How to do the Winter Olympics in the Dolomites

The Dolomites are different to the Alps. The mountain range that extends from north-eastern Italy’s River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east presents rock formations that are gothic, majestic and somehow more tangible to the skier.

Colour and profile provide spectacle and drama; depending on the time of day, the Marmolada can be rose pink one minute, purply gold the next. Piz Boè presents as a white-dusted, Fuji-esque pyramid across the Passo Pordoi valley.

The Dolomiti’s cathedralic, limestone forms inspire wonderment and rhapsody, with 20th-century architect Le Corbusier once saying, ‘There are mountains, and then there are the Dolomites... the most beautiful construction in the world.’ Ernest Hemingway was similarly smitten, calling the Dolomites ‘the loveliest country I’ve ever known’.

Roger Moore filmed scenes from his James Bond classic For Your Eyes Only at Cortina’s Olympic Ice Stadium, Ski Jump and Bobsleigh Run, and in Patricia Highsmith’s thriller The Talented Mr Ripley, handsome idler Dickie Greenleaf describes its ‘excellent skiing’.

A landscape of adventurers, writers, intellects, alpinistas, filmmakers, playboys, downhill racers, speed merchants and enthusiastic Aperol spritz imbibers are joined this winter season – as it was back in 1956 – by campioni Olimpici.

The XXV Olympic Winter Games, Milano Cortina is, nominally, based in two Italian towns, ‘just’ 260 miles apart. One is known for its mountains and valleys, the other for breaded chicken and elegant footwear. The former is a sprawling event space, with the multidisciplinary action actually taking place in a wide and dispersed alta via of towns, villages, hills and venues.

To business. Watching its downhill races and icy combats play out, in Anterselva, Verona, Livigno and Bormio, and to also have public access to the world-class slopes of Val Gardena, Alta Badia and Corvara on the enorme Dolomiti Superski domain – more than 400 lifts and 700 miles of runs, on one pass – requires a centrally located base camp.

Ortisei, a pastel-coloured gem of a town at 1,230m, is ideal – pretty much equidistant from the flurry of slaloming, curling, skating and super G-ing etc. at the 2026 games’ satellite schedule.

The Trentino-South Tyrol community (known as Urtijëi to Ladin-speaking locals), sits on the banks of the Derjon river and in the shadow of the Seceda peak. Boasting a long history of wood carving and mountaineering, it is also the birthplace of disco legend Giorgio Moroder, whose namesake, Ludwig Moroder, carved the St. Ulrich statue in the local church in 1932.

The town’s best hotel, the Gardena Grödnerhof is, like the Winter Olympics itself, over 100 years old. Once a humble guest house, now a modern, five-star hotel, world-class spa and Michelin-honoured dining destination, the Grödnerhof is a small village of Italian/Teutonic pleasures.

The Gardena spa is a thoughtfully designed delight; saunas and steam rooms, an icy plunge, a huge outdoor jacuzzi and an indoor pool with its own fireplace. After a day on the hill, the spa’s ZeroBody Cryo treatment provides cooling sensations of relaxation, muscle pain relief and speedily effective recovery.

Said to have the highest concentration of Michelin-starred chefs anywhere in Italy, the Dolomites achieves gastronomic misty flips at altitude. Break up your blue-sky ski day with a white-tablecloth frutti di mare lunch at the Rifugio Emilio Comici at the foot of the huge Langkofel rock, where the walls are festooned with photos of visiting Formula One drivers, rock stars, pro downhillers, Euro-royals and, of course, Giorgio Moroder.

Begin with a preprandial treat at the al fresco Champagne bar where, during peak season, you can relax with an iced Spritz

Veneziano in your hand and a Comici Apero appetiser on your table (complete with flaming hand heaters) watching the passing bellezze sciistiche instructors in their Armani uniforms.

Named after legendary climber and Casanova Emilio Comici, the restaurant has been a Val Gardena fixture since 1955 – with octopus, langoustine and scallops delivered daily, all the way from Venice. ‘Comici Hut’ is to the Dolomites what The Wolseley is to London and nothing beats its spaghetti alle vongole with a glass of Chardonnay Trentino or Prosecco.

Except, perhaps, the skiing. Which is more beautiful than anywhere in the world. In Val Gardena, inhale ambrosial velocity at the emboldening Gardenissima and the steep-fast Ciampinoi

No. 3. But there is more. If you have time (and a hire car) the Tre Cime di Lavaredo (three peaks of Lavaredo), the Sellaronda and the Great War Tour are a must. Nearer Cortina, try the five towers of the Mount Lagazuoi Cinque Torri route, the Marmolada mountain and the breathtaking heli-skiing at Kronplatz.

At night, after more spa-ing at the Gardena Grödnerhof and a spot of shopping (head to Caseificio Valin; a fantastic farm/ cheese shop in the valley), tog up and climb aboard a motorcade of snowcats for Rifugio Friedrich August.

The dark and snow-stormy journey into the unknown is worth every bump and arctic blast; the so-called ‘Yak Place’ is a cute and cosy auberge, with (daytime) views of the Catinaccio and the Sassolungo massif, organic Highland and yak cattle grazing in the neighbouring fields, its kitchen serving up prime cuts of mountain beef to hungry visitors. During the day, or even on a torch-lit night, the post-feed ski, possibly incorporating a whoosh down the Saslong World Cup downhill, is an Olympic-standard blast.