Val Gardena - Gröden: Ski area guide

Val Gardena is the quintessential Dolomite destination: living Ladin culture, state-of-the-art lifts, a direct link to the Sella Ronda and one of the most famous and technically demanding downhill runs on the World Cup circuit. Come once and you will almost certainly be back.

Three Ladin villages

Val Gardena is not one village but a community of three separate municipalities, each with its own personality.

• Ortisei (St. Ulrich in German) is the main town, the lowest and the liveliest, with a craft tradition going back centuries.
• Santa Cristina (St. Christina) sits in the middle and is the base for the lifts up to Ciampinoi and the Saslong.
• Selva di Val Gardena (Wolkenstein) is the highest village, the most popular with international skiers and the natural starting point for the Sella Ronda.

The Ladin language is part of everyday life. Road signs, restaurant menus and chats at the bar switch easily between Ladin, German and Italian, and that linguistic balance is itself part of the valley’s identity.

The Saslong run

Every December Santa Cristina is transformed: the Saslong run, a Ladin name that simply means ‘the long one’, hosts the men’s World Cup downhill, one of the most eagerly awaited events on the ski racing calendar.

The vertical drop is huge: 1,113 metres from the start gate at Ciampinoi to the finish in the valley, on a course that alternates fast flat sections with steep technical walls that sort out the best. Outside race weeks the run stays open to experienced skiers. Tackling it, even without the racers’ gates, gives you a real sense of what it means to come down at 140 km/h.

The Seceda cable car

Val Gardena’s most famous image is not a ski run. It is the view from the top of the Seceda cable car, at 2,518 metres, over the jagged peaks of the Odle (Geisler), rising from the snow like blades of grey stone.

That view, repeated on millions of screens, postcards and mountain magazine covers, has become one of the visual icons of the Dolomites worldwide. Seceda is more than a ski lift: it is a viewpoint that also draws non-skiers, a natural terrace that is worth the trip on its own.

The Sella Ronda

Selva is one of the four gateways to the Sella Ronda, the legendary circuit of four Dolomite passes (Sella, Gardena, Campolongo and Pordoi) that you can ski in either direction in a single day.

The Ciampinoi lift connects the valley directly with the circuit, linking Val Gardena with Alta Badia to the east and with the Sella Pass towards Val di Fassa to the south. If you want to explore Dolomiti Superski at its most complete, Selva is the ideal starting point.

Woodcarving

Val Gardena’s craft tradition goes back centuries and is still very much alive. Religious statues, carved nativity scenes, animal figures and decorative objects are still made by hand in workshops in all three villages, often by families who pass the techniques down from generation to generation.

The craft shops are a big draw even out of season: in summer you will find workshops open and carvers at work, visible from the pavement.

Getting there

• From Bolzano: take the A22 motorway to the Bolzano Sud exit, then the SS242 up the valley, about 40 minutes.
• From Trento: the natural route runs over the Sella Pass.
• From Munich: a direct drive on the A22 Brenner motorway, about three hours in normal conditions. That explains the large numbers of German and Austrian guests the valley has always had.