Worldwide Ski Resorts • Italy • Cortina
Overview
The resort of Cortina is a smart, sprawling town with exclusive shops and smart cafes, surrounded by a suburb of exclusive chalets. The local scenery is simply breathtaking with a ring of peaks all around the town providing a beautiful and colourful backdrop to an upmarket and cosmopolitan haven in the mountains. The town offers an extensive range of accommodation, from (very) luxurious hotels to self catering apartments and 1 star rated pensions.
The town is the favourite of wealthy Italians who do not necessarily come here to ski, but to relax and enjoy the atmosphere and the beauty of the setting. It has little to offer the serious expert skier and even the facilities for the intermediates are not great. It is said that only about a third of the visitors actually come here to ski, so frankly, if you are looking for a week of energetic and testing sport, do not come to Cortina. If however if you are looking for a smart resort in which to explore the exclusive boutiques and watch the wealthy at play, combined with a little cruising on slopes that will take you through some of the most unforgettable mountain scenery in Europe.
Profile
Standing at 1225m in the Dolomite mountain range, the resort has what is described as an erratic snow record. Experts and the more advanced intermediates will find some interesting runs and will enjoy the incredible scenery if they can cope with the repetition. The slopes are ideal for the beginner and intermediates who lack confidence. The nursery slopes and progression slopes are excellent, although the quality of the ski-schools have had mixed reports and because the resort is not much visited by the British tourists, spoken English is the exception rather than the rule.
Child care facilities are first class. Although the main lifts to the slopes are a fair distance from the centre and the main accommodation sites, the local bus service is efficient and is included in the price of the lift pass. It is worth noting that the Dolomit Superski pass provides access to the nearby San Cassiano and other Stella Ronda resorts.
Mountain Information
All of the sectors at Cortina are quite widely separated. The two largest and highest areas are Socrepes and Faloria although some of the most fulfilling runs are to be found in the small Cinque Torri area. The resort has 140 km of pistes most of which have snowmaking facilities.
The quality of the piste preparation and grooming is first class, although the route marking can be a little haphazard. The area is served by 49 lifts, some of which are drags. Snowboarders have a small but reasonably well equipped (beginner friendly) terrain park at their disposal and Nordic style skiers have around 85 km of cross country trails to explore.
Apres Ski
There are many smaller family run hotels to chose from, and some self catering apartments, but most are near the outskirts of the town. The town offers a good level of facilities: from tea rooms, to cafes, bars, restaurants and an extensive choice of good night clubs.
Italian Resort Guide
Resort Information • Cortina
 |
Resort Height | 1224m |
 |
Top Station | 2755m |
 |
Bottom Station | 1224m |
|
Vertical Descent | 1531m |
 |
Drag Lifts | 11 |
 |
Chair Lifts | 7 |
 |
High Capacity | 9 |
 |
Opening Dates | Dec - April |
 |
Rating Expert | 7 |
 |
Rating Intermediate | 9 |
 |
Rating Beginner | 8 |
 |
Apres Ski Rating | 10 |
 |
Snow Reliability | 8 |
