Val Senales / Schnalstal is a beautiful ski resort near the Italian-Austrian border, in the midst of the Alpine circle. The Senales Valley Glacier stands amid a mass of mountains which rise to 3,950m, and overlooks the fantastic slopes below. Val Senales is also close to the principal city of Merano, which is a health resort of world fame.
Val Senales offers a highly developed network of facilities and there are plenty of shops, both in the village and in nearby Merano. German traditions and architecture are predominant here and the German language is more widely spoken than Italian.
Accommodation is in hotels, apartments and private residences, including farm-stays, and there over 1,600 beds available. Non-ski activities are plentiful and include ice-skating and swimming. For après-ski, Val Senales / Schnalstal has some great cafés, bars and restaurants, where traditional German cuisine is as popular as Italian. There is also a ski and snowboard school for children and adults.
There are 16 groomed runs at Val Senales / Schnalstal ski resort, stretching over 25kms of fantastic novice to expert terrain. The pistes extend over 1,200m of vertical terrain and are served by one cableway, seven chair and surface lifts and four anchor lifts, with a combined hourly capacity of 14,800 people.
For alternative skiing, the Dolomiti Super ski pass domain is never far away and encompasses many resorts in the region. There are 1,200kms of superb quality runs with levels of difficulty across the board. The awesome Dolomite Mountains from any perspective are a sight to behold. The shops ad spas at nearby Merano offer a welcome break from the slopes.
The ski season at Val Senales / Schnalstal ski resort runs for most of the year, apart from the month from mid-May to mid-June. For convenience, Bolzano Airport is the point of entry, and car hire from there offers the quickest transfer time.
Hemsedal is 200kms northwest of Oslo and 300kms east of Bergen, and is directly accessible by road only. Flying to either Oslo or Bergen and using public transport is the most practical way to get to Hemsedal, while rail travel from the rest of Europe is straightforward, and self-drive is the least attractive option.
The nearest airport to Hemsedal is Valdres Airport, near Fagernes, but Oslo-Gardermoen and Bergen-Flesland airports offer more flight options and are easier to transfer from. Trains go from both Bergen and Oslo as far as Gol (south of Hemsedal), from where local buses go to the resort.
If you are self-driving from the UK, you have two options, the most favourable of which utilises the car ferry crossing from Newcastle to Bergen. Highway 7 goes from Bergen to Gol, from where route 52 carries on to Hemsedal; the journey from Bergen to Hemsedal is 300kms and takes about five hours.
You could also take the Dover to Calais ferry and then drive up though Belgium, Germany and Denmark, and then take the ferry to Norway. However, this journey is a two-day drive and more than 1,500kms.
There is an overnight sleeper train from Brussels to Copenhagen, making rail travel more convenient. Regular trains go from Copenhagen to Oslo and on to Gol, from where buses go to Hemsedal. Regular Eurostar trains from London’s Waterloo station connect with Brussels throughout the
