
The %ages can't mean anything else; someone mentioned that there was live info available somewhere (first introduced during Covid times)
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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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| Jimbo94 wrote: |
@dode
Hmm that's also a good point, but I thought that everything was linked, so you could go up the same lift and just take different routes |
I've chosen a spot in Selva where after getting on the Nives t bar/poma outside the hotel I can go either way...
Both ways involve taken off skis and crossing a road to get on main lifts, but I think it'll do. can ski back...
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@buchanan101, Just realised how to tag properly
Yeah that sounds good enough at least you are on your skis first thing and only take them off for 20 seconds, are you saying from when you've been in the past or are you going this season ?
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| Jimbo94 wrote: |
@buchanan101, Just realised how to tag properly
Yeah that sounds good enough at least you are on your skis first thing and only take them off for 20 seconds, are you saying from when you've been in the past or are you going this season ? |
First time this season.
I think it'll take a bit more walking to get on the Dantercepes or Ciampioni lifts than 20 secs, but skiing back should be easier
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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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