Italian Resort Advice

[concretejungle]

Considering Italy for half term in Feb 2018, in an attempt to find something a bit cheaper than France!

Will have two kids 6 and 8, who will both be competent on blues, and starting to ski reds.

Any recommendations on resorts? Looking at Selva val Gardena at the moment, but open to other options / suggestions.

Conscious all resorts will be busy, so would like to rule out anywhere with poor link lifts (any idea what Santa Cristina is like for access to Selva?)

Thanks

Haven't been to Selva but I love the Dolomites. We've been to a gorgeous little hotel in Alba di Canazei a couple of times which now has a new chairlift so you can ski Ciampac side or over to Canazei. There isn't much in Alba but skiing is a lot quieter in Ciampac.

Have a look at Obereggen. It's a bit further south than Val Gardena and is smaller, but it's beautiful, has a good ski school with English-speaking instructors (although not many British go there) and has plenty of red runs. Lots of lovely 'wellness' hotels in the vicinity. The Seiser-Alm is very nice too and links into the Sella Ronda. Only been there in the summer though. My friend is from there and said it's excellent for beginners, but many locals prefer Obereggen (very easy drive from Bolzano).

We went to Cervinia last year (at Christmas). Not sure how busy it would get at half term, but with the ability to ski over into Switzerland you have a big area open to you. It might be more expensive now due to the exchange rate, but we found it really (surprisingly) reasonable.

We went to Cervinia at Easter and it was great. We also found it really good value. The only downside is that it can suffer high winds (it's really high) so the lifts higher up can be shut.

Italy in general (barring big hitters like Cervinia) will be ridiculously quiet compared to France. Once you've tried it you will not go back :) This is all providing the German schools aren't on holiday then as they are the main client group. Personally I hated the town of Cervinia and really struggled with the altitude.
We had a lovely holiday with our two last year in Cortina. I prob wouldn't recommend it from a money saving POV though. Nor is it family friendly in the usual sense but it does have fab progression slopes at Socrepes which is the whole reason we went.

The really good things about Italy are: excellent food, good and very child-friendly tuition, much much cheaper and in most resorts your 6yo will ski free and the 8yo at a reduced rate. Selva is great but you really need to pick your location with utmost care...Lots of hills. Car best.

Santa Christina home runs are fairly steep I think. With kids I'd go with Selva, Ortisei near the seiser alm gondola or Siusi or stay actually on the alpe.

Just to reiterate what pp said, I think the ski pass for my 6 year old was free provided it was the same days / access area as my adult pass & bought at the same time (in Cervinia).