 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello,
Next year, due to Easter being so late, we are thinking about risking the half term week and Italy looks good as European school holidays seem to work best for there, so this could be my opportunity to ski the Dolomites, something I have always wanted to do.
But, I know nothing about the Dolomites, where to flying to, how to get there, where to stay, etc etc.
We are a group of five, my friend and his adult son and me and my teenage girls. We usually stay in a three bedroom self catering apartment and drive to either France or Austria, but driving to the Dolomites is too far. Capability wise we are all very happy on Blues and Reds, a good mix is ideal and if there is the odd Black run we'll be happy too. We love 3V just because you can travel and ski so much variety, so thats kind of the benchmark - I know thats a high bar but start there and work down kind of thing.
So questions I am hoping to get some answers to:
Is self catering doable / the norm in the Dolomites?
Which village works best for that and the runs we like and with access to the Sella Ronda and where we won't spend all the time in queues? Colfasco / Corvara seem pretty good?
Where is best to fly to? Innsbruck? Verona?
Private transfer best from the airport?
Anything else I need to consider?
Any advice gratefully received
Thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Self catering is certainly doable in the dolomites, we have been self catering our last five visits.
However I dont find it as easy to find apartments other than sleeps4-5 1 bedroom plus sofa bed in the living area.
We have always found some but they are certainly not as plentiful as elsewhere.
The quality of those we have found has been good.
Until this year one of our group was a teacher now retired so we had regularly been at Feb holiday.
There can be queuing in Feb, the worst place we stayed was in Val di Fassa where the morning queues to access the Sella Ronda were about the worst I've had anywhere. Corvara was far better, Val Gardena in between the two.
It may vary year to year depending on the precise week but that was our experience.
We,very always rented a car when flying in and can't advise on transfers, Innsbruck is the easiest airport but there are talks of major roadworks next year.
Venice and Treviso both work.
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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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Thanks, that’s useful. I’ve looked at cost of transfers and there seems to be little difference between that and the cost of a hire car.
The thing I’m really struggling with is finding accommodation.
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I believe a lot of accommodation doesn't go on sale until the summer.The tourist office is often a good resource or try and work out where a place is from Air bnb/booking.com and see if they have a direct website without the markup.
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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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@kosciosco,
If you are thinking about stations around the Sella Ronda, like Val Gardena, most places don't come open until early- / mid-summer. We always start with the stations' own accommodation site to do a sort and get offers, then triangulate with each guesthouse's own website for floorplans etc. There are a TON of apartments, but in our experience, start looking in earnest in mid June but book in late July.
Many people book the same place year in/year out, too. A few times we booked for the following year when we left.
Self-catering: I'd say it's the norm, unless you're going to stay in a hotel.
Size: There's a huge number of 2-br apartments that sleep...6 (fold out in the living area). When we have gone with larger groups (more than 5) we have sometimes rented a studio + a 2 br in the same building and ate together.
There are exponentially fewer 3 br apartments, for some reason. The other odd thing about the 2 br apartments is that most (many?) have two double beds rather than the possibility to separate into 2 single beds. Do Italian kids sleep in the same bed?
We alway rent a car and drove from Milan or Venice. Flights to Milan, especially, are dirt cheap. Innsbruck much closer, but more expensive.
As to where, anything on the SR is good.
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@kosciosco, I’ve been to Alba Di Canazei on DIY trips 4 times in then last 3 seasons, I’ve stayed in a BB hotel so can’t really give advise of the SC front.
My first two trips were 3rd week in March and no real issue with cues for lifts or busy pistes. This year I went last week of Jan thinking it would be quieter and better snow conditions, it turned out to be neither, the SR generally was busier due to poor conditions in Austria, so many diverted to the Dolomites. I went again 3rd week of March after they had a big dump, it was quiet and good snow, apart from south facing slopes after 11.30.
I’ve driven from Milan Malpensa, it’s a long drive taking 4.5 hours to get there and then nearly 6 on return as I got caught in Friday traffic around Milan late afternoon on a Friday.
Venice is much closer, under 1 hour on Autostrada then about 1.5 on slower roads. If you want winter tyres there’s more availability from Malpensa, all the main names offer then, we used Hertz, from Venice there’s only Italybycar that offer them, flight times will probably the deciding factor, you could also look at Verona and Bergamo airports.
I’ll be going back again next season, it’s a lovely place to ski.
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@kosciosco, Went to Selva last year. Package trip with Crystal. Stayed in a 2 bed apartment 10 mins walk to the nearest drag lift and similar in to town. You could see if they do any 3 beds? flew in to Verona so only a short transfer to Selva.
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If staying in Val Gardena, the Milan airports become more of a viable option, as the drive is under 4 hours (but barely), since Val Gardena is more accessible to Milan than the rest of the Sella Ronda resorts. And the ride is pleasant. All high speed highway, with just one good local road into town. Same with Venice, but the opposite. Getting from Venice to Val Gardena can be a pain.
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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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| kosciosco wrote: |
Hello,
Next year, due to Easter being so late, we are thinking about risking the half term week and Italy looks good as European school holidays seem to work best for there, so this could be my opportunity to ski the Dolomites, something I have always wanted to do.
But, I know nothing about the Dolomites, where to flying to, how to get there, where to stay, etc etc.
We are a group of five, my friend and his adult son and me and my teenage girls. We usually stay in a three bedroom self catering apartment and drive to either France or Austria, but driving to the Dolomites is too far. Capability wise we are all very happy on Blues and Reds, a good mix is ideal and if there is the odd Black run we'll be happy too. We love 3V just because you can travel and ski so much variety, so thats kind of the benchmark - I know thats a high bar but start there and work down kind of thing.
So questions I am hoping to get some answers to:
Is self catering doable / the norm in the Dolomites?
Which village works best for that and the runs we like and with access to the Sella Ronda and where we won't spend all the time in queues? Colfasco / Corvara seem pretty good?
Where is best to fly to? Innsbruck? Verona?
Private transfer best from the airport?
Anything else I need to consider?
Any advice gratefully received
Thanks |
a lot there so just some thoughts
1) it's only 2 hrs from Innsbruck to various dolomites resort so maybe not as bad a drive as you think
2) lots of self catering, a lot booked up already by repeat customers though anything left will likely be released in summer (a small hotel we stayed at this year had just released prices for next year). For Alta Badia (Corvara, La Villa etc area) we've used thiis local tourist office site https://www.altabadia.org/en/
3) village - depends on budget, type of night life required etc but personally we prefer Corvara as it's on the SR and has a few shops, bars and restaurants plus you can also get almost ski-in/out. Val Gardena is probably similar but we think the ski area can be busier, Arabba quieter but cheaper, Val Di Fassa even cheaper still but can be queues to get to the ski area - you'll find lots of threads on resorts but IMHO if budget allows you can't go wrong with either Corvara or Val Gardena. Next price tier down personally we prefer La Villa over Canazei but it's a 30 mins ski to the SR. Never stayed in Colfosco but it's a good location but probably quite quiet at night.
4) depends where you're flying from and what time of day you want to fly. Cheaper flights early morning but often mean a night in a hotel so push overall cost up. Last year it was cheapest and most convenient overall for our skiing group to fly from Manchester to Verona late am, car hire and drive up to La Villa then fly back early pm so leisurely morning with breakfast in hotel before drive back to Airport but that's not great if you have a long drive on arrival in the UK. Also, you can fly to Munich and hire a car, similar drive as from Milan but I' ve been told it can work out cheaper overall.
5) self drive is cheapest, public transfer a challenge (unless you stay in Cortina) and private transfers tend to be expensive (ca Eur6-700 for 4 px from Verona to Val Gardena return). Look at https://www.verona-airport-transfers.com/ for some costs from Verona, when doing a cost comparison we've found them cheapest from Verona and have used them several times. They're an agent so if you email them they'll give you prices from other airports. A google search will find various local taxi companies and their prices are often online. Venice is theoretically closer but transfers tends to cost more presumably because in bad weather they have to divert and drive past Verona airport. The drive from Verona to most of the SR avoids any high passes, from Innsbruck there's 'only' the Brenner pass which is a main artery so well maintained and cleared. If you're near Stansted it might be worth paying more for a flight to Bolzano as you'll save money on a short transfer to e.g. Val Gardena is probably only 45 min drive.
examples prices form Innsbruck
https://www.taxi-innsbruck-airport.com/en/most-driven-ski-resorts/
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| richb67 wrote: |
a lot there so just some thoughts
1) it's only 2 hrs from Innsbruck to various dolomites resort so maybe not as bad a drive as you think
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It's been posted in other threads already but there is major works due to start on the Brenner pass which may or may not impact on Innsbruck transfers next winter.
Just something else to consider.
We are going via Verona but that was a decision by our TO
I'm not overly bothered as I have had some quick transfers from Innsbruck and back and also ended up with an overnight in Innsbruck. You win sometimes and then sometimes you don't. 
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