High & Dolomitey

Fresh back from a week’s skiing in Italy, and my family, previously wedded to the French Alps, have run away with an Italian Dolomite mistress. As easy to get to as most (1.5 hrs from Innsbruck, a little longer for Venice or Milan) the area is a picturesque string of picture perfect mountain villages connected by a slick network of lifts and 1,000km of runs. Better suited to sedate skiers (there are only a few blacks there, but heliskiing and off piste aplenty) the pistes are set against a stunning rocky and wooded backdrop.

It’s also surprisingly reasonable to eat and drink here (way cheaper than France), and San Cassiano has the greatest cluster of Michelin stars in the Alps, but the clincher for us was the charm of it all. The ancient villages have very little purpose built accommodation (mostly small hotels with sloping snowy roofs that evolved from family houses) which means that they have all retained their historic feel.

I stayed in a recently renovated set of 20 apartments developed by the same family that own the immaculate Rosa Alpina, arguably the best hotel in the Dolomites. The Ciasa Antersies apartments are a clever way of combining the flexibility (and cost saving) of self-catering living with the culinary know-how and service ethic of a five star hotel. The apartments are spacious and elegantly designed and a world away from the boxes you end up in at most French resorts. There is also a brand new spa, excellent breakfasts and a summer yoga club for children. I also challenge you to find more hospitable hosts than Max and Bettina.

With a week for a family four costing around £3,000 (including accommodation, ski hire, passes for all and car hire for the week) and Easyjet flights costing less than £100pp, it is a bargain trip, but in a beautiful part of the world, and in a lovely place to stay. And I hear that summer was better... AP