Cervinia, Italy

Cervinia is perfect for intermediate skiers who like to take lunch seriously. Cervinia combines high, sunny, extensive, snow-sure slopes with impressive scenery and a link over to Zermatt. The ski area consists of miles of long, gentle flattering runs but experts will find few challenging local pistes and will have to head over to Zermatt (covered under the same area lift pass).

Cervinia's ski slopes are almost exclusively above the tree line on a high, open, west-facing bowl which is a little exposed to bleak mid winter conditions. However, come the warmer months in spring you won’t find a better ski area to cruise the reds and lap up the sun.

Despite the rather drab appearance of Cervinia as a resort the choice of decent eateries is quite surprising. Combine these great restaurants with those of Zermatt and you have one of the best on-mountain dining experiences in the Alps combined with one of the largest interlinked ski areas. It's a winning combination.

The resort is situated at the head of a long valley and has developed rather haphazardly with no real consistent style of architecture and some tiresome walks from some of the hotels to and from the lifts. It has very few off-slope amenities. However, there are many great bars and an array of restaurants to keep you interested.