Cortina has been Italy's most glamorous mountain town since the 1956 Winter Olympics put it on the map. In February 2026, it hosts the Winter Olympics again — alpine skiing, bobsled, and curling return to the same valley where Toni Sailer won three golds 70 years ago. But Cortina is spectacular year-round: the Dolomiti Superski pass gives you 1,200km of runs in winter, and summer brings hiking through the most dramatic rock formations in the Alps — the Cinque Torri (five towers of rock erupting from a meadow, WWI trenches at their base), Lago di Sorapis (a turquoise lake at 1,923m reachable only by a 2-hour hike), and the Alta Via 1 starting point (the legendary Dolomite traverse). The town itself is pure Italian mountain glamour: fur coats at aperitivo, vintage Fiat 500s on the Corso, and rifugio lunches that Michelin should review. Venice is 2 hours south.
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