Cortina d'Ampezzo or Verbier: the long lunch or the late night

Altitude: Verbier is higher, by more than the tops suggest

Verbier's village sits at 1,500 metres, 276 above Cortina's 1,224. Its skiing reaches 3,283 metres by our measure, against 3,028 at Cortina, the second highest top of the 10 Italian resorts we cover. But Cortina's figure is the top of a lift. The highest piste we measure there starts at 2,724 metres, so on the runs themselves the gap is wider than the headline tops.

The same holds lower down. At Verbier, 84 percent of the piste we measure is above 1,800 metres, up to 3,283. At Cortina it is 67 percent, with the piste up to 2,724 and the lifts to 3,028. Both count as snow sure on our measure, and nobody can promise snow, but Verbier has more of its skiing well clear of the valley: 65 percent of it above 2,000 metres, against 52. Its lowest piste ends at 1,529 metres, Cortina's at 1,215. In a thin or warm winter, that is the difference you would notice.

Size: Verbier's skiing joins up, Cortina's is spread out

Neither pass figure is what you ski from the door. The 410 kilometres beside Verbier is the Four Valleys pass, and Verbier's own domain is about 97 kilometres by our measurement. The 1,200 kilometres on Dolomiti Superski covers twelve areas, and Cortina is not one of the four joined by lift. Its own areas are quoted at 120 kilometres, a figure we have not checked. Measured from the run geometry, we make it 86, about 12 fewer than Verbier.

The skiing: the same easy kilometres, very different off piste

Count the easy runs and the two are almost level: 38 kilometres of blue and easier at Cortina, 39 at Verbier. Measure them and Verbier is far the gentler. Its blues average 11.5 percent, the gentlest of all 55 resorts we cover, against 15.3 at Cortina. Forty eight percent of Verbier's piste is gentler than 15 percent, the joint highest share of any resort we cover, against 36 at Cortina. These are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so read them as how the week feels rather than a verdict on any one run.

Who each one actually suits

Cortina suits people who want the holiday to be more than the skiing. It is a historic town, not a resort, with the Corso Italia to stroll, real shops, and an evening that begins with a spritz and the passeggiata. Lunch is taken seriously in the rifugi, fresh pasta and casunziei on a sunny terrace under the pale towers. Couples, multi generational families and anyone travelling with a non skier do very well here, and the Socrepes slopes give beginners a kind start. It has the pedigree too, as host of the 1956 Winter Olympics and of the 2026 Games. It does not suit a group that wants to ski lift to lift all day without a bus.

Verbier suits groups of friends and couples who want big days and a scene. The après starts on the hill and carries on in the village until late, and the late end is very late. Strong skiers get the most from it with a guide, because its edge is off the marked runs. Families with older children do well, younger ones on the sunny Savoleyres side, and the gentle blues mean nervous skiers have more to explore than the name suggests.

The bit nobody tells you

Verbier has the fierce name, but on the piste Cortina is the steeper mountain. A quarter of Cortina's piste is steeper than one in four, against 19 percent at Verbier, and its blacks average 32.5 percent against Verbier's 29.0. Both are above their own country's average black, 30.2 in Italy and 26.7 in Switzerland. Grade labels are not set the same way in Italy and Switzerland, so this, not the colour on the map, is the fair test.

What that means: a strong skier who stays on the groomed runs will find more to get their teeth into at Cortina. Verbier's steep lives off the piste, and if you are not going to take a guide and leave the marked runs, you are booking a reputation you will not use.