Cervinia mid-december

acer911

Planning a DIY trip for a few days to Cervinia in mid-december.

Flying into Turin, renting a car and driving to Breuil-Cervinia and staying about 4 nights.

Just want to get peoples thoughts and insights on this if possible:
- Is the drive reasonable?
- I've heard Cervinia can shut due to wind on regular occasions, what are the options then?
- How is the resort for intermediate skiers?
- Would you recommend it as a ski resort?

Any other insights would be much appreciated?

Thanks.

maddness

The drive is only about 90 minutes.
I've been twice in December and it was great both times. Wind can shut down part of the mountain so I would buy my ski passes on a daily basis and not buy the full area pass in advance.
It's perfect for intermediate skiers with loads of wide red and blue slopes with only a small part of the mountain more challenging. You can ski to Zermatt if the link is open and the skiing is steaper there.
The town is small but has plenty of excellent restaurants and a couple of good bars. It's also relatively cheap with a beer €4-5 and has some of the best mountain restaurants that are great value.

a148pro

Agree with all the above. If resort closed you can drive to Pila in an hour. Its included on the Cervinia pass but NOT on the more expensive international pass (I learned this to my great anger). Not sure if Pila would be open in mid dec as its lower.

Very pleasant resort with stunning views and long descents. Good food on the mountain. Italians chilled. Don't tend to ski in afternoons. No great night life. Can also go via the Milan airports (about 2 and a half hours). Lots of gentle slopes but nothing challenging. Therefore lots of high speed high mileage cruising. Run from the top lift back to the town at sunset on the Matterhorn is stunning, one of the best runs of my life.

I stayed in Edelweiss once, good value, about 5 mins walk from lifts, they run a bus also, passable wellness downstairs and good value tasty meals included.

Also stayed in a nice and more expensive place opposite the lifts in the town, very nice atmosphere but no wellness, can't remember name.

bovril

I'd second buying your pass on a daily basis. If Cervinia is shut due to winds Valtournenche just up the road is usually open. It's on the same pass add Cervinia and is linked but you can get to it by bus if the links are shut. I've never been to Valtournenche so perhaps look it up on line. The queue for buses to Valtournenche on windy days in Cervinia was always long!

Chalet Etoile on the mountain has amazing food. It's very busy though at lunchtime so arrive early or late.

acer911

Thanks everyone for your responses.

Any other recommendations re: food and accommodation would be welcome.

I am assuming the drive would be dodgy enough with snowy / icy roads? Would snow chains be enough or would you need 4WD?

a148pro

bovril wrote: »

Chalet Etoile on the mountain has amazing food staff.

FYP:pac:

Although the food is good too (not sure of carbon benefit of seafood linguini at 2300m mind.

Drive wasn't too bad from recollection. You really need to just check the forecast in advance. If snow is expected chains will be mandatory. If it isn't actually snowing while you're driving the road will be kept open. It being Italy its very hard to get snow tires but most rental places will have one such vehicle so maybe ask the day before. If you go looking for it in advance it'll cost a lot more.

By the way car rental can be absurdly cheap - like 40 euro all in for a four door for 4 days - went three times last year and paid that.

If for some reason you couldn't get up the night of arrival drive on to Aosta, which is on the main motorway type road and there's a lot of cheap accomodation there. You can get cable car direct from that town up to Pila. But I think its unlikely to be a problem for you unless its dumping the night you arrive.

maddness

acer911 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your responses.

Any other recommendations re: food and accommodation would be welcome.

http://www.hotelperruquet.com/index.php/en/

I stayed in the above hotel in December 2014. It's on the Main Street which backs onto the slopes and is about 200mts to a lift. It's basic enough but has a good breakfast and the sister and brother who own it are lovely, it's cheap too.

acer911

Thanks for all the feedback guys.

Booked Hotel Edelweiss after on a148pro's recommendation.

Just around ski passes, bit confused by the information, what does the local pass cover and what does the international pass cover?

Also has anyone rented a car in Italy before and used a car rental company that they would recommend or avoid?

Thanks.

hawkwind23

acer911

this site might help

http://www.skilife.ski/en/

Sorry dont know much about the ski passes but the Aosta Valley pass which can be purchased on the site above covers every resort in the area.

a148pro

Local pass covers (to my recollection) all the resorts in Aosta valley -Valtourneche (which you can ski to from Cervina), Pila, Champoluc, Gressoney, Courmayeur and possible La Thuile. There may actually be a Cervinia only pass but I can't remember.

Everything apart from Valtourneche is an hour drive minimum away so no point in going to them on a four day trip unless Cervinia closed, in which case Pila is an hour and is good for a days skiing. I went previously for four days and both Cervinia and Valtourneche were closed for two of those days. I cursed them but when I got up the mountain another day the winds had to be seen to be believed. I have a video somewhere, it was unbelievable, clear day but when the gusts came in they were so strong you couldn't see your knees. I've never seen the like of it or anything near.

There's also another really small resort down the road from valtourneche that is only accessible by cable car, kind of a boutique resort that no one knows about with a handful or runs, can't remember the name and don't know if its covered by the local pass.

The international pass allows you access to Switzerland. At the top of the Cervinia lifts you can ski down to Zermatt. Personally I preferred the skiing on the Italian side but its probably worth going over for one day to experience it. You also get to see the Switzerland side of the Matterhorn, i.e., the Toblerone type shape, which is probably more aesthetic than the Italian side (Mount Cervino). Also, on the Swiss side you can get the highest ski lift in Europe which might be a box to tick. Its just beside the Cervinia side. About 3900m, seriously out of breath up there.

The scam with the international pass is that, even though its more expensive than the local pass, it doesn't cover the resorts in the Aosta valley. This is presumably so we can all continue to subsidize the existence of Switzerland as a nation and tax haven by paying them through the teeth for any interaction we have with them. Be careful not to either use your wallet or phone when over either, mates got stung like 40 euro for their veggie burger lunch, I got a 70 euro phone bill for a two hour slip into swiss territory which involved very little actual phone use (got it back off vodafone after I complained to Comreg).

So the time I went I booked the international pass for four days because if I went over twice it worked out cheaper than just paying the supplement on two days ( I think to upgrade for a day from a normal pass you have to pay an extra 30 euro). Cervinia subsequently closed for two of the four days and I had to drive to Pila and buy another lift pass which was more than a bit galling, considering that if I had just bought the cheaper local pass it would have been included. Day pass in Pila was about 30 euro I think, less than half the price of the international.

So as someone else advised, probably better off booking your pass on a day to day basis. If lifts closed they won't give you a refund but a voucher for another lift pass.

a148pro

acer911 wrote: »

Booked Hotel Edelweiss after on a148pro's recommendation.

Thanks.

Gulp! Hope its ok - cheap and cheerful resort with wellness and decent food included in the price - hopefully you'll be happy with that! I found the staff sound too which is important, they'd always come and offer more food after the meals. Its about a 5 minute walk back up to the lifts and to the small strip of bars and restaurants in the town. Enjoy its a good resort with great high mountain views and long cruisey runs!

a148pro

Conditions look good, enjoy!

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=127395&start=120

a148pro

Sorry, I should add re car rental, I've use websites like economycarrentals and expedia and have found them very good and cheap. Economycarrentals website looks a bit cheap and almost scam like but I've never had any problems with them over about 10 rentals.

Both operate as brokers with car rental firms and are consistently cheaper than anything else you'll get, directly or otherwise. I think expedia were cheapest for Italy the last time. Literally paid 40 euro for a car for four days. Ended up being through Firefly in Malpensa, found them very good. Winter tyres harder to get as discussed above.

They always try to get you to buy excess insurance when you rent as they obviously get a mark up for the policy but I just buy an annual excess insurance policy online which I get for 50 euro and that covers me for the year (I would rent cars abroad three or four times a year).