Like Mayrhofen, but in Italy: a town to come back to, with the skiing higher
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20266 min read
Mayrhofen does several things at once, which is why it is hard to replace. It is a lively, welcoming town in the Zillertal, with nightlife, families and the snow park on our list of what it does best. It has a red mountain with a steep signature run: 53 percent of the 90.5 kilometres of piste we measure there is red, and 32 percent is steeper than one in four, against 26 at the median resort we cover.
It also climbs a long way from a low start. The town is at 630 metres, the second lowest of the 55 resorts we cover, yet 55 percent of its piste is at or above 1,800 metres. The skiing tops out at 2,412 metres, measured, which is why it misses our snow sure test: that asks for 2,500.
The honest headline: Italy is the hardest of the three countries to find a Mayrhofen in. None of the three Italian resorts our matching suggests is lively by our read, and all three are looser matches than Mayrhofen's closest in Switzerland or France. So Italy gives you the parts. Cortina d'Ampezzo has the town and the size, with its evenings in a different key and its skiing higher. Kronplatz has the steep and the family label. Cortina keeps more of the week.
| Resort | Village | Top of the skiing, measured | Piste we measure around the village | Blue and easier | Black | Steeper than one in four | Piste at or above 1,800 m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your benchmarkMayrhofen | 630 m | 2,412 m | 90.5 km | 28.5 km | 14.1 km | 32% | 55% |
| Cortina d'Ampezzo | 1,224 m | 3,028 m, the top of the lifts (highest piste 2,724 m) | 85.5 km | 38.2 km | 9.1 km | 25% | 67% |
| Kronplatz | 1,200 m | 2,266 m | 76.8 km | 36.4 km | 14.1 km | 43% | 51% |
Cortina d'Ampezzo: the closest on the town and the size
- VillageVillage
- 1,224 m 594 m higher
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,939 m 439 m higher
Cortina d'Ampezzo: 86 km of piste we measure. 38 km blue and easier 45%38 km red 45%9 km black 11%
Plus 9 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
Our matching puts Cortina closest to Mayrhofen of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, and like Mayrhofen it is a town, not a village. Our guide calls it a stylish, historic Italian town with a pedestrian main street. Our read on it is stylish and scenic, with the Dolomites, style and long lunches on its list, and it was a host of the 2026 Games.
The evenings change key. Our guide describes après with polish: the aperitivo, the evening stroll along the main street, wine bars and hotel lounges, social and stylish rather than raucous. We class Cortina as upmarket rather than lively. If the late nights are why you go to Mayrhofen, this is a different evening. If it is a proper town around you after the lifts close, Cortina keeps that.
It is much the same size. We measure 85.5 kilometres of piste around Cortina, 5 fewer than around Mayrhofen. The area total is not one we have classified: Cortina sits on the Dolomiti Superski pass, which covers twelve areas, only four of them joined by lift, and our guide is clear that Cortina's own areas are not all linked either, so a bus or a car is part of the day.
The height is where Cortina gives you more. Its lifts reach 3,028 metres by our measure, against Mayrhofen's 2,412, and the highest piste we measure is 2,724. Sixty seven percent of the piste is at or above 1,800 metres, and half of it lies above 2,019 metres, against 1,829 at Mayrhofen. That makes Cortina snow sure on our measure, which Mayrhofen is not.
The mountain is gentler in the middle. Twenty five percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 32, and the reds average 21.9 percent against Mayrhofen's 23.3. There are 38.2 kilometres of blue and easier against 28.5, and our guide points beginners to the gentle Socrepes slopes. The black is thinner, 9.1 kilometres against 14.1, but steeper on average, 32.5 percent against 27.5, and there are 9.2 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, the second most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, where Mayrhofen has none in our data.
What you give up is the lively label and our family tag, though our guide says families do well there. The snow park is on Mayrhofen's list, not Cortina's.
Kronplatz: the closest on the black and the family label
- VillageVillage
- 1,200 m 570 m higher
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,275 m 225 m lower
Kronplatz: 77 km of piste we measure. 36 km blue and easier 47%26 km red 34%14 km black 18%
Kronplatz keeps the trait Cortina drops. Our read on it is modern and efficient, a perfectly groomed dome above the Puster valley, with grooming, families and museums on its list, and we class it as modern and family.
On the mountain it is the steeper of the two. Forty three percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, the joint second largest share of the 55 resorts we cover and the largest of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, against Mayrhofen's 32. It has 14.1 kilometres of black, the same figure as Mayrhofen. The reds average 24.0 percent against 23.3, and the longest piste we measure is a 4.1 kilometre red with 647 metres of vertical.
The surprise is the blue. Kronplatz's blues average 20.2 percent, the steepest of the 55 resorts we cover; Mayrhofen's, at 12.7, are the gentlest of the 13 Austrian resorts we cover. Only 16 percent of Kronplatz's piste is gentler than 15 percent, the smallest share of the 55 we cover, against 32. There are 36.4 kilometres of blue and easier, more than Mayrhofen's 28.5, but a family whose youngest still lives on Mayrhofen's gentle blues will find these a real step up.
The piste sits close to Mayrhofen's height: 51 percent at or above 1,800 metres, against 55, and half of it above 1,807 metres, against 1,829. The village is at 1,200 metres, 570 above Mayrhofen's, but the skiing tops out at 2,266, measured, 146 lower and the lowest top of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, so it is not snow sure on our measure either. We measure 76.8 kilometres around the village, 14 fewer than around Mayrhofen.
The ones we left out
Courmayeur, our matching's third Italian suggestion, matches Mayrhofen on one number: 32 percent of its piste is steeper than one in four, the same share. It is snow sure on our measure too, with 72 percent of the piste at or above 1,800 metres, up to 2,715. But we measure 42.2 kilometres of piste there, the least of the 55 resorts we cover, and we class it as upmarket and expert, so it keeps neither of Mayrhofen's traits.
If it is the nights you would miss most, Livigno is the one Italian resort we cover that we class as lively. Our matching does not put it among the three closest to Mayrhofen, so it is not on this page.
It is our matching's closest Italian resort to Mayrhofen, much the same size around the town, and it keeps a town to come back to after the lifts close while putting the skiing higher: snow sure on our measure, where Mayrhofen is not. Go knowing the evenings are stylish rather than lively, the mountain is gentler, its areas need a bus between them, and we do not class it as a family resort. If it is the steep you would miss, Kronplatz, with blues that will test the children.