Courmayeur - Courmayeur

Courmayeur is a city of Valle d'Aosta.

To know

Courmayeur is located at the foot of the Mont Blanc, and is the oldest alpine resort in the Aosta Valley, home to numerous world-famous guides and home to the first Italian association of mountain guides. The town is surrounded by numerous hamlets that maintain the architectural features of traditional houses intact: La Saxe, Dolonne, La Palud and Entrèves, where the characteristic antiques market of Santa Margherita takes place in the summer. From here you can access the Mont Blanc Tunnel, 11,600 meters long, which crosses the Mont Blanc chain to arrive in France at the foot of the Bossons glacier.

Geographical notes

The highest mountains in the Alps such as Mont Blanc, la Head of the Rutor, the Grandes Jorasses, the Tooth of the Giant, Les Dames Anglaises, together with the Miage and Brenva glaciers create a unique horizon, which changes with the changing seasons, offering unforgettable views.

Background

The fame of Courmayeur was born in the seventeenth century when it became a spa thanks to the springs of sulfur water. Later mountaineering developed in the search for an access route to the top of Mont Blanc. A royal holiday resort, Courmayeur became the center of world mountaineering and the seat of the first alpine guide company inItaly. Thanks to the tourist development of the twentieth century it has become one of the most famous and popular ski resorts inEurope.

How to orient yourself

How to get

By plane

International airports of Turin Boxes, Geneva Cointrin and Milan Malpensa.

By car

Courmayeur can be reached via the A5 motorway Turin-Aosta-Courmayeur. For access from the Switzerland and from Northern Europe we recommend the Mont Blanc Tunnel, the Gran San Bernardo Pass or the Piccolo San Bernardo Pass (the latter open only in summer).

On the train

Numerous daily trains connect Pré-Saint-Didier station (via Aosta) with the Italian railway network. From Pré-Saint-Didier, a shuttle service is organized to Courmayeur to coincide with the arrivals and departures of the trains.

By bus

There are many buses from Aosta and other cities of the Piedmont, Lombardy is Liguria lead to Courmayeur. See the website of the savda for timetables and routes.

How to get around

The city can also be explored on foot or by bicycle during the summer.

By car

The best way to travel for larger stretches is to use the car.

What see

• Mont Blanc. The Mont Blanc chain is the backdrop to Courmayeur as a natural amphitheater. With its peak of 4,810 meters, it is the highest peak in Europe. The mountaineering conquest of the summit of Mont Blanc took place already in 1786, but still today its walls are a popular destination for mountaineers from all over the world. 
• 45.813746.957291 Crossing of Mont Blanc by cable car (Skyway Mont Blanc), State Road 26, Pontal d’Entrèves area (Parking with 300 paid parking spaces and parking for coaches), ☎ 39 0165 89196, fax: 39 0165 89439, @[email protected]. One way: from 12 €, round trip: from 28 €; day ticket: from € 57 (January 2018); for more details: rates. Typically 8: 30-16: 20; for more details: timetables. Nicknamed the eighth wonder of the world, the Glacier cable car allows you to reach Chamonix in the summertime. During the ascent, intermediate stops are made to admire the landscape from several points of view: at the first stop, at 2173 meters, there is the Saussurea botanical garden, the highest in Europe, while from the panoramic terrace of Punta Helbronner (3462 m) , you can enjoy one of the most spectacular views of the Alps. From Punta Helbronner you can reach the Aiguille du Midi, at 3842 meters, and go down to Chamonix or return to Courmayeur. 
• Transfrontier Museum of Mont Blanc. In the historic center of Courmayeur, in the premises of the Jardin dell’Ange, there is the Valle d'Aosta room of the Mont Blanc Cross-border Museum, a privileged place for reflection on the identity of the populations of Haute-Savoie and the Aosta Valley. 
• Duca degli Abruzzi Alpine Museum. It is located next to the Parish Church of Courmayeur, near the Guides Office. It was inaugurated in August 1929 by the Duke of Abruzzi. The museum, on two floors, preserves books, relics and objects brought back from various expeditions to different parts of the world, including Africa, Himalaya, Tibet and India, which have contributed to making Valle d'Aosta mountaineering glorious. 
• Sanctuary of Notre-Dame-de-Guérison. Located at the beginning of Val Veny, it is a destination for pilgrimages; its walls are covered with ex-votos that describe the miracles worked by the Madonna. 

Events and parties

• Courmayeur Noir Festival. XXV edition, from 8 to 13 December 2015. One of the most important international events dedicated to thriller and mystery, a must for fans of the genre. 

What to do

In Courmayeur, the slopes of the Chécrouit and the Val Vény constitute, for the lover of downhill skiing, an authentic paradise of 100 km of slopes: from the highest point, the Arp ridge (2,755 m), you go down to 1,224 meters in the hamlet of Dolonne, where there is also a playground for beginners and young skiers. Nordic skiing is the protagonist in the Val Ferret, which offers 20 km of slopes with excellent snow from November to May. Other sports that can be practiced in winter are walks with snowshoes, the skating on ice and indoor fitness and relaxation activities offered by the well-equipped Forum sport center Courmayeur.The summer activities par excellence are the trekking, L'Mountain climbing and all activities related to nature. The paths of the Valdigne they are suitable for families with children as well as for experienced hikers. Numerous easy walks can be reached alpine huts and spectacular lakes, where the surrounding peaks are majestically reflected. Some ski lifts allow you to reach scenic destinations and heated high-altitude swimming pools. To remember for walkers are the circuit of Tour du Mont Blanc, the Alte Vie, the Balconies of Mont Blanc, the pastures of valley of Chavanne and the Rutor glacierHowever, Valdigne is not only a paradise for trekking lovers; among other activities, one can mention the golf, which can be practiced in a beautiful 9-hole course in Val Ferret.

Shopping

How to have fun

Where to eat

In restaurants, shelters and farmhouses, you can taste traditional dishes where they cannot be missing: natural polenta or tanning, or enriched with butter and fontina cheese, numerous cheeses, sausages such as bodeun of Morgex, with red beetroot, or the very fragrant Jambon de Bosses and cured meats such as sauseusse or the motsetta; lard, soups based on rye bread, apples and berries; the tiles or the Creinchen, a sweet bread made with butter and sugar, specialties of Valdigne and Savoy, all accompanied by white or red wines, sparkling wines and grappas of a thousand shades.

Not far from Courmayeur, on the hills between Morgex and La Salle, the tallest vineyards in Europe which reach up to 1200 meters above sea level and from which the Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle, a fine white wine that obtained the Aosta Valley DOC in 1985, and the exceptional Chaudelune, passito obtained from a late night harvest of grapes that have already experienced the first colds of winter to give the wine all their warmth.

Moderate prices

• Pizzeria la Padella, Vicolo Dolonne 7, ☎ 39 0165 841977, @[email protected]. 

Average prices

• Chiecco Restaurant Bar, Loc. Plan Chécrouit, ☎ 39 338 7003035, @[email protected]. 
• Restaurant Pizzeria Bar du Soleil., Loc. Plan Chécrouit, 1, ☎ 39 0165843571, @[email protected]. 
• La Grolla restaurant bar, Peindeint 8 (Val Veny), ☎ 39 0165 869095, @[email protected]. 
• Château Branlant restaurant, Loc. Chiecco, 8 (Plan Chécrouit), ☎ 39 0165846584, @[email protected]. 
• La Chaumière restaurant, Plan Chécrouit 15, ☎ 39 392 9585987, @[email protected]. Evening reservation only. 
• Pré de Pascal restaurant, Loc. Pré-de-Pascal (Val Vény), ☎ 39 0165 869090, @[email protected]. 
• Super G Restaurant Bar, Plan Chécrouit 9 - Courmayeur, ☎ 39 0165 842660, @[email protected]. 
• La Piazzetta restaurant, via Roma, 13 / A, ☎ 39 0165 844150. 

Where stay

Average prices

• Hotel Bouton d'or (Central location, close to the ski lifts). The Alpine-style environments are treated with refined attention and enriched with handicrafts from the Valley. 35 rooms, most with balcony or private garden. The breakfast is buffet style. Strudel, cakes, biscuits, croissants, jams, omelettes and are offered quiche, produced exclusively at home, together with yoghurt, cheeses and cold cuts from our Valley. Bar, sauna, solarium and gym, garden, private parking and garage. 
• Berthod hotels (450 meters from the main Chécrouit cable car, 700 meters from the Dolonne cable car and about 3 km from the thermal center of Pré-Saint-Didier), @[email protected]. The Berthod Hotel is a welcoming structure located in the pedestrian area of ​​Courmayeur. It features a small wellness center with gym, sauna and Jacuzzi. The staff will immediately put you at ease, making you feel at home. The room rate includes a rich buffet breakfast with various local products, homemade cakes, dietetic and allergy-friendly products. At the hotel you will find a lounge with a fireplace and a bar. There is also a storage room for bicycles and ski equipment. 
• 45.7868726.9712061 Les Jumeaux hotels, Regional Road, 35, ☎ 39 0165 846796, fax: 39 0165 844122. 

High prices

• Villa Novecento (5 minutes walk from the pedestrian shopping center), @[email protected]. 4-star hotel located in one of the most elegant areas of Courmayeur and a 2-minute drive from the main cable car leading to the ski slopes (a shuttle with private driver is available non-stop and free of charge all day). The real splendor lies in its historical soul, having been conceived as a real reconstruction of a patrician alpine villa of the last century. Each room is named after a different year and has been virtually designed to tell the stories of that time. Gourmet restaurant, cocktail bar, wellness center, sun terrace, conference center. 
• Cresta et Duc (Just 20 meters from the pedestrian shopping and entertainment center and less than 200 meters from the main cable car for the ski lifts), ☎ 39 0165 84 25 85, fax: 39 0165 84 25 91, @[email protected]. 4-star contemporary design hotel in Courmayeur, a fusion of worldly modernity and warm alpine comfort, a minimalist mountain hotel full of welcoming, colorful touches. Here the contemporary Alpine décor combines local materials such as wood, natural stone, marble with warm chocolate, red and white tones. Restaurant, library and American bar, wellness center, meeting room. 

Safety

How to keep in touch

Around

Itineraries

• Tour of Mont Blanc
• Castles in the Aosta Valley
• Via Francigena

Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Courmayeur
• Commons contains images or other files on Courmayeur

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