 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi snowheads!
As I'm enjoying my time off between the skiing days in Tirol I've started planning our ski trip for the next year. I wanted to show Dolomites to my boyfriend for too long already. Maybe snowheads collective wisdom can help us to narrow the choices!
Our criteria:
- long stay for 2+ weeks
- stay somewhere away from the main resort. We don't need to stay in the resort with a car. Drive to the resort up till 40min is fine.
- small-ish town, but still town where there is a grocery store, some okay+ restaurants and cafes. Why: we want to be able to enjoy some dinners with wine and beer and do not drive afterwards. 
- Ideally not a "drive-through" town, but to the side of the main road, so it doesn't feel too busy.
- some space for walking around the town and nearby and not walking next to the cars
- something to explore driving around - some castles, or cheap spa, great places to eat, etc. But I hope Italy has that everywhere 
Example near Monterosa is Saint Vincent. We've spent a month there last year, exploring all the resorts and castles nearby. It was great. I'll definitely return to Aosta in the future!
Now I want to try something similar in Dolomites.
- For the weather, I see that end of february/beginning of March should be a good choice. Am I right?
- Which towns would you suggest to look at? Dolomites are so large; which even side of Dolomites to choose? Note that I'm looking for smaller towns away from the main resort ones.
- also, for the longer stay, do you use AirBnB or are there some local tricks in Dolomites?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Not small and I've only ever been in summer but Bolzano is very pleasant.
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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 need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| T Bar wrote: |
| Not small and I've only ever been in summer but Bolzano is very pleasant. |
Thank you! Bolzano seems to be of larger cities, true. But close to everything and a lot of options!
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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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Brunico looks just right! Great suggestion! How did you learn about it?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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We were in Bruneck/Brunico/Borneck last week. Castle, tick! Supermarkets, tick! Restaurants and cafes, tick! Old town with shops to wander round, tick! Skiing is connected by train to Percha/Perca for Kronplatz 6 minutes away and Vierschach/Versciaco for 3 Zinnen 40 minutes away. Trains and buses are free to use with a Süd Tirol guest card, provided by hotels that are in the scheme. Anything you want to know?
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Some moons ago I spent three months in Dobbiaco/ Toblash and totally loved my time there. The train will take you to the ski areas of three peaks and kronplatz so you live the car at home. Also By Train you can easily reach Lienz for the local ski area but you will need to pay an extra ticket , nothing major cost wise.
In anterselva (forgot the German name) you can try biathlon which is something I really want to do but is not cheap. When I was there I visited so many lakes but don’t remember any castles . lago di brais (South Tyrol most visited attraction) is a lot quieter in winter please don’t miss it if you go there. There should be a spa in san candido , the village next door . Hope it helps
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| neironet wrote: |
Brunico looks just right! Great suggestion! How did you learn about it? |
Only by skiing at Kronplatz !!
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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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Bruneck is convenient for skiing Kronplatz and other resorts Alta Badia / Corvara / Arabba are either inside or close to your 40 minute driving time.
But it is a “drive through” town (although bypassed)
San Vigilio is quieter and not a drive through. It is much smaller than Bruneck but has a very well stocked Spar mini supermarket and a good selection of restaurants etc but not much nightlife.
It’s driveable to Corvara (about 35 minutes) Alta Badia San Cassiano. Arabba is about 50 minutes.
No castles etc but Bruneck is about 15 minutes away. Several attractions within reach (Ladin Museum / Lumen Museum / Messner Museum)
Good self catering accommodation (eg www.mareo.com and Tourist Information will send you a list
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Thank you for the suggestions! I didn't even think about Kronplatz before, I was only looking at the resorts connected by Sella Ronda. Kronplatz looks great (although funny it's mostly bubbles/gondolas there and almost no chairlifts, first time seeing this).
I wonder why most of the suggestions so far seem to be from northern part of the Dolomites close to Kronplatz - not something close to Alleghe, Cortina, Canazei. Are there just less accessible towns / less nice towns in the southern part of Dolomites?
I have only been there once for a short trip with Snowheads so my knowledge of that whole part of Italy is very limited.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@neironet, there are plenty of resorts. But in general - and this is a very general generalisation - most people tend to go for a week, ski for 6 days and want to ski more or less all the time, want accommodation very very close to the slopes.
In your original post, the picture I get is that whilst skiing is important, you don’t mind a shortish drive and do want to see other things whilst in the area. Don’t want to stay in a busy town.
Accommodation very close to the Sella Ronda is likely to be more sought after and possibly more expensive.
I suspect it is just by chance that suggestions up to now are in the North. But it sounds like you want a smallish village but still with a good shop for food, access to some skiing but not too far away to drive to more mainstream areas. San Vigilio would probably suit you. But many others will do as well
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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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@JHS,
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most people tend to go for a week, ski for 6 days and want to ski more or less all the time,
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I was like this before in my solo trips now we've changed our ways of transportation and our ideal ski trip is to live somewhere for several weeks and only choose the best days for skiing. In the days when skiing is suboptimal we would work and drive to some sightseeing.
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But it sounds like you want a smallish village but still with a good shop for food, access to some skiing but not too far away to drive to more mainstream areas.
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almost - with a slight correction: it's also acceptable not to have any direct access to skiing in the area, and only have it in 20-40min by car.
When staying for a long time, it's great to have several options for the skiing, therefore I was happy to see that there are other big resorts than Sella-Ronda-ones. For example, when staying in Aosta valley we went some days to Cervinia, some days to Champoluc, and we also checked out La Thuile, Pila and Courmayeur - everywhere 1-2 days. I loved this experience!
For Dolomites I simply forgot that other resorts exist there Thanks for reminding! For example, Kronplatz and Madonna di Campiglio are famous - and they are just 1-2 hours from Selva. So living somewhere between Kronplatz and Corvara - or living between Madonna and Canazei sounds similar to our Monterosa experience. I keep researching and it makes me already excited for the next year 
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You know it makes sense.
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I'd look at Brunico (Kronplatz on doorstep and SR ca 45 mins drive) or Bressanone (Plose on doorstep with top of Val Gardena, 40 mins away), IIRC someone on here spent a season in Castelrotto.
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so many points for Brunico already! I'll check out Bressanone.
I've been to Castelrotto at my friends who spent a season there. It was only 1 night - however I really liked the place. The only concern was that Alpe di Siusi lifts were soooooo slow. Slowest that I've seen in my life 
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we spent 4 weeks this year in Alta Badia and loved it, we prefer the opposite approach of driving to the town with a castle etc some days we drove some days we skied out the door.
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I'd love to try that too! my main concern is that in my experience apartments in resort towns are not suitable for a long stay - or expensive. There is no in-between. What is your experience?
I'm also looking at some home swapping websites now, so maybe this will be an option too.
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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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@neironet, it's definitely more expensive to stay in resort but some are cheaper than others. We stayed in La Villa which was a bit cheaper than Corvara but less convenient.
We found the local tourist authority site best for finding good value accommodation . If you're looking for 2 weeks you have to book early but we've done it several times. It also helps if you're willing to change accommodation part way through which we've also done, it's no big deal and you still get your Saturday skiing. A decent apartment in Corvara or La Villa is roughly 1,000 Eur a week for a 1 bed apartment, we can't do a studio for 2 weeks Val Gardena is similar but I think Canazei is cheaper. We've not stayed in Ortisei but that is a proper little town with a Piazza, plenty of shops etc.
re facilities it really does depend on personal preference, for us somewhere with a few restaurants and bars plus a local shop and supermarket a short drive away works fine for a few weeks. If you start going stir crazy in resort then you can just drive to a bigger town for a day out, as discussed above there are plenty around.
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