Planning your trip to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Northern Italy

In the battle between major international sports contests, the Winter Olympics contend for gold – it’s hard to top them for high-speed thrills, spectacular mountain scenery and glittery, ice-cold glamour. And in less than a year’s time, the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games promise to be especially dazzling. 

This is the first Winter Olympics to have two host cities: Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. The appeal of this fashionable duo is clear, but it does add an extra dimension to the challenging logistics posed for any wannabe Olympics attendee. Spread out over 22,000 sq km (8494 sq miles), these Winter Games will be the most geographically widespread in history. If you are planning to get around Italy by public transport, for example, Milan is over a six-hour journey from Cortina, while Predazzo (a venue for ski jumping and the Nordic combined) is closer to Innsbruck than it is to Milan

Read on for all the information you need to smooth your route to attending these Games in 2026.

When are the Games taking place?

The opening ceremony will be at Milan’s San Siro Stadium (and three other venues) on Friday, February 6, 2026. However, preliminaries for curling (in Cortina) kick off on Wednesday, February 4, followed by ice hockey in Milan and snowboarding in Livigno on Thursday, February 5. The final sporting contests and the closing ceremony (in Verona) are on Sunday, February 16.

It’s back to Verona on Friday, March 6, for the opening ceremony of the Winter Paralympics. These run through Sunday, March 15, with the closing ceremony at Cortina’s Ice Stadium, which hosted the opening ceremony of the 1956 Winter Olympics.

Where will the 2026 Winter Olympics take place?

Head to Milan for figure skating, speed skating and ice hockey. Cortina will host curling, bobsled, skeleton and luge. Its iconic 2560m (8398ft) Olympia delle Tofane run is reserved for women’s alpine skiing.

Bromio is the access point for Stelvio National Park for the ski mountaineering and men’s alpine skiing events, and Livigno, the Little Tibet of the Italian Alps, will host freestyle skiing, moguls, aerials events and snowboarding.

The biathlon will be at Anterselva, about an hour’s drive north of Cortina; ski jumping and Nordic combined at Predazzo in the Latermar Dolomites; and more Nordic combined and cross-country skiing at Tesero.

The 30 CE Roman Arena in Verona is the spectacular venue for the Olympics closing ceremony and Paralympics opening ceremony.

How can I buy tickets?

Registration to be first in line to buy tickets for the Games has already closed. If you missed the January 2025 deadline, general access sales for Olympic tickets start in April 2025, while Paralympic tickets go on sale in March 2025. Register at the official Winter Olympics ticketing site and you’ll be alerted when you can buy.

How do I get there?

If you are flying, the main gateways are Milan’s Malpensa and Venice’s Marco Polo airports (Marco Polo is the closest airport to Cortina). You might also want to investigate flights into the airports at Verona and Treviso. Innsbruck Airport is an option for Predazzo.

Traveling by train in Italy is better for the environment and, thanks to Europe’s extensive network of rail services, including high-speed and sleeper trains, appealing as well. The premium TGV inOui direct train, for example, connects Paris with Milan in around eight hours.

It’s possible to hop on a morning Eurostar train out of London and travel from the UK to Italy via Paris in under 12 hours. Another option is to connect with European Sleeper services in Brussels for overnight trains to Innsbruck, Bolzano, Verona and Venice.

Once you are in the region, you’ll need to work out how to get the various geographically scattered events. Enhanced public transport services are promised during the Games, with extended operating hours and increased frequency, particularly in Milan. Shuttle buses will connect train stations and park-and-ride lots with the competition venues, especially in mountain areas. 

Will I need a visa?

Visa requirements for Italy depend on which passport you hold. EU nationals don’t need a visa. Travelers from the UK, Canada, New Zealand, the USA and Australia can stay for up to 90 days in any six-month period without a visa. Other travelers should check the SchengenVisaInfo website. 

What about accommodations?

Where to stay will largely depend on the events you wish to attend. If you have tickets for figure skating, for example, then you’re likely to stay in or close to Milan. Accommodations there and in Cortina will be at a premium, so you might want to consider alternative regional bases, including Trento, Bolzano, Treviso and Verona.

Do some advance planning at the Winter Olympics website on the venues and look into travel times from your preferred base.

Which destinations should be on my short list?

Milan: Fashion and finance capital

Any itinerary that includes Milan maximizes the city’s clean rationalist architecture, lights glittering on the canals at night and the magnificent Duomo, a vision in Candoglia marble, tinged pink by the sun. It’s a city dense with history and art, from Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, hidden away on a wall of the refectory adjoining the Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie, to the contemporary art of Fondazione Prada, in a redeveloped 1910 distillery. You can browse chic boutiques and the Quadrilatero d’Oro, savor an aperitivo in the Navigli area and swoon to the arias belted from the stage at La Scala.

Cortina d’Ampezzo: Queen of the Dolomites

Seventy years after it first hosted the Winter Olympics, Cortina d’Ampezzo is back in the spotlight. Featuring 13 black slopes, including the legendary Staunies black mogul run, this ski resort is Italy’s most exclusive. It’s not just about skiing, though, as Cortina sports stone church spires and pleasant cascading piazzas framed by magnificent mountains. The Cortina Skyline is an incredible 15-minute gondola ride connecting Tofane with the 5 Torri area. A glamorous mix of the wealthy and the beautiful can be spotted along the central shopping street, Corso Italia, sporting, buying or admiring the latest winter looks from the most luxe labels.

Bolzano & Trento: Ancient iceman and alpine scenery

Bolzano and Trento provide access to the Dolomites. The big draw of Bolzano’s Museo Archeologico dell’Alto Adige is the remarkably preserved 5000-year-old cadaver known as Ötzi. It’s the oldest “wet” mummy (meaning the individual cells remained hydrated enough for extensive research) ever found. Bolzano’s imposing 10th-century CE castle houses Messner Mountain Museum Firmiano, founded by local mountaineer Reinhold Messner – it’s the flagship museum devoted to mountaineering out of six architecturally daring branches scattered across the region.

A stroll around underrated Trento finds the town’s Roman origins intermingling seamlessly with stone castles, signature medieval frescoes and Austrian baroque flourishes. Don’t miss Renzo Piano’s stunning modernist MUSE, a family-friendly science museum exhibiting an amazing collection of suspended taxidermy; and 25km (16 miles) south of Trento, Swiss architect Mario Botta’s steel, glass and marble Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Rovereto houses an intriguing mix of works by the likes of Andy Warhol and video artists Bill Viola and Giacomo Balla, a leading proponent of the futurism art movement.

Verona: World Heritage–listed city

A visit to Verona proves to be much more than seeing the setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The attractive center is dominated by the astounding and remarkably well-preserved Roman amphitheater that will host the Olympics closing ceremony and Paralympics opening ceremony. You can learn more about arena, which seats 30,000, at the Archaeological Museum at the Roman Theater.

Ride the cable car or climb to the hilltop terraces of Castel San Pietro for sweeping views of the city. And enjoy the paintings and sculpture at Galleria d’Arte Moderna Achille Forti; the superb art collection includes works by influential Italian artists such as Giorgio Morandi and Umberto Boccioni.