St Cristina or San Candido for extra night?
 

We're planning a December do-over for our cancelled 2021 Christmas trip. We've booked tickets and are following the same previously planned itinerary, but have an extra night to work with. We currently have five nights each planned for St Cristina and San Candido, and I'm trying to decide in which village to use that extra night. This is a winter hiking trip. Is there more to see/do/winter hike in St Cristina or San Candido?

Another possibility is to add a sixth night to Salzburg, our base for Christmas, but thinking we might prefer to use it in Italy.

You'd be going from Salzburg to Santa Cristina? In Val Gardena? In the winter?

I did that drive last year but it was late summer, early fall. It's a LONG drive, kind of tiring even with the best visibility and road conditions.

Where would you go after Santa Cristina or San Candido?

Not familiar with San Candido but see that it's a 3 hour drive heading south from Salzburg and then west.

Whereas Salzburg to Santa Cristina is 3.5 hours and you head west, towards Innsbruck and then south, through the Brenner Pass.


For one night after a long drive, after you check in, you might not have much daylight left in December to do anything. They probably have some kind of Christmas market, if not in Santa Cristina, then probably in Ortisei.

Seems like two nights at least to make it worth that kind of drive.

I understand it as a bonus night after 5 nights San Candido and 5 nights Saint Cristina.

I know nothing about winter hiking and haven't been to the Dolomites in winter. If it matters, San Candido is at a much lower elevation... more than 2,000 ft. lower. I didn't think there was much to Saint Cristina, but it's close to Selva and Ortisei.

Yeah Selva and Ortisei definitely have more restaurants and shops than Santa Cristina, which is in between them so it would be a short drive to either.

But maybe in the winter, driving may not be pleasant. I don't know if the roads get ice or snow.

You'd be going from Salzburg to Santa Cristina? In Val Gardena? In the winter?

Yes and no. The full itinerary: Arrive Munich - two nights, then Fuplmes, Austria, five nights, then Mayrhofen, Austria, five nights, then St Cristina, 5-6 nights, then San Candido, 5-6 nights, then Salzburg, five nights, then Munich for one night before departure. Yes, in the winter. We often travel in winter and love it. All by public transport, which we've already looked into.

Jean - yes, it's a bonus night.

We plan to visit the nearby villages as well. Just trying to decide where to add that sixth night.

OK I know winter is their big season in Val Gardena.

Not familiar with San Candido. Santa Cristina is nice but Ortisei and Selva have more amenities -- restaurants and shops, closer to cable cars, probably bigger bus stations.

Maybe restaurants more full with all the skiers staying in those towns. But a lot of places will offer half-board as well.

Alps are better than the Rockies, even in winter?

Alps are better than the Rockies, even in winter?

Yep. And that's from someone who lives in the Rockies, not just near them.

Mel, I think your plan sounds fabulous! FWIW, I'd add the extra night to the destination which has access to more options if the weather doesn't go your way for a day or two - and guessing that would be Sta Cristina.

I don't know if they sell cable car passes in the winter like they do in the summer, when the Val Gardena area is a hiker's paradise.

Certainly they sell ski lift passes and that includes the Alpe di Siusi gondola in Ortisei or Ciampioni in Selva. These are small gondolas so you don't have to go up on a big cable car with a couple dozen other people, many of them in ski gear and boots.

But if it's busy, you may have to share the gondolas, which can hold about 4-6 people comfortably. In the times I visited, in late August and early September, that's never been the case.

Also there is Seceda in Ortisei and you can take that up and walk mostly downhill to the eat towards Santa Cristina and then take the Col Raiser cable car down to Santa Cristina. That is you can do that in the summer, not sure about the winter.

Also the base station for Col Raiser is some distance from the center, though you'd be walking downhill.

The base stations for all the cable cars are near but not in the center of Ortisei, not too far a walk to them. Though maybe there are ski shuttles.

I'd researched the cable car opening times for December 2021 when we first planned this trip...and as luck would have it, our dates this year are exactly the same, so I'm assuming they'll be open. I'll look for the 2022 info in the upcoming weeks.

Thanks dreamon...we're now thinking we might add that night to Salzburg. Lots on offer there and in the Salzkammergut region. We're still waffling.

[Removed a question answered previously.]