Cervinia
With 150km of wide, well-groomed slopes, Cervinia’s all about easy-going skiing. Intermediates can rack up the miles on long, sweeping descents like the 8km red from Plateau Rosà back to town. And beginners can make speedy progress on easy runs around Plan Maison. For more of a challenge, upgrade to an area pass and pop over the border to Switzerland, to tackle the steeper slopes of Zermatt.
A perfect ski holiday resort
Cervinia or more correctly Breuil-Cervinia is at the end of the Aosta Valley and on the Italian side of the Matterhorn. This high-altitude resort not only guarantees fantastic snow coverage but also gives you the chance to ski tow countries in one holiday as Swiss Zermatt is just across the mountain and part of the linked ski area.
The main village is Breuil-Cervinia and the ski area is linked with the neighouring village of Valtournenche. The nearby hamlet of Chamois has it own small ski area and the whole area links with the Swiss resort of Zermatt.
The sunny slopes above Cervinia are perfect for intermediate skiers and that’s before you even include the vast options across in Zermatt. You can notch up some serious vertical – the 22km route from the Klein Matterhorn to the village of Valtournenche has a drop of more than 2300m – all on well-groomed pistes that are now increasingly equipped with snowmaking to improve snow reliability even further.The slopes are high, open and mostly very sunny thanks to their westerly orientation. The high altitude means you don’t need to worry about the snow as most of the pistes lie well above 2000m, giving the resort one of Europe’s longest seasons.
Cervinia is a perfect intemediate resort - wonderful wide, cruisy runs. But for keen skiers, there are still some serious challenges both in Cervinia and in the linked Zermatt ski area.