Hotel Malita, Arabba, Italy, June 25-27 2010 3 nights.
http://www.hotelmalita.com/it/malita_ambiente.php
Via Mesdi, 54
32020, Arabba, ItalyAfter leaving Bormio, we headed for the Pyrenees. We had reserved spots only through to our stay in Bormio, deciding to wing-it on the remainder of the trip on assurances that we wouldn't have any trouble finding a place to stay during this time of year. This was generally true, but it was still sometimes a lengthier than necessary search depending on what we found when we got to our first locale.
After leaving Bormio, our first thought was to travel to Alleghe in the Dolomites for a feew nights. Upon arriving there, we were not captivated by the two, although its location on a small lake was nice. There was one main drag through town and it was pretty busy. We checked out 2 locations--one we didn't care for much (views front and rear weren't very good) and we tried another overlooking the lake, but they could accommodate us for just one night.
Location: So we dragged out the maps, bought some margherita pizza, some strudel, and coke, and decided where to go next. We settled on Arabba due its location smack dab on the Sella Ronda between the Pordoi and Campolongo passes. There's another town that could have served well, Corvara, but we'd heard that it was a boring town, so we didn't check it out. It would have meant another 20 minutes' drive and it was late by this time.
We checked in with the tourism office, which proved to be invaluable, told the woman attending the desk what we were looking for and she came up with several alternatives. Out of nervousness we would get aced out of a room if we didn't act quickly, we went to Hotel Malita first since it was a little closer. Another, Hotel Olympia, we could see from the road below and it looked decent, and well-visited. May be worth a try if you decide to stay in Arabba. My suggestion, though, if you want to stay ON the Sella Ronda is to check out Corvara. Arabba was nicely situated on the Sella Ronda but the town was very small with very little to do bu walk around in short circles.
Corvara was much larger and afforded a little more in the way of distractions, if you want to call them that, and the views were better.
Corvara's located between the Campolongo and Gardena passes. There are numerous other small towns here and there that could also be considered, but in terms of proximity to the Sella Ronda, these two are it.
Rate: 50 euros/person/night, mezza pensione. Hotel Olympia, I think I remember correctly, was just 45 euros/person/night. Frankly, I was a little nervous about such a low rate, fearing quality concerns, cleanliness, etc. The fears were unfounded.
Rooms: The rooms were a nice size, not particularly modern, but they were certainly adequate. No complaints. Along the back side of the hotel, where our room was, we were facing a parking lot and there was a stream running through a man-made course that made for "good splash", as Linda likes to say, but the views were not engaging. Our room happened to be right above the kitchen and we could smell both the good and the bad of its activities. A little annoying, but nothing we couldn't live with.
Hotel Malita Bathroom--clean, adequate--I didn't try the bidet.
Food: Hotel Malita was the first one to offer granola in addition to muesli for breakfast. Their breakfast was about like all the others we encountered. Nothing extravagant, but everything that was needed. Dinners were good, which was one of the things I worried about with the price. The selections each night were enough to where we were always able to find something we liked. Malita followed the same course as Alu, three choices for a first plate, three for the main course, then dessert (plus a salad to start). Their gelato wasn't as good as Alu's.
Staff: our contacts with most of these places was the restaurant staff. Hotel Malita had a waiter and waitress that we saw each night and morning. The waiter spoke English pretty well, and the waitress could get by between my English and Spanish and her Italian. We liked them very much, no complaints here. The waiter reminded Linda of Peter Sellers--and she had a point.
Recommend: I'd recommend Corvara over Arabba, but if Arabba's where you want to be, there are worse places than Hotel Malita. And there are quite a few hotels in Arabba--a visit to the tourist office would be recommended. Malita's internet service was high at 6 euros/hour. We found another internet spot in a hotel bar across the street that was considerably cheaper, but suffered from serious computer performance issues.
After leaving Bormio, our first thought was to travel to Alleghe in the Dolomites for a feew nights. Upon arriving there, we were not captivated by the two, although its location on a small lake was nice. There was one main drag through town and it was pretty busy. We checked out 2 locations--one we didn't care for much (views front and rear weren't very good) and we tried another overlooking the lake, but they could accommodate us for just one night.
Location: So we dragged out the maps, bought some margherita pizza, some strudel, and coke, and decided where to go next. We settled on Arabba due its location smack dab on the Sella Ronda between the Pordoi and Campolongo passes. There's another town that could have served well, Corvara, but we'd heard that it was a boring town, so we didn't check it out. It would have meant another 20 minutes' drive and it was late by this time.
We checked in with the tourism office, which proved to be invaluable, told the woman attending the desk what we were looking for and she came up with several alternatives. Out of nervousness we would get aced out of a room if we didn't act quickly, we went to Hotel Malita first since it was a little closer. Another, Hotel Olympia, we could see from the road below and it looked decent, and well-visited. May be worth a try if you decide to stay in Arabba. My suggestion, though, if you want to stay ON the Sella Ronda is to check out Corvara. Arabba was nicely situated on the Sella Ronda but the town was very small with very little to do bu walk around in short circles.
Corvara was much larger and afforded a little more in the way of distractions, if you want to call them that, and the views were better.
Corvara's located between the Campolongo and Gardena passes. There are numerous other small towns here and there that could also be considered, but in terms of proximity to the Sella Ronda, these two are it.
Rate: 50 euros/person/night, mezza pensione. Hotel Olympia, I think I remember correctly, was just 45 euros/person/night. Frankly, I was a little nervous about such a low rate, fearing quality concerns, cleanliness, etc. The fears were unfounded.
Rooms: The rooms were a nice size, not particularly modern, but they were certainly adequate. No complaints. Along the back side of the hotel, where our room was, we were facing a parking lot and there was a stream running through a man-made course that made for "good splash", as Linda likes to say, but the views were not engaging. Our room happened to be right above the kitchen and we could smell both the good and the bad of its activities. A little annoying, but nothing we couldn't live with.
Hotel Malita Bathroom--clean, adequate--I didn't try the bidet.
Food: Hotel Malita was the first one to offer granola in addition to muesli for breakfast. Their breakfast was about like all the others we encountered. Nothing extravagant, but everything that was needed. Dinners were good, which was one of the things I worried about with the price. The selections each night were enough to where we were always able to find something we liked. Malita followed the same course as Alu, three choices for a first plate, three for the main course, then dessert (plus a salad to start). Their gelato wasn't as good as Alu's.
Staff: our contacts with most of these places was the restaurant staff. Hotel Malita had a waiter and waitress that we saw each night and morning. The waiter spoke English pretty well, and the waitress could get by between my English and Spanish and her Italian. We liked them very much, no complaints here. The waiter reminded Linda of Peter Sellers--and she had a point.
Recommend: I'd recommend Corvara over Arabba, but if Arabba's where you want to be, there are worse places than Hotel Malita. And there are quite a few hotels in Arabba--a visit to the tourist office would be recommended. Malita's internet service was high at 6 euros/hour. We found another internet spot in a hotel bar across the street that was considerably cheaper, but suffered from serious computer performance issues.
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