| Reviews: 15 |
| UK - Scotland |
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  4 of 5 05/04/2004 @ 12:52 |
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| Revision #2 (Last edited: 05/04/2004 @ 16:07) |
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| Price Paid |
| £240 (for flight, accom, transfer) |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Panorama were the operators, but booked it through Iglu. |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Booked this trip as an end of season late deal and we went the last week of the season (end of March 2004). We were quite lucky as it has been snowing a fair bit the previous week, so the slopes were well covered, with no rocks poking through, and it was blue skies and sun for our entire stay - typical spring conditions.
Livigno is essentially one long road (10km) running through a valley, with pistes on either side. The pisted terrain is very open, with wide motorway runs. It would be great for learners, and early intermediates, but its a bit bland and featureless, and can get a little boring after a while for anyone who has been boarding for more than a couple of weeks.
We pretty much covered all the pisted area within two days and by midweek the pistes were getting fairly hard and icey at the top, slushy and cut up at the bottom, and were losing their fun factor. So we took to the "backcountry" and the Fun Park.
I was suprised to find that the Fun Park in Livigno is the best Park that I have ever ridden, with the possible exception of Whistler. There are two zones... the intermediate and the expert. On the downside, you are supposed to pay to use the parks (on top of the lift pass price) but if you just ride in confidently, you can normally get away with it. It was only 5 Euros for three days anyway.
We didn't venture into the expert park, as the jumps were the size of houses, and I didn't fancy being airlifted out. However, we did spend a fair bit of time in the intermediate park, which has much to keep you entertained: a half pipe, boarder cross track, about 5 mid size kickers, a fun box, at least 10 rails of varying lengths and shapes, and music blasting out from the top. The only thing it was lacking was a couple of hip jumps, but aside from that, this park is superb. The Burton European Open is held here every year, and is probably the reason why the park is so good.
After the pistes started to get icey, we did a few hikes to get back to the essence of boarding...untouched powder runs. Every morning, for 3 days, we did a hike of about 30-45 mins to reach some powder slopes. Even though it had not snowed for 7 days, we were still getting fresh lines, and the hike though tiring, was more than worth the ride down, and along with some of the park sessions, it was the highlight of the weeks riding.
Livigno is a duty free resort, which means the prices are pretty good. Booze from shops is ridiculously cheap, for example, a 1 litre bottle of Smirnoff Vodka costs £3, a 1 litre bottle of Baileys costs about £4.75 and half litre bottles of beer come in at about 40p each.
Cosmetics, clothes and electronics are all cheap too, however I was dissapointed by the choice of boarding shops. Suprisingly, there were few boarding shops, and generally the range of clothes and hardware were limited, compared to other duty free resorts such as Pas de la Casa (Andorra).
I was also a little suprised at the night life of the place. I had expected it to be very loud and vibrant, again, similar to Pas de la Casa, but it was really quite quiet, with less bars than I had expected. It may well have been quiet due to it being the end of the season, but I was suprised at how little seemed to be going on.
Food was well priced in resturants... with a decent sized pizza costing less than a fiver, although beer and wine was less of a bargin. Small cafes/ resturants at the base of the slopes were charging around £2 for a decent burger, sandwich or pannini, so excellent value there too.
We styayed at the self catered L'Ables appartments, which were excellent. Very modern, clean, and with a TV, video, sound system (piped though to every room including bathroom) and balcony. Only down side was that they were situated at the top of town, away from the main shops and bars, but there was a free bus till 8pm, and after that taxis are only about £1 per person.
Overall Livigno is a pretty good place to visit, the resort itself is very attractive architecturally, all buildings are built chalet style, with no big ugly appartment blocks. The locals are pretty laid back and friendly, and there's no pretentious attitude here. The pistes are good, though a little limited, but with the fun parks and off piste options, there is plenty to keep even expert riders happy for a week.
Definatley a recommended destination. |
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| Strengths |
Excellent Fun Park
Easily Accessable "back country" powder runs
Duty Free prices = cheap booze
Good value resturants and bars
Low season lift pass only £93
Attractive style village - rustic chilled out feel
Friendly locals |
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| Weaknesses |
Not a huge area - can be covered withing 2/3 days
Town is stretched out over 10km
Transfer from Bergamo (Milan) is about 5 hours.
Lack of decent boarding shops
Night life not as good as I had expected |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Whistler, Val Thorens, Gstadd, Les Arcs, Pas, NZ resorts, Innsbruck Resorts, Avoriaz, Morzine, Val D'isere.... |
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| 4 of 5 13/02/2004 @ 11:54 |
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| Revision #1 (Last edited: 13/02/2004 @ 11:56) |
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| Price Paid |
| can't remember - not much |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| a mate |
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| Times Visited |
| 2-5 Times |
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| Review Detail |
I learned to ride in Livigno, and a ruddy good place it is to learn.
Loads of nicely tucked away nursery slopes for beginners and good tuition.
Italian locals have a habit of making alot of noise on the slopes, this helps as you have an idea of where they are coming from and where they are going. |
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| Strengths |
Duty free - Booze, clothes, electrical equipment anything else that can be taxed isn't.
Cheap/free taxis
Awesome and cheap food, really cheap you can eat like a king for about £10 a day.
Locals very friendly (but noisy)
Cheap
It's a real alpine village, that looks like an alpine village should, very little concrete
a few more clubs than your average resort if that's your thing
a good place to take beginners or those that have little interest in riding, or if you get injured on the first day.
Did I mention the food & booze? |
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| Weaknesses |
Not a huge ski area, enough to keep an intermediate entertained for a week but not much more.
No trully epic runs
Under Italian law, you can be fined for riding off piste, all I got was a telling off though.
Transfer from Bergamo can take ages (6hrs sometimes) |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| VT, Meribel, Courcheval, Les Arcs |
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| Reviews: 12 |
| Nottinghamshire |
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 5 of 5 12/02/2004 @ 10:28 |
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| Revision #2 (Last edited: 10/01/2005 @ 09:50) |
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| Price Paid |
| 500 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| ingams |
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| Times Visited |
| 2-5 Times |
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| Review Detail |
livigno for a novice as myself was perfect,great snow conditions, excellent lifts, duty free so not to expensive, the burton european open goes there so it can't be that bad for advanced riders
long transfer a total bummer
p.s
just booked to go back this year and found thet you now fly into innsbruck which is only 3 hours away |
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| Strengths |
price
snow conditions
people
food |
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| Weaknesses |
| non anymore |
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| Reviews: 37 |
| Review Mod |
| Kirkcudbrightshire |
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 3 of 5, "Livigno" 13/08/2002 @ 22:19 |
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| Revision #1 (Last edited: 30/06/2006 @ 11:23) |
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| Price Paid |
| approx £450 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Airtours. |
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| Times Visited |
| 2-5 Times |
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| Review Detail |
Had a week in Livigno a few seasons back and found it to be a
reasonable place to board. This is a duty free resort set in a
remote location not far from the Swiss border.(a day in St.Moritz
is possible with a lift pass discount).The lift pass also covers
Bormio and Santa Caterina. We stayed in a small hotel called
Gallis sport and it must be the noisiest place I have ever stayed in.
The bar and Disco/Karaoke was in full swing to about 5am most
mornings so it was best to stay up all night partying rather than
trying to sleep. I would get up have an early lunch then hit the
slopes for a few hours. Livigno has a good modern lift system
and a good beginners area , there are plenty of long cruising
runs on both sides of the valley for improvers. For better
riders there is some good terrain on the Mottolino side on
Monte Della Neve but it is not overly challenging.
There is also a half pipe and boarder x track on this side of
The valley. There are plenty of good eating places here and
i put on a lot of weight during my stay here. We always
seemed to finish the day up the mountain in the dark in some
small bar or restaurant and it amazes me how I got back to
the hotel in one piece!
Overall Livigno is ok for a weeks boarding especially for
improving intermediates but it does lack any seriously
challenging terrain. To be honest I enjoyed the place more
when I came back the following summer to do a bit of
walking. There are lots of good shops selling everything
from electrical goods, drink,perfume etc to a wide range of
ski and board hardwear. Levi and Diesel jeans were a
bargain! If you have a car and you fill it up with lots of
duty free goods be carefull if you drive back into
Switzerland as the customs are liable to stop you if you
are driving a GB registered car. |
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| Strengths |
A good snowsure resort. Duty free shops. Good lift
system. Good nightlife. |
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| Weaknesses |
Long transfer from Bergamo or Milan ( 5 hours ).
No really challenging terrain.
Two main areas are quite far apart. |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Over 160 resorts worldwide. |
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