Christmas skiing in Cervinia, Italy

We had a fantastic Christmas, skiing in the Aosta Valley, Italy in Cervinia

We booked our holiday with Crystal Ski https://www.crystalski.co.uk/ - our third time ski trip with Crystal and we would highly recommend them.

We travelled from Newcastle to Turin on Sun 23rd Dec - this was the first time we have ever been away for Christmas.

A pre Christmas glass of fizz in the airport was a must

We arrived in Turin on time and boarded a lovely double deck coach to resort.  We got the front seat upstairs so we had a great view on the journey to Cervinia.  Was exciting to see the mountains covered in snow.

This is the village of Valtournenche about 10 mins before we arrived in Cervinia.

We stayed in Hotel Edelweiss http://www.matterhorn.it/en/index.html

The hotel was ideally located right next to the coach park - coaches are not allowed to drive through the town so everyone gets dropped off at one point.  We just had to wander over the road it was great.

The hotel has been in the same family for over 60 years so they are clearly doing something right.

Our room was spacious and spotlessly clean and all of the staff were really welcoming and friendly.

We were staying on a half board basis and we cannot fault the food and service in the restaurant.  Salvatore ran a great team and he was always on the ball.  We had a 6 course meal most nights and all the food was superb !!

Once we had checked in we headed into the town to pick up our skis and pay for our lessons that we had pre booked.

The snow was falling and it felt so Christmassy.

We had pre booked our ski hire with http://www.cervinia2001.com/en/.  We were greeted by a friendly team and all set up with our ski's in about 10 mins great service.  My husbands ski's were brand new. 

We then popped along to the ski school to pay for our private lessons for the next day.  After reading some good reviews we had  booked our lessons with http://ride-em.com/.  Mara was very welcoming and we we soon all set for our first day on the slopes.

We had a little wander - the snow was very deep around the town

The river was frozen

Then we stopped for a couple of Christmas tipples.

We popped into Tasty Cervinia-  https://www.facebook.com/Tasty-cervinia-368224430221241/ and were welcomed warmly by the guy behind the bar.

A great bar to sit and people watch

I chose a local gin and Gary had a beer.  All of bars we went in gave you a little tray of snacks with your drinks, a lovely little touch.

We had a lovely time sat watching the world go by and headed off to sample another bar (it was Christmas after all !!)

Then we decided to head back down to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

We had a great first night meal in the restaurant all ready to hit the slopes the next day.

We woke up to rain / snow on Christmas Eve but still headed out to get our "ski" legs.  

We just took it easy as the weather was not good and visibility was low.  It was snowing higher up but we still got a bit wet.  So we heading to Bar Cretaz for a coffee just after 11 and ended up staying there for lunch to dry out.  This soon became one of our favourite hangouts at the top of the last slope into the town. Friendly service and reasonably priced drinks, with a great sun terrace.

We probably wouldn't have skied on the afternoon due to the "white out" conditions but we both had a 2 hour private lesson booked.  Our lessons went well but the weather conditions were not ideal.

Once we were finished our lessons we headed back to the hotel with our ski's and put our snow boots on to come back to the town for a few drinks and go to the Crystal Ski welcome meeting @ Lino's bar https://www.linosbar.com/linosbar_e

Unfortunately we didn't realise the meeting was in the umbrella bar and missed it but we shared a few drinks with some fellow Northerners from Leeds.

We sat there for an hour or so and watched the clouds lift and we got our first view of the famous Matterhorn.  It was awesome when it appeared from behind the clouds.

Then we headed into town and found a lovely cosy pub called Capanna Alpina - the aperol spritz were going down nicely

We headed back down to the hotel feeling very Christmassy

Our hotel looked lovely all lit up

We had a lovely meal on Christmas Eve and met a lovely couple from near Cambridge on the next table - Lesley and Lee ( we really hit it off and we had some great laughs throughout our holiday)

We woke up on Christmas Day to what they call in the industry a "bluebird".  Clear blue skies amazing.  We got our helmets tinselled up.

The view when we stepped out of the hotel was amazing

The slopes looked a lot more inviting in the sunshine

Outside Bar Cretaz

We jumped on the chair lift and headed up

The views at the top were breath taking.

We did a long blue run a couple of times (which I had done the previous day in a white out) it looked very different.  

I had a fall on the way down and pulled my calf - luckily even though a struggled to walk for most of the week it didn't hurt when I skied.

We stopped for a coffee and a cheeky yager at Bar Cretaz and sat out on the sun terrace.

We loved this bar it had a great feel

We had pre booked a table at The Igloo Restaurant on Red 7 for our Christmas lunch.

http://www.igloocervinia.com/benvenuti

We headed over on the cable car to the red run 7 to ski down to the restaurant.

We were welcomed by a friendly waiter who showed us to our table on the sun terrace.

We had a cracking view across the mountains for our Christmas Day meal

No shortage of ice here to chill the wine

Check out this "loo with a view"

We had a great time at the Igloo restaurant

We then continued our ski down the mountains.  The bottom part of the run was quite icy but I made it down in one piece.

After a few more runs we headed back over to Bar Cretaz for another Christmas tipple.  

We bumped into Lesley and Lee (this is where the fun began lol)

Yager shots all round !

We had some fizz and beer and then decided we better ski down as it had started to get dark.  Skiing the last little piste in the dark was interesting.

As it was Christmas day we decided to head to Lino's Umbrella bar for some apres ski and a boogie.

Then it was time for some Christmas silliness ha ha !

Flashing glasses and twinkly hats all round we had a great time dancing and laughing the night away.

We headed back to the hotel about 8 still with ski's and ski boots on - this was interesting after a few "sherbets" lol !

Me and Gary decided to have a "little" snooze ! Next thing we knew it was 10.30pm and we had missed our gala dinner !! Much to the amusement of Lee & Lesley who carried on into the night and even shared a bottle of wine with dinner !! 

We awoke on Boxing day to another "bluebird" ! 

We skied in the morning and decided to have an easy afternoon off the skis to rest my leg ! and take advantage of the spa in the hotel.

We headed to a pizzeria for lunch called Sotto Zero which was just round the corner from the hotel.  A lady on the Facebook ski club had recommended it.

The pizzas were the best we have ever tasted - amazing and light

We had a nice walk around the town and saw the huskies ready for action.

The town has lovely feel about it

Then it was time to head back to the hotel and hit the spa for a sauna and a nice relax in the hot tub

I like a hotel with a spa when skiing as always need an afternoon off to re charge the batteries.

At dinner that night it was decided that Lee and Gary would ski over into Switzerland the next day, while me and Lesley took the cable cars up to the top of the mountains on foot to stretch our legs out before an afternoon ski.

We woke to another blue sky (the best weather in 8 years @ Christmas apparently)

The boys were raring to go so we arranged to meet them for lunch.

Lesley and I got the first "bubble lift" up to the mid station and then another "bubble" across the valley and then the big gondola to the top.

We had a great time, with a drink in a few bars on the way back down.

An Irish coffee on "top of the world" on Plateau Rosa in the Rifugio bar.

The views were breath taking

Mean while the boys were having fun in Switzerland on the other side of the Matterhorn

We then got the first cable car back down and stopped for another Irish coffee

We had a great morning exploring.  Then headed back to the hotel for our ski's.

The hotel offered a free shuttle service too and from the lifts.  All you had to do was call the guy and he was there ready to take you up to the lifts or on a night you could call him and he would come and collect you.  It was only a 10 min walk but anyone who has tried to walk in ski boots will understand the lift was a welcome perk !!

We met the guys for lunch at the top of the cable car near the mid station in the Tuk Tu restaurant. They skied 26 miles on this day they had a great time.

We had a sneaky aperol before they joined us

After some afternoon skiing we headed back to the spa again at the hotel.

Again Friday was another blue sky day.

We had a lovely morning ski before stopping for coffee and lunch on the mountain at Rocce Nere

It was another great days skiing

With a little pit stop after lunch @ http://www.chaletetoile.it/

Our last day was soon upon us ! 

So we all headed off for the last day on the slopes.

Blue skies again we were so lucky with the weather.

We had a final Irish coffee and yager in the Tuk Tu restaurant to toast a fab holiday and all the laughs with Lee and Lesley !

Lesley couldn't wait she pinched her yager before the photo lol

Then it was time for the final ski down to the town.

We had to go in Lino's Umbrella for one last drink as that is where the madness began ha ha

A fab holiday had by all, and gained some new friends in the process !

After dinner on our last night we headed down on the bus to the next village Valtournenche for a firework display to round off the holiday.

The village was so pretty all lit up and we had a hot wine to stay warm.

The fireworks were great and there was a lovely atmosphere

Once the fireworks were over we headed to a lovely bar called Bar Berthod for drink before the bus was due.

The measures in the drinks were very generous

A perfect ending to a fantastic Christmas holiday in Italy !

Cervinia is a fantastic resort and suitable for all abilities.  We still have lots of the mountains to explore so we will be going back for sure, it's a really friendly welcoming resort.

It was an early start the next day to head home !! we were sad to leave !!

Our last view of the mountains !!

Until the next time

x