Breuil-Cervinia Valtournenche Resort Reviews
Visitor reviews for Breuil-Cervinia Valtournenche Ski Resort
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(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
Latest
March 25, 2019
Tim from
United Kingdom
Tim from
United Kingdom
Went there in mid March 2019. Snow was great, nothing to complain about there. Weather conditions and visibility seriously unpredictable though. Was there for 6 days, and the link to Zermatt was only open for 1 day in that time, although the altitude is a contributing factor to that. As someone else has mentioned, lifts are slow to open, which can lead to queues in the morning time, with everyone queuing for the same couple of lower lifts. Lift pass was 300 Euro or so for 6 days including the link to Zermatt, which is pricey considering the chance you have of getting over there.
Pretty much all the runs can be downgraded a colour from everything I have experienced in France & Austria (blue run = green, red run = blue, etc). Everything is pretty cruisey, which may be to some people's taste, but there is not much to challenge people here. As a snowboarder, you constantly need to bomb it to make it across the flat sections (and there are a lot of them) which is fine in good visibility, harder if not.
Village is nice with some good eating out, not a massive party town.
All in all, if you want a not too challenging resort and don't mind the expensive lift passes, sure for relaxed skiing, this is fine. I think i'll be heading back to Austria next year though.
January 31, 2019
Sam RB from
United Kingdom
Sam RB from
United Kingdom
The justification for my review is explained in depth below. The short version is that if you are anything beyond a novice skier, this is not the resort for you. If you are in the process of picking a resort for an upcoming ski trip, you will find far better places for the same cost.
Hugely disappointed with Cervinia. Having skied a significant number of resorts across France, Switzerland, Austria etc. never have I been quite so frustrated.
Given the location and access to Zermatt, this should be a gem. However, even when conditions at the highest lifts in Cervinia were fantastic (blue sky and absent wind), the Zermatt links were still not opened. On the one day when the Zermatt link was opened, there was clearly no rush and it took until 10:30am to open it all. This reflects the general attitude of the resort staff. Lifts advertised as opening at 8:20 or 8:30 were often not open until well after 9am. Some days upper lifts were closed until gone 10am. Lifts were even closed earlier than advertised with staff clearly just wanting to leave as soon as possible. Even the piste bashing seemed half-hearted; for whatever reason they just were not of a quality found in other resorts. Staff in the ticket office all seemed unable to give the same figures for what the unnecessarily confusing pricing system was and misled us to our financial detriment. When confronted they were extremely rude.
Advertising the resort as a truly linked ski area with Zermatt is almost misleading. The odds of getting across the border are low.
The lift pass for just the Cervinia side is massively overpriced. Having spent the previous week in Ischgl, the lift passes are basically the same cost for 6 days. However, at Ischgl you get a hugely extensive well kept resort, extremely modern and efficient lift system, polite and hardworking staff, beautiful surroundings and town. Indeed the pass was comparatively expensive compared with many resorts I have visited recently including St Anton, Val d'Isere, L2A.
The pistes themselves are fabulous for total beginners but even intermediate skiers will become bored quickly. Black slopes are very straight forward, the reds that proliferate the resort would, in many cases, be blue elsewhere. The terrain is such that runs are mainly long flat sections interspersed with the odd downhill. This combined with the slow, exposed lifts makes for sheer tedium.
The lift system is by far the worst I have experienced anywhere in a major European resort. As other reviews have noted, the lift buildings in some cases look like something from war torn Aleppo. The lifts are excruciatingly slow, often without covers despite being exposed. Gondolas are slow and outdated, sometimes without proper seats. To get to the top of the resort/to Zermatt requires either 3 separate gondolas or a gondola and three separate chairs. In any modern resort the top would be reached by one or, at the most, two lifts.
February 06, 2017
Lewis from
United Kingdom
Lewis from
United Kingdom
A huge disappointment due to high winds nearly every day. I went to Cervinia with the intention to ski into Zermatt for at least three days, but I barely even saw Cervinia from Valtournenche over the six days I was there. The snow, just after new year, was only down to 2000 meters and I was forced to ski down a boring red run with green grass and brown shrubs again and again. It got so bad that I even took a day off as saving the lift pass money was better than skiing.
Of course, you could be lucky and get day after day of blue sky and light winds. But the risk of bad weather, in my opinion, is too high. Even then there is little to interest the advanced skier compared with Argentiere, Chamonix, or the stable weather you can find in Austria. I've pretty much given up with skiing in Italy, but I'll stick to cycle touring in the summer.
March 13, 2016
James from
United Kingdom
James from
United Kingdom
Visited for a long weekend just before Christmas when there was almost no snow anywhere.
Worth a shout out because of the snow cannon and high altitude. The resort was open and we were able to ski every day. It doesn't have 100% snow cannon coverage but enough to keep the resort open.
It was freaky skiing down a strip of snow with grass/mud off to the side, but the quality of the snow on the ground really was good. It wasn't icy as you can sometimes get from over skied cannon snow.
Really enjoy staying in Italy. Good food and wine at a decent price, especially when compared to Switzerland or France.
December 12, 2014
Pedro from
United Kingdom
Pedro from
United Kingdom
We have been going to Cervinia, in December, for the past 5-6 years. The village is not the most charming, but it is nice, the food is great and the accommodation good. We like the fact that they are extremely 'kids friendly' and that there are many large and long runs. The weather, however, changes very quickly and when it is windy and/or there is a snow storm it is usually so bad they close the resort. But that is the compromise between being high and always having snow - you get the worse of the storm. Overall, we love it and will keep coming back. When the weather is nice it is one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
February 14, 2012
Collette from
United Kingdom
Collette from
United Kingdom
Went to Cervina 27th Jan 2012 for a week and can honestly say the conditions were awesome. No wind, light snow in the day which didn't stop us from going up which continued through the night, which meant fresh powder the next morning. That day was quiet on the slopes we had a full 4 runs all to ourselves, some off piste areas too, so much fun. I'm a boarder and so are the people who went with me. The terrain is great for all levels and will encourage the less confident of boarders/skiiers to travel a little faster as there are some flats in some areas. There is a great link over to Zermat but make sure you set off early to have a good day over there. We stayed in an all-inclusive hotel 50m from the gondola so we could practically board right back to the hotel at the end of the day. We went out a few times for drinks. The Dragon is a great pub set right in the town and at the base of the slopes and the Grivola Restaurant does a lovely steak and beautiful desserts we only paid about 50 euros for 3 courses and some wine, water etc, but you do need to book a table. Overall we all had a great time, and would come back again, the off piste sections are way too good and you can practically stay close to the slope so being new to off piste was welcome, I could go in and out as I pleased.
January 25, 2012
Jo P from
United Kingdom
Jo P from
United Kingdom
Just returned from a week's skiing in Cervinia. We did, unfortunately, experience the high winds of this area. Friday wind and visibility made conditions poor so this was a short days skiing. Saturday no lifts were open in the area at all until lunchtime then one chairlift was opened that gave access to one blue and one red run. Even this lift kept stopping because of high winds. We did also have the most terrifying experience of being stuck on the old 3 man chair in the Valtournenche area in extremely high winds. Lift was shut by the time we got off but it is an experience I, and the rest of my party would never wish to repeat or for others to experience. I would advise, especially on older lifts, not to trust that because the resort are still running it, it will be ok to get on. Once we were off we went straight back to the hotel and had a large brandy which I don't even like!! Great to ski over to Zermatt, have lunch and come back to Italy! We did have 4 lovely days of great snow conditions and sun. Changing weather conditions are to be expected if skiing.
December 23, 2011
Andrew Crump from
United Kingdom
Andrew Crump from
United Kingdom
December 12 - 19th 2011
My 8th time boarding and 8th resort and I would have to say I will be going back there without a shadow of doubt. It's a most fantastic resort especially for boarders and the best I have been to. The snow was just out of this world. It was amazing when we got there considering most of Europe had none and we had around 7 foot fall in 1 day and 3 meters of fresh snow at the top!
The food and drink wasn't too cheep but I have certainly paid more else where. The mountain restaurants were very nice and there were lots of them. The resort restaurants were also very nice and there were plenty of bars to drink in after a hard day on the slopes!
We stayed in the Hotel Sertorelli 4* Crystal finest and over all would highly recommend this hotel, it's has an amazing spa on the 6th floor overlooking the mountains.
Last thing I would say is can't wait until March as will be going back for sure and look forward to red 7 which is around 14km long!!
January 06, 2011
Guy Pocock from
United Kingdom
Guy Pocock from
United Kingdom
We visited Breuil-Cervinia Valtournenche from 27th December to 2nd January 2011 and had a fantastic time. We benefited from superb weather with bright blue skies and hardly a breath of wind all week (we were reminded however that for the time of year "we were very lucky!")
We booked the self-catering accommodation through Franchesca at agenzia.il.cervinia@libero.it. They were very helpful and did all they could to make the week superb. Their office is based right in the middle of the resort, open from 9am until 7.30pm, so if you have any problems they are on hand to resolve them! I really cannot recommend them highly enough.
The ski resort benefits from skiing in Switzerland (Zermatt) and Breuil-Cervinia Valtournenche (Italy) all accessed from the same lift system. The lift pass is pricy (194 euros) for 6 days on the Italian slopes or 252 euros for the opportunity to ski in both Switzerland and Italy for 6 days. We bought the Italian 6 day pass then bought a one day "ski-pass extension" for 30 euros to use in Switzerland for a day. Surprisingly, we managed to ski in three separate mountain areas on the same day in Switzerland, so it was well worth the effort. The resort suits beginners & intermediate skiers - there are a few Black runs, but advanced "dare-devils" may struggle to find too many challenges?
The food and drink in the resort and on the slopes is expensive, but the fantastic skiing makes up for it! Also if you go self-catering there is a well stocked supermarket right in the centre of the town.
Overall, I would whole-heartedly recommend Breil-Cervinia Valtournenche, I just hope you get good weather, which makes the resort a beautiful, magical place.
April 16, 2009
Steve from
United Kingdom
Steve from
United Kingdom
I've been to Cervinia (Breuil-Cervinia Valtournenche) three times, and the main reasons for returning are the guaranteed snow and the great blue and red runs. There are also a couple of new lifts which have improved things recently, reducing the bottlenecks from the resort up the mountain. There are still a few of the old, slow, orange chair lifts higher up, however, it looks like at least one more new lift is due by end of 09. Snow is guaranteed, but the height of the resort means cloud, extreme cold, wind and low visibility are frequent visitors. Fresh snow can get hard and icy pretty quickly in the winter months, so you have to enjoy it while it's there, but it will stick around forever. The high altitude means that the resort (Cervinia - Breuil-Cervinia Valtournenche) generally stays open until early May, and the spring skiing can be fantastic, with less cloud and wind than the winter months, and warmer too. There are a few good bars in the resort, and a reasonable club, but not the liveliest resort ever. We booked for 3 nights directly with the Hotel Grivola, which was comfortable and comparably cheap. I will be back.