Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cervinia, flying into Geneva. It's about 2 hours from Geneva airport which is a nonstop flight. We have been multiple times, I promise you this is the way!
There are also other great Italian resorts accessible from Geneva. The nearest is Courmayeur, it is just through the Mont Blanc tunnel, and it is great although smaller and more expensive than Cervinia. Other lovely options are Champoluc/Gressony/Alagna (all connected), La Thuile, Pila.

I agree with this. You have endless options from Geneva and renting a car there is easy.

That said, I think North American skiing trumps European skiing any day, and that's without the jet lag. But I get that people have to experience it themselves.

Be sure to check rental car prices on the French side of the airport. We saved $600 on a one week rental by going to the French side. Kind of annoying because you have to stop and buy the Swiss highway sticker at a post office ($40) if you get a French car, but it takes 10 minutes and is worth it if saves hundreds. Adds about a 5 minute extra drive and 5 minute extra walk through the airport when returning the car.

Anonymous wrote:hopping onto this thread to ask, for a family ski trip with a not-very-confident tween skier, would you recommend Cortina or Cervinia? We have never skied in Europe before, although have done plenty of skiing in the Sierras. I can deal with some logistical hassle if one is a clearly better ski experience over the other. Thanks!

We’re choosing Cervinia for mostly easy skiing with a couple new/non-confident skiers. Our 2 expert skiers can ski Zermont as well. We’ll fly in to Turin out of Milan (2 days in Milan).
We’ll rent skies there. Will probably bring boots/helmets/goggles.

Anonymous wrote:Cervinia, flying into Geneva. It's about 2 hours from Geneva airport which is a nonstop flight. We have been multiple times, I promise you this is the way!
There are also other great Italian resorts accessible from Geneva. The nearest is Courmayeur, it is just through the Mont Blanc tunnel, and it is great although smaller and more expensive than Cervinia. Other lovely options are Champoluc/Gressony/Alagna (all connected), La Thuile, Pila.

I agree with this. You have endless options from Geneva and renting a car there is easy.

That said, I think North American skiing trumps European skiing any day, and that's without the jet lag. But I get that people have to experience it themselves.

is everyone bring their own equipment or renting there?

hopping onto this thread to ask, for a family ski trip with a not-very-confident tween skier, would you recommend Cortina or Cervinia? We have never skied in Europe before, although have done plenty of skiing in the Sierras. I can deal with some logistical hassle if one is a clearly better ski experience over the other. Thanks!

Anonymous wrote:Cervinia, flying into Geneva. It's about 2 hours from Geneva airport which is a nonstop flight. We have been multiple times, I promise you this is the way!
There are also other great Italian resorts accessible from Geneva. The nearest is Courmayeur, it is just through the Mont Blanc tunnel, and it is great although smaller and more expensive than Cervinia. Other lovely options are Champoluc/Gressony/Alagna (all connected), La Thuile, Pila.

We just booked IAD to Milan (stop in Newark) and looks like 2 hours drive then from airport to Cervinia. Geneva does have a ($2800) nonstop, but then the drive to Cervinia is 3 hours -- and we like Italy and food better. Either way, looks like it should be a great trip.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these are nonstop from IAD.

OP did not ask for a nonstop, just logistically easiest. Heck, I change planes to go to domestic ski reports like Jackson Hole, Aspen, and Sun Valley.

I change planes to go to those places too but I don't consider them to be logistically easy to get to. Park City, that is logistically easy!

Sure, but a change of planes in Denver isn't that hard, and once you are in Jackson, etc. you are 15 minutes from town and don't need a car. So it's not that logistically challenging to get there, just takes a little longer than SLC.

Anonymous wrote:Cervinia, flying into Geneva. It's about 2 hours from Geneva airport which is a nonstop flight. We have been multiple times, I promise you this is the way!
There are also other great Italian resorts accessible from Geneva. The nearest is Courmayeur, it is just through the Mont Blanc tunnel, and it is great although smaller and more expensive than Cervinia. Other lovely options are Champoluc/Gressony/Alagna (all connected), La Thuile, Pila.

And yes, you can buy an international ski pass and ski down to Zermatt. You take two or three lifts to the top and ski down into Switzerland, it is very easy. The only thing to be aware of is the lift closing time, because you need to get back up to Klein Matterhorn in time, in order to be able to ski down to Cervinia. If you miss the last lift (my friends have done this!) you will have to find somewhere to stay overnight in Zermatt ($$$$), pay for a very long and expensive taxi ride - it is about 3 hours by road, or get a helicopter. The latter is amazingly probably the cheapest option, but still not a great plan.

My favorite mountain restaurants in Cervinia are Bontadini and Chalet Etoile - enjoy delicious pastas, wine, desserts, etc. I can't wait until the winter holidays!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get theeself to Zurich or Milan. Take train to Zermatt.

Is this the same answer for Cervinia (which is better for newer skiers)?

Zurich is much farther than Milan from Cervinia. The closest airport is actually Turin, which doesn't have nearly as many flights as MXP, but if you can get a good quick connection, would save you about an hour in travel time vs. MXP. Since both require one stop from DC, it's worth checking both.

Even though Cervinia looks like it's about 15 miles from Zermatt as the (very cold) crow flies, the Matterhorn in between means it's actually a 3.5 hour drive around the mountains to get there. So Zermatt is an easy 3 hour train ride straight from Zurich, but Cervinia is and 8.5 hour trek through Milan and Turin from Zurich

Thanks for this (geography?) lesson. Info on a Cervinia says better skiers will want to ski “nearby” Zermatt as well.

You can ski between them, but not drive between them so you need to stay on one side or the other and OP wants to go to Italy, so Cervinia would be the choice.

Cervinia, flying into Geneva. It's about 2 hours from Geneva airport which is a nonstop flight. We have been multiple times, I promise you this is the way!
There are also other great Italian resorts accessible from Geneva. The nearest is Courmayeur, it is just through the Mont Blanc tunnel, and it is great although smaller and more expensive than Cervinia. Other lovely options are Champoluc/Gressony/Alagna (all connected), La Thuile, Pila.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get theeself to Zurich or Milan. Take train to Zermatt.

Is this the same answer for Cervinia (which is better for newer skiers)?

Zurich is much farther than Milan from Cervinia. The closest airport is actually Turin, which doesn't have nearly as many flights as MXP, but if you can get a good quick connection, would save you about an hour in travel time vs. MXP. Since both require one stop from DC, it's worth checking both.

Even though Cervinia looks like it's about 15 miles from Zermatt as the (very cold) crow flies, the Matterhorn in between means it's actually a 3.5 hour drive around the mountains to get there. So Zermatt is an easy 3 hour train ride straight from Zurich, but Cervinia is and 8.5 hour trek through Milan and Turin from Zurich

Thanks for this (geography?) lesson. Info on a Cervinia says better skiers will want to ski “nearby” Zermatt as well.

Yeah I was confused looking at the map because they are so close. I think their cable cars may meet at the top, so you can take the cable car up one and then ski down the other. Also looks like a direct cable car connection between them was either just finished or is about to be finished.

https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel/2019/11/lift-new-panoramic-border-crossing-link-between-cervinia-and-zermatt

Fly into Milan or Venice. Short train ride to Bolzano. Rent a car. It is about a 25 minute drive to the resorts in the Dolomites.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get theeself to Zurich or Milan. Take train to Zermatt.

Is this the same answer for Cervinia (which is better for newer skiers)?

Zurich is much farther than Milan from Cervinia. The closest airport is actually Turin, which doesn't have nearly as many flights as MXP, but if you can get a good quick connection, would save you about an hour in travel time vs. MXP. Since both require one stop from DC, it's worth checking both.

Even though Cervinia looks like it's about 15 miles from Zermatt as the (very cold) crow flies, the Matterhorn in between means it's actually a 3.5 hour drive around the mountains to get there. So Zermatt is an easy 3 hour train ride straight from Zurich, but Cervinia is and 8.5 hour trek through Milan and Turin from Zurich

Thanks for this (geography?) lesson. Info on a Cervinia says better skiers will want to ski “nearby” Zermatt as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these are nonstop from IAD.

OP did not ask for a nonstop, just logistically easiest. Heck, I change planes to go to domestic ski reports like Jackson Hole, Aspen, and Sun Valley.

I change planes to go to those places too but I don't consider them to be logistically easy to get to. Park City, that is logistically easy!

Anonymous wrote:None of these are nonstop from IAD.

OP did not ask for a nonstop, just logistically easiest. Heck, I change planes to go to domestic ski reports like Jackson Hole, Aspen, and Sun Valley.