 Poster: A snowHead
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How is Cervinia as a ski resort, independent of being just a cheap base to go to Zermatt?
How’s the skiing? The village?
Basically, rather than rushing over from Zermatt and back in a couple hours, and worrying about the link staying open, is it worth spending a few days in Cervinia itself?
Or another way to ask this question to those who chose to base in Cervinia for their Zermatt trip, how many days did you end up crossing over to Zermatt vs how many days you end up skiing only the Cervinia side?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@abc, First couple of trips there as intermediate skiers mainly skied Cervinia, with just the occasional foray across the border. Later visit as advanced, fast skiers went across probably more than 50% of the days - a competent skier can ski everything in Zermatt from Cervinia.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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We were there at Christmas and only made it over to Zermatt once, due to the weather. The snow conditions were actually better in Cervinia that week. We particularly liked the Valtournenche area.
Overall we were impressed with Cervinia, but our (private) transfer was much more expensive than the train, which probably eliminated any cost savings over Zermatt.
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Probably not the best person to answer this as not a huge amount to compare it to, but Mrs MM and I liked the village/town when we were there for a couple of nights in December. Some decent meals out. Decent vibe and not expensive IMO. It was just the brutal walk back up the hill at the end of the night!
I'll let others comment on the skiing as we didn't really make it off blue runs in Cervina 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Cervinia is great. Ignore the snobs looking down their noses from their exorbitantly priced dusty old hotels in Zermatt. 
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Skiing is fantastic cervinia side (on piste). Just lacks some really gnarly blacks. Food amazing. Cervinia is nice if not overly pretty but we had an epic time in the bars and a street party new years 14 months ago. We only did zermatt one day in six and didn’t feel restricted. If you go all the way to valtournench then back to the top and across the far side under the Matterhorn you get a real sense of big travels. Only negative for me is the lower mid lifts. 1970s concrete stations with quite old lifts to get up to mid station at the start of the day.
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I really rate cervinia as a resort in its own right, have never thought of it as merely a cheap way into zermatt. High, a lot of high terrain, decent variety of slopes, good lift system, excellent eating on piste and in the town. Some very long vertical descents. Good pistes for beginners.
Being able to ski into Switzerland and marvel at the views of matterhorn from that side, experience the lift system, take the highest ski lift in europe and experience the breathlessness is an added bonus. Think the descent from the top to town is the largest piste descent in europe (if not the world, wasn't there a thread on this recently). I've never skied further than the town but prefer the skiing on the italian side. The snow is often better too.
It does have its downsides. Some are common to high altitude resorts - bleak in poor weather, few tree runs. Risk of closures but I think they are more regular here than in most other resorts, very wind exposed. The architecture is also a drab and dated.
But for me its a good resort in its own right and a great late season option.
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Cervina is a great spring ski station , however because of the height , openness and lack of trees in the deep winter can be very cold, cloudy and Windy . I’ve given it three chances , two in the middle of winter when the mountain was closed half the holiday , had to wear googles to walk down the Main Street to eat lunch but I went early April and had a great time including an incredible Heli day .
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| 8611 wrote: |
I really rate cervinia as a resort in its own right, have never thought of it as merely a cheap way into zermatt. High, a lot of high terrain, decent variety of slopes, good lift system, excellent eating on piste and in the town. Some very long vertical descents. Good pistes for beginners.
Being able to ski into Switzerland and marvel at the views of matterhorn from that side, experience the lift system, take the highest ski lift in europe and experience the breathlessness is an added bonus. Think the descent from the top to town is the largest piste descent in europe (if not the world, wasn't there a thread on this recently). I've never skied further than the town but prefer the skiing on the italian side. The snow is often better too.
It does have its downsides. Some are common to high altitude resorts - bleak in poor weather, few tree runs. Risk of closures but I think they are more regular here than in most other resorts, very wind exposed. The architecture is also a drab and dated.
But for me its a good resort in its own right and a great late season option. |
Plus 1 on all this
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| RobinS wrote: |
| Later visit as advanced, fast skiers went across probably more than 50% of the days - a competent skier can ski everything in Zermatt from Cervinia. |
RobinS, on those days you went over, did you find the “journey” somewhat a waste of part of the day? Or did you actually enjoy the getting up and down to the top in and of themselves?
Recalling what I read of those negative reviews of Cervinia, one of the advantages of staying at Zermatt is the view is better. (And I’m sure Zermatt has other values of its own too).
I wonder whether it make sense to split my time between Zermatt and Cervinia to do both of them justice without having the bother of going over and back on multiple days? (I plan to spend more than 1 week, likely 10-12 days in the area).
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@abc, The journey doesn't take long, so getting first lift in Cervinia gives a full day on the Zermatt side, just makes a good day out. Do remember stopping for a late lunch on the far side of the Zermatt terrain, and thinking at 2pm we better get a move on to get back.
We have also stayed in Zermatt, accomodation much more expensive, and eating out in the evening is more expensive.
If I was to have 12 days I would nowadays stay in Cervinia and ski the whole lot from there, easy days on the Cervinia and Valtournace side, more challenging days over the Swiss side.
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@abc, When people say the 'view' is better, they normally mean the view of the Matterhorn is better : from the Italian side the Matterhorn looks 'naff'
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You know it makes sense.
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You’ll struggle to split your stay between Zermatt and Cervinia - the resorts are about 5hrs drive apart - worth noting if you miss the last lifts and get stuck on the wrong side.
For intermediate’s who love cruising wide red runs on great snow Cervinia is one of the best. It’s a great resort in its own right - esp later in the season. It’s not as pretty as the Swiss or Austrian chocolate boxes but a big improvement on the French purpose built high altitude resorts.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Equally getting over to Zermatt really isn’t much of a hassle. Especially with the newish lift improvements on the Swiss side. I remember the choice of 1hr plus queues to get back to Klein Matterhorn or the worlds longest and coldest t-bar. Either way you’re probably going to take the chairs or cable car up to the start. It’s just a case of whether you then turn left or right - ski down to Switzerland or Italy
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Poster: A snowHead
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I've skied the area from both sides, a week in Zermatt and a daytrip from Cervinia.
Most days from Zermatt were spent skiing over to Italy, having a reasonably priced lunch on a sunny terrace and skiing back.
The recent lift improvements make getting anywhere in the ski area from either base a lot easier.
The village charm and Matterhorn views on the Zermatt side are better. Cervinia isn't a beautiful resort, many incongruous modern buildings and dismal concrete lift stations, but the ski area is great with lots of nice wide runs and impressive vertical down to Valtournenche.
The only real disadvantage of staying in Cervinia is that you will likely have to buy lunch on the Swiss side if you go over. There are nice places, but your credit card will take a hammering! 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| abc wrote: |
Thank you everyone for giving Cervinia its proper due. Clearly, I’ve been misinformed by a few of its vocal negative critics, now corrected. 
@Le Grand Renard, @8611, yes, I’m aiming for a late’ish season time frame, around Easter time. |
I could chuck a few stones at Zermatt. The lifts are disjointed and old in places and the food/drink prices are comical. Zermatt is living on past reputation which is fast becoming historic and irrelevant.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Skied last year January in Cervinia… skied Zermatt every day … easy links and we had great weather. Only issue was closed cable car far side of Zermatt one day which made us tight for time but all OK
Liked Cervinia as town too
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@abc, As others have said, it's possible to ski all of the Zermatt pistes from Cervinia and vice versa. However, there is that anxiety factor that kicks in around 2pm to ensure you don't miss the last lift back. I think this detracts from the overall enjoyment of the day so maybe your idea of staying in both resorts would address this. There is the Alpine Crossing lift that is designed for foot passengers and maybe that could be used to transfer from one resort to the other part way through your holiday. Not sure how resilient that is to wind closures, but taxi transfer as a contingency wouldn't be the end of the world - albeit it would take a chunk of time and best done therefore in the evening.
Going late season, one of the features on the Zermatt side is the range of itineraries and some of the best are at the very far side from Cervinia - Rote Nase - and allso off Rothorn. Would be much better doing these from the Zermatt side.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=5428768&highlight=cervinia#5428768
On day 4 of our visit to Cervinia in April we managed a tourist trip on the Gornergrat train, getting lifts from Patrullarve, Tuftern and Kumme a few times and a turn around Rote Nase before heading back to Italy for (an admittedly late) lunch.
There was 15 minutes of my son forgetting how to put a ski back on and lots of photos so we weren’t exactly hoofing it all the time. Looked back through the photos and we were at Riffleberg (top of the gondola) at 1020, before we got into tourist mode so you could probably be at Gant around 1030 if you took the direct route. Plenty of time to explore the area but a little prioritising required. You probably can’t expect first tracks down the big itinerary run off Rote Nase but there’s actually time to get there and back to a restaurant just over the border.
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| albob wrote: |
| @abc, When people say the 'view' is better, they normally mean the view of the Matterhorn is better : from the Italian side the Matterhorn looks 'naff' |
From an Italian, perspective you are saying Cervino doesn't look like the Matterhorn. No, it looks like a different mountain but it's striking and the view dominates the town. It's not remotely naff. I never liked toblerone anyway.
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| DCG wrote: |
| @abc, As others have said, it's possible to ski all of the Zermatt pistes from Cervinia and vice versa. However, there is that anxiety factor that kicks in around 2pm to ensure you don't miss the last lift back. I think this detracts from the overall enjoyment of the day |
Yes, THAT.
Also, some runs are in better condition early in the day and others only soften up late in the day. Staying in one base limits one to only skiing the “other side” midday.
| Quote: |
| Going late season, one of the features on the Zermatt side is the range of itineraries and some of the best are at the very far side from Cervinia - Rote Nase - and allso off Rothorn. Would be much better doing these from the Zermatt side. |
That sounds even nicer!
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| Quote: |
| There is the Alpine Crossing lift that is designed for foot passengers and maybe that could be used to transfer from one resort to the other part way through your holiday. |
Is the Alpine Crossing also part of the ski lift network? Can one use it with the regular lift pass? Or does one have to pay separately?
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@abc, It's not on the normal ski lift pass as it doesn't really provide much for skiers. Intended for pedestrian tourists and is quite expensive (>CHF100 a ticket).
@JohnMo is the expert on this and hopefully he will be able to answer more authoritatively.
You might also need to check whether you can buy a single multi-day pass for both Zermatt & Cervinia or whether you need to get two separate ones - I suspect you might need to start each day in the "home" resort for the pass.
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I'd say it is probably a bit easier and less stressful to stay in Zermatt and ski over to Cervinia than vice-versa as there are two ways back to Zermatt whereas just the one to Cervinia, and Cervinia is largely based on one and a bit bowls, whereas Zermatt has three distinct areas (albeit quite well linked now compared to the past) so can be a bit more convoluted to get back from and concerning if a lift goes out of action. For example the new chair at Gornergrat was out of action almost all of Thursday last week, the Matterhorn Glacier Ride for an hour, both for technical rather than weather reasons
We've just come back from a week in Zermatt and skied over to Cervinia twice - the second time of which we skied until about 14:30 in Cervinia, had a delicious 'self service' BBQ lunch at Plan Maison, before getting the first of the chain of 3 chairlifts back towards Zermatt at 15:25 and could then have a chilled last few runs back to resort on the Zermatt side. I think if I was skiing back from Sunnegga towards Cervinia I would be a bit more stressed (although of course you don't need to go that far)
We do like the Cervinia side though overall so always try and make it over for a couple of days - especially for flattering motorway red runs and improving Carv scores!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@abc,
It's many years since I did a week in either Cervinia or Zermatt, but contact the company I did Zermatt with - otp.co.uk - their MD, Jeff, is based in Zermatt & so is probably well placed to answer any of your questions.
If you do Zermatt through opt, get Jeff to treat you to a fondue one night - best one I ever had (and that was skiing in September - reminds that me he owes me another fondue for my 2nd, winter, trip!)
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Only ever based in Cervinia but have skied across to Zermatt. I was struck by how different they were - and Zermatt undoubtably prettier. However Cervinia is a great ski resort in its own right with as others said a vibrant ski mountain village life all of its own. The view of Cervino from the town and higher slopes is stunning.
We only ever viewed Zermatt as a “nice to have” add on.
We did find the trip back very tricky though- and unless we were doing it wrong involved at least two long gondolas totalling about 40minutes with very little skiing time, and the first time we did it a nerve wracking race through the high altitude tunnel and charge down the run to get the lift home- and missed the left turn so had to hike back up 50m with skis to make it in time.
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You know it makes sense.
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| abc wrote: |
| I suppose I could just get up on the regular ski lifts and ski down with a good size backpack. |
That's an interesting thought and one I've had myself.
I have a week or so gap in my ski trip in a couple of weeks (between the Dolomites and Chamonix). Probably book at the last minute in the Aosta area depending on "options".
If the weather and conditions looked good, I could see parking a car in/near Valtournenche and taking the lifts over to Zermatt for a couple of nights. Light ski touring pack with a pair of walking shoes, a shirt and pair of pants and some sundry items. Looks doable. Also depends if there's any reasonable lodging opportunities. Off the Fri/Sat nights. Not finding lodging on the Italian side that might be more affordable than Zermatt.
Might be pretty fun. What think ye, sage hive mind?
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Mon 2-03-26 15:39; edited 1 time in total
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Can anyone recommend a hotel for a possible late April visit to Cervinia? Preferably walking distance to the lifts...
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Poster: A snowHead
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@kitenski, We stayed in The Europa Hotel in January and would highly recommend it. 2 min walk to the lifts . Great location, lovely Spa and fantastic breakfast.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@kitenski, Hotel Breuil :: or anywhere in the Cretaz area (saves the walk up a steep hill to the cable car.....)
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| kitenski wrote: |
| Can anyone recommend a hotel for a possible late April visit to Cervinia? Preferably walking distance to the lifts... |
Hotel Spoting, not a fancy place but literally right on high Street and central to most things.
About 250 Mtrs walk to main gondola, gets the legs warm in the morning  very convenient and ideal to walk out and socialise evening time.
There's another small hotel opposite on the street (can't remember name, but on map view)
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@kitenski,
Hotel Meublé Gorret is superb, comfortable and cosy with a good breakfast and sauna that looks up to the Matterhorn. Bruno the owner is related to Abbe Gorret the first to climb from the Italian side, lots of cool history in there
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Brian in SLC wrote: |
| abc wrote: |
| I suppose I could just get up on the regular ski lifts and ski down with a good size backpack. |
That's an interesting thought and one I've had myself.
I have a week or so gap in my ski trip in a couple of weeks (between the Dolomites and Chamonix). Probably book at the last minute in the Aosta area depending on "options".
If the weather and conditions looked good, I could see parking a car in/near Valtournenche and taking the lifts over to Zermatt for a couple of nights. Light ski touring pack with a pair of walking shoes, a shirt and pair of pants and some sundry items. Looks doable. Also depends if there's any reasonable lodging opportunities. Off the Fri/Sat nights. Not finding lodging on the Italian side that might be more affordable than Zermatt.
Might be pretty fun. What think ye, sage hive mind? |
Youth Hostel?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Remember if you buy a multi day pass from the Cervinia side you can't start your day from the Swiss side so would need to separate the ski passes
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| Kenzie wrote: |
| Youth Hostel? |
Not likely for me. Much prefer my own space and ensuite bathroom if the price isn't too high for that option (but shared bathroom works too).
But...not dorm style lodging.
Mostly looking for lodging that has parking and would let me park a car for two nights on the chance I ski over to Zermatt and spend a couple of nights.
All depends on weather and conditions of course.
As far as ski passes go, I'd plan on using my (evil) Ikon pass for both areas. Given the number of days I have on the pass (7) and my schedule (less than 7 ski days in either/both areas), I think would work fine. Was ski on last year and year prior in Zermatt (and Courmayeur). Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
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Too easy. Needs to incorporate a skin or heli lift with off piste descent down to monte rosa and a couple of nights in it's three valleys, then back over.
Your plan is definitely doable though. You may have more accommodation options closer to the time as places will be holding out for a full week's booking at the moment.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Hotel Bucaneve. Always stay there and never misses the spot. Good position at the top of the town. Easy walk to lifts. Super restaurant as well.
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| Kenzie wrote: |
| Youth Hostel? |
I might be interested. But only if the rooms are separated by gender. Does such setup exist?
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