7 Nights in Cervinia, Italy

Cervinia ski holidays

Convenient, lively and lots to do, all with a Matterhorn mountain backdrop.

• Good snow record and high-altitude slopes, lots of them long and gentle.
• Purpose-built town where you’re always near a lift or piste.
• Intermediate skiing into Switzerland’s Zermatt with far-reaching views.

Cervinia’s got the magic combo of great snow and sunny weather. And as well as glacier skiing on the Klein Matterhorn, there are plenty of wide, easy-going runs, which are great for beginners. Plus, with ski school at the top of the gondola, even first-timers get impressive views from day one. Eager for more? An area pass is your ticket to more advanced terrain in the linked resort of Zermatt – not to mention knockout views from the glass-bottomed cabins on the cable car that’ll get you there.

At the top of the Aosta Valley, the compact town’s centred around a car-free, cobbled street where you can browse the shops and visit streetside cafés. And when it comes to après, it’s a more sophisticated affair – grab post-ski drinks on sun terraces overlooking the home runs or head back to your hotel and get dressed up before checking out the lively bars. Whether you pick something small and family-run, or a large, modern hotel, most of them have saunas, steam rooms and indoor pools.

And there’s more – head to the highest ice grotto in Europe to see sculptures and tunnels carved underground. Or challenge your family and friends to a race around the ice karting track. You can also join a guided snowshoe walk through the woods.

Skiing in 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 around Zermatt.

Beginners

To make your first time on skis the best experience it can be, Cervinia’s a sure-fire winner. You can get hyped for lessons on the way up the lift to the Plan Maison area with everyone else – and take in those incredible views of the Matterhorn – then dive straight into learning at the top. The excellent snow and wide slopes will help you’ll get the hang of things in no time, so it won’t be long before you’re mastering longer green and blue runs, and even skiing back to the resort on Blue 5 instead of taking the lift down.

Intermediates

If your ideal ski holiday is swooshing down long, wide runs without a care in the world, this is the place for you – Cervinia’s known for its seemingly endless cruisy terrain. Warm up on the blues around Plan Maison, then hit up the best reds like the 11km-long Ventina (called Red 7 on the piste map) and 22km route from the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise to Valtournenche – they may be long but they’re not too steep, and the views couldn’t be better. For a real challenge, you can ski over the Swiss border to find trickier slopes around Zermatt.

Advanced

Head to the Pancheron chairlift, with the long Red 29 off to the right – it’ll take you right back down to the bottom and isn’t for the faint hearted. Or, head left down Black 59 with a steeper wall-like drop and a mogul field section to keep those thighs pumping. You’ve no less than 7 marked black runs on the Cervinia side of the mountain, plus plenty to challenge you on the Swiss side – why not check out the steep runs under the Furi cable car?

Snowboarding

Boarders after relaxed riding will appreciate the long, wide runs the make up most of the mountain – and the fact that drag lifts are few and far between. The biggest snow park in the ski area is here too, next to the Red 27 run above Plan Maison, so you can swap cruising for jumps and tricks, and ramp up the speed on the boardercross course.

Glacier skiing

You'll find the Theodul glacier on the Klein Matterhorn, between Cervinia and Zermatt. The runs are mostly wide blues and gentle reds and its known for having the best snow in the area. Just getting to the glacier is an experience in itself – the Kleine Matterhorn cable car from Trockner Stegg is the highest in Europe.

Ski two countries

Grab your skis or snowboard and make your way to Switzerland for the best views of the Matterhorn, challenging runs and some of the best mountain restaurants in the world. From Cervinia, reaching Zermatt is pretty easy, and what's more, you'll be accessing over 150km of slopes by crossing the Swiss-Italian border. Confident intermediates will no doubt be itching to get over there as soon as possible, and it's also possible for beginners, if you take the right route. The Furi-Riffelberg gondola makes the journey a lot quicker, but take note that lifts on the Swiss side can be quite slow, and there'll be queues to come back to Italy in the afternoon, so give yourself enough time to get back.