Where to ski in the cheaper, laid-back Alpine alternative – and host of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games – this winter
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Italy trails behind France and Austria as the most popular destination for British skiers. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that a ski holiday here cannot match up to the challenge and the charm of its famous neighbours.
It’s got an impressive number of resorts – 286 to be precise (compared to France’s 249) – with some truly outstanding skiing to be found in the Dolomites and elsewhere. Despite this, in recent decades, Italians have been unusually shy in marketing their slopes abroad. But all that is about to change.
In February 2026, the Cortina Milano Winter Olympic Games will showcase Italy’s ski resorts to the world. Back in 1956, the spotlight shone on Cortina d’Ampezzo as Austria’s Toni Sailer swept the board with three gold medals in the men’s skiing, and a whole fresh audience was enchanted by the nation’s challenging slopes. Some 70 years later, the women’s Alpine events will be held in the same resort, while the men compete in Bormio, the beautiful but little-known Val di Fiemme hosts cross-country, and freestylers head for remote Livigno.
Despite its pedigree for international competition, the holiday emphasis in Italy tends to be based around fun and relaxation rather than sporting excellence. As a result, the enjoyment factor is all the higher. If you’re planning on taking small children on holiday, you’ll be delighted to find they are welcomed even in the chicest hotels and restaurants. However, it’s important to research childcare facilities well in advance. Italians tend to travel in famiglia with grandparents in tow to mind the little ones when not in ski school.
Not only is Italy much more laid-back than its rivals in France, Switzerland and Austria, it is also cheaper. Precious Euros will stretch a lot further compared with other mainstream Alpine destinations.
Italy is also blessed with a number of giant ski areas. For beautiful scenery and a variety of terrain, the central core of the Dolomites is unbeatable. This area is also home to the famous Sella Ronda – a circular network of lifts and pistes around the Gruppo del Sella, a majestic limestone massif, taking in a host of resorts. With its extensive piste network and off-piste routes, the vast Monterosa ski area is an alternative for both intermediates and experts. And plans are afoot to build a cable car to Cervinia, also in the Aosta valley and linked to Zermatt in Switzerland, as part of the long-awaited AlpLinks project to create a giant linked circuit.
Reliable snow cover is now becoming a major concern for anyone booking a ski holiday, though. The Sella Ronda resorts and other destinations in the Dolomites don’t always catch the regular winter storms that strike the peaks of the Austrian Tirol, less than 100km to the north. In search of a solution, and following a series of relatively dry winters in the 1980s, Italian resorts led the field in the early development of artificial snow cover.
As a consequence, they now have some of Europe’s most sophisticated snowmaking – a move that in these difficult climatic times is paying big dividends. Even when there is almost no natural cover, Italian resorts are able to maintain many kilometres of piste in pristine condition.
Below you’ll find where’s best to go for a ski holiday in Italy, whatever your ability or budget.
This compact, value-for-money village lies at 1,880m, with lifts going up to 3,088m. It’s one of the few Italian resorts to be snowsure from late October to mid-June, thanks to the Presena glacier at 3,000m – the training ground of the Italian national ski team. The marked runs are mainly suited to beginners and intermediates, and Passo Tonale is also linked by lift to the slopes of Ponte di Legno and Temù, which offer challenges for more advanced skiers and totals 100km of runs and 28 lifts. All are covered by a single lift pass and the ski area as a whole goes by the moniker Ponte di Legno-Tonale.
The high snowsure slopes of the Presena glacier are accessed by a gondola that goes from Passo Paradiso at 2,585m to Passo Presena at 3,000m. The only piste down is red, but non-skiers and nervous beginners can also use the lift to enjoy panoramic views of the Italian Alps.
However, the overriding reason for a visit to Passo Tonale is to enjoy the gentle open slopes that form a near-perfect nursery area for learning first turns and gaining confidence, without the threat of more advanced slope users whizzing scarily by. There are two ski and snowboard schools, Tonale Presena and Ponte Tonale, and both offer a decent standard of instruction. However, when booking a lesson with either, it is advisable to insist on having a fluent English-speaking instructor. Another option is the international online portal Maison Sport, which has local independent instructors on its books.
The resort village was developed mainly to service the slopes, with a road running through the middle, and features predominantly chalet-style buildings. It’s generally quiet during the week, but comes to life during the Italian holidays and at weekends.
One après option is a meal at Hotel La Mirandola, situated way above the main resort. It dates back to the 12th century, and the restaurant has a vaulted stone ceiling, oodles of atmosphere and can be reached in the evening by snowmobile.
For a warm welcome and friendly service, the three-star, family-run Hotel Adamello is hard to beat. Good food, including a regional buffet, is served and there’s also a children’s games room with ball pool, climbing wall and slides. From £833, with Crystal Ski.
Bardonecchia, Pila and Madesimo are all uncommercialised resorts much loved by Italians. Each has easy, uncrowded slopes that are ideal for learning.
This quaint little village, along with family-friendly Corvara and neighbouring San Cassiano, is situated at the crossroads of two huge intermediate playgrounds in the heart of the Dolomites, covered by the giant 1,250km Superski Dolomiti lift pass.
The local 130km Alta Badia ski area gives easy access to the Sella Ronda circuit, and both are rich in cruisy, confidence-boosting red runs that are usually well groomed. Efficient snowmaking here is quite exceptionally extensive. In a dry, cold winter a circuit of over 200km of runs can operate without any natural cover at all. In total there are 500km of linked pistes to explore, and they’re also home to some delightful mountain restaurants.
La Villa is the long-established home of Wow Ski Tours, which runs guided women-only day tours both on and off-piste around the linked Dolomite resorts. They choose to holiday here essentially to ski without pressure in the company of other like-minded women.
The Dolomites themselves have been called the most beautiful mountain range in the world. At sunset, the cliffs and crags turn a vibrant shade of pink. The panorama is so enchanting that eyes are perpetually drawn to the skyline, and sometimes it’s hard to concentrate on the snow underfoot.
For dining at altitude with superb mountain views, the Piz Boè Alpine Lounge located alongside the upper station of the Boè cable car that departs from the centre of Corvara, is recommended.
Three-star Hotel La Villa is in a quiet area, 400 metres from the nearest lift. Every room has a balcony, and there’s a wellness area. From £1,018, with Ski Solutions.
Kronplatz in the Südtirol numbers an extraordinary 21 gondolas among its 34 lifts. These give access to 121km of mainly intermediate slopes, with plenty of wide open red and blue runs. La Thuile in the Aosta Valley offers a wealth of gentle reds and blues, and is linked to La Rosière in France, where more challenging reds await.
This picturesque little village – complete with stone church and ancient wooden farmhouses in the giant Monterosa ski area – has a cult following of powderhounds. Away from the limited local pistes, glorious snowfields provide endless entertainment and tough challenges for experts. In fact, many claim the backcountry terrain here rivals that of Chamonix, in France.
It’s not a place for beginners, though, or those interested in any form of nightlife: lights-out is almost directly after dinner. But to make the most of the unpisted terrain, plenty of sleep is required.
Alagna itself has only 15km of pistes, but it’s linked to the more intermediate-minded resorts of Gressoney and Champoluc – all covered on the Monterosa Ski lift pass and offering 200km of pistes of varying difficulty. However, it’s best to stay in Alagna for the off-piste. When the Alplinks project comes to fruition, it will be possible to ski from here to Zermatt’s Rothorn.
The village is situated at 1,212m, from where lifts ascend to a heady 3,275m, the starting point for some dramatic freeriding. There’s also a wickedly long black run down towards the resort from Passo Salati at 2,971m. Expert help is essential to explore this truly dramatic terrain, which means hiring the services of a mountain guide. Book through Alagna Ski Guides, a group of self-employed local guides who all speak English.
Mirtillo Blu Family Apartment is located six minutes by bus from the lifts and a seven-minute walk from the village centre. Groceries can be delivered. From £1,037, self-catering, with Heidi.
Arabba is on the main intermediate Sella Ronda circuit, but is also a convenient base from which to explore some of the most challenging slopes in the region. The pistes here are some of the steepest in the Dolomites and include spectacular off-piste routes.
Cortina d’Ampezzo also has some challenging black runs, tough couloirs and serious off-piste runs. Madesimo has the notorious Canalone off-piste run.
This is a high-altitude resort with fabulous long runs where conditions top-to-bottom are virtually guaranteed from December to the end of April, even in the driest winter. The glacier is also normally open for summer skiing and snowboarding from June to September. Plus, there’s good grooming and snowmaking on key runs.
Cervinia itself has 160km of pistes covered on the local lift pass and is also linked by lift to the slopes of Zermatt in Switzerland. The more expensive International pass covering both resorts brings the ski area total to an extensive 322km. The Matterhorn Alpine Crossing gives direct cable car access across the Swiss frontier from the Klein Matterhorn in Switzerland to Testa Grigia on the Italian side. What this means is that anyone, in winter or in summer, can now travel from Cervinia to Zermatt in both directions by cable car without getting their feet wet. The total journey takes about an hour.
This isn’t the prettiest resort in the Alps, with some rather stark architecture, but its slopes offer a wonderful playground, dictated by the easy gradient of its seemingly never-ending runs. These allow beginners and wobbly intermediates to gain enormous confidence in an extensive high-mountain area.
The 8km Ventina red run, with breathtaking views of 4,000m peaks, descends a mighty 1,833m from the top of Plateau Rosa (3,480m) all the way down to the resort, and if completed without a stop, is guaranteed to turn even the strongest legs to spaghetti.
All of this means Cervinia is somewhere Italy should be proud of. Il Duce, Benito Mussolini, felt exactly the same and decreed in the 1930s that the then embryonic resort should change its name from the Swiss-German-sounding Breuil to Cervinia, in order to reflect the Italianate glory of the mountain above it. However, most of us think of this mountain as the Matterhorn rather than Il Cervino – and there’s a less spectacular but still impressive view of its iconic shape from the Italian side of the peak.
Base Camp Apartments is a kilometre from the centre of town, and 10 metres from the bus stop. The studios and apartments have their own restaurant close by, and there’s also a shop. From £799, self-catering, including ferry crossings, with SNO.
Livigno and Passo Tonale are both high enough to ensure that adequate snow cover is virtually guaranteed.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Sauze d’Oulx had a reputation as a Magaluf-on-ice, where pub was more important than piste, and many of its British youth following never made it on to the snow before midday. The Sauze of today has a very different atmosphere. It is a charming place that suits all types of visitors, including families, although the party atmosphere has never completely gone away.
The village has an attractive, cobbled centre, but most of the resort is made up of modern, block-like buildings. Away from the centre, there are quieter, more secluded areas.
Part of the vast 400km Milky Way (Via Lattea) ski area served by 70 lifts, Sauze has some of Italy’s best intermediate pistes, with undulating terrain linking to the resorts of Sansicario, Sestriere and, across the French border, to Montgenèvre. The local slopes are spread out across a wooded mountainside. At the heart of these runs is Sportinia – a mid-mountain collection of restaurants, hotels and a nursery area.
The prices here are considerably less than those in premier French resorts like Courchevel and Val d’Isère, so eating out and entertainment needn’t cost a fortune. Après begins with live music at Capanna Mollino in the Sportinia area, and moves on to the Village café-bar on the home run into the resort. For a quieter drink, the Caffe della Seggiovia or Enoteca Il Lampione wine bars are popular with both locals and visitors. Other lively places include Miravallino, GhostBar, The Derby and Moncrons cocktail bar and Osteria dei Vagabondi.
Hotel Villa Cary is a family-run property on the resort’s main square, 200 metres from the closest lift. The chalet-style hotel has a comfortable living area, bar and restaurant. From £809, with Inghams.
Madonna di Campiglio and Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Dolomites offer more sophisticated – and expensive – nightlife.
This is Italy’s chicest destination, an ancient mountain town in the Dolomites surrounded by soaring cathedrals of sandstone. It’s in this magnificent setting that will host a number of Olympic events in February 2026, including Women’s Alpine skiing, as well as bobsleigh, luge, and Skeleton.
Despite being variously occupied over the centuries by foreign invaders, including Austria, Cortina has stubbornly maintained a spiritual independence of its own. While the residents of surrounding towns and villages primarily speak Italian or German, native Cortinese cling to their ancient Ladin language to converse among themselves.
Cortina’s 120km of marked slopes and 35 lifts (covered by the local lift pass) are divided into three main areas, and best suit intermediates and experts. There is a handful of tricky black runs, plus countless off-piste opportunities in good snow conditions.
Buses connect the three areas – Tofana-Socrepes, Faloria-Cristallo and Cinque Torri-Lagazuoi. Until recently, the enjoyment of skiing here was severely hampered by the absence of investment in the lifts. However, much of the system has undergone a multi-million-Euro makeover in time for the Olympics. The Skyline gondola now connects Cinque Torri with Tofana and a new Lacedel-Socrepes gondola opens this season. From the furthest reaches of Lagazuoi it’s possible to link into the vast Sella Ronda ski area with over 400km more pistes, covered by the more extensive Dolomiti Superski pass.
The quickest way to get there is via a 30-minute bus ride from the centre of town to Passo Falzarego, followed by a cable car up to the 2,788m summit of Lagazuoi. From here, there’s a red run down the Hidden Valley to the hamlet of Armentarola and on to the rest of the Sella Ronda.
However, back in the resort itself, the business of skiing and snowboarding plays second fiddle to the social sport of seeing and being seen outside and inside the elegant boutiques and antique shops lining the Corso Italia, the pedestrianised main street.
Encroaching twilight is the signal for Cortina to come out and play. A colony of voluminous fur coats and designer ski wear gathers noisily in the Piazza Venezia at the start of the evening passeggiata. Much later, the party atmosphere is transferred to intimate wine bars, expensive restaurants, and a smattering of softly-lit nightclubs.
Hotel Menardi is 500 metres from the slopes and has a living area with an open fire, a restaurant, bar and spa area. From £1,058, with Iglu Ski.
The market town of Ortisei in the Val Gardena is packed with charming buildings and churches and surrounded by majestic peaks. Its local slopes offer lots of relaxed cruising linked to the extensive Sella Ronda circuit and also, in the other direction, to the gentle runs of charming Alpe di Siusi/Seiser Alm, the highest Alpine meadow in Europe. The small, quiet village of San Cassiano in Alta Badia is set in an attractive, tree-lined valley and has a traditional atmosphere.
The 200km Monterosa ski area is one of the most underrated in the Alps and Champoluc is a charming village, with a typically Italian laid-back atmosphere and some decent bars. The scenery is beautiful, there’s a general lack of crowds in the area and traffic is slight. There’s a choice of airports – Geneva has the most flights from the UK, but it’s a three-hour drive via the Mont Blanc Tunnel. Turin is half the distance (90 minutes away), but offers a much smaller choice of flights. Milan’s three airports are also within a 2hr 45min drive.
From the village, a gondola goes up to Crest, where the beginner slopes are situated. From the nearby hamlet of Frachey, served by a free ski bus, a funicular gives more direct access towards Gressoney, Alagna and the rest of the Monterosa Ski area. Frachey is the site of the proposed lift link to Cervinia and Zermatt. If this goes ahead Champoluc will become part of one of the world’s largest ski areas with 530km of piste.
British Ski instructor Simon Brown has spent 26 seasons in the village and runs Ski Champoluc and his own ski rental shop. He arranges lessons with a team of English-speaking instructors from Champoluc Ski School, which has been around for over 50 years.
Accommodation is in a wide range of hotels. Prices include transfers from and to Turin as well as Milan’s three airports. Larger groups can travel via Geneva for a supplement. Importantly, snack meal vouchers are included that can be used in a selection of mountain restaurants and greatly reduce the cost of lunches. Holiday prices also include full Monterosa Ski area lift passes and ski injury insurance as well as use of a minibus around the resort.
Do be aware that childcare is extremely limited in Italy because Italian families tend to bring along granny and grandpa to look after the little ones. Ski Champoluc runs its own Kids Ski School during the two February half-term weeks and for the final three weeks of the season during the Easter holidays.
Hotel La Rouja is a boutique four-star hotel in the centre of the village, with a wellness area and a popular restaurant. From £1,510, half board, with snack lunches, lift pass, children’s equipment hire, and airport transfers (not Geneva) included, but no flights, with Ski Champoluc. Based on a family of four.
Cervinia has excellent nursery slopes right in the village centre, and Selva is also popular with families.
Livigno is one of the most inaccessible resorts in Europe. It takes the best part of three hours to get there from Innsbruck, and even longer from Italian hub airports. However, it’s worth the long journey, not only for the quality of the terrain parks but for its low duty-free prices and reliable snow cover.
The remote village is strung out along 10km of mountain road that comes to a full stop in winter at 1,816m, close to the Swiss border. Not for nothing is it nicknamed Little Tibet. It’s a great beginner and low-intermediate area, with terrain on both the Mottolino and Costaccia/Carosello sides of the valley. Not surprisingly, Livigno has been chosen as the venue for the snowboarding and freestyle events at the Winter Olympics in February 2026. The main park is on Mottolino, and has more than 60 features, and four kicker lines to suit abilities from beginner to pro. There’s also an airbag for honing tricks and GB Snowsports freestyle ski and snowboard squads have been known to train here.
The second main park is at Carosello, and is geared more towards intermediates. It also has a large airbag, rails and tabletops, plus a boardercross course. Two more parks – Amerikan, near the Carosello gondola, and Del Sole, near the centre of town – are aimed at beginners and children. Cable Park, a fifth park near lift 20 on the Costaccia side, features a variety of rails, boxes and jumps of varying difficulty. A dedicated drag-lift pulls riders through the park, making tricks easier. Helmets are compulsory in all parks.
The cosy Al Gal apartments have been recently renovated and are located 300 metres from the lifts, and a short walk from the pedestrianised area of town. Apartments sleep from four to six people each. From £718, self-catering, with Inghams.
The huge Snowpark in Bardonecchia was the venue for the snowboarding events at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics. It has a vertical drop of 1,100m and is divided into five zones based on the difficulty of the jumps and features. There’s also the Olympic halfpipe. Cervinia’s Indian park is regarded as one of the best in Italy, and features three courses of kickers, rails and walls for different abilities.
This is an attractive old village situated above Lake Como, a 2.5-hour drive from Milan and Bergamo. It’s much loved by Italian families in search of high-quality slopes at realistic prices.
The 60km of runs in the 13-lift Valchiavenna ski area are mainly intermediate, but there are plenty of challenges for experts, including one of the top 10 classic off-piste runs in Europe – the ungroomed Canalone itinerary route, which descends 1,000 vertical metres. Madesimo’s ski area isn’t extensive, but there’s plenty of variety in the terrain.
The resort tends to get very busy on high-season weekends, due to its proximity to Milan and Bergamo, but during the week it’s blissfully uncrowded outside Italian holiday times.
The village has an impressive range of restaurants, pizzerias and bars. Prices for food and drink are a fraction of what you’d expect to pay in an equivalent French resort. The Dogana Vegia restaurant on the edge of town (about a 25-minute walk from the centre) is particularly well regarded. This ancient coaching inn has a roaring log fire and is decorated with a bizarre collection of antiques. It serves tasty fare, and the house wine is good value.
An adult six-day lift pass costs from €246 to €282, while child prices range from €121 to €141 – a far cry from what you will pay in France’s Les Trois Vallées or Val d’Isère. Bergamo and both Milan Malpensa and Milan Linate are all within a two-and-a-half-hour drive, and offer plenty of low-cost flights for thrifty British skiers.
Hotel K2 is a simple two-star hotel with lots of atmosphere, located in the centre of town and opposite the main lift. From £860, including car hire, with Momentum Ski.
Livigno and the low-cost resorts of Folgarida and Marilleva. The latter are purpose-built resorts that link directly into the Madonna di Campiglio ski area in the Brenta Dolomites. They share the slopes, but not the high prices, and attract a more budget-conscious clientele.
The essential component for a weekend on the slopes is easy transfers from a choice of airports with lots of flights. Courmayeur lies less than two hours from both Turin and Geneva. This charming, traditional mountaineering village is situated in the lee of Mont Blanc at the Italian end of the Mont Blanc tunnel. Chamonix in France is at the other end.
Well-heeled Italians from Milan and Turin arrive in numbers on Friday evening. They throng the pretty, pedestrianised Via Roma, with its smart designer boutiques and comfortable cocktail bars. However, this doesn’t mean that the pistes will be crowded in the morning – fortunately, only a small proportion of these predominantly Italian weekenders hit the slopes early. They come for the party rather than the pistes.
Restaurants both in town and up on the mountain are of a particularly high standard, and Courmayeur is one of the spiritual homes of the long lunch.
At 42km, the ski area, which best suits confident intermediates, isn’t huge and can easily be covered in a day. The off-piste terrain, however, offers a considerable challenge. There are classic off-piste runs from Cresta d’Arp (2,755m) at the top of the lift network, while the SkyWay Monte Bianco cable car from Entrèves, a five-minute drive from Courmayeur, provides access to some serious descents, including the famous Vallée Blanche. The cable car has rotating cabins giving 360-degree views during the ascent to Punta Helbronner (3,462m).
The four-star Svizzero has 28 rooms decorated in a quiet position 500 metres from the town centre, and features a spa, a cosy bar, and a restaurant. From £889, B&B, with Skiworld.
Pila, at the other end of the Aosta Valley from Courmayeur, above the city of Aosta, has intermediate slopes and easy access from Milan and Turin airports.
Unless stated otherwise, package prices are per person, based on two sharing a double or twin room, half-board, for seven nights, including flights and transfers.
In a lifetime as a professional ski nomad, Peter has visited 528 destinations worldwide, co-written 25 books on skiing with his wife, Felice, and has been reporting on skiing for The Telegraph since 1991. He first skied in Italy in the early 1980s and has been returning ever since – not just for the slopes, but also for the modestly-priced mountain restaurants.
Felice – who has been writing about skiing for The Telegraph since 2010 – has always felt an affinity with the country because of her Italian name.She first skied in Italy on a family holiday to Cervinia when she was seven.
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This article was first published in October 2022, and has been revised and updated.
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