Chalet Salvan
When we go on holiday, we normally like to stay in a 4 star hotel with a pool and plenty of other facilities but the cost of doing this in Selva was just too much for us. To be honest, most of the 3 star hotels were out of our budget as well! We ended up choosing the Salvan because it was close to the village centre and looked like good value for money. It is a Crystal/Thomson hosted chalet and includes breakfast, a packed lunch, afternoon tea and cakes and a 3 course dinner with wine 6 days a week so we decided this would make up for having no pool etc. It turned out to be a great decision as we hardly spent any money on food or drink during the week. The girls who ran the chalet were really friendly and helpful and the food was frankly gorgeous (and this comes from a fussy eater). It was so nice to be able to come in from a long day of walking and relax outside with a cup of tea and a slice of cake and the tiny dining room meant there was always someone to talk to at mealtimes.
The bedrooms were fairly basic though, but fine for the price - we were in room 6 which is a twin room in the eaves with balcony. Sadly the balcony was in the shade so it was too cold to use but we could use the table outside the main door instead if we wanted to sit out. Being in the eaves made the configuration of the room a bit awkward and it took us a little while to get used to the low ceilings - this was particularly a problem in the bathroom as the bath was tiny and only has a showerhead attachment, not a proper shower. All of this was more than manageable for a week though. There is a drying room where you can leave clothes and boots to dry off if necessary. There are books and games for you to use on a wet day and an honesty bar if you'd rather have a beer with your dinner. The rooms do have TVs, but they didn't have any English channels so we only used them for looking at the Italian weather forecasts.
The chalet's location is very good, on the edge of town but only a minute from the nearest bus stop and 2 minutes from the Ciampinoi lift. The tourist office and village centre are less than 10 mins walk away. The main path to the chalet is very steep but you can avoid this by taking the old train line path which runs just below it. There are lots of bars and restaurants near the chalet - on our chalet hosts' night off we went to the Costabella restaurant and had some lovely Tirolean dumplings and Wiener Schnitzel. We found food and drink prices were quite high, even in the supermarkets, and were even higher in the mountain huts (2 Apple Strudels, a hot chocolate and a bottle of water were 12 euros).
Things to do
One of the first things we did after arriving in Selva was to buy a 6 day Valgardena Card At 76 euros each, this wasn't a cheap purchase but it pretty much covered all our sightseeing for the week. In 2011, it included unlimited use of the 11 cable cars/chair lifts in the Val Gardena Valley, plus unlimited use of the local buses. Our main goal was to go on all 11 lifts and we managed this easily - going on some lifts more than once. Here's some info on each of the lifts:
- Ortisei-Alpe di Siusi Cable car - by far the busiest lift we went on and the restaurant at the top was rammed. Amazing views over the Alpe de Siusi. From here you can take the Sole chairlift down the other side and carry on walking to the other side of the plateau.
- Ortisei-Rasciesa Funicular - not far from the Furnes-Seceda cable cars - take the escalators from the centre of Ortisei if you want to cut out some of the uphill walking to get to the base station.
- Ortisei-Furnes-Seceda Cable cars - this starts out with a normal small cable car before you have to transfer to a much bigger (and less frequent) one for the second stage of the journey. We found it much quieter after 3pm. There are views of the whole valley from the top and you are likely to see marmots on the rocks immediately below the top station.
- Fermeda-Seceda Chairlift - this was our favourite chairlift as it seemed much faster than the other ones and is a really easy way to get between the Col Raiser and Seceda lifts.
- S. Cristina-Col Raiser Cable Car - the restaurant at the top does excellent apple strudel and has great views across the valleys.
- Chairlift S. Cristina-Monte Pana-Mont Sëura Chairlifts - these are great for a warm, sunny day, but wrap up well as it can get cold when you're going up. They normally close for an hour over lunch time.
- Selva Gardena-Ciampinoi Cable car - right in the heart of Selva - you can easily walk from here to the top of the S. Cristina-Monte Pana-Mont Sëura Chairlifts.
- Selva Gardena-Dantercëpies Chairlift - this is a bit of a walk out of Selva up a steep hill but will allow you to get into the neighbouring Passo Gardena valley if you want to. The Cir Chairlift at the top was closed this summer.
- Passo Sella-Forcella Sassolungo Cable car (aka Coffin lifts) - this was our favourite cable car of the week. The individual pods look like upright coffins and you have to throw yourself into them (with the help of the staff) and then be prepared to stand for the whole trip. Unfortunately it looks like this cable car is being replaced with something more modern later this year so summer 2011 may be the last chance to try this unique experience. Highly recommended (as long as you're not scared of heights)!
As you might imagine, there are loads of different walks in the area - so the best thing I can do is recommend you get hold of a walking map from the Tourist Office and pick routes based on your ability and interests. We would often choose easy walks that headed down the valley and then get the bus back at the end of the day - but there are plenty of much more challenging routes including Via Ferrata if that's what you're after. If you're not into walking/scenery then all 3 villages have a variety of shops and the museum in Ortisei is quite interesting. We didn't make it to Bolzano as we decided the journey of 2 hrs each way was a bit too long. We also didn't have time to go to the Mar Dolomit swimming pool in Ortisei which would be a good option in bad weather. There are various places where you may be able to get internet access but we never managed to find any computers that were actually available to use so it's probably best not to rely on being able to get online.
Overall, we had a really great time in Val Gardena and would recommend it to anyone who likes hearty food, scenic walking and cable cars.
Thomson/Crystal Excursion Prices as at July 2011
- Bindelweg & 4 Valleys - 36 euros
- Lake Garda - 32 euros
- Local wine tasting - 10 euros
- Venice - 56 euros
- Merano & Trautmannsdorf - 27 euros
- Cortina and the Five Tpwers - 36 euros
One of the first things we did after arriving in Selva was to buy a 6 day Valgardena Card At 76 euros each, this wasn't a cheap purchase but it pretty much covered all our sightseeing for the week. In 2011, it included unlimited use of the 11 cable cars/chair lifts in the Val Gardena Valley, plus unlimited use of the local buses. Our main goal was to go on all 11 lifts and we managed this easily - going on some lifts more than once. Here's some info on each of the lifts:
- Ortisei-Alpe di Siusi Cable car - by far the busiest lift we went on and the restaurant at the top was rammed. Amazing views over the Alpe de Siusi. From here you can take the Sole chairlift down the other side and carry on walking to the other side of the plateau.
- Ortisei-Rasciesa Funicular - not far from the Furnes-Seceda cable cars - take the escalators from the centre of Ortisei if you want to cut out some of the uphill walking to get to the base station.
- Ortisei-Furnes-Seceda Cable cars - this starts out with a normal small cable car before you have to transfer to a much bigger (and less frequent) one for the second stage of the journey. We found it much quieter after 3pm. There are views of the whole valley from the top and you are likely to see marmots on the rocks immediately below the top station.
- Fermeda-Seceda Chairlift - this was our favourite chairlift as it seemed much faster than the other ones and is a really easy way to get between the Col Raiser and Seceda lifts.
- S. Cristina-Col Raiser Cable Car - the restaurant at the top does excellent apple strudel and has great views across the valleys.
- Chairlift S. Cristina-Monte Pana-Mont Sëura Chairlifts - these are great for a warm, sunny day, but wrap up well as it can get cold when you're going up. They normally close for an hour over lunch time.
- Selva Gardena-Ciampinoi Cable car - right in the heart of Selva - you can easily walk from here to the top of the S. Cristina-Monte Pana-Mont Sëura Chairlifts.
- Selva Gardena-Dantercëpies Chairlift - this is a bit of a walk out of Selva up a steep hill but will allow you to get into the neighbouring Passo Gardena valley if you want to. The Cir Chairlift at the top was closed this summer.
- Passo Sella-Forcella Sassolungo Cable car (aka Coffin lifts) - this was our favourite cable car of the week. The individual pods look like upright coffins and you have to throw yourself into them (with the help of the staff) and then be prepared to stand for the whole trip. Unfortunately it looks like this cable car is being replaced with something more modern later this year so summer 2011 may be the last chance to try this unique experience. Highly recommended (as long as you're not scared of heights)!
As you might imagine, there are loads of different walks in the area - so the best thing I can do is recommend you get hold of a walking map from the Tourist Office and pick routes based on your ability and interests. We would often choose easy walks that headed down the valley and then get the bus back at the end of the day - but there are plenty of much more challenging routes including Via Ferrata if that's what you're after. If you're not into walking/scenery then all 3 villages have a variety of shops and the museum in Ortisei is quite interesting. We didn't make it to Bolzano as we decided the journey of 2 hrs each way was a bit too long. We also didn't have time to go to the Mar Dolomit swimming pool in Ortisei which would be a good option in bad weather. There are various places where you may be able to get internet access but we never managed to find any computers that were actually available to use so it's probably best not to rely on being able to get online.
Overall, we had a really great time in Val Gardena and would recommend it to anyone who likes hearty food, scenic walking and cable cars.
Thomson/Crystal Excursion Prices as at July 2011
- Bindelweg & 4 Valleys - 36 euros
- Lake Garda - 32 euros
- Local wine tasting - 10 euros
- Venice - 56 euros
- Merano & Trautmannsdorf - 27 euros
- Cortina and the Five Tpwers - 36 euros
Thanks Corinne, I enjoyed your reports.
OH has been nagging me this afternoon to take off down to the mountains for a few days to get away from the heatwave that we are suffering from at the moment (34° today). It's a few years since I was in Val Gardena in summer, might be an idea
OH has been nagging me this afternoon to take off down to the mountains for a few days to get away from the heatwave that we are suffering from at the moment (34° today). It's a few years since I was in Val Gardena in summer, might be an idea
I don't think I like the sound of coffin lifts!
Hope Judith's heatwave lasts - I'll be in Bavaria 2 weeks tomorrow!
Hope Judith's heatwave lasts - I'll be in Bavaria 2 weeks tomorrow!
Steve
It's 11c and raining today, a drop of 23° from yesterday's 34c. New snow in the mountains, bring your skis
It's 11c and raining today, a drop of 23° from yesterday's 34c. New snow in the mountains, bring your skis
another week to go yet!
I don't mind the snow as long as I can see - last year it was low cloud all week. And after Bavaria I'm going down to the Vinschgau where the sun is still out!
I don't mind the snow as long as I can see - last year it was low cloud all week. And after Bavaria I'm going down to the Vinschgau where the sun is still out!
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