Selva - 4/5 star hotels in January

A snowHead

Hi all,

Long time lurker et al...

We (2) are trying to book a decent quality hotel in the Val Gardena area for around the 16th Jan for a week - generally the cheapest week going for most areas. First time to visit the dolomites, so pretty excited! Very Happy

I sent off an email to 44(!) places using www.val-gardena.com and most are responding. Most are just quoting their rack rates at the moment, rather than offering discounts. Question - is it worth leaving booking the accomodation till last minute, and do the good hotels there tend to offer good late discounts?

Am trying to capitalise on slowdown - not sure if it will affect that area though? Any other tips and stuff (have read the long dolomite threads - excellent reading!)

Thanks in advance

A snowHead

mollser, Welcome to snowHead

s!

You will have a blast, a great place! How many of you are going and what is your priorities! Is it apres? Convenience? etc.

I would reccomend a couple of places when I know what you are after! Dont know of the deals, I never got anything like we do in France and Austria for some reason. You could always wait if there aren't too many of you going but as always it is a gamble and you may not get the most convenient place etc.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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Hotel Corona (Crown) is a perfect location as it is above the "luiselkeller" great cheesy music for apres! Dont know about any good deals I am afraid. It is a popular place with mainland europeans. There is a place accross the road from the crown, Hotel Stella where we stayed as the crown could not take our size of group but it was clean, good food and the Sauna was good! Cant remember what we paid but cheaper than the Brandon wink

Selva is by far the best location out of the three!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

mollser, I think you're unlikely to get a good deal directly unless you book with a TO that's offering some sort of discount. In my experience you will get a better hotel by booking direct but the only offers you tend to get are for the opening and closing weeks of the season, where they sometimes do an extra night for free or include a lift pass.

See the WTSS web page on Selva for a list of UK TO's who go to Selva: http://www.wheretoskiandsnowboard.com/resorts/Selva

Alternatively, you could pm sueski, who is based out of Arabba but deals with hotels in Selva as well. She may be able to help you find a better bargain. Both nickH and myself have used her services over the last two years.

Hope you get there, as Selva and the nearby resorts were really nice, when we skied through this year.

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mollser, as Pokemon says, not many discounts direct with hotels in the main part of the season, I checked out the locations of the hotels you mentioned:

Stella- good for lifts in Selva, but right on the busy main road

Interski- a long way from anything

Maciaconi- not bad for sochers-ciampinoi lift, but looks like on the wrong side of the main road up to Selva

La Perla- looks nice but below Ortisei, a long way from the skiing

Mignon- this is a good location in the centre of Selva but away from the road, a couple of 100 metres to main lifts and close to shops and restaurants.

Best location is around streets Nives, Cir, Dantercepies, around the church in Selva.

I would recommend looking at some of the smaller 'boutique' hotels in the area I mentioned even if they are 3*, as you plan to do B&B anyway, they often have a sauna/wellness area downstairs and are often a lot nicer kept by their family owners than the larger concerns, if lacking one or two facilities that earn higher star ratings. Better value I'd say, spend the difference on some nice meals out.

I'll try and find some for you, here's one to be going, approx €420pp for the week B&B, up the hill a bit from the centre in a quiet spot with a nice view just above the nursery slopes, handy for the Dantercepies gondola and you can ski down to the Ciampinoi:

http://www.villa-erna.com/en/camere.htm

Can't promise availability though.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Here are a few more:

http://www.garnifranca.com/en/ in that area I mentioned

http://www.giardin.it/- Ski-in ski-out handy for the centre of Selva

http://www.gardenahotels.com/index-s.php?id=3&L=3 - the Garni Villa Gardena, not the other two, a suite hotel in a really central yet quiet location near the church.

http://www.linder.it/ a really pretty building in a good location 100m from Ciampinoi gondola, yet quiet. There's also it's sister hotel which is 4*Superior but only does half board:http://www.hotel-nives.com/eng/hotel.htm

If you don't like these 3*Superiors, the Mignon looked the best location of the 4* you had picked out.

I'd be tempted by the Garni Villa Gardena or the Linder, by the look and location. Or Villa Erna for a nice view and a bit of space, if you don't mind the hill back from town after an evening out.

I've never stayed at any of these so can't offer any personal recommendation as to quality or service, they've looked nice when I've passed them and are in good spots for the skiing and facilities.

After all it is free

Thanks guys - so much to be looking at! Will have a browse of these this evening and see what comes up.

These guys gave us a good price - looks very nice and appears to be in a good location, albeit in St Christina

http://www.alpenhotelplaza.com/

Seriously appreciate the help!

Mollser

mollser, I stayed at the Hotel Armin 2years ago, through Crystal, but you can book direct. The staff were very friendly and the food (half board option) was excellent. The Ciampinoi gondola lift is about 5 mins (uphill walk), but the hotel provides a courtesy minivan shuttle service to the lift in the morning.

More recently in September this year I spent a few days in Selva for a motoring/walking holiday staying at the Hotel Krone/Corona (Crown) that Roy Hockley mentioned. I was on B & B, and again found the hotel very pleasant, the view from my hotel balcony of the Saas Long mountain was excellent!

Selva/Wolkenstein (all 3 towns in the valley have both Italian and German names, being part of the Sud Tirol ceded to Italy after WW1)) is directly on the Sella Ronda route, so is most convenient for that. However definitely visit the other towns in Val Gardena; St Cristina has the FIS Worldcup Downhill track, and Ortisei/St Ulrich has a wonderful long red from the top of Seceda down to the town. There is also skiing on the other side of the town on the Alpe de Siusi/Seiser Alm - generally easy skiing, but a great sun trap!. Incidentally the centre of Ortisei/St Ulrich is IMV the prettiest of the three (it also has some great looking hotels Toofy Grin

), and if you finish you're skiing day there you can easily get a bus back to Selva from the town centre.

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mollser, Selva for us was a better choice to base ourselves! Dont worry about the Stella being on the main road. Had no problems what so ever! There are some nicer hotels but not as convenient for us! Then again we are used to French ski in and ski out and hate to schlep around the place in boots! I personally would look at just around the lifts! Either the Dantercepies and Ciampinoi! St. Christina may be a good choice for yourself and the Mrs. but would not have been right for us! Hotel looks nice but where is it in St. Christina?

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Here's a map of Selva showing the pistes and lifts:

http://www.valgardena.it/images/gardena/maps/piantina_selva_200708.jpg

The main lifts are Ciampinoi (grid ref. I-18 ), Dantercepies (G-21) and the Costabella chair that links the two (J-19).

The nursery area drags/pistes are around F-19 and there is a piste that runs down from here (through H-18 ) to the main road near the Ciampinoi.

Anywhere in striking distance of these lifts/pistes centred on the church at G-17 is a good spot. Or over at Strada Freina area centred on J-18.

You know it makes sense.

The Franca used to be an Esprit chalet, I've stayed there a couple of times. It's comfy for a chalet. We're in The Hotel Flora this xmas, we've also stayed there before. It's very comfortble with great food. The Gran Baita and the Hotel Oswald are two of the poshest in town.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Hey all, thanks a million for your suggestions - they have been particularly helpful!

We will have to make a note when trying this again that trying to get accomodation from a Monday to a Sunday is particularly difficult - the vast majority of hotels and guesthouses will only accept sat-sat bookings - I only realised this after the flights were booked Shock

doh

However the lovely people at the Hotel Laurin have agreed to take us, I must say this place looks really nice, if a bit more than we were hoping to spend http://www.hotel-laurin.it/english/index.html

So if anybody has any comments, please let me know! Toofy Grin

BTW, some of those 3* ones recommended look really lovely - will definitely try them in the future!

A snowHead

mollser, Perfect location, we stayed accross the road you will have a blast. Let us know how you got on and prices please for future plans!

A snowHead

mollser, glad you found something, it's a nice place in a good spot near the lifts, the liftpass office is just across the square oppsite the hotel, the Laurinkeller restaurant in the basement/cellar has a good reputation for it's steak menu, had an enjoyable anniversary meal there 5 years ago, not sure if it's part of the hotel or a separate business though.
Not long to wait now! snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

The road level bar of the Luislkeller http://www.luislkeller.com/ is great for music. The owner is a real boff on British and American artists. I got him going on Lucinda Williams and Joe Bonamassa. Very Happy

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Yes it is a great location, you will have a great time in a great resort!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Is the Laurinkeller the place where they serve something whcih was translated for us as "the big plate of meat", an accurate translation as it turned out, a wok type pan full of steak, pork and lamb chops and sausages?

Just what the doctor ordered!

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Ghost Dog, sounds like it, a carnivore's paradise, vegetarians need not apply! Shocked

Help!!

Selva - 4/5 star hotels in January

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