Andalo is where all the cool kids will be going in winter 2022, trust us

Written by Susan Riley

Whether you ski or snowboard, the Italian Dolomites are perfect for your next trip to the slopes, says Stylist’s Susan Riley. 

Out of all the celebrities I envied in lockdown 2020, Melissa Joan Hart was top of my list (stick with me). Instagram kept showing me her at her Lake Tahoe home, surrounded by snowscapes and soul-soaring views and I remember thinking to myself: why aren’t I Sabrina the Teenage Witch? Because snowy mountains are my happy place and over the last few years I’ve missed the sanctity they bring to my life.

Like plenty of us, it’s been a few seasons since I strapped on my snowboard bindings, so I was looking for a genteel resort to ease back into some wide red runs. I found the Dolomites the perfect place to do it.

A mountain range so majestic it’s been a Unesco World Heritage site since 2009, the Dolomites is a mammoth region to get your head around. It’s made up of several provinces and cultures (many places have both Italian and Austrian names and the region is trilingual, speaking Italian, German and a smidgeon of the ancient language Ladin) that combine to make up the world’s largest network of lifts and slopes. That’s a heady 12 ski resorts, 450 lifts and over 1,200km of trails, which if you’ve got the time and calf muscles to do so, you can work around courtesy of a single ski pass called the Dolomiti Superski ski carousel. 

Andalo ski resort is like a picture perfect postcard

The Dolomites boasts 12 ski resorts, 450 lifts and over 1,200km of trails

With only three nights to play with, we went for the super accessible Andalo, part of the Paganella plateau in Italy’s Trentino region, which is only a 70-minute transfer from Verona airport (between December and April, ski shuttles also link from Bergamo, Venice and Milan – all of which are cheaper to fly into than the traditional French and Swiss ski hotspots).

We arrived at night, when Andalo is at its charming best. Fairy lights are strung everywhere and just 30 minutes after checking into the topically named Hotel Corona (corona translates as crown in Italian, a far more regal meaning), we were drinking our first glass of local fizz Trentodoc surrounded by twinkly lights like it was Christmas.

By day, Andalo is compact and walkable, with Hotel Corona – a modern glass and wood design with a bouji indoor-outdoor pool and sauna/steam room in the basement – a convenient eight-minute walk from the bottom of the slopes. 

On-piste, beginners will love it here. The boot and locker hire is slick and quick, right next to the gondola, and once you’re up there are 12 blue slopes and scores of instructors, with a smattering of learning slopes halfway up the mountain so you’re not banished below the treeline. Beyond that, there’s also 17 reds to play with but – daredevils be warned – only one black. For guaranteed peak conditions, February is the best time to ski here and we lucked out, encountering perfect blue-sky days with soft powder and absolutely no ice. When every single cloud had cleared, we also caught sight of Lake Garda shimmering in the distance.

For an al fresco lunch there’s no better place than the terrace of rustic mountaintop restaurant Rifugio la Roda, right at the resort’s peak. With Hugos (a local aperitif of prosecco, elderflower and mint) and Aperol spritzes being served by the coolest bartender in town – his twizzled moustache is epic – you can expect an experimental twist on the usual mountain fare of melted cheeses and croutes. Case in point: deer bresaola millefeuille with creamed ricotta, red turnip mayonnaise and yoghurt crisps (your average-sounding starter, then), and a spectacular risotto with blueberry, parmesan cheese ice cream and juniper essence. One day we were even offered zebra steak as the special of the day. Like I said, not your standard offering at 2,000 feet.

Elsewhere the cuisine is Mediterranean meets German. One night we went to a pizzeria where the staff were wearing Austrian national dress; the menu serving up pizzas on one side and hearty polenta dishes and strudel on the other. As for après-ski, it’s thin on the ground. Thanks to Covid restrictions when we visited in February 2022, street bar gatherings and discos were a no-no and our search for nightlife could only take us to the late-night Chalet Tower pub, with its generous measures and tiny dance floor. Even in normal times, I can’t imagine Andalo is a party town and most people we saw hung out in their hotels for dinner, drinksand card games. This is a chilled ski town in which to take it easy. 

An impressive view from the Corona Dolomites Hotel

Susan thoroughly enjoyed her time in Italy’s Trentino region

Twice a week you can night ski followed by dinner at mountain hut Rifugio Dosson, or take a sunset snowshoe excursion and dinner at Refugio Meriz. We went on a sunset snowcat experience, a rather random jaunt where you pay to accompany a piste basher as they comb the slopes once they’ve shut – which is the alpine equivalent of accompanying a cabbie round the streets of London. We made ours memorable by turning up the power ballads and getting our very game driver to stop off en route for a Trentodoc, but if you fancy a snowcat ride, get one to a picturesque restaurant such as Casina Bruniol or Baita Pineta and revel in the magic of the mountains when no one else is around.

Also new in town is wellness centre AcquaIn, complete with swimming pools and ice rink, but you don’t come to this part of the world to be indoors. Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing are big here ,and the summer months see hoards of bikers and hikers all set to explore the waters of Lake Molveno and the trails of the Adamello Brenta Natural Park.

Should you go? Most definitely. The views are epic, the people are delightful and for a nature-soaked snowboarding trip, I will definitely return to explore more of this region. Not to mention I’m 100% a Trentodoc convert. Prosecco, who? 

Double rooms at the Corona Dolomites Hotel, B&B, from £96

Six-day skipass(online booking 5% discount) is £212 adults (full price). The skipass price list changes depending on the period and the age. You can find more at paganella.net

Six-day ski hire (online booking 10% discount) from £99 to £159 for ski boots and skis (full price) depending on the equipment level @visittrentino

Covid passes are required to be scanned each day to activate your lift pass; FFP2 masks are required in public spaces and you need third party liability insurance on the slopes. 

Images: Fototeca Trentino Sviluppo S.p.A. Photograph by Valerio Banal/courtesy of Corona Dolomites Hotel

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