San Vigilio di Marebbe sits at 1200 metres in the Val Badia, between the Plan de Corones lifts and the way into the Fanes-Senes-Braies Nature Park. It is the main village of the comune of Marebbe, a small Ladin place, with the whole area around the church closed to traffic. For a motorhome it makes an easy base: the two sites are ten minutes on foot from the shops and one of them backs straight onto the pistes. In summer you walk, in winter you ski, and either way the pass that comes with your stay covers buses and lifts.
Sleeping
Stops and overnight stays
Two options meant for motorhomes: the area beside the lifts and the terraced campsite a little further down the valley.
Ritterkeller Area Camper Stellplatz
Str. Ras. Costa 2, 39030 San Vigilio di Marebbe (BZ)
level, lit pitches twenty metres from the Plan de Corones pistes and a few minutes on foot from the Miara cable car. The centre of the village is about ten minutes away on foot. The price includes the Holiday Pass, which in certain periods is valid on public transport and on the lifts. The service point for loading and emptying is outside the barrier, so it is worth carrying containers for grey water or reckoning on going out and coming back in. In winter booking is compulsory. The Ritterkeller restaurant and pizzeria, run by the same owners, is a few steps from the pitches.
Via Catarina Lanz 63, 39030 San Vigilio di Marebbe (BZ)
terraced pitches, almost all with a view of the Dolomites, in two sizes: standard of 60 to 70 square metres in summer and 40 to 50 in winter, premium of 80 to 90. All have a gas and electricity hook-up, the premium ones also direct loading and emptying of grey water. Heated bathrooms, showers, a sauna area of 140 square metres, ski storage, a laundry with dryers and a common room with wifi. The Arnold's restaurant and pizzeria cooks local and international dishes, with an eye on gluten free. In winter a free ski bus leaves the campsite for the pistes. The stay includes the Alto Adige Guest Pass. The centre of the village is a quarter of an hour on foot.
The part of the village around the church is pedestrian: shops, cafés and restaurants are all within walking distance
From the Ritterkeller to the centre is ten minutes on foot, from Camping AL PLAN about fifteen
The Alto Adige Guest Pass, included in the stay at both sites, is valid on buses and regional trains across the whole province of Bolzano
Bus lines link San Vigilio with Brunico, the Val di Funes and the Val Gardena
In winter the lifts are right by the Ritterkeller; from Camping AL PLAN the free ski bus leaves for the pistes every day
For the Fanes-Senes-Braies park you leave the motorhome at your site and go up by bus or car to the Rifugio Pederü, where the paths start
Seeing
Sights
The Fanes-Senes-Braies Nature Park alone takes three of the six entries; the others are the mountain above the village, the flight of the zipline and the pedestrian centre. Tap a marker on the map to open its entry below.
1
Fanes-Senes-Braies Nature Park
Park · free entry · 46.71769, 12.11780
the plateaus behind San Vigilio, made of high meadows, mountain lakes and Dolomite peaks, and at the same time the stage of the Ladin saga of the Kingdom of Fanes, the one about Princess Dolasilla and the sorcerer Spina de Mul. The classic starting point is the Rifugio Pederü, which you reach by car or by bus: from there path 7 climbs to the Malga Piccolo Fanes and then to the Marmot Parliament, the plateau where the Lago Verde lies, five or six hours there and back. You can cut it short by turning round halfway. In the village, at Via Catarina Lanz 96, is the visitor centre: the geological history of the Dolomites and that of the Ursus ladinicus, the cave bear that lived in these mountains forty thousand years ago.
the ski area above the village, Kronplatz in German, a few minutes from the Ritterkeller by the Miara cable car. At the top, at 2275 metres, stands the Concordia 2000 Peace Bell, put there in 2003 by the comuni of Brunico, Valdaora and Marebbe for the twenty fifth anniversary of the ski area: it rings every day at noon, and then every time a country abolishes the death penalty, a condemned prisoner is pardoned or a war comes to an end. In summer the plateau is crossed by paths of every grade and by mountain bike tracks, and the cable car is covered by the Alto Adige Guest Pass.
the trail of the legends: three flat kilometres from the Aqua Bad Cortina car park towards the Val di Rudo, through larch and fir woods. It takes barely fifty minutes, pushchairs included, and along the way signs in Italian, German and Ladin tell the episodes of the Fanes saga: Dolasilla, the magic weapons, Spina de Mul. It is the right choice when you want an easy day between two hikes.
Point of interest · free entry · 46.61211, 12.01438
a mountain hut of 1928 at 2060 metres, inside the park, still run by the same family. You get there from Pederü along path 7 in two or three hours, past the Malga Piccolo Fanes and the high lakes up to the Marmot Parliament, the plateau with the Lago Verde where the marmots live among the grass. Plain rooms, Ladin and Tyrolean cooking with canederli, casunziei and venison stew, and on the walls old photographs and objects from the valley. It is a hike of medium difficulty: half a day at a push, better a whole one, and if there is room it is worth the night.
Point of interest · paid entry · 46.69829, 11.93030
three kilometres of cable a hundred metres above the ground, up to 80 km/h, among the longest in Europe. You start from San Vigilio with a jeep transfer to the launch point and the whole thing takes one or two hours, safety briefing and flight together; no experience is needed, the staff fit the harness for you. Minimum age five or six, with weight limits that change with age. Summer season, and booking is advised, above all at weekends.
The pedestrian centre and the church of San Vigilio
Village · free entry · 46.69802, 11.93123
the village gathers around the parish church, a baroque front with scrolls and a pointed bell tower with the clock, the Dolomites behind. The whole area around it is pedestrian: shops, cafés and restaurants within a few minutes on foot, and it is the point you arrive at from either site.
the race on the Erta piste of the Plan de Corones, with the stands and the crowd of the big occasions.
Remember
Useful tips
San Vigilio di Marebbe tourist office, telephone +39 0474 501037, info@sanvigilio.com, sanvigilio.com. Opening hours change with the season and should be checked on the website
In winter the Ritterkeller wants a booking: the pistes are twenty metres away and the area fills up
The visitor centre of the Fanes-Senes-Braies park is in the village, at Via Catarina Lanz 96, and it is worth calling in before you go up to the paths
The Trù dles Liëndes is flat and takes a pushchair: three kilometres, under an hour
Canederli can be made in the motorhome too: you need a pan and a frying pan, and the mixture rests in the fridge on board. Barely an hour from start to table
From here the Val Gardena, Cortina d'Ampezzo and the Lago di Sorapis are all a day trip
Signs, menus and place names come in three languages: Italian, German and Ladin
San Vigilio di Marebbe · part two
and then?
What to do, what to taste, and where to go tomorrow.
Experiences from here
What we did starting from here, ordered by driving time.
150 g of Speck Alto Adige cut into cubes, fat included
3 large eggs
150 ml of warm milk
1 medium onion, finely chopped
50 g of breadcrumbs, to adjust
1 bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
1 bunch of chives, chopped
50 g of butter for frying, plus 60 g to finish
salt and pepper
flour for coating
grated parmesan, optional
Method
cut the stale bread into cubes of one centimetre, put them in a large bowl, pour over the warm milk and leave it five or ten minutes until the bread takes it up and stays damp but not soggy
melt 50 g of butter in a pan over a medium heat, soften the onion for two or three minutes until it turns clear, add the cubes of speck and cook another two or three minutes until the fat starts to run, then take it off the heat and let it cool a little
beat the eggs and pour them over the bread, add the speck and onion, the parsley and the chives, and work it with wet hands, taking in the breadcrumbs a little at a time until the mixture is firm but still workable: if it stays soft add a spoonful of breadcrumbs, if it is too dry a drop of milk
cover the bowl with a cloth and leave it in the fridge for at least twenty minutes, so the canederli hold together better in the pot
with damp hands shape firm balls of 60 or 70 g, the size of a plum, roll them in flour and set them on a tray
bring a wide pan of salted water or meat stock to the boil, drop it back to a gentle simmer and lower the canederli in one by one: they take ten or twelve minutes and are done when they rise to the surface and stay there a minute or two
lift them out with a slotted spoon, melt the other 60 g of butter in a pan and roll them in it for a minute or two until they are coated in golden butter
serve at once, with grated parmesan and a scatter of fresh chives if you like
Distances and times by road, measured with OSRM on OpenStreetMap data.
Looking
San Vigilio di Marebbe in photographs
6 shots from our visit. Tap one to see it large.
the rocky summit lit by the first sun above the houses and the snowy meadowthe village at night, the bell tower lit and the snowy pistes under the moonthe parish church with its pointed bell tower and the Dolomites behinda cable car cabin hanging against an orange sky, above the snowy roofsa large snow sculpture in the village meadow, with the peaks behindthe Lago di Braies from the wooden jetty, the cross in the foreground and a boat on the green water
