My wife and I went skiing in Livigno in March 2000 looking for somewhere a little cheaper and smaller where we could work on our skills.
Accommodation
We stayed at the Garni Francescato, which offered new clean rooms with ensuite facilities. While not overly large, they were fine for a ... Read review
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Advantages: High in the alps, Duty Free Disadvantages: Long Transfers
...and I went skiing in Livigno in March 2000 looking for somewhere a little cheaper and smaller where we could work on our skills.
Accommodation
We stayed at the Garni Francescato, which offered new clean rooms with ensuite facilities. While not overly large, they were fine for a week where little time was to be spent indoors. The breakfast room/bar, was downstairs and offered an alternative place for relaxation. TV’s were in ... ...reasonably cheap.
Livigno is based high up in the Swiss/Italian Alps. This means that you can expect good quality snow right through the season. The village itself is along the banks of a river, with the two skiing mountains reaching up on either side. The skiing is separated by the valley, but buses can easily be caught between them
Day trips to St Moritz are also available for those who would like to see where the ... more
My wife and I went skiing in Livigno in March 2000 looking for somewhere a little cheaper and smaller where we could work on our skills.
Accommodation We stayed at the Garni Francescato, which offered new clean rooms with ensuite facilities. While not overly large, they were fine for a week where little time was to be spent indoors. The breakfast room/bar, was downstairs and offered an alternative place for relaxation. TV’s were in all the rooms, as well as a personal safe.
Advantages Livigno’s main claim to fame is it’s Duty Free status. This means that no sales tax of any sort is charged on purchases. In practise this means that high duty items such as tobacco products and alcohol are good value, whereas lower duty items are simply reasonably cheap.
Livigno is based high up in the Swiss/Italian Alps. This means that you can expect good quality snow right through the season. The village itself is along the banks of a river, with the two skiing mountains reaching up on either side. The skiing is separated by the valley, but buses can easily be caught between them
Day trips to St Moritz are also available for those who would like to see where the rich and famous ski. We went on this trip and although it probably wasn’t worth the money, being able to say, “Of course I’ve skied at St Moritz darling. I was there just after the millennium.” is quite nice.
Disadvantages The main disadvantage of Livigno is the long transfer time from Bergamo Airport. It is generally in the order of 5 hours. We were unlucky as fog and mist made us divert to Milan Airport. The resulting delays meant that we didn’t get to our hotel until 9 pm. This is after leaving home at 4 am that morning!
Although both mountains have quite reasonable amounts of skiing terrain, they are not linked together. This means that transferring from one side to the other required a (admittedly short) bus trip. The terrain also tends to focus on beginners and the intermediate. I suspect that most advanced skiers would get bored during the week.
Recommendations. Livigno is probably best for people who want a holiday as much as a skiing trip. It would also appeal to the shoppers out there who want to splash some cash on something new. However if you’re looking for challenging skiing terrain, it probably isn’t the spot to go.
Advantages: Duty-free Disadvantages: Difficult to get around
...a great week's snowboarding in Livigno - the snow was fantastic (apparently this year's best snow is in Italy). BUT I wouldn't recommend the resort unless your primary goal is picking up cheap designer labels. It's a duty free resort, so it does make shopping and drinking a bargain, but getting around is a real pain. I'm a real believer in ski-in, ski-out if you can get-it, and I guess I'm generally happy to pay for the privilege of being somewhere ... ...bus. The problem in Livigno is that it's very spread out, and the bus service is frankly abysmal - well, have a go in Val d'Isere and compare and contrast waiting for 15-20 minutes to the non-stop service in the French resort. You do have the option of getting tacis, which would be really convenient (they are 8-seaters, with ski-racks on the back, and very cheap) if you could only get hold of them. We had a lot of trouble fighting off people who ...
WorldGirl 25.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Livigno
Advantages: Great shopping Disadvantages: Long transfer
We were in Livigno in February 1999. We stayed for a week in the Hotel Alpina half board. The Hotel was fine but the food was only ok. I kicked myself for not going self-catering, a bit silly as we've to Italy before and know how good the restaurants are.
The resort is a sprawling affair, and for a remote ski resort there is a lot to do. There are plenty of shops of all kinds. Lots of ski equipment, electrical goods, jewellery, alcohol, clothes. ... ...below that standard.
We had lessons with Ski Livigno Italy, very well organised and inexpensive. The competent and friendly instructors were a big bonus. Livigno has no real bad points, except for a transfer time of about 4 ½ hours, I would definitely recommend it. ...
jambo6 16.07.2000 (20.12.2000)
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Review of Livigno
Advantages: free bus service for ski pass holders; nice selection of beginner slopes... Disadvantages: The nightlife is a bit scarce...
...a weeks snowboarding trip to Livigno (Italy).
My experience of Livigno was one of mixed pleasure. I enjoyed the snowboarding. I am a novice snowboarder so I took a 6 day beginners course. Every ski / Snowboard school has very good English speaking instructors. Not forgetting to mention that they also speak other languages too! There is a very good bus service which is free for all ski pass holders. You will find a bus every 2 - 15 minutes (depending ... ...The Duty Free in Livigno is very good. There are quite a few Designer shops, jewellery shops and perfumery shops in the town. As for things to do after the ski lifts close for the day....
Well I did not find too much once the lifts had shut down for the day. Obviously the Nightclubs and Bowling were there, but they are not things I wish to do everyday!
There are many bars/restaurants by the slopes which aid you in that needed drink of water or ...
gixxer_loui 23.03.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Livigno
Advantages: duty-free/tax-free shopping Disadvantages: long transfer times
We went to Livigno over Easter 1998 and Christmas 1999. It was very crowded over Easter, since it is a high altitude resort. The skiing offers enough variety to keep an intermediate skier and snowboarder on a week-long stay interested, provided all slopoes are open. For more challenging skiing, I would recommend a day-trip to St. Moritz in Switzerland, which is only a short coach ride from Livigno.
Eating out and shopping is excellent value. I bought ... ...The downside of Livigno is that the 2 ski areas are not linked. You have to take one of the very smelly buses or walk across the village. The nightlife is good but not very sophisticated.
Due to the long transfer time I would go again - for 2 weeks. ...
MatrixTraveller 03.08.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Livigno
Advantages: Cheap, good snow Disadvantages: Doesn't really cater for English
I went to Livigno with my girlfriend and 8 year old daughter for Xmas.
I am a fairly experienced snowboarder, but they were total beginners. It was perfect for them, with many easy slopes, but there is not much there if you are better than intermediate.
The prices for cigarettes and alcohol were great as it is Duty Free. But other items were not particularly cheap.
The main languages spoken there (and written) are Italian (obviously) and German. ... ...English.
A good English pub is Galli's, behind Galli's market. But this can be difficult to find, as almost every hotel and shop has "Galli's" in the name.
We went self-catering, but if we go again, we will definately go for at least B&B or half-board with one of the Hotels. Better value for money that way, and it is hard to do decent shopping for food if you self-cater. ...
zachxx 13.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Livigno
Advantages: being St,. Moritz Disadvantages: slopes severly overcrowded
We skied in St. Moritz for a day while staying in the much cheaper Livigno in Italy, from where you can book day excursions to St. Moritz. Be careful to purchase the right lift pass in Livigno, which will allow you a discount on the expensive day pass in St. Moritz. I would recommend skiing in St. Moritz just for the experience and the sake of having been there. There is a good variety of runs, mainly suited to the upper intermeidate skier (and above). The red runs are more challenging than in Livigno on the whole, but the skiing experience is severely marred by the fact that most slopes in St. Moritz are totally over-crowded, and therefore very accident-prone. You can see some skiers in expensive outfits taking private lessons in order to progress from their snowplough turns. Be sure to stock up on your Swiss chocolates in ...
proved quite informative and friendly. The tour also included our entrance fees to the Animal Flower Cave and The Sunbury Plantation, as well as free drinks. Sunbury is a fascinating house turned museum, full of various décor, photo?s, maps and art spanning Barbados? 400 year history. The guide here was very informative and interesting so I would recommend a visit.
We spent an afternoon in Bridgetown, but the famous duty free shopping isn?t overly cheap, apart from the booze. I was after a Citizen Pro-master dive watch, but they were 50 quid dearer than I?d seen them in Livigno, Italy?s duty free haven. We stupidly went to Bridgetown without a map, so if there was anything of outstanding interest we missed it. I?m still glad we went though.
I managed to pack in eight dives while here. They ranged from mundane reefs to excellent ...
