Auronzo di Cadore

The praise goes to the panorama of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and to how empty the slopes are: lift lines barely form even in holiday weeks. A hooded high-speed quad does most of the work, the runs are wide, covered by snow guns and reported to be consistently well groomed. Families like the nursery area with its baby tow and magic carpet, the unhurried pace and the good, modestly priced food in the mountain huts. The pass is part of Dolomiti Superski.

Size is the sticking point: a handful of reds, a single black and essentially two lifts, which a strong skier exhausts in half a day. Some visitors ask for better upkeep of the lifts and the pistes, and the final wall of the descent is often found iced over. The ski area lies a couple of kilometres out of the town itself, so you depend on the ski bus or a car to reach it. Its overall score on the specialist rating sites stays low.