Where to stay in the Dolomites for skiing, valley by valley

The Dolomites are not one resort but a dozen valleys on a single pass. Dolomiti Superski joins 12 ski areas — about 1,200 km of slopes and 450 lifts, in its own headline figures — and the choice that matters is which valley you wake up in. Each has a different character on skis and a different kind of village.

Most areas open on 4 December 2026 and close on 4 April 2027. Kronplatz opens a week earlier, on 28 November, and closes on 11 April. Cortina had not published its dates when we wrote this.

The valleys at a glance

Slopes as published by each area; the Key hotel we would book in each.

Alta Badia: the Sellaronda from the door

Alta Badia has 130 km of slopes, most of them blue and red, and is the valley for people who like long, wide runs and a good lunch in a mountain hut. It is also on the Sellaronda: 44 km around the Sella massif, 23 of them on skis, about six hours over the Gardena, Sella, Pordoi and Campolongo passes, marked orange clockwise and green anticlockwise. Each December La Villa holds a World Cup giant slalom on the Gran Risa; the next is on 20 and 21 December 2026.

In San Cassiano, Aman Rosa Alpina is the grand hotel, reopened as an Aman in 2025, with the Piz Sorega lift a short walk away. Lagació, at Micurá de Rü in the same village, has twenty-four apartments with kitchens and serves breakfast only, which suits skiers who want to eat in the huts at lunch and in the village at night.

Val Gardena and the Alpe di Siusi

Val Gardena is the busier, livelier valley, with its own stretch of the Sellaronda and the Saslong, where the World Cup men race a super-G and a downhill each December — on 18 and 19 December in 2026. From Ortisei, cable cars go up to the Seceda and to the Alpe di Siusi. Gardena Grödnerhof, a family hotel in the village since 1923, has Anna Stuben, with one MICHELIN Star, for the evenings.

The Alpe di Siusi has 62 km of slopes on 22 lifts, the gentlest in the network and the best for mixed groups. Cars may use the road up only before 9 am and after 5 pm, with a reservation; the cable car from Siusi takes 15 minutes. COMO Alpina Dolomites is at Compatsch, near its top station, with the Sciliar across the meadow from every balcony.

Kronplatz: one mountain, the longest season

Kronplatz (Plan de Corones) is a single rounded mountain above Brunico with 125 km of slopes and lifts climbing it from every side, including from Brunico itself and from San Lorenzo di Sebato. It is the first of the big areas to open, on 28 November 2026, and the last to close, on 11 April 2027.

Castel Badia, a castle founded in 1039 on a rock above San Lorenzo, is about ten minutes by car from the lifts. Ansitz Heufler, a Renaissance manor at Rasun di Sopra run by the chef Norbert Niederkofler, is the choice for people who ski for the appetite.

Cortina: a town first

Cortina d'Ampezzo is the Dolomites' town rather than a ski village: a pedestrian Corso, shops, the aperitivo and, above it, the Tofane, where the women's alpine races of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics were run in February. The ski area has 120 km of slopes on the Dolomiti Superski count; the local lift company gives 140 km.

Ancora Cortina, on the Corso since 1826 and reopened in 2025, is the hotel for Cortina as a place, with the Tofane and Faloria lifts a short ride away.

The Plose and Meransen: the quiet side

Above Brixen, the Plose has more than 40 km of slopes and the Trametsch, a 9 km run with 1,400 m of descent, one of the longest in South Tyrol. It is far quieter than the Sellaronda valleys. Forestis, at 1,800 m on the mountain's southern slope, is minutes from the ski area and faces the Odle from every window. Across the valley, Milla Montis sits on the Meransen plateau above the Gitschberg Jochtal slopes, part of the same Dolomiti Superski area.

Madonna di Campiglio: the other pass

Madonna di Campiglio, in the Brenta Dolomites of Trentino, is not part of Dolomiti Superski: Skiarea Campiglio Dolomiti di Brenta has its own pass and about 156 km of slopes, joined to Pinzolo since 2011 by the Pinzolo–Campiglio Express, a lift that takes under sixteen minutes. Lefay Resort & SPA Dolomiti, above Pinzolo, is about fifteen minutes by car from Campiglio and has a spa of close to 5,000 m² for the afternoons.