Day one: Heathrow –> Venice –> Corvara, Italy
Off to Corvara in Italy – which is in the Alta Badi region of northern Italy and part of the Dolomiti Superski area. The day started with a flight from London to Venice (booked through Opodo).
The flight was delayed for 90 minutes due to fog at Venice Airport – a 90 minute delay on a 1 hour 40 minute flight… and yes, to get to the Alta Badia/Dolomiti Superski area you can fly in to Venice. Seems odd I know. There are a number of airports that ‘serve’ the region, such as Bolzano Dolomiti (100 km / 60 miles), Verona Villafranca (250 km / 150 miles) or Innsbruck (150 km / 90 miles). Based on the drive I did the next day from Corvara to Bolzano Bozen (see later post – driving directions (directions to be taken with a large pinch of salt…)) I would prefer to land at Venice Airport and do the slightly easier drive.
Hertz at Venice Airport were useless. As a ‘Gold Card’ member you should be able to turn up, and everything is supposed to be sorted out, with your name and car location details on a board. Not with Hertz at Venice! Took half-an-hour to get everything sorted out, and when we got to the car it was not was ordered.
The drive from Venice to Corvara is about 200 km (~120 miles), and took us around 3 hours. The first 100 km (~60 miles) was on a very good and fast motor-way and took around an hour. The road had one toll of 4.50 Euros. The second 100 km (~60 miles) was on some of the most windy mountain roads I have ever driven and took 2 hours.
The first sign post to Corvara was at 10 km (6 miles), so use of a map (or a sat nav / GPS) is critical.
In Corvara we stayed in the Ciasa De Munt. It is a very modern hotel with an interesting design – the room we had had an enclosed balcony which had a window looking back in to the bathroom – map it – Google Earth kml file
Ciasa De Munt Hotel, Corvara, Italy
The closest bar to the Ciasa De Munt is the Underground (200 m), popped in for a drink at 7 pm and it was quiet. Returned at 11 pm and it was almost empty map it – Google Earth kml file
That evening we ate in the meal in the restaurant next door to the Underground called the Piz Da Lec, the food was very good – map it – Google Earth kml file
Corvara in Badia, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy – theSnowSite Entry – map it – Google Earth kml file
[...] (60 miles) drive I would take Venice Airport as it was, in my opinion, an easier drive (see earlier post for details). However, I bet it would be a great drive during daylight, but at night, after a hard [...]