Flying to Bergamo, Italy - where to go skiing from there?

We are flying into Bergamo (really good deal on flights) at the end of Feb and we would like to give the kids their first taste of skiing, without blowing the bank. Can anyone recommend a good location to go skiing that is not too far from the airport (1 to 2 hours) and has good facilities for kids? We have both skied before but not too advanced so ideally a spot suitable for beginners to intermediate.

We got details of a option inCastione della Presolana (a 3 star hotel is allocated after booking), accommodation is located from 900 mts. a.s.l. and 1300 mts. a.s.l., while ski resorts : Presolana till 1630mts, Monte Pora till 1880 mts, Colere till 2250 mts. The altitude figures are double dutch to me and wonder if anyone could suggest if that altitude would be sufficent to have a reasonably good chance of snow or do we need to go futher north.

Any advice or suggestions will be gratefully appriciated!!

According to Skiclub.co.uk, the following resorts are the nearest:

Italy
[broken link removed] - 3 hours
Livigno - 4 hours
[broken link removed] - 3 hours

Thanks for the reply Bob.

Links you posted were abit too far but appriciate the links!!. I logged onto a ski forum and someone advised me to look at a resort called Foppolo...about 1.5 hours from Bergamo. looks perfect to give my kids a taste for skiing without having to spend a fortune. Happy days !!

livigno is worth the trek its a great spot and dirt cheap when you get there

Hi,
Try Champoluc, in the Aosta Valley, which is located in the Monterosa ski area and was described by the Daily Mail Ski Magazine (Feb. 2006 ) as “Europe's best kept secret - an undiscovered gem”.
"Champoluc is a charming, traditional alpine resort situated in North West Italy in the Aosta Valley. It is 2.5 hours from Bergamo airport. For a relatively small resort is has a remarkable range of quality accommodation and access to over 200 km of extremely scenic and well maintained pistes.
Although barely heard of internationally, Champoluc is very popular with Italian weekenders who drive from Milan and Turin to use the three lift-linked resorts of Champoluc, Gressoney and Alagna. It is perhaps best suited to intermediate skiers. The acclaimed Monterosa ski area rises from the resort to a height of 3,500 m.
The attractions of Champoluc are the lack of queues, its traditional charm and miles and miles of uncrowded pistes. The Reuter's 'Where to Ski and Snowboard Guide' calls it Europe's "best kept secret"

The resort and its nearby resort of San Cassian is offered by the small & friendly family specialist operator Ski-2 http://www.ski-2.com/ (www.ski-2.com/). They offer family friendly accomodation and ski schools for children and families with native English ski instructors(exclusive to their guests) Their prices are quite reasonable and you can fly independently to the resort . They will meet you off your and take you to Champoluc or to San Cassiano, whichever suits your requirements best In Champoluc they have a young childrens nursery, childcare etc. They use family friendly hotels with a variety of budgets. They often have good offers on them (see their web page).
They are considered very focused and professional and get high recommendations from families. I have not skied with them (yet) but know of those who have and were very impressed. They will take a lot of the hassle out of the holiday for you while you still take advantage of the cheap flights. Check them out.
All the best
Marykate

see reviews below

"Roger Robinson (UK, 5 Nov, 2004): A great resort - highly recommended. We travelled with a tour operator called Ski 2 who arrange everything for you at good prices. We booked our own cheap flights but Ski 2 provide transfers to their guests so no hassle with car hire. Took our 2 kids and used the nursery. The ski instruction was excellent and all children commented on how friendly the lessons were.
Find Ski 2 on Google - we had a really graet trip and will be back soon "


F Kerry (London, UK, 3 Mar, 2004): We went to 3 days ski-ing to Champlouc after getting bargain tickets with Ryan Air to Milan Bergamo, we hire a car through Value cars (excellent rate) and it only took 2.5 hours to get there. We stayed in Le Petit Tournalin which was wonderful value with excellent food and service. The rooms were spacious and clean. Ski school and ski hire shop by the lifts were extremly helpful. Restaurants on the slopes were great (apart from some of the loos) and above all the pistes were fairly empty.
The local people speak Italian and French. Don't expect them to speak English. Skiiers are mostly from Italy, but there are also some from the UK and Scandinavia.
The only downside is that there is only one blue run which can only be reached via a red, but the red runs are very kind on the whole. Looking forward to going back!!

Conal (Ireland/France, 21 Feb, 2004): we tried champoluc for the first time this year-and have re-booked for another week! The lifts and infrastructure are just great- no(or nearly no) waiting to get up the hill-moving carpets to ease the jolt of the chair lifts-NO DRAG lifts! the food on the slopes is good home made "Stick to your ribs" sort of stuff -we ate for about E.15( for two )each mid-day.
Hotel le petit tournalin was nice - great value and spotlessly clean-warm-friendly-to be recomended. We have had ski holidays on the other side of the mountain(Zermatt)- and can honestly say, that apart from the mountain restaurants on the Zermatt slopes, champoluc is as good at about one third of the price! I would much rather ski Champoluc for three weeks than Zermat for a week! Since we are on our way back again this year we have voted with our skis.

Hi Sam H

Came across your question on this forum when searching for a similar solution.

Suggest Paso Tonale, it's child friendly, in Trentino region so about 2 1/2 hours max. UK tour operators go there so you can check up in the brochures just for info. or avoid if that's not what you want. (Not been there but know it's on the area you are looking at).

There is a great bunch of friendly people on the forums on the following website:



maybe you should repost your question there and search their forums (or is that fora?)

Word of warning if you plan your route with viamichelin, which I usually use,the journey times they give are just about the quickest you can make it if you drive on the speed limit all the time, so I'd add about 20 mins on for a 21/2 hour drive (plus stops) for a more leisurely drive. Driving on the autostrada is no problem at all and places are generally well signposted.

Enjoy yourself, the Italians love kids in any case.

BR

Mike

Has anyone been to the Dolomites to ski? Val Gardena etc?

Yes, first used Ortisie in 1982 and 1983. Fantastic skiing, but major walking between some ski areas.
This resort is part of the Sella Ronda and then part of the Dolomiti Superski which gives you nearly 1,500Km of slopes, catering for beginners to expert.
Unlike a lot of other resorts where beginners start in the valley on where the nursery slope are located, Ortisie start the beginner to nursery slopes located well into the mountain, accessed by a fantastic cable car ride out of the shadow of the valley into the sunshine and endless mountain vistas on the first day.

Started using Ortisie again in 2005 and have gone back every year since.
Bergamo is a great, small, handy airport. Can be out of departures and on coach in 5-10 min. Have used Ryanair bus which is great if arrival/departure time suits. If the group is large enough, private bus hire is an economic option.
Here is a good contact.
info@taxi-busgardena.com
Tel. +39 0471 796544
Get him to stop at the AutoStrada restaurant about three quarters of an hour from Bergamo, it is a three and a halve hour journey, so the stop is welcome, especialy after the early start from Ireland.
Have taken the train, really to compare standard with CIE. Great way to travel, business class is not expensive, but it is a long journey with several, confusing transfers and a taxi from Bolzano or Chuisa to Ortisie at the end.
You will not be disappointed with Ortisie, which is the nicer of the three ski resorts in that area (Christina and Silva). Here is a link.
http://www.val-gardena.com/eng/page99.html


Like a lot of resorts, don't try to book anything other Sat to Sat, they just don't do it. Own your own, there is no problem getting accommodation at any time of the week, but with a group, stick to the status quo. Regarding accommodation, they usually require a deposit by bank transfer, not credit card. Low cost, but comfortable id available €38 to €55 per night. At the other end the skies the limit.
Ski pass includes access to local pool, which is also one of the better restaurants in town.
There will be very few English speaking people at resort as it is not on the English Tour Operator programs. So it is an opportunity to immerse yourself in a truly continental environment, having said that, there is no problem with language.
This part of Italy was once part of Austria, so Italian and German are both spoken, as are all signage and town names in both German and Italian (Ortisie and St Ulrich are the same place)

Anyway, cannot praise this place enough. Well worth the extra effort to get there.

Thanks a million nconroy - thats a whole lot of information. We've been to loads of places over the years and one of the crew really wants to check this place out so i think we'll be doing it in Feb for 2 weeks. It looks like a good spot and i do enjoy the Italian way of things, nice and chilled out.
Thanks again for all your information - much appreciated.

Great, might see you there. We have already booked the flights for first week in Feb 2010.

We flew to bergamo last year...rented a car and took us three hours to drive to livigno, well worth it you just cant spend your money there (e.g 1.5ltr jim beam whiskey for 10euro) food is cheap and very tasty, and they have some great runs especially mollino side !!!

lots to do and a lovely town even if not skiing.....

Hi,
Just wondering if you have any further advice on Livigno, can you recommend a hotel.. would love to get all hire and passes sorted in advance too...
My husband and daughter would want a few days ski school, not quite sure about myself might just relax... Also how was the drive,
many thanks,
FifiB

If you go into the Livigno tourist website they have lots of information on it re accomodation lifts and passes. We always stayed in chalets or apartments also wait until you go out there to get your ski passes and hire your skis you can often do a deal with them especially now that as they are getting less english tourist because of Sterling drop. It depends on the weather what the roads will be like but if you are nervious about driving you can get a taxi for about 300 euro each way as you wont need a car when you are there as there is a bus running along the village all day.