Sunday, March 11, 2018

Livigno, Italy

During the Fasnacht school holiday (2 week break for the winter carnival) we headed to Livigno for a week of snow fun!  John and I had spent two days in Livigno last summer, during our 5 day, no children vacation. We noticed that they had a wonderful looking kids club with ski school right in the center of the village. After looking into prices of various things (ski lessons, housing, kids club) we pretty much decided last summer that we would be taking a ski vacation to Livingo.
The valley
The trip there is about 4 hours, which includes driving over a pass or using a car train. This is a bit far by Swiss standards for a week vacation, but for us it was doable.  After driving through a one way tunnel you enter the valley where Livigno is. There are ski slopes on both sides of the valley and about 30 km of cross country ski trails and 30 km of groomed walking paths.  There is really something for everyone to do here. We ended up renting a apartment, but there are a lot of family friendly hotels with suites and kids play areas. Another benefit is that the bus system is amazing and free of charge. We got away with not needing a stroller at all.
We arrived in Living on Saturday and had some time to get settled and take a walk around town. Then Sunday to Friday the kids had kids club/ski school and John and I had time to ski, do a fat bike tour, cross country ski, and take a few lessons. Elliott was a bit sick with a stomach bug which led to him not really wanting to ski and he stayed home with us 1.5 days. We still got to do all the activities we wanted to do and Elliott had fun playing in the snow at the kids club.

Doing some walking and shopping on day 1
So much snow! The mountains in the background are in the direction of Switzerland (Engadin).

Livigno is down in the valley and the other ski area on the other side.


Enjoying some Cappuccinos- also very important in Italy!

Snowshoe walk with bear


Elliott's sick day with mom and dad...

... was tiring.

Skiing selfie

Downhill portion on the Fat Bike tour... a bit scary.


Hannah finishing her race! She was one of the youngest in her group and she had no problem keeping up! 

Hannah with her Italian ski instructor.
We loved Livigno and would recommend to any family. It is also a great summer destination and is very popular for its downhill mountain biking. The kids club is also open in the summer and your kids can work on mountain biking skills.