Francescato Apartments, Livigno, Italy

The apartments are basic but very, very adequate. The proprietor’s attention to detail is amazing and they always make us feel so welcome. The one we stayed in last time had a big living-kitchen area, with a sofa, table, 6 chairs and a good cooker for self catering (or you can eat in the proprietor’s restaurant depending on which apartment you stay in). It was all very clean and had some fabulous French doors leading out to a double balcony. The two bedrooms were basic but good, each with a double bed and plenty of blankets and storage space for clothing and suitcases. The bathroom was also very clean. In terms of the location, the apartments are right next to the main road that goes through Livigno and about 200m from the ski hire shop. Livigno ski school is 50m from the apartments, the little travellator that beginners can use to get up the first stage of the mountain is about 150m away and the first poma is 250m. Each afternoon at lunchtime we could ski back to 20m of the ski locker. There are plenty of restaurants and bars within 50-60 metres and 2 supermarkets within 50- 60 metres. You can catch the bus or walk down to town about 10-15m for the duty free shopping and nightlife. The Francescato apartments are in a part of the town called San Rocco and as you walk to the main part of Livigno there are more and more shops, bars and restaurants. The resort has 3 buses: a red bus, a blue bus and a yellow bus and all are free with the lift pass. You can get the taxi anywhere in the resort for 5€ and to get back from Mottolino you can cram as many people into a people carrier as possible for 10€. For the Mottolino side, get the red bus from the stop right outside the apartments, it’s a 10 minute journey - jump out the bus and into the cable car and you're up the mountain. We like to stay in an apartment because it makes you a free operator, you can cook for yourself if you want although the food in Livigno is so cheap that you can eat out all the time. The cost of eating out is pretty much the same you would get in Britain: you can get a top notch pizza that you can hardly manage to finish for 7-8€, a top locally sourced steak for 15-17€ and a homemade spaghetti dish for 8€. Half the fun is going to eat at different places and talking to the chefs and proprietors. Marco’s pub is adjacent to the Francescato apartments (about 100m away) and does everything from spaghetti and burgers to steak.