Tell me about Cervinia...

A snowHead

I'm curious. Is it a good way to access Zermatt without the pain of the Swiss Franc exchange rate?

I've been to Les Arcs, Serre Chevalier and a number of small Austrian resorts. Anyone able to offer some opinions in the context of these other resorts?

Any specific accommodation recommendations?

Or is it all just fab?

A snowHead

It's a great way to ski the Zermatt region cheaper... the village is alright too, and naturally there is some great pasta to be found and even better prices.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Nice enough village and plenty of good value hotels. The ski area is large but a lot of it is very easy and a bit 'samey'. Zermatt is more challenging and offers more variety, but lunch on the mountain is not cheap and tasty Italian fayre that's for sure.

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I guess fab is a point of view - if you want miles of motorway cruising easy reds, Cervinia's great. A run called Ventina (or Centina - I don't quite recall, was last there in '95) and the run to Valtourneche were well worth it.

Over the top from the top of the cable car - is it called plata rosa? - is a nice easy option, and whilst I didn't bother with heading over to Zermat, I do recall the snow quality was great up there.

I guess my opinion is - "Do it. At the end of the day all ski resorts are great if you're in the right frame of mind."

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

To be honest, a lot of the best of the skiing on the Cervinia side is as good as anything on the other side. Just do it early on.

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Flat pistes, lots of awful bogs in the cafes, but it's the cheapest way to ski Zermatt which is a 'must do'.

Personally, for somewhere as magical as Zermatt, I'd save up and do it from Switzerland. But it sure is pricey.

The Italian side of the Matterhorn is nowhere even close to as gorgeous as the Swiss side though.

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None of the above mention Cervina big downside , because of the height , the shape of the bowl Cervina is notorious for wind and if you have a bad weather week you could find yourself hardly skiing the whole place has to shut down . There is no tree skiing to retreat to . Great motorway skiing , great off piste/ ski touring , great restaurants , but only when the sun shines .
If its windy you have to walk down the street with googles on !

After all it is free

My best suggestion for Cervinia would be to go in March -- The village/skiing height means good snow ; warmer weather ; and less chance of the wind Rob has mentioned....

Been to Cervinia couple of times but never seen the whole place shut down due to wind.

The wind affects both Zermatt and Cervinia too and usually the highest gondola or cable car making returning from the other side difficult. This however should usually happen earlier in the day well in advance before the ticket office start selling the ticket and not suddenly after visitors have crossed over. At least I have never been caught out. Actually returning from the Swiss side is a lot safer because its upper section, for returning back to the Italian side, is a glacier serviced by drag lifts (in addition to the Klein Matterhorn cable car and the chairlift to Furggsattel) that never close by wind or bad weather.

One point needs to bear in mind is either side sells its own ski pass. To cross over one need the "International pass" which is dearer but can be upgraded for the day if one already got it for one side. One can get the International pass after crossing into Zermatt but it is dearer than obtaining it from the Italian side, possibly due to CHF charged at a inflated rate relative to Euro.

Don't forget one the biggest vertical drop in Europe is the 2375m from Gobba di Rollin at 3899m at the Swiss side to the 1524m of Valtournenche at the Italian side. Only the ungroomed Vallee Blanc of Chamonix (requires a guide) has a larger vertical drop. The experience of this run is priceless because it has the sensation of skiing at the top of the world with the sky at the larger upper half and nothing but snow at the smaller low half.

Lastly from the Breuil Cervinia base station a skier can take 2 gondolas and one chairlift and will be on the Swiss side before clipping the skis on. The boundary line is marked at the top of Plateau Rosa Testa Grigia cable car station.

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There isn't very much challenge in Cervinia but lots of rather flat motorway skiing. If you want more exciting runs you should really be the other side of the mountain rather than spending most of your time going there and coming back. Although Cervinia does have some off piste, most (and the best of it) is better accessed from Zermatt.

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I would stay in Zermatt. O.K. the exchange rate makes Switzerland very expensive for us. But there seems to be an abundance of Chalets there and there are many great deals to be had, & it is a nice place to be with chalet board taking care of most of your expense .

Here it was cold but the wind was light & uplifts in Zermatt running but perplexingly nothing running in Cervinia.
All became clear on nearing the cliff edge at Furggsattel (?): the wind was blowing a gale horizontally on the Cervinia side stripping the slopes bare, Zematt was sheltered on the lee side.
I must admit I love having lunch in the sun on the Italian side and the commute giving a nice structure to the day. The long easy cruise down to Cervinia allows your lunch to settle but not offering thrills.

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when are you planning on going? Done Cervinia 3 times early March and never had anything shut due to wind. Was v cold one week though!

Would avoid the Breuil; food not that good; we ate out more than had planned! Compagnoni good but only B&B. You can eat out fairly cheaply though eg Linos.

Also I reckon it depends on what level you ski; if you want some long flattering reds it's perfect for cruising about but if you're into blacks (only a few) and not much steep stuff.

Yes there are some hole in the ground toilets up on the mountain but didn't experience any unclean ones. Normal toilets can be found- Chalet Etoile.

Think it was about 30 euros to upgrade for the day to go over to Zermatt (where I experienced the worst cable car queue ever!) and the most expensive hot chocolates!

Gotta say a lot of opinions on here are the opposite of my experience. Yes Zermatt is great but Cervinia hardly crap. Been there maybe four times in December and also over from Zermatt. And there is some Classic Swiss style queuing on the Zermatt side.

You know it makes sense.

Is Zermatt busy all season though? We are looking to go third week in January, so not exactly peak time.

Thanks for all the replies so far - lots of interesting viewpoints.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Cervinia is fine for skiing its own skiing and the Matterhorn section from Zermatt. But you can;t realistically reliably do the other sections of Zermatt's skiing from there: it's just too far/too risky.

When we've been staying in Cervinia w've been quite willing to pay the extra to be able to ski over to Zermatt. But when staying in Zermatt we've never bothered with the Cervinia extension.

A snowHead

Jenniper, No. Zermatt is not IME every really busy - just make sure you get up the mountain before ski school and you'll avoid the queues.

A snowHead

We normally go in January and it has never been busy which is great, the only problem I have ever experienced with queues is when everyone decides to go over the border on the same day and heads for the Matterhorn lifts at the same time.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Let's be realistic.

Anyone staying in Cervinia wanting to ski Zermatt has to be over the Swiss side as early as possible to avoid the queues. Like I mentioned earlier from Cervinia side one can take 2 gondolas and one cable car without any skiing and will be on the Swiss side. This is Plateau Rosa at 3480m the third highest point of Zermatt. If one can arrive there early with the entire day skiing about to start would this still too far and risky to ski Zermatt?

Zermatt is among the few Swiss resorts, like Engelberg, St Moritz and Saas Fee, that attract normal sight-seeing visitors who do not ski or snowboard. Thus this feature will guarantee some of the gondolas and cable cars are well attended but not necessarily on the piste runs. Zermatt is a top Swiss tourist attraction in its own right so it will always busy but the piste is not crowded in my experience as it has 200km piste in addition to the Cervinia 150km. The 250km piste domain can absorb a huge amount of psite users without being visibly crowdy.

Experienced visitors to Zermatt would use gondolas and trains to go down the slope to beat the queues to find a quicker way to the high point.

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I am here now staying in Hotel Monreve who I can highly recommend as they have been great and the facilities and rooms in the hotel are fantastic (However no spa or pool if that is what you are after)

And in case you are worried about snow conditions, you can take a look here for a little video of Mark and myself in the current skiing conditions...it is August after all!! Smile

http://youtube.com/v/GJwVfsZ7hIs&feature=youtu.be

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I love the mon reve, and the bar next door is amazing for apre ski.

Glad to see conditions looking so good, how are you finding the warren smith course??

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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

if you get stuck in Zermatt just hop on an Air Zermatt chopper and get dropped off at Plateau Rosa wink

After all it is free

Hi Folks,

A few of us are considering heading to Cervinia for a week around mid March

When accessing the Zermatt ski area from Cervinia, I was wondering:

1. Roughly how long does it take using the lifts take to get over to the Zermatt side from the bottom of the lift in Cervinia say?
and
2. how long it takes from the bottom of the lifts in Zermatt to get back to somewhere high enough so you can ski back down to Cervinia?

Also we're a group of pretty advanced to expert off piste skiers with one boarder, are we likely to get a little bored if we get stuck solely on the Cervinia side for a few days or more???

thanks in advance for all advice

p.s. any tips on somewhere nice to stay? (preferably with a pool) would also be much appreciated.
p.p.s b&b or hb???

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http://www.heliskicervinia.com/index_e.asp

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

" 1. Roughly how long does it take using the lifts take to get over to the Zermatt side from the bottom of the lift in Cervinia say?
and
2. how long it takes from the bottom of the lifts in Zermatt to get back to somewhere high enough so you can ski back down to Cervinia....."

Mainly depends on time of day/queues.... :: say 30 mins for both, but if you are on the far side of the Zermatt area allow for that. If you hit the lifts back to Cervinia at the wrong time the queues can be 'large' !!

snow reports

albob, town to top on Cervinia side takes around 45 minutes assuming no queues. I seem to remember it took a bit longer on the lifts back from Zermatt but I did use a slightly circuitous route, probably around an hour if you are using the most direct route.

You can easily spend a good day skiing in Zermatt from Cervinia, just make sure to be on the Trockener Steg lift by around 3.15 to get back.

You know it makes sense.

Isn't the skiing in the afternoon better on the Cervinia side ?

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Help!!

Tell me about Cervinia...

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