After our first combined city-snow trip in 2018 (Grenoble – Chamrousse – Lyon), I fell in love with these kind of trips. They are not the easiest, though. Usually we travel only by backpack, but having equipment requires checked in luggage, so we are 3% less flexible than usual.

Since it was a family trip we were looking for airport options that were easily accessible, and with similar schedule from Berlin and Skopje. The options were Milano or Venice. Decided for the later one, because of the traveling time between Venice and Cortina. This part of the road we did it with rented car.

The one thing that we decided to save on, was our night in Venice. The accommodation was in Cannaregio, but what I didn’t know when booking it, was that it is a room in a student dorm. One night is totally OK. We have done this before in India, but it was not arranged by us. What I really liked about it, that the room was directly looking at the water, and the area was not so crowded at all. (Not that Venice is that crowded in January).
We arrived late so our food was pizza to go and supermarket sweets. Choco-glazed oranges to be exact.

The next morning we had around 6 hours for almost everything that we wanted: croissants, pizza, bookstore, cappuccino and strolling. It was perfect day, with the exact amount of sunshine that we needed. I have seen the main attractions some years ago, and I was more interested in exploring food spots, but being limited in time, and visiting in winter was not really helping. As I always say, another reason to return.

In Cortina d’Ampezzo we had the most beautiful accommodation (Villa Ca Bonnel), for a winter holiday. Even though in a shared house, our apartment was so cozy, and we had rooms with mountain view.
The schedule for the time being was breakfast at home, lunch on the slopes, and dinner out.
Perfect balance. My highlight meal was pasta with mushrooms and raddicio in Restaurant Pizzeria Al Passetto, but not that something else was less good. I mean it is Italy.

The price for 3 days ski pass was around 45euros per day. Currently skipass in Cortina is between 72-80euros per day. I got the courage to excel the red slopes, and my favourite part of the day was the last ride of the day. Ski to door. This has always been my number one snow ride. There was an opportunity to combine the pass to extended Cortina area, but it was not something we were interested in.

Another favorite part of the day was the book break. For the first time I took a book with me and took some time off to read and enjoy Campari Soda, Aperol Spritz, and Bombardino, one each day. I highly recommend doing this.

The town had more restaurants bars and shops open, then Venice, fully crowded. However, it was always possible to find a spot. I haven’t been to too many ski resorts, in order to say whether the slopes are good or not. Few Olympic games in Cortina are more relevant then myself. I can say I liked them, and having in mind that most of the times it is in the top rated ski centers, who am I to judge.

Because of lack of days of and too many thing planned in the beginning of 2020, I returned back to Berlin, being jealous to everyone that got to enjoy another 3 days in Venice. Seeing Venice without so many tourists was real blessing. Plus the tourist tax is not applicable in the winter months.
*In 2026 from April to July there are 60 days on which if visiting Venice on a day trip you need to pay the tourist tax. It is mostly weekends, Friday to Sunday, as well as Easter monday and the last week of April, and the first week of June.

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