Milan Cortina 2026: how to plan your trip for the next Winter Olimpic Games

Milan will not only hosting the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, but is also the main center of the organizing committee and the competition venue for numerous sports. Ice hockey games will be played in the new Santa Giulia arena south of the metropolis; figure skating and short track will be hosted at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, the multipurpose facility also known as the Forum of Assago; and finally speed skating at the Milano Ice Park located at the old Fiera.

Cortina dʼAmpezzo has already hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956 (it was the edition number VII), and the new event 70 years later is a fitting credit to one of the worldʼs most famous and coveted resorts. It is considered the pearl of the Dolomites, the mountains that have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site for their beauty and that embrace Cortina with a fairy-tale touch.

The legendary slope of the Tofane will host the womenʼs alpine skiing competitions, but curling will also take center stage, with challenges in the historic arena built for the 1956 Games, now the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium. A new bobsled track is also being built, which will welcome the sport as well as sledding and skeleton.

To plan your trip for the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics, it is good to know that along the 400 kilometers that divide the two locations there are also other race theaters and other important winter tourist destinations. In Lombardy, Valtellina is also involved with Bormio and Livigno. In the former, men's alpine skiing and ski mountaineering competitions will be held, while snowboarding and freestyle enthusiasts will gather in Livigno. Donʼt miss the spa experience in Bormio, at the Bagni Vecchi or the Nuovi, a relaxing time for those visiting Valtellina.

Cortina and Verona are in Veneto, but thereʼs also a third region involved: Trentino-Alto Adige. Just a stoneʼs throw from the Austrian border is Anteselva/Antholz, where the Biathlon Arena will be set up; Val di Fiemme, on the other hand, has nominated Tesero and Predazzo for the Games; both will compete in Nordic combined, a discipline that is a mix of cross-country skiing and ski jumping. Tesero then hosts cross-country skiing competitions, Predazzo ski jumping at the Ski Jumping Stadium. Predazzo, which is also famous for its resonance firs used to make musical instruments and, also, for being home to the Geological Museum of the Dolomites.

It's extremely important to know well the schedule of competitions and the locations hosting the various disciplines to plan your trip to Milan and Cortina 2026 Olimpic Games. Depending on your favourite sport, youʼll need to arrange a transfer from Milan or, if you want to go to Cortina, from Venice International Airport. Then youʼll need a rental car or bus; don't rely on trains, they don't come to Cortina.

Bormio and its famous Stelvio slope, for example, will host all the menʼs Alpine skiing races of the 2026 Games. From Milan it is about 3 hours by car. By train, on the other hand, from Milan you get off at Tirano after two and a half hours, and after there are 30 km to Bormio, but buses are frequent and will be even more so with the Olympics. In nearby Livigno is the Mottolino Snowpark, one of Europeʼs most popular facilities for freestyle, slopestyle and snowboarding disciplines, while acrobatic ski jumps will be seen at the Livigno Aerials & Moguls Park at the Carosello 3000 park.

Itʼs well known that travel in the mountains is not easy, but the Milan Cortina 2026 organization will go the extra mile to make it easier for fans to move between race venues. Aside from Milan, a major airport hub, another useful airport for visitors who want to go to Valtellina is Bergamo (Orio al Serio), while for Trentino-Alto Adige and Cortina itself, it is useful to evaluate the regional airports of Bolzano and Innsbruck (Austria). The advice, however, is to land at Venice's “Marco Polo”, international airport from which buses depart directly to Cortina (about a 2-hour trip).

People can travel by car to arrive in Cortina d'Ampezzo after crossing State Road 51 Alemagna in a north-south direction or State Road 48 bis of the Dolomites in an east-west direction. The highway exits are for the A27 the Belluno exit to the south and for the A22 the Bressanone exit to the north. From Milan to Bormio is about 200 kilometers and from Bormio to Cortina about 250 kilometers.

Here you can immediately get the link to the online ticket office, but you has to know that tickets will officially go on sale only starting in February 2025, exactly one year before the opening of the Games at the San Siro Stadium. Pictured above Antholz/Anterselva, where the biathlon competitions will be held.

At the moment, it is possible to participate in the draw to purchase the first tickets (the most desirable!), but it is necessary to register by next January, obtaining a personal profile that is then used to gain access, without any obligation to purchase, to the eventʼs ticket office. Reservations for the XIV Paralympic Winter Games will then start in March 2025.

The size of the competition venues has an impact on where to stay, but the organizing committee is preparing ‘Hospitality Packages’ for fans and tourists, offering them on the official website. Packages also include tickets to the competitions and in some cases participation in special events to be held in February and March 2026. You'll get exclusive hospitality with access to premium seats and world-class service, while indulging in Italian culture, food, lifestyle, and more.

Milan will have a special place for accommodation. Indeed, it is here that the Olympic Village is being completed, in the area of the former Scalo di Porta Romana, which will host almost half of the 3,500 athletes who will compete in the 2026 Winter Olympics. The flats in the Village will then become university residences. Other accommodations for the athletes and their delegations are planned in Cortina in the old and renovated Olympic Village and in the exclusive hotel hospitality in Livigno.