Does anyone have any recommendations on skiing the Dolomites? We are a family of 4, pretty avid skiers but from I've read, they are not that challenging nor is the snow reliable. But they sure look good on paper!All I'm really looking for is a nice family ski resort, reasonably priced - I don't need world class skiing. Will the Dolomites accomplish this?

Find the web site for VAL GARDENA.

The Val Gardena is wonderful. Great lifts, good all around skiing and wonderful food. Here is the website http://www.val-gardena.com/eng/page4.html

If you have smaller children, the Italians are very child friendly and there are many ski schools with instruction in english.

We are planning to go this year also!

Cheers,
Jan

What about Cortina d'Ampezzo? I'm trying to decide which mountain resort in Italy is the best one to visit. I'm thinking of a 5 day trip to the Italian Alps with my boyfriend, we are looking for great skiing in a warm, italian, fun atmosphere.

Cortina is nice but harder to access and more expensive.

We skied for a week out of Cortina a few years ago. Had a great time. No, the groomed slopes were quite easy and we had to search to find a steep / bumped run. What we enjoyed the most, was how different the whole experience was from skiing in the US. We did a couple of famous "routes" - the Sella Ronda, and the Paso di Falzzarego. The scenery was incredible! We also enjoyed a trip to Kronplatz, about 1 hour away.

Can you compare the "villages" and nightlife between Cortina and Val Gardena? Which mountain offers a more Italian experience?

lttravel - I can't compare the nightlife as I've never stayed in Cortina. But these 2 resort areas are very different in 'feel'.

Val Gardena is effectively across the 'invisible' linguistic and cultural border between Italy and the Austrian Tyrol. Whilst it's still part of Italy, you wouldn't think it. (Italian is the third language in Val Gardena - you will be addressed first in German. So the holiday experience there is 'Austro-Tyrolean' rather than 'Italian'.

That said, personally I much prefer the Val Gardena area to Cortina. There's a wide choice of lifts there and all types of runs - including one of the World Cup runs. And the scenery is spectacular. I believe this area caters to more serious skiers.

Cortina on the other hand has the reputation of attracting a high percentage of 'posers' more interested in showing off their new fur coats and latest top-of the-range gear. More of a place to 'see and be seen' for wealthy Italians ...

The main ski resort for Val Gardena is Selva - which has easy access to the 'Sella Ronda' circuit and lots of other runs. Personally I prefer to stay in Ortisei 20 mins. further down the valley, which has all the charm of a typical Tyrolean resort - with apres-ski bars and attractive restaurants.

Ortisei is connected by skibus to Selva & Santa Cristina - so you have easy access to all the Val Gardena lifts.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

Steve is correct. I also prefer Ortisei, but the area is dotted with wonderful villages.
Cheers,
Jan

We are not ski-ers, but tried it once in Corvara a small town in Alta Badia.

Thank you for all of the help, it looks like Val Gerdena is the one to check out.

Although Val Gardena is in South Tyrol, the German/Austrian province of Italy, it is where they actually speak "Ladin", the third language in South Tyrol. Ladin is more closely related to Latin than Italian, and it is also much older language.

How do you get from Ortisei to the ski areas? Are there any areas that are ski in/ski out? Or is there an easy shuttle service?

DR - There's a frequent shuttle bus from Ortisei to the lifts at Santa Cristina and Selva.

There's a nominal charge for the shuttle - about €2 for the week if I remember ...

Hope this helps ...

Steve