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Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
Simply the world's most beautiful winter playground.
Nowhere is more
picturesque than chic Cortina, the most up market of Italian resorts.
Dramatic pink-tinged peaks rise sheerly from the top of the slopes, giving
picture-postcard views from wherever you are.
Cortina's slopes are fine for its regular
up market visitors from Rome and Milan, many of whom have second homes
here and enjoy the strolling, shopping, people-watching and lunching as
much as the odd leisurely excursion on to the slopes. For beginners and
leisurely intermediates, the splendid beginner slopes and long, easy,
well-groomed runs are ideal. For keen slope-bashers, Cortina's fragmented
areas can be frustrating, especially if snow is scarce and the area is
fragmented even more; but the access to the Sella Ronda and other Dolomiti
Super ski resorts, though time consuming, is some compensation - having
a car is best for exploring. For experts, there are few tough runs, and
the best of those are liable to poor snow conditions and closure because
they face south.
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Trail
map
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Town map
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click
on images for full-size view
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What's
Great
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What's
Not-So-Great
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Magnificent Dolomite scenery - perhaps the most
dramatic of any winter resort
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Marvelous beginner slopes and good long cruising runs, ideal for
nervous intermediates
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Access to the vast area covered by the Dolomite Super ski pass
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Attractive, although rather towny, resort, with lots of up market
shops
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Good off-slope facilities
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Remarkably uncrowded slopes
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Several separate
areas of slopes, which are inconveniently spread around all sides
of the resort and linked by buses
Poor recent snow record
Expensive by Italian standards
Gets very crowded during Italian holidays
Very little for experts
Cell phones and fur coats may drive you nuts
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Content
on this page by permission from
"Where to Ski and Snowboard Worldwide"
©Chris Gill & Dave Watts |
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