Why is Livigno so popular?

jameshayes

Most of you guys seem to be going to Livigno alot.. How come? Is it the tax free'ness or is it just a great ski city?

Johnny_Fontane

its the fuerteventura and majorca of ski holidays, cheap and cheerful. I was there once for a couple of days, its good craic there, its very cheap, but the mountains dont offer much for the advanced skier/rider, there is zero options too, if you dont like it, cos its at the end of the line

Neilthefunkee1

it is mainly for your beginner rider.. i think there is only one black slope and id say its just a slightly steep blue!! but they offer loads of other activities, skidoos, snow bikes, quads, ice rally driving!!

selling point..... 1L Bottle of smirnoff 4euros!!

i was in livigno last week.. really enjoyed it...

ZorbaTehZ

Cause it's newb friendly.

paulharte

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

its the fuerteventura and majorca of ski holidays, cheap and cheerful. I was there once for a couple of days, its good craic there, its very cheap, but the mountains dont offer much for the advanced skier/rider, there is zero options too, if you dont like it, cos its at the end of the line

I can add that for the advanced skier/rider there is an excellent, well maintained snowpark on the mottolino side and a new one on the carosello side. Thats one of the reasons why the irish champs are being held there.

Also packages there from ireland are cheap and eating and drinking while there is also excellent value

5h4mr0(k

paulharte wrote: »

I can add that for the advanced skier/rider there is an excellent, well maintained snowpark on the mottolino side and a new one on the carosello side.

Just make sure that they've groomed the half pipe and that there aren't any snow drifts in it before you go down! (ouch!)

Static M.e.

Actually just back from Livigno last night

The Snowpark on the Mottolino was excellent with a good mixture of Big Kickers and Pro Rails for the more experianced but for the bigineers they had a lot of cool little jumps all nicely linned up so you can hit them in a row. They had a lot of small boxs and rails too. It was the first time a lot of my friends had hit the park and they loved it. (ill throw up some photos from my phone when I get back home). They also have a fast 4 person chair so getting up and down to the park is super quick.

The Snowpark on the Carosella side disappointing, the jumps haven't been worked on in a while and weren't built that well from my UNtrained eye, they seemed to have a lot of tables ending in big drop offs but you could see that they were all works in progress. The other problem is that you need to get the main gondolla to get up and down to the park which takes ages.

Its amazing how cheap Livigno is for food and drink, the food is lovely and the locals wines are all good. An average meal for 10 of us with first & second courses, some deserts and 4/5 bottles of wine was working out at ~310 Euro. More food that you could eat.

The Italiens are lovely too, super nice and polite. Looking forward to going back in March! Once I fix my ankle (Sprained it Badly on Thursday )

boomhower

because it's the happiest place on earth and the instructors are just the coolest EVER!!!

i just wanna go back!!!!:(:(:(:(:(:(:(

FruitLover

1. Nice riding
2. Cheap booze
3. Great food
4. Great instructors

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

the mountains dont offer much for the advanced skier/rider

You must be talking about the pistes (boring). Get an instructor to take you up the far-off mountain on the Mottolino side where the TV masts are (you need to get a lift on a skidoo up to the top) for the ride down through the forest. That'll put hair on your ass...

Polarbear2020

The place rocks...end of.
The people, the instructors, the cheap booze, the gorgeous pizza, the crappy club Kokodi...it all rocks!

Agree about the pistes, not the best for the more advanced...but it just shows how amazing the place is as a whole. I don't go for the slopes(although they are not THAT bad), but for the whole place/experience. Love it!

oisinl

This thread is a bit old but just wondering if anyone could recommend accommodation in Livigno?

Somewhere near the slopes but not too far from the town centre... oh ya and not too expensive!

Overflow

oisinl wrote: »

This thread is a bit old but just wondering if anyone could recommend accommodation in Livigno?

Somewhere near the slopes but not too far from the town centre... oh ya and not too expensive!

Ah you seek one of those golden nuggets of accommodation, but you will be lucky to find said, cheap, central, near slopes accommodation. Normally at this time of year all the best spots are booked up by now. But theres always a chance.

skibum

The only opportunity I have to go skiing this season will be very early in December (fri / sat 5 / 6th), anybody got any idea of how "snow sure" Livigno is at that time?
Are we mad to even bother booking the flights / car hire?

We were there about 10 years ago and had a fantastic time.

Thanks

Overflow

Ooo i would say its risky early in December, late December would be your better, but as far as i know the snow only just starts falling mid-late Nov early December so conditions may not be great and some slopes may not be prepared due to it being so early in the season. The season starts the 29th Nov. Ive never been so i could be wrong.

http://www.igluski.com/italy/livigno-snow-history_4568

skibum

Just after booking flights to Bergamo (Dec 11th- 18th): €124 for two, apartment for two including two six day lift passes: €390, have to sort out car hire (approx €180), ski / board rental, and some lessons.

All in it will cost us approx €450 each
Hope we get some snow

Found this site very helpful for info and organising the accommodiation:
http://www.mountain-toursltd.com/index.html

Polarbear2020

oisinl wrote: »

This thread is a bit old but just wondering if anyone could recommend accommodation in Livigno?

Somewhere near the slopes but not too far from the town centre... oh ya and not too expensive!

Baita menin apartments on the carosello/san rocco side of mountain. By the costaccia area of the mountain, not dead centre of the town but a 4/5 minute walk from it and bus stop directly outside anyway. Dont know the price this year but got great deals there before. Very new,clean,well equiped and spacy-enough. You can actually ski off piste to it aswell off the side of some random red slope. Its a fairly flat route and can be a bit slow in places if it has dumped down and your knee deep but it beats the ski bus queue's! Your own heated ski lockers too so your boots are nice and toasty in the morning...

pnjones

Skibum..

Where did you get your car for 180 ?

Going on the 12 to 17th but the transport to livigno is proving messy

did you get skipack on the car - snow tyres etc ?

Regards

Pat

duckysauce

chains are extra am sure the bum will update you if

Static M.e.

@PmJones

I've heard that you can get the train to Livigno I dont know how true that is though, but supposedly thats what a lot people do. Worth looking into anyway

skibum

As duckysauce said, chains are extra and we have been advised that we would be very foolish and taking a big risk not having them. The original price I mentioned of €180 was for the smallest car available, some mad little lancia yoke, but duckysauce is of a nervous disposition and insists that we hire some thing a little bigger:rolleyes:. Saw some good deals on www.carhire3000.ie probably go for the astra / alfa 159 offer they have. Chains are around €40 extra.

Have a look at this link for getting to Livingo, pretty much covers all the available options: http://www.mountain-toursltd.com/aaenglish/transfers.htm

If you are flying in on a friday or saturday the shuttle bus is the best option, we are flying out from shannon on thursday morning (originally had booked and confirmed flight from dublin @ 6.10am but ryanair cancled the flight and resheduled the flight for late afternoon, meaning that we would have had a 4 hour drive through the mountains at night, Duckysauce said NO F87ING WAY!! )

Another good link is http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g194799-i8056-Livigno_Lombardy.html couple of threads there about getting to Livingo.

Might bump into you over there!

slumped

Snow-Forecast.com is saying that 4 lifts are open and that conditions for Ski/Board are OK but new snow would be good.

With lots of heavy snow (25cm +) forecast for higher slopes and moderate snow (15cm+) forecast for lower slopes over the next few days, I reckon Livigno will be in full flow easily by 28th November.

I'm back there for fourth time for week after Christmas.

Bellavista Restaurant here I come!!

NervousNude

Does anyone know if the shuttle bus waits for the Ryanair flight from Dublin that arrives in Bergamo at 11.20 am? The bus company's website says that it leaves at 11.30 but it would seem crazy to leave 10 minutes after a whole plane load of people have just arrived!

istabraq1000

Hi,
A group of 5 are goin to Livigno at the end of January. We are a mix of skiers and boarders and will be staying in the Fausto Apts.
We have no problems with getting the ski pass and gear hire. But can anyone help with which ski school is nearest to the apts, as I 've been in touch with certqain schools, but so far they are a 10min bus ride away.

Any suggestions will be welcome

boomhower

istabraq1000 wrote: »

Hi,
A group of 5 are goin to Livigno at the end of January. We are a mix of skiers and boarders and will be staying in the Fausto Apts.
We have no problems with getting the ski pass and gear hire. But can anyone help with which ski school is nearest to the apts, as I 've been in touch with certqain schools, but so far they are a 10min bus ride away.

Any suggestions will be welcome

i stayed in the same apartments and this is the nearest ski school and they are FANTASTIC!!! http://www.scuolascilivigno.net/

the school is really walking distance away although with the ski's is just handier to hop on the very regular (and free) bus that runs along...(seriously it come every two seconds.and it stops right outside your door of fausto's)..also, you can pretty much ski to your front door... only word of advice..for those apartments the plugs were funny..like not your typical italian socket..we had to go to the "bizarre" on the other side of town to get an appropriate plug adapter..

i can't recommend this school enough! they are brilliant!

liamo333

Static M.e. wrote: »

@PmJones

I've heard that you can get the train to Livigno I dont know how true that is though, but supposedly thats what a lot people do. Worth looking into anyway

Last time I was there we got the train, from the train station there is a bus to the town center.

On the way back we got a taxi to the train station, as far as i remember it wasn't too pricey.

skibum

Just come back from Livigno tonight, anybody going out is in for a fantastic time, they have had the biggest dump of snow at the start of the season for the last 20 years. The locals were complaining that there was too much of the stuff! Visibility was poor, the heavy cloud cover made reading the snow on the piste very tricky.

If anybody is renting a car, my advice from very bitter experience, is:
(1) get snow chains, if it is snowing you WILL need them, there is no way in hell you will make it up from Bormio without them if it snows.

(2) make sure the feckers give you the correct chains for your car. We hired an alfa 159 with 215/55/16 wheels, when the rental company gave me the chains I pointed out that that size of tyre was not listed on the box, I was told that he knew what he was talking about and that they would fit, to cut a long story short, they didn't and I had to buy a set that did.

(3)Diesel will and does freeze in Livigno, the rental company gave me a bottle of antifreeze additive for diesel and told me to put it in the tank when we reach the mountains and it would stop the diesel freezing. Bollox, it still froze, twice, even after putting 33 litres of diesel in livigno which had antifreeze, it refused to start this morning when we were leaving for our flight home. €270 taxi fare and we made the flight with minutes to spare, not a nice feeling.

Best food is a restaruant called the "bellavista", just up the road from the best pub "Daphne's", the staff and atmosphere in both places are amazing.
Bellavista serves excellent fillet and t-bones (about €18 inc side order)

The free skibus wasn't as regular as the last time I was there, very crowded at busy times, mad scramble to get on and off with an "every man for himself attitude".

Fantastic bargains to be had for booze and cigs (bottle of smirnoff €5, 200 marlboro €22, some perfumery but not all are also cheaper. Electrical goods are a little cheaper, 8gb Ipod nano €120 etc)

One of the main lifts from the village side is currently not operational, number 25 to costaccia (new lift being built) which made access to the upper slopes a little tricky.

What ever else you do in livigno make sure you make your way down to the lake where you can rent skidoo's ( they slap on a helmet, tell you "his makes you go, this makes you stop" and then you try to keep up with the guide on a prepared track, brillant fun), go ice karting, quad biking, or even a rally car.

istabraq1000

Hi, I'm booking ski&board lessons for our group going to Livigno at the end of January. We have to choices 9.30 - 11.30 or 11.30 - 13.30.
Which is the best time in Livigno, as my previous experience elswhere is that the slopes are icy until about 11.

super_furry

Riiiiiiise from your graaaaaave!!!!

Anyone have any idea what the snow conditions would be like the week of St Patrick's Day - March 17?

4400kevin

I have booked a flight departing the 20th feb returning the 23rd this will be my first time in Livigno I was planning on getting accommodation when I land will I have any problems with this and can anybody recommend a Hotel.Thanks.
Kevin