Ski Holidays in Italy

Champoluc has the highest top altitude among our resorts in Italy, 3,275 metres above sea level. Next come Gressoney-La-Trinité, Canazei and Bardonecchia. Altitude is the single biggest factor for snow reliability, especially early and late in the season.

Sauze d'Oulx has the most piste kilometres of our resorts in Italy, 400 km, in the ski area its own guide describes. Next come Ortisei, Selva Val Gardena and Canazei. For some resorts that figure is the local pistes only, for others the whole linked system the lift pass covers.

The season in the Dolomites and the Italian Alps normally runs from early December to early April. Livigno and Cervinia sit high and often stay open into early May, and Cervinia also has glacier skiing in autumn. The best snow is usually from mid-January to early March.

By car from Calais, Courmayeur is closest, around 9 hours' driving, and most resorts in Italy are within 14 hours. By car the Dolomites are a long drive from Calais, through Germany and Austria or Switzerland. By plane, Innsbruck and Verona are closest to the Dolomites, while Milan and Bergamo suit Livigno, Bormio and the Aosta Valley.

Italy is usually cheaper than Austria for food, drink and après-ski, and Livigno has duty-free status on top of that. A six-day pass in Dolomiti Superski costs around €400 in peak season (paid in euros, not pounds), while smaller resorts such as Passo Tonale and Val di Fiemme are noticeably cheaper.

Alta Badia, Kronplatz and Selva Val Gardena have wide, gentle pistes and large ski schools, and Passo Tonale is a classic beginner resort with snow-sure slopes right by the village. In our comparison, Alta Badia, Andalo, Bardonecchia, Cervinia and Champoluc are marked as family resorts, and the table above shows altitude, piste length and driving time for every resort.

The most snow-sure resorts are the highest ones: Champoluc, Gressoney-La-Trinité, Bardonecchia and Sauze d'Oulx. All of them offer skiing above 2,500 metres or sit in a village above 1,500 metres, which gives reliable snow from December to April even in a low-snow winter.