The Aosta Valley and its prestigious peaks
The Aosta Valley (or Valle d'Aosta), on the Italian-French-Swiss border, has five main ski areas that are among the highest in the Alps and are popular with hard-core skiers, as well as families for the activities it offers beyond skiing. It is one of the most expensive areas in the Alps and indeed in the world to ski.
Courmayeur is the best known resort in the Aosta Valley, due to the stunning views of Mont Blanc from the slopes. The ski area extends over 100 km, including two slopes of Mount Chécrouit and the Veny Valley. The high altitude chalets (the "baitas") offer quality gastronomy. Since 2015, the resort's latest jewel, the Skyway Monte Bianco cable car, connects the Courmayeur and Chamonix domains by passing over the Mer de Glace glacier, before reaching the Aiguille du Midi (3,842 m), which is connected to the French resort, and reveals an exceptional view!
The Matterhorn area (including the Breuil and Zermatt resorts) climbs to 3,500 metres, the highest in Europe. It is even open in summer, on the Rosa and Ventina Plateau glaciers. As its name suggests, it offers a breathtaking view of the Matterhorn and is also cross-border, as it is linked to the Swiss resort of Zermatt, with a total of more than 350 km of pistes. It is the largest ski area in the Alps! It has an incredible course dedicated to boarder cross and ski cross and a 4 hectare snowpark, a rider's paradise!
Less well known but just as impressive is the Monterosa ski area (at the foot of Monte Rosa) which covers the three valleys of Champoluc, Frachey and Gressoney and has a total of 180 km of runs. It too offers grandiose landscapes under the snow. Its recent ski lifts, a brand new snowpark and its night run are the main assets of the area.
Further away from the first resorts, but still with the Mont-Blanc in the background and an unobstructed view of the Haute-Tarentaise, the San Bernardo area at the foot of the Valais mountain offers great moments of alpine skiing. It is spread over two cross-border resorts, La Thuile on the Italian side and La Rosière on the French side. The area is ideal for forest skiing (fir trees on the French side, larches on the Italian side) and free riding (with a guide). There are excellent restaurants serving Valle d'Aostan specialities.
Finally, the Pila ski resort is very close to the city of Aosta, as you can even take the gondola from the city centre. It is not too low, well covered with snow and sheltered from the wind. Even though it is smaller than the other resorts in the Aosta Valley, it is more affordable, as is the accommodation. The panorama proves to be most majestic, facing Mont Blanc, the 4000s of the Alps and Monte Rosa. Most of the slopes run through the forest.Piedmont's "milky way", the birthplace of the 2006 Olympic Games
The Milky Way " Vialactea " domain is a huge Piedmontese domain encircled by the Triplex, Bourget and Genevris mountains. It includes the Montgenèvre resort in France and the Sauze d'Oulx and Sestrières, Clavière and Cesana resorts in Italy. Sestrières, which was built by the Agnelli family (owners of Fiat), is the best known. It hosted the Alpine skiing events during the 2006 Turin Olympics and has a plethora of luxury hotels. The area is known for its festive, golden European youth and eccentric looks: don't be surprised to see skiers in Bermuda shorts and bikinis on the slopes! Further south, just 90km from Turin, lies the Bardoneccia area, located in the heart of the Upper Susa Valley. It was the venue for the 2006 Olympic snowboarding events and is renowned for its Olympic half-pipe in the snow park, its pleasant forest slopes and its lively atmosphere at night. Because here too there are many bars, restaurants, clubs... A festive resort!
The Dolomites, a monumental area
Unique in the world, the "Dolomitiski" is a pass that gives access to the slopes of twelve alpine ski areas, spread over the whole of the Dolomites of Veneto and Trentino Alto Adige. It is the largest alpine ski network in the world, a nebula of resorts governed by the same pass. Unlike the famous French "Three Valleys", these resorts are not all interconnected; often each of them is linked to one or two other resorts. But the Dolomitiski package allows you, for example, to stay four days in one resort to explore the surrounding area, and then three days in another, quite far from the first, without changing the package, to vary the landscapes to discover. That way you don't get bored of just one area.
In the Friulian Dolomites of Veneto, Cortina d'Ampezzo is at the heart of the ski season, attracting international tourists and the women's downhill world championship every year. It is a chic resort, offering stunning views as the Cortina area is surrounded by three natural mountain parks. The resort has been developed on two slopes: on the one hand, Mount Tofane and Mount Lagazuoi, whose eponymous cable car offers an incredible view of the "Cinque Torri" mountains; on the other hand, Monte Cristallo and the "Tres Cime" park. The resort is mainly aimed at experienced skiers.
Small, quiet family resorts
In the Dolomites of Trentino Alto Adige, a multitude of resorts are scattered among the mountains and valleys that are ideal for a family snow and nature holiday, for those who enjoy skiing without being ski fanatics, looking for the beauty of the landscape under the snow and the tranquillity rather than the adrenaline of steep descents.
Plan de Corones (Kronplatz in German) is the most northerly of the Dolomite resorts, on the Austrian border. It is located between San Viglio, Brunico and Valdaora. With a majority of blue runs, beginners and intermediate skiers enjoy the resort, while advanced skiers and snowboarders (who have a dedicated snowpark) try the famous, very long Black Five run.
The snowy plateau of the Siusi Alps is just as family-friendly with its easy, sunny slopes, and is part of the vast Val Gardena area, which is spread out along the valley in different resorts: Ortisei, Santa Cristina and Selva Gardena. It guarantees a spectacular view of the Sella and Sassolungo mountains. Two World Cup ski competitions are held in Santa Cristina: the Super-G and the men's downhill. The Tour delle Streghe (Witches' Tower) is specially designed for children, while there is a Piz Sella snowpark, designed for beginners.
The Alta Badia-Corvara area is also family-friendly and ideal for a relaxing stay, with many hotels, mostly blue slopes, a plethora of hotel-spas and restaurants throughout the valley to combine skiing and relaxing. At the foot of Mount Sella in South Tyrol, this area includes the large resort of Corvara and five other small villages: Badia, Colfosco, La Villa, San Cassiano and La Valle. There is a quality snowpark with jumps, rails, halfpipe suitable for all levels.
The Civeta area, which is different for its wonderful landscapes around the magnificent Lake Alleghe, is also worth discovering on skis. Sandwiched between Mount Civetta and Mount Pelmo (3,168 metres), it includes the resorts of Alleghe (at the foot of the lake) and Val di Zoldo, linked by Palafavera, where the famous and beautiful piste 2000 is located, and Selva di Cadore in the forest. The view on the lake, the family dimension and the snowpark open even at night are all appreciated.Alpine skiing day trips
Unique in the world, the Dolomites offer alpine ski tours that allow you to never do the same run in a day. For these two thematic loops, a good level of skiing and favourable weather conditions are necessary. They can be approached from any of the villages that make up a stage of these routes, either clockwise or anti-clockwise. They are well signposted at every intersection and lifts in both directions. Leave early to allow time to get back to your base station
First World War Ski Tour (31 km of runs, 8 hours). This themed tour follows in the footsteps of the soldiers of the First World War. Along the way you can see trenches, parapet walls and forts left as scars from the bitter battle between Italy and Austria. The Lana Pass was the scene of bloody battles. A concept that may seem out of sync with sliding, we grant you, but one eventually gets used to the multitude of relics of that era. The route passes under the peaks Civetta, Monte Pelmo, Tofana, Lagazuoi, Conturines, Settsass, Sassongher, Sella and Marmolada, nothing more monumental and scenic, especially between Lagazuoi and Punta Rocca. Shuttle buses provide some connections. The must: you get pulled by horses for 1.5 km, but we don't tell you where, it's a surprise! At the end, you will be as tired as a soldier!
The Sella Ronda Tour (26 km of trails, 6 hours). You'll see it signposted throughout the resorts of Arabba, Val Gardena, Alta Badia and Val di Fassa. This one-day ski tour is a classic in the region, as the name suggests, around the Sella mountain. However, it is not done for its technical difficulty, all the family with a minimum of technical ability can do it, but for the landscapes that it gives to see on all the surrounding mountains. Beware, in case of strong gusts of wind, some links may be closed and then it is impossible to return to your starting point, so make sure you get the information in the morning before you leave.
