Hotel In Ortesi During Ski Season- recommendations please!

For skiing, I prefer Selva, just up the road from Ortisei. Hotel Oswald for higher end, Hotel des Alpes is a 3-star more or less across the street. I am staying with a group at the Hotel Antares, a 4-star further up the road in January.

Sam! Hello from Bend, Oregon...

I'd love to hear more about why you prefer Selva over Ortesi. We're kind of flying blind here in terms of snow/terrain, having only ever been to the Dolomites in the Fall. One year in Ortesi, last year over in Sesto. We just thought Ortesi had a bunch of lifts available, and high terrain up Seceda. We did go up the Gondola to Col Raiser and did some hiking and it looked like there were lifts up there as well. That is closer to Selva. But I'm all ears! My husband is an expert telemarker and can pretty much ski anything; I'm a blue groomer at this point. Any advice would be welcome....

Eileen

I like Selva because it is on the Sellaronda. You can go clockwise or counterclockwise, but you go through all four valleys coming out of the Sella Massif and end up where you started. It takes the better part of a day. I would recommend clockwise as the first run after the gondola down to Corvara is gentle and quite beautiful.

Another special run is to take the same way to Corvara, then cut across the Pralongia Plateau (gentle skiing like the Alpe di Siusi) to the hotel Armentarola. There you get in line to take a cab or bus to the top of the pass at Lagazuoi. Then take the cable car to the top and there is a long, isolated run back towards Armentarola that is absolutely spectacular. There are a couple of rifugios along the way for stops. At the end, there is a horse-drawn ski tow to take you over the flats back to Armentarola. It is a sleigh drawn by a pair of alpine-breed horses with 3 long ropes with knots tied every few feet. You grab a spot on the rope, pay the man (about 5 EUR these days), and when all the spots are taken, giddy-up and you get pulled back to Armentarola.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAKxmFtTLZg

Yes, I have skied at Mt Bachelor several times a few years ago.

Wow! Thank you for the tip about circling the Sellaronda. We did some research and that looks very special… even if we stay in Ortesei, we’ll take a day to do that tour. Amazing!

Yes, even if you stay in Ortisei it is easy to catch the bus up to one of the start points for the Sellaronda.

If you are going to ski then finding a town that his higher in elevation will serve you well in terms of snow quality and access to more terrain. Ortisei is fairly low compared to much of the Dolomiti Superski terrain and will be more hit-or-miss in terms of snow cover, even though snowmaking helps a lot in this regard.

I'd recommend Corvara in Badia, which is over Passo Gardena from the Ortisei-Val Gardena area. It has elevation, accessibility, great dining, and great hotels. No, it's not the postcard mountain village in the same way as Ortisei, but the skiing will be far better.

I highly recommend the Hotel Gran Fanes in Corvara: great people, excellent restaurant for breakfast and dinner, super onsite spa.

Also: when in the winter are you going? Best snow is in February and March.

The elevation of Selva is almost exactly the same as Corvara.

Well check out Corvara…though I really do like the whole Ortisi-Selva/ Selva corridor ! The top of Col Raiser, at least in the fall, is really special. While my husband can pretty much ski anything, I’m in it for the view. But thank you, I’ll spend some time checking out Corvara!

Oh, and we are going mid February…. We’ll be in that area around d Feb. 20.