Skiing in Cortina
11 March 2025
In winter Cortina is beautifully covered in snow and it’s perfect for do every kind of winter sports or for enjoy the beauty and the colture of the Dolomites.
Cortina has 160km of ski slopes of all levels and different ski resorts. Enjoying the beauty of the Dolomites spending the day on the Cortina ski slopes is absolutely incredible.
– see in detail Skiing in Cortina d’Ampezzo –
Cortina has different beautiful cross-country ski trails. It’s beautiful do them in the magic wood of Cortina.
Cortina has a lot of gorgeous moutains and places perfect for ski mountaineering. Have fun exploring the wood and the mountains. The gorgeous landscape and the peace that you will reach will make you feel in paradise. Pay attention to safety and contact a mountain guide if you need.
there is an ice stadium in Cortina, you can go there and skating during the day or watching an hockey game in the evening.
relax in a pleasent stroll with snowshoes and explore the wood and mountains of Cortina.
The Tre Cime di Lavaredo are the most famous mountains of the Dolomites. What better than reach them with a cool snowmobile and descent by sleigh? The snowmobiles start 20 km from Cortina at the D’Antorno Lake, you can reach them with a transfer.
– Book your transfer to d’Antorno Lake
– Book your snowmobile to Tre Cime
Cortina is a small city and it hasn’t a lot of artistic or historical buildings in the centre such as in the big cities like Rome or Florence, but here is a little list of interested things to see downtown:
– The San Filippo e Giacomo church
– The “Ciasa dei pupe”
– The old town hall
– The old seat of the captaincy / new town hall and the Radetzky cannons
– de Zanna castle and the chapel
– ethnographic museum
– fossils museum
– modern art museum
– the defence church
– see in detail: what to see in Cortina centre?-
During the Christmas period there are beautiful Christmas markets nearby Cortina. Visit theme is the best way to taste the magic of the Christmas in the Dolomites. The best ones are in:
– San Candido/Innichen ( 37 km and 45 minutes from Cortina)
– Brunico/Bruneck (59 km and 1h from Cortina)
– Bolzano/Bozen ( 129km and 2:15h from Cortina)
– book your transfer to the Christmas markets–
the region of Tyrol is full of incredible castles. The castle tours are incredibly requested all the year and visit them during a funny and adventourous tour between hystory and legends is a safe choice to spend a great day. It’s adviced also for families with children.
Reach the longest sled slop of Italy in Vipiteno/Sterzing and spend a different, wonderful day having fun. Perfect activity for families, the fun is sure. The slop is open also during the night.
-book your transfer to Vipiteno sled slope-
-see in detail: Cortina Refuges-
you can reach a mountain refuge also without skiing, and relax in the paradise of Cortina mountains with an aperitif or a lunch between friends. The best refuges you can reach without skiing are:
– Col Druscè 1778 msl (by cablecar from the centre)
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– Ra Valles 2475 msl (by cablecar from the centre)
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– Scoiattoli 2255msl (by chairlift from locality Bai de Dones)
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– Mietres 1710msl (by a short walking from locality Larieto)
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– Averau 2413msl ( by chairlift from locality Fedare)
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– Faloria 2120 msl (by cablecar from the centre)
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– Son Forca 2235msl ( by chairlift from locality Rio Gere)
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– book a transfer to reach the refuges-
In summer Cortina d’Ampezzo is a warm paradise for all people who like the beauty and wildness of the mountain. It’s the perfect place for doing every kind of summer sport or just for relax and enjoy the beauty of the Dolomites.
The best things to do in Cortina d’Ampezzo in summer/autumn are:
– see in detail: hiking in Cortina d’Ampezzo –
Hiking in the Cortina dolomites is the perfect way to explore and discover amazing landscapes unique in the world. You can start from Cortina and do a one day hiking, or you can do an ” alta via”, a no stop hiking of various days, resting and sleeping in the various refuges. This is the perfect active and funny vacation. Hiking phats are often far from the centre, you can need a transfer, an off-road transfer or a cable car to reach them.
-see in detail: alta via-
cycling in Cortina is very funny and a very good way to do excercise. Cortina has a lot of mountain passes and mountain dirt roads that are very popular for cycling. There are also some fantastic slopes for downhill in the Tofana area.
Cortina d’Ampezzo started to became popular at the end of 19th century, when noblemen, kings and other powerful people started to go there to climb its increadible mountains. There are hundreds of fantistic climbing routes in Cortina and it’s possible to reach at least every peak of the valley. The most famous climbing areas are the Cinque Torri, Lagazuoi, Tofana, Tre Cime di Lavaredo. There is also an indoor climbing gym for rainy days and winter. You can contact a mountain guide if you are not an expert climber to help you programming your climbing routes. The climbing routes are often far from the center, you can reach them with a private transfer, the off-road transfer service, or cable cars.
The “via ferrata” is the perfect mix between hiking and climbing. There are a lot of extraordinary via ferratas of all lenghts and difficulties. The most popular are:
-Via ferrata Punta anna
-Via ferrata Ivano Dibona
-Via ferrata Punta Fiames
-Via ferrata Lagazuoi tunnels
– Via ferrata Strobel
Contact a mountain guide if you want to be sure about safety or for a good advise about the choice and the climbing. Via ferratas are often far from the centre or have different starting and ending points. Be sure of these details and book a private transfer or off-road transfer if needed.
If you like taking photos Cortina is the perfect place for you. With all its incredible mountains, lakes, wood, animals and landscapes it’s impossible to take an ugly photo. The best period is autumn with all his colours. Suggested popular spots for photos are:
– Tre Cime di Lavaredo
– Croda da Lago Lake
– Cinque Torri
– Tondi di Faloria
– Cristallo
If you are not afraid about wake up early the Croda da Lago Lake and the 5 Torri are just perfect for the sunrise. They will be the best photos of your life. To do that you can sleep in the Croda da Lago refuge for the lake, or in the Scoiattoli refuge for the 5 Torri. Otherwise you will need an off-road transport at the sunrise.
Do you want to visit a lot of increadible places in an adventourous way, but you don’t know where to start? Try one of the famous off-roud tour on the Cortina Dolomites is the best way to visit the most beautiful places of the valley such as lakes, viewpoints and old WWI battlefields . There are a lot of off-road tour of different durations and locations.
On the Cortina mountains there was one of the main fronts of the WWI. There have been a lot of fights between the Austro-hungarian Empire of which Cortina was part, and the invasion of the italian army. It’s incredibly interesting to visit the old sites which have been restored. There are hundreds of WWI sites in Cortina and in the Dolomites, but the most interesting and easy to visit are the 5 Torri trenches and the Lagazuoi galleries.
– see in detail: what to see in Cortina centre?-
Cortina is a small city and it hasn’t a lot of artistic or historical buildings in the centre such as in the big cities like Rome or Florence, but here is a little list of interested things to see downtown:
– The San Filippo e Giacomo church
– The “Ciasa dei pupe”
– The old town hall
– The old seat of the captaincy / new town hall and the Radetzky cannons
– de Zanna castle and the chapel
– ethnographic museum
– fossils museum
– modern art museum
– the defence church
Spend an increadible day trying rafting or canyoning in the beautiful valley of Pusteria. A perfect experience for adults and kids. The rafting centre is in the gorgeous village of Campo Tures, 70 km far from Cortina
Spend a night in a mountain refuge is an experience that you must do at least once in a lifetime. Why don’t do it between the best mountains of the world? After the day, when the people starting coming back to the city you will taste the true essence of the mointain. The peace, the solemnity and the strenght of the mountain and the natur will overwhelm you during an increadible experience. There is a lot of choice of refuges in Cortina.
-see in detail: Cortina refuges-
If you can’t spend a night in a refuge you can anyway try a similar experience going see the sunset from a high viewpoint. It’s magic see the natur and the valley prepare for the night when you are in a perfect high viewpoint between the mountains. You can reach the viewpoints by hiking or with the off-road service of Cortina, just be sure to select the best place.
Do you want to visit as much interesting things as possible and you don’t know where to start or which are the best? Try one of the wonderful Dolomites tour and visit a lot of places and do a lot of activities. There is a lot of choice between sport, cultur, adventour, hiking, relaxing, food and wine and also mixes of all the categories.
Did you organize an hiking or skiing-based vacation, but the weather tomorrow is going to be terrible? Don’t worry, here are some interesting activities to do during a rainy day in Cortina.
There are different beautiful swimming pools nearby Cortina. The best are:
– The Acquafan San Candido in Innichen/San Candido (40 minutes transfer from Cortina) it’s perfect for families with kids. It have a nice slide, an area for kids, an area with water games and a spa with saunas.
– The Caravanparksexten in Sexten/Sesto ( 1hour transfer from Cortina) have different fine pools indoor and outdoor, and different saunas in a beautiful mountain style.
– Corte Spa Water & Welness in Borca di Cadore ( 15 minutes transfer from Cortina) is a beautiful welness centre with different pools and saunas.
Discover the increadible history of Cortina d’Ampezzo visiting these two ancient buildings.
The “Forte in tra i sasc” ( “Forte Tre Sassi” in italian) is an old fortress built in Cortina by the austro-hungarians between the 1897 and the 1901 to stop a possible italian attack. Indeed, it was used during the WWI to stop the italian invasion of Austria. Today it’s the most important WWI museum of the Dolomites with more than 2000 historical artifacts.
The Andraz castle is an incredible medieval castle built on a huge rock in Livinallongo/Buchenstein, just ten minutes drive from the “Forte in tra i sasc”. The first historical references are from the XI century and it’s the highest castle in Italy at more than 1700 masl. It has a suggestive and magic atmosphere.
The “Lino Lacedelli” rock gym of Cortina is perfect for climbing during bad weather and the winter. It has a lot of climbing routes and a little boulder. If you can’t climb book a lesson with a mountain guide to discover this increadible sport.
At the shooting range of San Lorenzo ( 60 minutes drive from Cortina) you can try, also with your kids, target shooting with compressed air. It’s safe and very funny.
5. Visit the museums
There are different interesting museums to visit in Cortina:
– “Mario Rimoldi” modern art museum has a fascinating collection of different masterpieces of different artist of the XX century.
– “Rinaldo Zardini” paleontological museum is a beautiful museum rich in fossils from Cortina. Is one of the best fossils museums of the world.
– Etnographic museum of the “Regole d’Ampezzo” is focused on the ” Regole d’Ampezzo “, the ancient association that managed (and manage still today) for the last centuries the huge forest, pasture and natural heritage.
More information here.
Spend an incredible day at the Pordenone kart indoor, a beautiful track to have fun for adults and kids. The Pordenone kart indoor is the best go kart track nearby Cortina. It’s 2 hours drive from Cortina.
-book a transfer for the go kart track-
Cortina is known also as glamour locality of fashion. In the centre there are a lot of branded stores. If you like shopping this is the perfect place.
Indoor tennis is a perfect way to spend some time during a day of bad weather. In Cortina there is an indoor tennis court, otherwise there are some others in Dobbiaco, Sesto, Villabassa.
During a rainy day you couldn’t have always a lot of energy. In this case the Ostaries Tour is what is needed. It consist of taking a tour of as many bar and pubs as possible drinking and eating. There is not a pre order of the locals, you can choose the ones you prefer. This is a particular way to discover the culinary culture of this place.
A safe and popular choice to spend a rainy day. There isn’t a game room in Cortina but there are these choices:
– Pool table at Jambo bar in Cortina, or Antelao bar in San Vito ( 10 minutes drive from Cortina)
– Bowling in Brunico (1 hour drive from Cortina) at Alping bar or in San Vigilio (1:10 hours drive from Cortina) at Riposo Al Bosco Hotel
– Bowling and games room “Open bowling Trichiana” in Trichiana (1:30 hours drive from Cortina)
– Bowling, games room and laser-tag “Colorado” in Susegana (1:40 hours drive from Cortina)
The vacation, to be good, need also a dose of relax. What’s better than spend a day at the spa and have dinner in a fine restaurant? Most hotels of Cortina have a spa. if yours don’t, don’t worry, you can go in another hotel’s one like Ciasa Lorenzi, Hotel de len, Hotel Tofana.
In cortina there are a lot of great restaurants where you can eat. There are also two restaurants that have a Michelin star:
– Tivoli
– see in detail: “eat in Cortina” –
If you don’t know what to do, choose a tour and try different activities. There are a lot of increadible tours to do during a rainy day like the castles tour and the sports tour. You can also have a customized one to do only the things that you prefer.