Seiser Alm with children – wide, gentle slopes on the Alpe di Siusi

Seiser Alm isn't a ski village in the usual sense. It's a high plateau, Europe's largest high-alpine meadow, spreading out between the Schlern and the Langkofel above the villages of Seis, Kastelruth and Völs. When you come up on the gondola, you see expanses of white hills, scattered hay barns and small clusters of spruce, and only further away do the steep Dolomite walls begin.

That's exactly what makes the place so good for children who are learning. The slopes lie in open countryside instead of plunging down into a valley, and most of them are so gentle that the parents can ski alongside. More Italian family resorts are compared in skiing holidays in Italy.

The plateau – wide slopes instead of steep valleys

On Seiser Alm itself there are around 60 kilometres of pistes and 24 lifts, and the plateau links up with Gröden in a shared area of just over 180 kilometres. The whole area is part of Dolomiti Superski. The pistes on the plateau are mostly easy and intermediate, wide and sunny, with names like Panorama, Laurin, Floralpina and Spitzbühl.

The 2026/27 season runs from 4 December 2026 to 4 April 2027, snow permitting.

For beginner families, three things are especially good here:

• The children's areas are where the families already are, at the gondola's top station in Compatsch and at Saltria at the far eastern end below the Langkofel and Plattkofel.
• Fun parks for children can be found at Spitzbühl and at the Euro lift, and at the Bamby lift a self-timer camera films your run so the children can watch themselves afterwards.
• Seiser Alm Ronda is a family circuit with seven stations, including a fun park for children, a timed slalom and a speed check. It starts at the Seiser Alm Bahn or in Sankt Ulrich in Gröden.

When the children want to go further, there's the link down towards Val Gardena, but for a family with small children the plateau is plenty for a whole week.

Children's areas and ski schools by age

Two ski schools share most of the children's lessons on the plateau.

Ski school	Course	Age	Meeting point
Skischule Seiser Alm	Beginner course in Sammy Kinderland	3–6 years	Compatsch
Skischule Schlern 3000	Group course, all levels	ages 5–12	The practice slope next to the gondola's top station
Skischule Schlern 3000	Group course, all levels	7–12 years	The practice slope in front of Hotel Saltria

Skischule Seiser Alm was founded in 1957 and has its office in Compatsch. The school also runs group courses for children who can already turn, private lessons with no age limit and cross-country skiing courses. Skischule Schlern 3000 has an office at the gondola's valley station in Seis and also runs a ski kindergarten. There's childcare too, so a younger sibling can be kept busy while the older ones are at ski school.

Children on Schlern 3000's course for ages 5–12 must be born before 1 December 2022. Allow about twenty minutes from Seis by gondola to the meeting point, and be there a quarter of an hour before the first lesson.

If you're staying down in Kastelruth, there's also the village lift there, with its own slope that suits small children. It has a shorter season than the plateau and doesn't open until the end of December.

If it's the children's very first week on skis, the beginners' guide helps you choose the number of lesson days.

The Seiser Alm Bahn and the car ban

The plateau is a protected landscape area, which is why the road up is closed to private cars from 9 am to 5 pm while the gondola is running. Before 9 and after 5 pm you can drive up to Compatsch, and you can drive down at any time.

In practice, most families take the Seiser Alm Bahn. The valley station is in Seis, and the ride to Compatsch takes around a quarter of an hour. The gondola runs every day from 8 am to 6 pm during the season, and skis, sledges and pushchairs can come along. The ride is included in both the Seiser Alm/Gröden pass and Dolomiti Superski, and children born in 2018 or later ride for free.

A few things to keep in mind if you take the car anyway:

• The car park at the valley station in Seis is free outdoors. There are also two paid garages.
• P2 in Compatsch has had to be booked online in advance since summer 2026, no earlier than six days before. The booking gets you through the checkpoint at Sankt Valentin, but you still have to pass it before 9 am and be in the car park by 9.30 am at the latest. If you arrive later, the booking is forfeited.
• The registration number can't be changed after booking.
• No parking applies on the plateau from 11 pm to 5 am, and the barriers are closed then.

If you're staying at a hotel up on the plateau, ask the hotel in advance how luggage and access work.

Cross-country skiing on the plateau

Seiser Alm has around 80 kilometres of cross-country trails at 1,800–2,200 metres, double or four-track and groomed for both classic and skate. The trails run only on natural snow. They all start from the Ritsch cross-country centre, which you reach on the connecting trail from Compatsch or by Almbus 11.

The cross-country trails link up with Gröden's, and both are part of Dolomiti NordicSki. A day on cross-country skis is a good break for children who are tired of downhill, since the terrain is so flat.

Lift passes and helmets

Basically you choose between Seiser Alm/Gröden and Dolomiti Superski. The local pass is enough for a family staying on the plateau. You only need the Superski pass if you want to ski further around the Sella, as described in the Dolomites.

If your child was born in 2019–2023, the Dolomiti Superski pass is free in the 2026/27 season, as long as an adult buys a pass for the same days in the same purchase. It applies to one child per adult, and season passes and certain special passes are not included in the offer. For the birth years 2009–2018, the junior pass applies. You can see what the passes currently cost when you book, and buying online is cheaper.

Since 2025/26, the Italian the helmet law applies to everyone on the piste, regardless of age, and covers skiing, snowboarding and sledging. Bring helmets for the whole family from home.

How to get to Seiser Alm

• By train: Bolzano and Brixen are on the Brenner line, with direct trains from Munich and Innsbruck, among other places. The nearest station is Waidbruck, but only regional trains stop there. Travelling here by rail all the way from Sweden is perfectly possible, and the train guide to the Alps explains how.
• Bus: route 170 runs from Bolzano and Brixen to the stop at the Seiser Alm Bahn in Seis and also links Kastelruth, Seis and Völs. The bus journey takes 30–50 minutes depending on the village.
• By air: Bolzano airport is around 30 km away. From there, route 120 goes to the bus station in Bolzano, where you change to the 170. Innsbruck is around 110 km away and Verona around 170.
• By car: coming from the north, leave the A22 at Klausen; from the south, at Bolzano Nord. From either exit it's just under 20 km to Seis.

How car, train and plane compare is summed up in the overview of routes to the ski resort.

Seiser Alm compared with the neighbours

Seiser Alm suits families who want quiet, wide slopes, lots of sunshine and ideally a day on the cross-country trails. Obereggen is a smaller mountain with everything gathered at one valley station, and Alta Badia and Val di Fassa are the next step when the children want to ski further. You get the bigger picture of the mountains in the Dolomites, while the Alps with children puts resorts in several countries side by side.