 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all, starting to put some ideas together for next year's trip and I have a massive desire to go to the Dolomites but struggling to decide where. Madonna Di Campiglio is an idea (I learned to ski in Pinzolo back in the 80s with school so there's some sentimental reasons for going there). But should we be looking at resorts on the Sella Ronda/Dolomiti Superski area?? Basically our requirements are good intermediate slopes, nice picturesque village/town, amazing food and hotel/apartment either ski in/ski out or super close to a lift. Hubby's not fond of buses to get around etc. We usually book DIY but are open to using a TO too, especially as I'm not sure on how transfers to the Dolomites work and we don't want to hire a car. Not looking for kicking apres either but a couple of nice bars wouldn't go a miss. There'll be 4 of us, including two older teens. Thanks in advance!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We've just come back from Selva which would tick all the boxes you list. We absolutely loved it! First time in the Dolomites for us, and we will be back as soon as we can.
I'm so glad we were on the Sellaronda - it just opens up the area so easily, even if you don't want to do the complete circuit (which we did, in both directions!)
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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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@WoottonBecs, Yes, Selva looks great. Did you travel with a TO on a package holiday or DIY? Just wondering about transfers, which are always the tricky part with ski holidays!
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Typing this from the bar in Hotel Arkadia Corvara. Food here is awesome. 6 course menu every night, vegan mrs Endo is having lovely food . Breakfast is awesome also. We have the same table for a week. Walk out of ski room cross road and you have 2 gondalas directly on sella Ronda. Pool is lovely. Not braving sauna etc as they have a naked policy! Saw one set of spaniels ears when I peeked to see if was enforced!
Not cheap but I think we are getting our money’s worth. We pre arranged a taxi from Venice airport. 4 of us with 3 ski bags. 2.5 hours. All was DIY.
I’ll do a trip report when it’s done.
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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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@endoman, I agree ..Corvara over Selva
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@endoman, Looks great, will check out Corvara (although I don't think our budget will stretch to your hotel, it looks amazing!). I've also been looking at transfers and found the Cortina Express which goes to quite a few resorts, inc Corvara! Has anyone used this before and is it reliable?
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| surferrosa wrote: |
| . I've also been looking at transfers and found the Cortina Express which goes to quite a few resorts, inc Corvara! Has anyone used this before and is it reliable? |
Some years ago I used Cortina Express when I and some friends were staying in an apartment in Colfosco. Worked well, I think for Corvara (as for Colfosco) you have to change buses at the Cortina bus station in the centre of town.
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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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@surferrosa, We stayed in Selva last week. Self-catering apartment (Crystal Ski) and a bit of a walk so probably not what you want. But, if you want close to the lift then this hotel https://www.aaritz.com/de.html looked fab and was right opposite the Ciampinoi gondola. Crystal have Hotel Oswald on their books, which is about a 5 min walk to Ciampinoi gondola. Lots of hotels near main lifts in Selva so perhaps a diy trip would work?
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In Selva - Hotel Serena, right on the slopes ; Hotel Stella, Costabella lift just behind the hotel ; ski to within 100 metres of hotel. Hotel Ingram, walk across car park to nearest lift (and back at the end of the day) :; All with Crystal
=== edit ===
Hotel Continental (with Inghams) is at the bottom of the Dantercepies gondola (pretty much ski in out)
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Thu 9-02-23 0:26; edited 1 time in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Costabella also has a great restaurant, as I'm sure most have.
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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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| surferrosa wrote: |
| @WoottonBecs, Yes, Selva looks great. Did you travel with a TO on a package holiday or DIY? Just wondering about transfers, which are always the tricky part with ski holidays! |
We did TO (Inghams). Purely for the transfer logistics! We always DIY skiing, but just couldn't find a decent (affordable) transfer option. I know you can drive, but neither of us want to, so that's out.
It's a problem when there's just 2 of you, because the transfer is so expensive. I did see an option where you take the train from INN to somewhere (starts with B, possibly has 'brenner' in it...) and then a bus. I think it was about £30!
I'm definitely going to do some proper research over the summer, because we'd love to go back to the Dolomites, but want to price up DIY vs TO properly. We left it late to book this time, and also not knowing the area at all thought we'd go with a tried and tested (by other people) option. But now we have more of an idea about how the land lies, I'll look at DIYing it again.
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We have had some great trips with both Inghams and Crystal in Corvara staying in Col Alto Hotel and Grief Hotel. We have priced DIY trips but the transfer for just 2 of us, combined with the higher hotel cost has killed it. Both hotels were good (Col Alto especially good) and we would go back to either - both have excellent shuttle busses to the lifts which takes just minutes - and we have never waited for more than a few minutes in either direction. The hotel having it's own shuttle would be a deal breaker for us.
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You know it makes sense.
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Public transport from Innsbruck to say, Corvara, is doable but a fair bit longer. You need to first get to Fortezza across the Italian border. Euro city trains (every 2 hours) go direct to there with no changes. Local trains require a change at Brenner and you will have to get a separate ticket for the Italian train ( with only a 10 minute window to do it). Once at Fortezza, you need to change onto the Pustertal valley train (with only a few minutes window, else you wait 30/60 mins for next train). Then you get off at San Lorenzo onto a local bus to Alta Badia (La Villa/Corvara/Colfosco) and these run every 30/60 mins dependent on day of week.
Definitely cheaper way to do it, but a real faff.
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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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@jimmybog, That all seems a bit faffy 
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Poster: A snowHead
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we've used this company to arrange transfers and they were really helpful & quick to respond. Basically they're a UK based agent with agreements with local companies. This website says Verona but they do the usual Italian airports for the Dolomites (Bergamo, Venice etc). Eur700 return for 4 people from Verona (should be less from Venice) doesn't seem too bad for a private transfer when compared to public transport, eur100 less to Selva.
https://www.verona-airport-transfers.com/
I know you don't want to drive but the route to Corvara from Innsbruck is easy, no high passes or really windy roads.
You can get the train to several Bs... Brunico (aka Bruneck) which is maybe 45mins to Corvara or Bressanone (aka Brixen), further to Corvara but closer to Selva.
Personally I'd look at flying to Venice from there you can get a private transfer or the Cortina Express then taxi from Cortina so can keep your options open.
We like Corvara but TBH you can't go wrong with either that or Selva. There are a couple of mid range ski in/out places near the Arlara lift which is about 10 mins walk into Corvara.
IMO Madonna is a nicer, livelier town but if you're all intermediates the Sella Ronda area is better skiing.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Beware of using cortina express for transferring to/from Alta Badia. Only 1 bus a day connects via Cortina to/from alta badia. If you use taxi between alta badia and cortina, then you have more options (3 or 4 busses) between cortina and venice.
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This is a bit like our usual ski trip (Madonna) vs this years (Alta Badia).
We do love Madonna and if you can get a flight to Verona then it is a really easy & cheap shared transfer with these guys https://www.flyskishuttle.com/en/ , used for three return journeys and no issues at all. They also do a pickup at a couple of the Milan airports but with less frequency. The town itself has lots of good bars & restaurants. You'll find a few hotels right at the base of the lifts, but most of the hotels are a short walk with many offering a shuttle service to the lifts. It's my wifes favourite ski place and after a 2 year break, I'm guessing we'll be heading back next year.
A few years ago we went to La Villa and did the outbound leg using trains & the public bus. Journey was along the lines described by @jimmybog, but catching a train from Verona to Fortezza, onwards to Brunico then local bus to La Villa. Dirt cheap, ran like clockwork, but it does add quite a few extra hours on. Our return was La Villa to Venice, using Cortina Express. (Loved the slopes, less so the town - very busy main road + no real bars).
This year we're off to San Cassiano. My wife didn't fancy retracing the public transport route from Verona to Alta Badia & a taxi was going to be too expensive. Ended up booking with https://www.suedtirolbus.de/ for our outbound leg, price is quite a bit more than the comparable transfer to Madonna, but the schedule seems to offer a lot more flexibility. End of our trip we are using Cortina Express to get from San Cassiano to Venice, off top of my head pickup is 9.30 -> 10.30 arrive Cortina / 11.15 depart Cortina -> 13.15 arrive Mestre train station. Book in advance and you can pick up a single for 15euros, with prices rising as more seats are booked.
When I was booking up I did a bit of research into the other Sella Ronda resorts, it's possible to get a shared transfer to Arraba (https://www.arabba.it/en/info-events/info/arabba-transfer/81-0.html) but couldn't find one for Selva.
Can't speak for the wider Sella Ronda area but hotel availability around Alta Badia does seem to go quickly. Quite a few hotels we were interested in had been booked up by late October, early November. Keep an eye out when you are booking, lots of places offer something along the lines of an extra day free when it comes to accommodation, lift pass & ski hire if going early to mid January or late March.
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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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@surferrosa, Selva or Corvara would match your requirements exactly, but as others have mentioned, you need to check carefully the location of the accommodation as not all is close to the lifts and very little is ski-in, ski-out. Of course the better located places come at a premium and book out early with regular customers, particularly at peak times.
Colfosco is also very well situated with quite a lot ski-in, ski-out, but very quiet of an evening.
Arabba also worth a mention, with same caveat about exact location, though it is a bit more compact. The lifts are near the top end of the village.
There are other bases with direct links into the Sella Ronda system that will be cheaper (like for like) than all the above such as Canazei, Alba, Campitello, La Villa, San Cassiano, Santa Cristina, Ortisei, etc. Same caveat applies.
You can save a lot by flying into Italy, hiring a car (cheap hire at Italian airports in winter) for the transfers and staying Airbnb a short drive away from the lifts, but I can understand the reluctance as it adds a layer of faff and risk.
Flying to Innsbruck, getting private transfers and a well-situated hotel in Selva won't come cheap, but will be a more seamless experience.
You can always check back here with an accommodation name and someone will tell you how easy it will be to get to the lifts.
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Thanks all for your suggestions, very helpful. I've had a quick look at packages and Crystal have some viable options for Selva, unfortunately their Corvara offerings seem more pricey. Inghams are just very expensive all round (which is a shame as they used to be my go-to for booking ski holidays in the past). We've booked with Sunweb for the last two trips and I've been very impressed with them, although we just book hotel and lift pass and then organise our own flights and transfers. Does anyone know when Sunweb will be releasing next winter's holidays as you still can't book for then yet?
Flights to Venice are cheap with BA and one of them links quite nicely with the Cortina Express with a connecting bus to Corvara (assuming that next years timetable will be similar to this years). Will also look into private transfers too.
Anyway, we still have a holiday to Montgenevre to look forward to in March so will probably look at booking the Dolomites trip after that!!
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