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Guided Botanical Walks in Selva, the Italian Dolomites, June 2008



Selva, at 1600m above sea level, is Lance's favourite botanical area outside Greece. There is access to a veritable cornucopia of beautiful alpine flowers. A wonderful week of exploration in the mountains and pastures of the Dolomites.

See separate page for ITINERARY and PRICES.

SUGGESTIONS FOR YOUR SELVA HOLIDAY

Package Holiday Possibilities

The walk date is based on Saturday flights if going for one week. All packages fly (from a number of regional UK airports) to Verona, Italy. Holiday packages are available with Inghams and Tui (Crystal and Thomson) in their Lakes and Mountains brochures.

Ideally stay near the centre of Selva - convenient for the bus, and supermarkets (only found in central Selva and San Cristina) for picnic supplies. If not possible, to avoid extra walking, stay near to one of Selva's other bus stops (download map as pdf). Check before booking that your chosen accomodation is well placed, since ‘Selva' stretches for five kilometres.

The following, online, prices (July 2008) are per person, based on two people travelling for one week from Gatwick.

Inghams (tel. 020 8780 4433) is the only company to offer BB, at the Garni Sunela. However, most restaurants are in hotels. Crystal offer two "chalets" which are "fully catered" i.e. all meals included. The rest of the choice is 3 or 4 star HB hotels, e.g. Anterleghes £540 HB.

Tui - Crystal (tel. 0871 231 5661) are also bookable online now - eg £540 for the Chalet Salvan including all meals.

Hotels are listed below, with a note about their positions in relation to the Oswald meeting place. Times are for brisk walking and are our best guesstimates from our recall of our time there. Please download map as pdf.

Acadia Reasonably central. 8 mins www.acadia.it
Alpino Plan 5 mins to nearest bus stop, but 25 mins to Oswald bus stop www.hotel-alpino.com
Anterleghes At a bus stop. 15 mins to Oswald bus stop www.val-gardena.com/hotel/anterleghes/
Armin Central www.hotelarmin.com
Chalet Salvan Reasonably central. 15 mins  
Chalet Vanadis Central. 5mins  
Continental Steeply uphill from the centre. 20 mins downhill. www.hotelcontinental.org
Garni Sunela 15 mins, uphill, from Oswald bus stop www.sunela.com
Granvara Not suitable. In La Sëlva hamlet, 2km up unpavemented road. www.granvara.com
Ingram 100m to nearest bus stop, 22 mins to Oswald bus stop www.val-gardena.com/hotel/ingram/
Linder Central. 5mins www.linder.it
Miravalle not popular with our past walkers www.hotelmiravalle.it
Oswald Central www.hoteloswald.com
Pralong Along road to Plan. 18 mins from Oswald bus stop www.val-gardena.com/hotel/pralong/
Rodella Not suitable. 25+ mins from Oswald bus stop. www.rodella.it
Serena Reasonably central. 10 mins www.val-gardena.com/hotel/serena/
Sporthotel Gran Baita Reasonably central. 6 mins www.hotelgranbaita.com
Tyrol Reasonably central. 9 mins www.tyrolhotel.it


Singles available at some of the hotels – but book early, only one or two at each. A variety of lake and city 2-centre and 10- or 11-day holidays are available.

Do-It-Yourself

 You can fly to North Italy extremely cheaply, and use carhire (from £135 per week), or public transport (returns €29 by bus, from €34 by bus and train, in 2008), to resort. Accommodation in Selva is bookable via the excellent town website or on arrival in resort via the tourist information centres.

diagram of public transport routes to Selva Val Gardena


The rail journey from Venice to Bolzano goes via Verona, making Verona-Catullo (VRN) airport the most convenient to fly into. If you were having a hire car from the airport, then Venice MarcoPolo (VCE) has a bigger selection of flights.

British Airways (www.ba.com) fly to Verona-Catullo (VRN) airport. Go early enough in the morning to have the day to get to Selva, and fly home late in the evening. Then, on your return journey you should have time to spend the afternoon in Verona or Bolzano. Prices may be as low as £79. Bookable online 350 days in advance.

EasyJet (www.easyjet.com) fly to Venice MarcoPolo (VCE). From BRS, EMA, LGW - two flights a day (July 2008).

Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) fly to Venice-Treviso (TSF) and Verona-Brescia (VBS) airports. Go early, come back late, to TSF. However, VBS times are less convenient, unless you wish to overnight in Verona.

EasyJet and Ryanair flights for summer 2009 should be available online around December 2008. Thomsonfly (www.thomsonfly.com) fly to Venice VCE, and other charter flight companies fly to Verona VRN and Venice VCE.

Catch a bus from the airport to a rail station such as Verona-PortaNuova (or Mestre in Venice), then train(s) to Bolzano, then bus to Selva-Val Gardena.

Alternatively, in summer 2008 the bus company Terravision (www.terravision.eu) had Friday-Monday services from Verona-Catullo airport to Selva – €17 single, €29 return – bookable online at http://coachtv.ibooking.com.

Bus from the airport ("F.S." in timetables = rail station)

The bus company APTV (www.apt.vr.it) has buses from Verona-Catullo airport to Verona PortaNuova Rail Station. €4.50 one-way in 2008.

The bus company ATVO (www.atvo.it) has buses from Treviso airport to Mestre Rail Station and vice-versa specifically to coincide with Ryanair flights. €6.00 one-way in 2008. ATVO also has services from Venice-MarcoPolo airport to Mestre and Venice Rail Stations.

Local bus company ACTV (www.actv.it) has services from Venice-MarcoPolo to Mestre and Venice Rail Stations.

The bus company CGA (www.cgabrescia.it) has buses from Verona-Brescia airport to Verona PortaNuova Rail Station. €11.00 one-way in 2008.

The Castelrotto bus company Silbernagl (www.silbernagl.it) has buses from Munich airport (€48.00) and rail station (€40.00) to Val Gardena. Prices one-way for 2008.

Train to Bolzano

See Trenitalia's website (www.trenitalia.it) which will give you times and details of where you may need to change train, and the prices. Prices vary according to the category of train, so the same route at different times of day will have different prices (Verona to Bolzano, €8.00-18.00 2nd class single; €12.00-28.00 1st class single, in 2008). There may be one or more trains per day that go direct from Mestre to Bolzano; more likely you will have to change in Verona or Vicenza. You will need to validate your tickets in a platform machine before boarding.

Bus from Bolzano to Selva

Direct buses go from Bolzano to Val Gardena up to 9 times a day, plus 2 a day to Castelrotto where you can connect with a service to Val Gardena. Price is around €6 one-way in 2008. Bus timetables for Bolzano-Selva are online at www.sii.bz.it. The relevant online bus stop names are "42 Bolzano" or "4001 Bolzano FS/Bhf "(= rail station) to "321 Selva (Wolkenstein)".

Accommodation

The official Val Gardena website (www.valgardena.it) has a facility where you can request the dates and type of accommodation in which you are interested - they then pass the request on to individual accommodations who will contact you direct by email with prices. Most of the individual accommodations have their own websites where you can check the location and facilities. Prices from €30 per person BB. Some may need a deposit.

The Val Gardena website www.val-gardena.net has downloadable maps of Selva, San Cristina and Ortisei.




## Lance Chilton and Marengo 2008

Marengo
17 Bernard Crescent
HUNSTANTON
PE36 6ER
England
e-mail us: here

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