The world-famous resort of Val Gardena is one in all Italy’s best-loved resorts. Situated within the coronary heart of the breathtaking 360° surroundings of the awe-inspiring Dolomite mountains, it is likely one of the most beautiful ski places on the planet.
The valley is served by quick, fashionable lifts and fabulous cruising terrain and is a part of one of many world’s largest ski areas with 500km of ski runs, inter-connected across the Sellaronda circuit, and all on the Dolomiti Superski elevate go.
Regardless of this large ski space, the communities of Val Gardena are comparatively compact villages with a robust sense of their historical past and heritage, dwelling with tourism as part of their existence, however not swamped by it.
Add into the combination an awesome snowfall document regardless of boasting over 300 days of sunshine yearly and you start to see why Val Gardena is so fashionable with its followers.
The valley is dwelling to a few major villages and simply to complicate issues additional every has an Italian and a German title, with the area mendacity on the “language border” between the 2. Finest recognized is Selva (a.okay.a. Wolkenstein) however there’s additionally Santa Cristina (virtually the identical in German, simply an ‘h’ in Christina) and Ortisei (St Ulrich). There’s even a 3rd language right here, the native mountain Ladin language, however let’s not even go there, easiest to simply name all of it Val Gardena! (…also referred to as Gröden).
I’ve beloved the realm for 4 a long time, having first visited within the mid-Eighties researching some little Italian ski information books for Berlitz and have returned many occasions since. The surroundings, the snow, the sunshine, the meals, the individuals, the worth for cash, oh and the espresso! What’s to not love?
Merely Gorgeous
Surrounded by the wild, lush Puez-Odle Nature Park and boasting the title of a UNESCO World Heritage Web site, Val Gardena gives a panoramic view of the South Tyrolean Dolomites’ summits and the image of the valley, the majestic Sassolungo Group. It’s one of the vital visually spectacular locations on the earth to go snowboarding.
A protracted, very long time in the past, these peaks had been nothing greater than atolls in heat seas, when the realm was beneath one huge ocean. Val Gardena is so distinctive exactly due to its historical, geological historical past: deep seas have given solution to probably the most lovely pink mountains fashioned from historical corals, the Dolomites.
The Snowboarding
There are ski slopes each method you look in Val Gardena, completely interconnected by snug, high-speed lifts. So wherever you keep there’s all the time a valley station from the place you might be whisked up the slopes, the one factor you could determine is which sector you want to head to. All are included within the huge Dolomiti Superski go (of which extra beneath) however should you don’t assume you wish to journey past Val Backyard itself – which is sufficiently big with round 175km of slopes within the valley alone – and sort out such enticements because the Sellaronda (once more, of which extra beneath), there’s additionally a Val Gardena solely go.
A lot of the terrain right here is quick blue and red-graded cruising pistes, all simply sheer pleasure to whizz down with the magnificent surroundings throughout you and loads of attractive pitstops should you’d like a break en route. There’s although, loads of difficult terrain too if that’s extra your cup of tea, with quite a few well-known freeride routes within the area and naturally, the well-known Saslong World Cup downhill ski course the place the world’s finest race every December.
Thought-about one of many 5 “traditional” males’s downhill races together with Garmisch-Partenkirchen’s Kandahar, Kitzbühel’s Hahnenkamm, Wengen’s Lauberhorn and Val-d’Isère’s Criterium, Saslong is notorious for the “Camel Humps”, a sequence of three small jumps which racers should negotiate in fast succession. You possibly can ski them at a slower tempo.
Moreover the huge quantity of downhill snowboarding and boarding, Val Gardena gives 30 km of winter climbing paths and 115 km of cross-country snowboarding slopes.
The World’s Third (or Second?) Largest Ski Space
The ski area that surrounds Val Gardena has lengthy been coy about its dimension, however the whole interlinked terrain is estimated at 500km. Just a bit lower than the three Valleys or Portes du Soleil. Certainly it might be in second place because the Portes du Soleil (which publishes numerous figures between 550 and 650km for its dimension just isn’t totally inter-connected). The reticence the ski space round Val Gardena has for publishing its dimension is maybe all the way down to not wishing to confuse issues with the sturdy Dolomiti Superski model with 1200km of slopes on its go, albeit made up of varied non-linked sectors. However the space Val Gardena inter-connects with pistes and lifts and is essentially held collectively by the well-known Sellaronda ski circuit which acts just like the hub of a wheel from which ski valleys like Badia, Fassa and Gardena radiate off, giving an unlimited selection of terrain.
The World’s Longest String Of Pistes and Lifts?
Now you can additionally ski what’s believed to be the longest and doubtless most outstanding journey from the centre of Cortina d’Ampezzo to the far finish of Val Gardena by piste and elevate without having to take a bus, a distance of greater than 35km (22 miles). The string of inter-connected lifts and trails was accomplished only a few seasons in the past forward of the 2021 Alpine World Snowboarding Championships with gondola and cable vehicles taking you from Cortina d’Ampezzo (accessible by bus or taxi from Val Gardena) to the highest of the well-known Hidden Valley. Ski down this then be part of a (actually) horse-powered drag elevate spherical to the Sellaronda then ski again to Val Gardena.
The Sellaronda
After I first skied the Sellaronda again within the Eighties it was thought to be a full-day tour and also you wanted to be a reasonably good skier to make sure of finishing the circuit in a day. There have been no signposts and my major recollection was of lengthy, pretty flat drag lifts pulling me alongside for what appeared like hours. And the beautiful surroundings. Lately it’s a really totally different affair, for the higher in most respects. Quick, snug queue-gobbling chairlifts have changed the previous drags and anybody with a number of weeks of snowboarding expertise can sort out the circuit confidently in half a day. Certainly there’s a selection of routes, clockwise, anti-clockwise, and choices so as to add problem do you have to want. The one draw back once I visited within the busiest week of the season, over New Yr, was the crowds. There have been lengthy strains even for the 6-seater chairlifts and the slopes themselves had been unpleasantly crowded, so I seemed for alternate options off the circuit itself. There have been normally different choices that had been about 95% much less crowded. The principle factor although, is these beautiful views, together with great ‘mountain huts’ (a few of these grown to palatial dimension buildings) for pit-stops all the way in which across the circuit, stay unchanged.
Selva Gardena
Selva is a comparatively compact resort constructed on a reasonably steep hillside above the Val Gardena Valley flooring. The resort’s streets are lined with outlets, cafes, eating places and a few giant lodges.
It’s a picturesque village with a protracted historical past and a ravishing church within the coronary heart of the village including to the sturdy sense of custom and group. The sensation is that Selva is a spot that has not been overrun by tourism, or been created only for snowboarding, however manages to efficiently co-exist with it.
There’s an atmospheric Christmas market within the coronary heart of the resort in December and January. Wooden carving has been massive in Val Gardena for hundreds of years and also you’ll discover outlets crammed with intricate carvings. The title ‘Selva’ is believed to come back from the Latin and native Ladin language phrase for wooden, “silva”.
Ski lifts ascend from the guts of the resort and are simply accessible from most lodging, with ski slopes operating via the resort centre making it simpler to ski from lodges and chalets to the elevate stations and again all the way down to lodging on the finish of the day.
There’s even a particular pedestrian crossing on the base of the ski slope that runs all the way down to the primary avenue via the guts of the village. When the lights flip crimson for automobiles a barrier on the finish of the slope lifts to permit skiers to cross the street and get on the gondola again up the slopes.
The Meals
In case you’re booked in a chalet or half-board resort it may be straightforward to overlook simply how nice the eating choices in Val Gardena are. However once you do enterprise out you’ll discover many institutions stuffed with Italian households, a certain signal that the meals is nice and the worth superb too. That’s should you get previous the primary café with attractive desserts and naturally unimaginable espresso as quickly as you step exterior your door. La Bula matches the invoice completely, family-run, very busy, reserving important it serves up all of the Italian pasta and pizza favourites to perfection and the whole lot else moreover. On the effective eating finish of the choices, the Restaurant Nives housed inside the Boutique Lodge Nives within the centre of Selva gives some very particular treats, together with a recent tackle the traditional fondue, which works remarkably effectively even should you would possibly assume, as I did earlier than I sat down, “Why mess with the right meal?”. Because the Michelin Information describes it, “a recent, Alpine-style restaurant which focuses on specialities from the native Alto Adige. There are dozen extra choices for all tastes and budgets.
Val Gardena Holidays
Inghams provide a conventional chalet and a wide array of lodges in Val Gardena. For chalet lovers, the corporate’s Chalet Soldanella is nearly ski-in, ski-out with the closest slope about 50 metres from the boot room. The chalet gives quite a lot of rooms, and chalet board catering to avoid wasting on resort prices and is just three minutes’ stroll from the resort centre.
For the approaching winter, 23-24, Inghams have 7 nights from £1219pp Chalet board in Chalet Soldanella. The value contains flights and transfers and is predicated on departure on sixth January 2024.
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