Located in the Veneto region in North-East Italy, Cortina D’Ampezzo is one of the most famous ski resorts in the world.
Cortina d’Ampezzo hosted the 1956 Olympics and since then was known as the most glamorous ski resort in Italy. The Ford company even named a car after it in the 70s, made a Bond movie in the 80s, and will host the 2026 winter Olympics.
We had great expectations when we came there 10 years ago. We found an old resort with 3 unconnected small ski areas and very old ski lifts. The views were amazing, but the infrastructure and the discontinuity of the area gave us a big disappointment
But when we came back in 2022, we discovered a rebirth of Cortina. The fact that Cortina will host the 2026 winter Olympics and the amazing developments that took place here during covid years are the reasons. If you want to see these new developments and get essential knowledge on recommended ski runs and other great tips on Cortina before booking your next ski holiday, you want to watch Our review on Cortina.
Ski area
The ski area of Cortina is 120 km of slopes. It used to be divided into 3 different ski areas: Tofana, Cinque Torri- Falzarego and Faloria-Cristallo, since the opening of the skyline gondola, Tofana and Cinque Torri areas are connected. The altitude is spread between 2830m and the town level at 1217m. 4 cable cars, 2 gondolas, 19 chairlifts and 2-t bars, a total of 27 lifts served the skiers.
45 km of easy blue runs(title 38%),59 km of intermediates red runs(title 49%) and 16 km of difficult black runs(title 13%) make up the 120 km of runs.
From the Tofana area, you have valley runs to the village, but from the Faloria area, you will need to ride down the Faloria cable car.
Cortina has an average annual snowfall of around 2.5 meters, but 95% of the runs are covered by snow cannons, the ski season here every year is from the end of November to the end of April.
6 days of adult skipass in the high season is 347€. For advanced skiers, we recommend adding 26€ and extending to the Dolomiti super skipass.
Cortina is quite a big place for a ski resort.
The Centre is Corso italia, 600 meters long pedestrian area full of fashion designer shops,boutiques, outdoor and winter sport shops, cafes, restaurants and bars. There are several alleys crossing the main street. The impressive 66 meters bell tower, in the middle of Corso Italia, is the symbol of Cortina.
Apres ski and nightlife
Cortina is not the glitz dancing queen it used to be in the 60’s and 70’s.
There are many places where you can find wines and other alcoholic drinks for the Connoisseurs.
If you are looking for a good vibe, you can beginn your evening at the sport bar at Corso Italia.
recommended runs
Tofana
Olympia-stratofana run – it was the 1956 Olympics run and will be the 2026 Olympics as well as the women’s alpine ski run in the Audi world cup circuit. One of the most famous in Europe and maybe the most beautiful in the world cup circuit. The most iconic part is the schoss, 35 black on the map. It is the steepest ski run from all the Dolomitisuperski 1220 km of slopes. Then it continues with 35 red. This run was hosting the women’s downhill world cup more than 100 times! More than any other. All the runs from the top of lift 22 on the shoulder of Toffana mountain are good.
Another recommended run is 51 black, Forcella Rosa. the longest black slope in Cortina and our favorite. It curved between dolomite towers with a panoramic view of Ampezzo valley.
Cinque Torri area
An amazing red run is Lagazuoi run( #2 on the ski map) 3 km curved red run between the cliffs with spectacular views of the cinque Torri area. It is maybe the least crowded run in Cortina.
You must do the Lagazuoi tour, aka the hidden valley: instead of taking the right turn on the fork at lagazuoi peak, take the left one. You will enter the Armentarola slope, a 7.5 km red run, curving its way into the hidden valley. One of the most beautiful ski runs in the world, with frozen waterfalls around the way.
The lagazuoi tour is part of the super 8 tour which is a route in which you have breathtaking views of 8 of the famous peaks of the dolomites. We recommend taking a break at the refugo Scoiattoli which is near the cinque Torri, five towers in Italien. A nice run if you begin your day here, is run 12. It will take you back to lift 4. The beginning point of the tour.
Until 2021, you had to take a ski bus or drive with a car to get here and back to Cortina town, but now the best development Cortina did, the skyline gondola system, is a panoramic gondola that connects Tofana area and Cortina town, to the 5 Torri area.
In the Faloria area we recommend Vitali Bassa, 62 red.
For beginners, we recommend 61 blue, with panoramic views on Tofana and Cristallo mountains.
thanks to https://www.fatmap.com
to compare Cortina to other ski resorts visit our website:
https://www.skiresortsvideo.com/
44 Comments
"The most iconic part is the schoss, 35 black on the map. It is the steepest ski run from all the Dolomitisuperski 1220 km of slopes."
This is definitely not true.
one of the best places for slow ski
Those "for your eyes only" clips are such a blast from the past 🙂
It is a plus that they always have taken their time to pronounce the names of the local villages and ski lifts correct.
Bucket list!
Cortina is great; can highly recommend the Hidden Valley run.
Thanks ! Looks like this is the additional resort we have to visit.
you should review all the crap resorts over in Scotland here. You could do 5 in one week 😉
Had one of the best weeks in my life in Cortina in 2020 had to drive to Val Gardena to access the Sella Ronda….Magical place though
I live near Cortina and sometimes I go skiing there. The landscape is the most beautiful in the world but the quality of service is very low for the cost of ski pass. Slow chairlift and cable car from the 50s!. Also, the Faloria area is isolated so if you want to ski there you have to use your car in the massive traffic of the city whose road can’t support the exaggerated number of cars during holidays. I prefer going on 3 Zinnen Resort which is more focused on skiing with new slopes and a lot of new Gondolas and chairlifts. The new infrastructures in cortina are very little compared to the older ones who need replacement, but fortunately something is done after decades of nothing. Cortina is better for lush life with fancy restaurants and luxury boutiques like Gucci and Dior.
The landscape is gorgeous but switzerland ,s resorts are much better
The Ford Cortina was launched in 1962!!
We stayed at Rifugio Scoiattoli for a couple of days last time, the skiing and food was outstanding.
Cortina is overvalued… I go often there.. Cortina as a city is nothing. The rest is fantastic
It said as a con “quite small ski area”, but it’s listed as having 30,000 skiable acres, over 4 times larger than the largest ski resort in the U.S., and ten times larger than an average sized well known ski resort such as Deer Valley or Steamboat, so that had me a bit confused. I understand there are disconnected ski areas, but still, how small can it be?
My biggest question is how fun it is to ski there given they get so little snow.
Hello, I'd like to make some observations.
1) It's Forcella Rossa (red fork), not Rosa (pink fork)
2) Faloria and Tofana are linked with a free bus that passes every 20 minutes, going all the way from Freccia nel Cielo to the Faloria cablecar, making intermediate stops in key spots of Cortina, like Corso Italia. I agree it's old, but citing the guy operating the cablecar "it's the only way to go up that doesn't require a 300m high pylon just outside of Cortina". That's the reason of the intermediate stop (and the reason of long times for ascent/descent)
3) It's not clear if you're considering Col Gallina as part of the Cortina resort, as I clearly see images from the chairlift, but you never mention it.
4) You completely disregarded the existance of the Cristallo slopes (not extremely challenging but very enjoyable), which are probably the most fun due to the low affluence, fast chairlifts and very good food in Son Forca
5) Please do a bit more research on how to pronounce these names, you completely butchered them. This one is just a suggestion tho.
Thank you.
Hello, could you review Arraba and Kronplatz please.
A couple of corrections:
1) Cortina's slopes are not the steepest, there are at least 5 definitely much steeper
2) Among the cons you had forgotten the most important: prices! It's an extremely expensive location and the value for money ratio should be lowered to 5.5
Awesome place! 3:49 Came down that when mid part was ice. 2 men, 2 women, 3 kids. 2 kids skied down, 2 men boarded down, 2 women came down sliding on their backs, 1 kid was helped down by ski patrol on foot.
😎
I strongly suggest you show a map whenever you mention a ski trail or a lift.
Great and very complete review. Thank you!
They still need a few modernisations of infrastructure, but the connection to Cinque Torri is gold. Hidden valley is great, then you can reconnect to Alta Badia 😁
Sick they updated their lifts
not even close to the Chugach in Alaska, Niseko in Japan , or Whistler in Canada… deep powder is where is at and Cortina has none of it, been there and will not go back….one good thing is Italian women are beautiful, then again we are talking about skiing.
Looks like it’s all groomers? Only 100 inches annually of snow? I’ve Skied Zermatt and Cervinia and I have to admit, the visual aspects were breathtaking. As far as powder and challenging stuff, it looks like Skiing out west or in South America is way more bang for your buck.
this was amazing !! insta sub
Great Channel and reviews, thank you!!
Your Italian pronunciation is very terrible, I hope you get some lesson and nail it next time around, barely understood the names. Other than that, you've done an excellent job. Mark: 9 & 1/2
Pleas get the pronounciation of the Italian words correct. This is so annoying
Cortina is one of my (if not the) favourites in the Dolomiti Superski area but the steepest slope is the Holzriese in Drei Zinnen / Tre Cime as far as I know…
The most beautiful mountain scenery I've ever seen!! Been there twice and eager to go back.
Was there a few years ago and it seemed all the lifts were from the last Olympics 😀
Glad they updated the lifts!
Fun fact 1): Cliffhanger was also shot in Cortina although the audience was led to believe it was the Rockies. There are still remains of the set well hidden a stone throw from Faloria upper station.
Fun fact 2): there is slope even steeper than the Olimpica in Cortina. The upper part of the Staunies, but it is not groomed and generally closed to the public. It's a slope from a time when life was cheaper…
I also agree that the Forcella Rossa is an amazing run. If it is not steeper than the Olimpica, it certainly looks so.
2023 and still need to exploit horses? its a nop for me
I can't express how much I would love to ski the Dolomites! But I'm a poor boy with mountains right outside my door so…they'll have to do.
Doesn't look like it gets a lot of snow or quality snow. But it's a beautiful place!
Cortina non è un posto per sciare….poche piste corte e con impianti vecchi. Andate in Val Badia Val di Fassa Val Gardena ecc….
Good review. but confusing with all the areas. would be helpful if you pointed to the map for each are you talked about.
Also a pity you dont wait for proper good snow coverage before you shoot your roll and drone shots. heaps of snow makes everything look better. the township looked drab snowless. best to wait for snow, then go shoot.
overall good job. v. informative.
Ski is more and more for wealthy people. Managed by bigger companies to make more money. 350€ for a ski pass and they even don't guarantee you a refund if something (like in 2020) happens is a theft! Being a skier is more and more becoming as being an Everest "climber"!! Mountain is more and more just a business managed by huge corporations.
3:23 the steepest track has just naked rocks on the sides – one mistake, and you are dead or hardly injured. Typical italians.
Did it misunderstand or did he say you can take a gondola from crotina to alpa de suisi?
The Food Sucks. No Coke , only Pepsi, soggy fries, thin crust pizza with no pineapples.
run 51 is one of the best I have skied in my 20 years with the sport, I loved cortina, can't wait to get back