Courmayeur is one of the most traditionally beautiful of all the Aosta Valley’s resorts, an historic town built around two ancient stone churches, and a lamp-lit pedestrianised centre. Expect chalets, nice bars and boutiques, and numerous restaurants. As you can probably imagine, our recommendations for the best places to stay in Courmayeur includes a number of traditional alpine chalets, as well as some more recently built hotels and ski resorts.
Courmayeur has a reputation as the best all round Italian ski resort, which experts tend to interpret as meaning the best balance of ski runs, piste, alpine views, après ski, style, facilities and potential for adventure. It’s a lot of pressure, but Courmayeur delivers. For skiers there's a super range of slopes: 41kms of piste and 100kms off piste. And for other winter sports-folks, Courmayeur has some great cross country skiing options, some of which become walking or mountain biking trails in the summer months. Plus there's the new Skyway Monte Bianco cable car, which offers some of the best views of the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa along its route.
When you’re not on the mountain there plenty to do too: boutiques, fantastic museums, historic sights, there’s ample to fill a day until après ski time. The town even has a botanical gardens, the highest in Europe, and extremely impressive. Courmayeur is ideal for foodies too, Heston Blumenthal comes most years to host the Mountain Gourmet Ski Experience. Some Italians don’t even come to ski, so even if the resort looks busy the slopes might not be.
Courmayeur sounds romantic, and it definitely is, but this resort also attracts plenty of families, and we have recommendations for both couples and families on our list of the best places to stay in Courmayeur. But as with all popular ski resorts, it's a very popular spot during peak season. So if you're planning to visit for Christmas, New Year or February Half Term, get organised and book well ahead.