Les Gets or Madonna di Campiglio: the bigger circuit or the higher village
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20266 min read
Les Gets and Madonna di Campiglio are both family resorts with a pretty village at the heart of them, and our matching engine pairs them across the border: Madonna is the closest Italian resort to Les Gets, and Les Gets the closest French resort to Madonna. They share a season, December to April, and almost exactly the same share of gentle piste.
So the question is not whether either will suit a family. Both will. It is whether you would rather have an enormous linked circuit from a low, traditional French village, or a smaller, higher and beautifully groomed area under the Brenta Dolomites. The numbers first, then what they mean.
The numbers, side by side
| Figure | Les Gets | Madonna di Campiglio |
|---|---|---|
| Village altitude | 1,172 m | 1,550 m |
| Top of the skiing, measured | 1,965 m | 2,496 m |
| Linked ski area | Portes du Soleil, officially 600 km, 580 km by our measure | Skiarea Campiglio Dolomiti di Brenta, 155 km, all linked |
| Piste we measure around the village | 99 km | 115 km |
| Green and blue | 55 km, 56% of the piste | 54 km of blue and easier, 47% of the piste |
| Black | 9.6 km | 17.3 km |
| Piste steeper than one in four | 23% | 18% |
| Piste gentler than 15% | 34% | 36% |
| Piste at or above 1,800 m | 1% | 61% |
| Season | December to April | December to April |
| Nearest airport | Geneva | Verona or Milan |
Neither resort has any marked off piste itinerary in our data, so that row is gone. Of the rows that are left, two do most of the work. The ski area row says Les Gets opens a far bigger door. The 1,800 metre row says Madonna keeps far more of its skiing up high.
Size: Les Gets wins on the map, Madonna at the door
Les Gets is the gateway to the Portes du Soleil, twelve villages across two countries on one genuinely linked circuit. The official figure is 600 kilometres, and an older claim went as high as 650. We measure 580, and one independent measurement puts it nearer 426. Even the smallest of those is far beyond Madonna's 155.
Nearer the chalet, the picture turns round. Around the village itself we measure 115 kilometres of piste at Madonna against 99 at Les Gets, whose own sector, shared with Morzine, is 117. All of Madonna's area, three sectors, is joined by lift, so the whole of it is a ski away rather than a bus ride.
What that means: if your group judges a week by how far it can roam, nothing about Madonna will match Les Gets. If most of the week will be spent within reach of ski school and the hot chocolate, Madonna has a little more on the doorstep, and grooming is one of the things it is best at.
Altitude: the gap that decides it
Madonna's village sits at 1,550 metres, 378 above Les Gets at 1,172. The gap widens on the hill. Madonna's skiing reaches 2,496 metres by our measure. At Les Gets, the piste we measure tops out at 1,965, which is 531 metres lower and the second lowest top of the 55 resorts we cover.
The shares say it more plainly still. At Madonna, 61 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, and 94 percent is above 1,500. At Les Gets, 1 percent is above 1,800 and 40 percent above 1,500. Half of Madonna's piste sits above 1,882 metres; half of Les Gets's sits below 1,463.
Les Gets does not meet our snow sure test, and we would rather say so than dress it up. Nobody can promise snow anywhere, but in a thin winter the lower resort feels it first. What Les Gets has instead is its trees. Tree skiing is one of the things it does best, and the trees are where you want to be on a day when the light goes flat.
The skiing: Madonna is the gentler mountain, Les Gets the steeper one
Both lean to the easy end, and on the share of piste gentler than 15 percent they are level: 34 percent at Les Gets, 36 at Madonna. Les Gets has 55 kilometres of green and blue, and 7.7 of that is green, which counts for a great deal in somebody's first week. Madonna has 54 kilometres of blue and easier, and its blues are gentle by any standard. They average 12.9 percent, and only five of the 55 resorts we cover have gentler blues. Les Gets's average 15.0.
55 km blue and easier 56%35 km red 35%10 km black 10%
54 km blue and easier 47%44 km red 38%17 km black 15%
Those 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. Read that way, Madonna is the softer mountain all through. Its reds average 19.7 percent against 23.2 at Les Gets, and 18 percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, against 23 at Les Gets and 26 at a typical resort we cover.
Where Madonna pulls ahead for a strong skier is quantity. It has 17.3 kilometres of black, the second most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, against 9.6 at Les Gets. The Spinale, straight above the village, has the testing pitches, and 5 Laghi holds the competition slope.
The longest runs sum the two up. Madonna's is a blue, the Pozza vecia, 2.3 kilometres with 224 metres of drop: a long, easy cruise. Les Gets's is a red, the Arbis, 1.6 kilometres with 478 metres of drop. Shorter, and a good deal more direct.
Who each one actually suits
Les Gets suits families who want a warm, traditional French village, with Geneva as the airport and a lift pass that keeps opening new villages all week. Families, tree skiing and a charming village are what it does best. The stronger skiers in the party can disappear across the Portes du Soleil for the day while the children stay close to home.
Madonna suits families too, and couples and groups who want some polish with their week. It is smart and sociable rather than loud. The centre is pedestrian, made for a slow coffee or an aperitivo as the light goes, and lunch in the mountain rifugi is part of the point rather than a refuelling stop. If your group likes a smooth surface every morning and long cruising runs, it is the stronger pick. The one group who may want more is experts hunting steeps: they exist here, but they are not the headline.
The bit nobody tells you
On our own description Les Gets is the softer of the two: warm, traditional and listed first for families. On the measured gradients, though, it is the steeper mountain at every grade. Its blacks average 33.2 percent, the third steepest of the 17 French resorts we cover and well over the French average of 29.6. Madonna's average 30.2, exactly the Italian average.
That cuts both ways. For a confident family, the few blacks at Les Gets are proper ones. For a nervous improver, Madonna's gentler blues and reds are the kinder place to build up, and there are more of them close to the village. Choose by the least confident skier in your group, not the most.
So, which one
you want the most skiing you can reach from one village, a traditional French village with a warm feel, trees for the flat light days, and Geneva for the flight. Also if your dates are flexible enough to follow the snow.
you want the higher resort, smooth grooming, gentle blues and reds for the less confident, more black for the strong, and evenings with an Italian sense of style.
It has the height, more piste around the village and a gentler mountain for the members of your group still finding their feet, and height is the one thing you cannot change once you arrive. Les Gets is the right answer when the size of the Portes du Soleil is the reason you are going.