Courmayeur Overview

At the foot of Mont-Blanc, Courmayeur (1,224m) is a charming 17^th-century spa town at the top of the Aosta valley. Pretty buildings with slate roofs line the traffic-free cobbled streets of the old town. The central Via Roma is bursting with bars and upmarket clothes and jewellery shops. You’ll also find some of the best restaurants in the Alps both on and off the mountain. Courmayeur is popular weekend destination for a chic Northern Italian skier. The ski area, although not that big or high, offers scenic views and good snow cover, due to the north and north-west facing slope. The resort is best suited to competent skiers who like venturing off-piste – a highlight is the famous Vallée Blanche. Courmayeur lies just beyond Chamonix and is 100km/90mins from Geneva Airport.

Courmayeur has a relatively small ski area (36km) but is a great option for a weekend break, especially since its 90mins from Geneva Airport. Courmayeur’s ski slopes are mainly wide open and excellent for intermediates practising carving. There are also some wooded areas and some challenging off-piste. The skiing is divided into two main areas: the Checrouit area with its wide open runs and morning sun; and the Val Veny ski area with its wooded and open runs, afternoon sun and striking views of Mont Blanc.

Beginners: The beginner ski areas are found at Plan Checrouit and at the top of the Entreves cable car. A good first day can be spend at the top of Entreves where you’ll find a magic carpet and easy long runs.

Intermediates: Courmayeur is best suited to confident intermediates and has plenty of varied red runs (although not many blues). For morning sunshine, take the Courmayeur or Dolonne lifts to the Checrouit side of the mountain to practise carving on the wide open runs. Highlights include two great long runs: from Col Checrouit to Zerotta and from Cresta Youla to Dolonne. In the afternoon, follow the sun over to the pretty tree-lined runs of Val Veny with the mighty Mont Blanc towering above you.

Advanced/Experts: There isn’t an awful to entice the experts on the pistes, but there are a few blacks on the Val Veny side, where you’ll also find some moguls. Most confident skiers come to Courmayeur primarily for the off-piste.

Off-piste: There’s plenty of challenging off-piste from the Cresta d’Arp, at the top of the mountain, where you can access great steeps and trees. But if you’re heading up to Cresta, get up early to miss the queues. With a Mont Blanc Unlimited ski pass you can also access the ski areas of Chamonix and Argentiere – Chamonix has some awesome off-piste. Take the Mont Blanc cable car up to the 20km Valle Blanche with its 2800m vertical. Heliskiing is also an option, particularly the 20km run from the Ruitor glacier to near Ste Foy in France.

Courmayeur doesn’t generally suffer from bad lift queues, but a bottleneck has been known to happen at Zerotta so it’s worth waiting until late afternoon to ride the Youla cable car. If you’ve exhausted Courmayeur’s 36km of runs, head to the nearby slopes of Megeve or Chamonix. Megeve has a huge number of blue and red cruising runs while Chamonix is a giant of the freeriding world.

Don’t leave Courmayeur without trying the ‘grolla’ – coffee with grappa at the Caffee delle Guide in the centre of town or the hot chocolate at Zerotta, the longest piste in Val Veny.

For a break from the slopes, take an afternoon trip to the thermal baths at Pre-St-Didier or to the nearby village of Verrand with its old stone houses and piazza with picturesque alpine church.