Val Gardena and Val di Funes

We stayed at Aparthotel La Tambra in Santa Cristina in June for 3 nights. Absolutely loved it. The food was fabulous (best pizza I’ve ever had, and best steak my husband ever had), rooms with balconies were wonderful, great breakfast. There is free guest parking across the street and free washing machines available for guests. They had hiking poles available for use. We had a car and drove to the Col Raiser lift and Ortesei with no problem. There are big parking lots and garages available. You pay to park, but the prices are 0.5-1.0€/hour. Your hotel will also give you a free bus pass, if you choose to take the bus (which we did one day to Ortesei).

We liked Santa Cristina more than Ortesei because it’s a much smaller village and felt more authentic. Ortesei felt more ritzy and Disneyland-esque. Definitely more crowded. But lots more shops and restaurants. But if you have a car you can easily drive between the villages in less than 10 minutes.

We took the Col Raiser, Seceda and the Mont Seuc lifts. You can do walks of varying intensities from each. The views from each are completely different, and each are spectacular and completely worth while.

We also stayed in St. Christina and preferred it to Ortisei, for the same reasons travel4fun noted. We stayed in a family owned and run b and b style place, the Garni Ariston, which we can recommend.

Ortisei has more restaurant choices, so we would go there for dinner.

We’re not hikers, but enjoyed the scenery of driving the passes and taking cable car trips.

Thank you Travel4fun and Paul for the information and recommendations. We'll look into both of those places!
Anne

Both are wonderful valleys to stay in, but Val di Funes is more relaxing as the towns are not nearly as developed as those in Val Gardena. Public parking is available in both valleys so you do not have to worry about leaving your call at your hotel if you want to venture out. The Adolf Munkel trail in Val di Funes is a great hike that will be gorgeous in September. We recently stayed at a mountainside farm called, Lippmoeshof (https://lippmoeshof.it/). It offered incredible views and Pauly, the owner, took us on a beautiful guided hike through the valley. Have an amazing trip!

Kate, thanks so much for your response. Will check this out too!
Anne

Hi there...you will love it all..no matter where you stay. I read as much as I could but really didn't understand it all until I got there and just took it all in and I was in awe! I mentioned this in another post but I spent five nights in Ortesei and five nights in Corvara. I personally did not find Ortesei Disneyland like but definitely it is a little more developed than other areas so I understand... I can guarantee you will not be disappointed wherever you stay. We hiked everyday so we weren't really looking for lots of other things to do in each town and our hotels have dinners although we did not buy the full board. However we ate most of our meals in both of our hotels as we just found them wonderful! Both of our hotels did have sticks and they had backpacks which were very very helpful... And guides in the morning and the groups were five or less and that was a big surprise to me! There are people on this forum that are very well experienced with the dolomites and I think they all love it there so much that again whatever you choose you will be so happy! The proximity to the gondolas and the lifts in Ortesei were a big bonus to me but in Corvara we were able to walk to a couple as well... I wish you well in your travel planning and I'm very travel jealous of anybody that gets to return to the Dolomites as I hope to do next year!

Forgot to add that we stayed in La Perla in Corvara and La Gardena in Ortesei...

Thanks so much for the info Linda!
Anne