Like Saalbach-Hinterglemm, but in Italy: the skiing travels, the party stays home
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20266 min read
Saalbach-Hinterglemm is the week you book for a big, friendly loop of skiing and a good time at the end of it. Two villages sit on one circuit round a sunny valley, and we measure 192 kilometres of piste around the village, the seventh most of the 55 resorts we cover. Of that, 122 kilometres is blue and easier, the sixth most of the resorts we cover, which is why families love it as much as the groups who come for the bars.
It has two quieter facts behind the fun. It is steep: 42 percent of the piste we measure is steeper than one in four, the fourth biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover. And it is low, with the village at 1,003 metres, the skiing topping out at 2,090 metres, measured, and only 19 percent of the piste at or above 1,800 metres.
The honest headline: Italy will not give you the party. None of the three Italian resorts our matching puts closest is lively by our read. What Italy can give you is more height, a circuit to tour and, in one case, the same steep character. Madonna di Campiglio carries over the most of the week.
| Resort | Village | Top of the skiing, measured | Piste we measure around the village | Blue and easier | Steeper than one in four | At or above 1,800 m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your benchmarkSaalbach-Hinterglemm | 1,003 m | 2,090 m | 192 km | 122 km | 42% | 19% |
| Madonna di Campiglio | 1,550 m | 2,496 m | 115 km, in a linked area of 155 km | 54 km | 18% | 61% |
| Kronplatz | 1,200 m | 2,266 m | 77 km | 36 km | 43% | 51% |
| Cortina d'Ampezzo | 1,224 m | 3,028 m, a lift top | 86 km | 38 km | 25% | 67% |
Madonna di Campiglio: the closest on the circuit
- VillageVillage
- 1,550 m 547 m higher
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,580 m 484 m higher
Madonna di Campiglio: 115 km of piste we measure. 54 km blue and easier 47%44 km red 38%17 km black 15%
If the best part of a Saalbach week is setting off in the morning and skiing somewhere else by lunch, Madonna di Campiglio is the Italian resort among our picks that lets you do it. Its ski area is one linked area of 155 kilometres, with all three sectors joined by lift, and our guide has it reaching Pinzolo on one side and Folgarida Marilleva on the other. Of the three picks, it is the one we can vouch for as a linked area you travel round on skis.
It is also the easiest for a family to swap into. There are 54 kilometres of blue and easier, the second most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, and our read on it is family as well as smart and sociable. The strong skiers do not lose out: 17 kilometres of black, against Saalbach's 12, again the second most of the Italian resorts we cover.
And it is higher at both ends. The village is at 1,550 metres, 547 above Saalbach's, and 61 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against 19. The skiing reaches 2,496 metres, measured, which puts it right on the edge of our snow sure test rather than over it.
What you give up is the noise and the bite. The evenings run to an aperitivo and a long dinner, not boots on the tables. The skiing is far kinder: 18 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 42, and the reds average 19.7 percent against Saalbach's 27.8, one of the steepest red averages we measure. And it is smaller, about three fifths of Saalbach's piste around the village.
Kronplatz: the closest on the steep, and the height
- VillageVillage
- 1,200 m 197 m higher
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,275 m 179 m higher
Kronplatz: 77 km of piste we measure. 36 km blue and easier 47%26 km red 34%14 km black 18%
Kronplatz is where a Saalbach skier will recognise the gradient. Forty-three percent of the piste we measure is steeper than one in four, the joint second biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover and the biggest of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, a point more than Saalbach. The blues average 20.2 percent, the steepest of the 55 resorts we cover; Saalbach's 17.8 come joint fourth. Only 16 percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent, the smallest share of any resort we cover. If your reds at Saalbach are the point of the week, this is the one Italian pick that will not feel soft.
It is also the closest on altitude, which cuts both ways. The village is at 1,200 metres, 197 above Saalbach's, and the skiing tops out at 2,266, measured, 176 higher. Both are the lowest of the 10 Italian resorts we cover. Even so, 51 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, against Saalbach's 19. Our read on it is modern, efficient and good for families, and the grooming is what it is known for.
The catch is size. We measure 77 kilometres of piste, about two fifths of Saalbach's 192, there is no marked off piste itinerary against Saalbach's 12 kilometres, and those steep blues make it a harder week for a nervous beginner, not an easier one. Nor is it lively. It is a week for the skiing, done well, on a smaller hill.
Cortina d'Ampezzo: the closest on snow
- VillageVillage
- 1,224 m 221 m higher
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,939 m 843 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 nearer to Saalbach than any other Italian resort we cover, by a whisker, and the thing it carries over is the off piste: 9.2 kilometres of marked itinerary, the second most of the 10 Italian resorts we cover, against Saalbach's 12. What it adds is height. Its lifts reach 3,028 metres, measured, above the highest piste we measure, 938 above Saalbach's top and the second highest of the Italian resorts we cover. It is snow sure on our measure: 67 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, with lifts to 3,028. The longest run we measure from Cortina is a red of 6.9 kilometres with 1,000 metres of vertical.
The mood changes completely. Cortina is a stylish, upmarket town with a pedestrian centre, and its evenings are an aperitivo and a stroll rather than a bar crawl. Families do well on the gentle slopes near town, but our read on it is stylish and scenic, not fun and friendly.
The bigger trade is the circuit. Cortina's skiing sits in separate areas around the town, not all linked, and moving between them means the ski bus or a car. We measure 86 kilometres around the town, less than half of Saalbach's 192. The Dolomiti Superski pass covers 1,200 kilometres, but across twelve areas, only four of them joined by lift, so it is a pass, not a circuit. There are 38 kilometres of blue and easier against your 122, and the pistes are gentler: 25 percent steeper than one in four, against 42.
Strip a Saalbach week back to the skiing and what you love is a linked area you can tour from one village to the next, with enough easy piste for the whole family to come too. Of the three picks, Madonna is the one that gives you that: one linked area, the most blue and easier and the most black of the three, and the most sociable village of the three by our read, even if the evenings are civilised ones. Go knowing the reds are gentler and the bars quieter. If it is the steep you would miss most, Kronplatz. If it is the snow, Cortina.