Dolomites/Val Gardena region

Has anyone been to this area recently, in particular Arabba, Selva, Ortisei, Canazei, Val di Fassa, Val Gardena areas?

Its being considered for a future trip. Looking for somewhere with some nightlife, good snow record, mixture of slopes with some nice easy blues as well as more difficult reds to go at within easy reach. The Sella Ronda looks like it might be the prefect kind of area to me, but would welcome input on various places they may have tried.

Many thanks

Went to Val di Fassa this february half term!
We stayed in the pozza area which was very quiet to be honest!
I had some great advantages like the fact that when skiing in that area we didn't cue for a single lift! And i mean literally not a single!
The first day we arrived at the gondola base at about 9 and there was nobody else there in the lift cue! It was fantastic! It also meant obviously that the slopes were empty!
The downside could be seen that there isn't much nightlife but that didn't bother our group as were in the hotel every evening!

From Pozza i skied upto the marmolada and the val gardena area! I enjoyed both these days especially the marmolada trip which was essentially non-stop skiing from about 8.30 till 5.30!

It is very easy to access the gardena area from pozza in two ways! One is to get the free skibus to campitello and ski over or start skiing at pozza at the buffaurae (sp) gondola and ski over to alba then taking the 5 minute bus ride down to canazei and then gondola up, down to the canazei/campitello crossover and gondola to the top of campitello then ski down into selva etc!

I very much enjoyed the area it has some stunning and miles upon miles of runs.
the snow wasn't fantastic when we were there and it was quite warm! I am also lead to believe that the area doesn't receive as good snow as other areas of the alps but i think i would definetly go back again!


Chris

Here's a link to show how empty the "pozza" slopes are!

http://s337.photobucket.com/albums/n376/skiareas/Italy/Val%20di%20Fassa/?action=view¤t=IMG_1808.jpg

Looks fantastic. So quiet too, and gorgeous sunny skies.

yes it was fantastic!

The slopes were like that everyday and i think that photo was taken on a sunday mid morning so one of the peak times!

It is obviously busier over in canazei and campitello but was lovely!

Stayed in Canazei 3 years ago, fantastic trip, the Sella Ronda is well worth a visit.
Best area I'd say was Arabba/Marmolada, closely followed by Selva and Val Gardena.
The scenery is simply breathtaking.

The scenery is stunning and the skiing is excellent. We stayed in Corvara. German is widely spoken in this area. You can see the mountain caves where the Italians and Germans faced each other during the first World War!

The history is fascinating, the area was Austrian until after WWI.
10,000 soldiers were killed by avalanches (many set off deliberately) during the winter of 1916 alone. This was just as much the front line as the trenches of France and Belgium and just as brutal. Such a stark contrast to the breathtaking beauty of the area.

I tried a to book a Dolomite four day break last march, but it was impossible to book hotels independent of the tour operators. So we went to passo tonale instead.