Alta Badia

Alta Badia is a group of Ladin villages in the heart of the Dolomites, known for gentle, sunny skiing and an extraordinary concentration of good mountain restaurants. It is a wonderful base for the famous Sella Ronda circuit.

The Moviment parks, free once somebody holds a pass. Moviment is the joint operation of the Alta Badia lift companies and its own site is unambiguous about the money. The parks and the equipment are completely free of charge and open to everybody. You need a lift pass to ride up to them and nothing at all once you are there.

The Rit to Biei toboggan run, La Val. The one piece of sledging in this valley that needs no ticket of any kind. You walk up from the centre of La Val on trail number 6, roughly an hour, past the church of Santa Barbara and then left through the hamlets of Ciablun, Runch and Biei. The run starts at Rit lake and comes down 1.8 km to Biei, and the tourist board calls it quite easy and suitable for families.

The Tru dla liosa Foram run, San Cassiano. The bigger of the two toboggan runs, and the run itself costs nothing. What you pay for is the Piz Sorega gondola up to the start at 2,003 m, from where it drops around 466 m back into San Cassiano at 1,537 m. Anybody in the group already holding a ski pass rides up on it for nothing extra.

Seventy kilometres of winter walking trails. The tourist board puts it at more than seventy kilometres of well marked trail for winter walking and snowshoeing, free to walk and spread across all six villages. The one route we could confirm by name is the winter hike from La Val up to the Rit meadows, which heads the same way as the free toboggan run and can be done as one outing with it.

The South Tyrol Guest Pass. The single biggest free thing a guest here will hold, and it arrives with the accommodation rather than with the lift pass. If the hotel or apartment belongs to the Alta Badia tourist association it is issued free on arrival, and it covers every bus on the Alta Badia network and the area around it, explicitly including the ski buses in winter, plus the regional trains between Brennero, Bolzano, Fortezza and San Candido.

Ala descurida dl paisc, the treasure hunt in La Val. A treasure hunt around La Val, with clues hidden about the village and a prize at the end of it, and the whole thing is set up by ringing the La Val tourist office rather than booking anything. It is aimed squarely at a family with children who have had enough of the snow for one afternoon.

The World Cup on the Gran Risa, La Villa. The Gran Risa is one of the proper giant slalom hills on the circuit and it drops straight into La Villa, so the racing is watchable from the side of the piste for nothing. A giant slalom and a night slalom across one weekend in the run up to Christmas, and the night race under the lights is the one to aim for.

Not dla liosa, night sledding at San Cassiano. The Foram run is floodlit for the evening and the Piz Sorega cable car runs from half past seven until half past ten to put people back at the top. You buy either single ascents or a six ride or ten ride card at the cable car ticket office, and sledge hire is a separate transaction at the rental shops around the valley. The meeting point is Str. Sorega 10 in San Cassiano. Price on request.

Horse drawn sleigh rides from La Villa. Two drivers, Erich and Florian, work out of Str. Altin in La Villa through the winter. The standard runs are La Villa to Corvara and back and La Villa to Pedraces and back, and they will do something shorter if there are small children in the sleigh. You ring the driver directly rather than a booking office, which is why the number matters more than the website. Price on request.

Guided snowshoeing with the Alta Badia Guides. The mountain guide office runs snowshoe days alongside the harder end of its list, which takes in freeride, ski touring, steep skiing, winter alpinism, ice climbing and ski safaris. On the easy snowshoe route the snowshoes and poles come with the guide and you bring waterproof boots and a rucksack. Ten people maximum, and five is the minimum for the advertised rate, so a family of four is worth pairing with somebody. There is a second guide on the valley floor, Ingo Irsara at Badia. Price on request.

All 19 picks for Alta Badia, dining included, live in the Ski Snug app.

Venice is about two and a half hours away, with Innsbruck a scenic option over the Brenner.