AN ELSEWHERE, OFTEN FAVORITE
We picked Granvara as a home base — somewhere to land after long days on the trails around Val Gardena. It didn’t stay a home base for long. Most nights we found a reason to stick around instead of going out, which wasn’t really the plan.
Would return
We hadn’t even set our bags down before we were upgraded to their best room. A private terrace overlooking the mountains, an oversized bathtub, and the kind of view you don’t really get used to.
We’d booked dinners elsewhere in town for two of the nights. We canceled both.
The routine we fell into instead: a glass of wine outside as the sun went down, then dinner inside. The restaurant offered a tasting menu that changed every night, shared at breakfast so you had the day to think it over. We tried it one evening and ordered à la carte the next — the spaghetti ragù was unforgettable.
It’s one of the rare menus that actually works for both the pickiest and least picky person at the table.
The gym is better than a property this size has any obligation to offer — real equipment, not just a treadmill and a stack of dumbbells. The wine list held up night after night without repeating itself.
What we’ll remember longest, though, is smaller than any of that. The staff took our hiking boots, caked in a full day of mud, and returned them clean by morning. The shuttle into town was just as seamless, arranged with barely a word needed.
Of course, we still spent our days out on the trails. The Dolomites were the reason we’d come in the first place, and they didn’t disappoint.
We came to Val Gardena for the hiking, and we’d go back for it. But Granvara ended up being more than somewhere to come home to at the end of the day. It’s a hotel we’d happily plan another trip around.
Planning a trip to the Dolomites? Read my full guide to A Week in the Dolomites for the hotels, hikes, and places I’d recommend along the way.
