Last Updated on May 10, 2026
This past February, my family and I headed to Cortina d’Ampezzo for the 2026 Winter Olympics. After experiencing the summer Olympics in France in 2024, we knew we had to experience another Olympic event. And what better place to do so than the Italian Alps? The 2026 Winter Olympics had two co-host cities: Milan and Cortina. While Milan hosted arguably the most popular events, such as figure skating, we decided to base ourselves near Cortina in order to combine Olympics with skiing. Read below to learn how to experience the Winter Olympics in the Italian Dolomites and mark your calendars for the next Winter Olympics in the French Alps in 2030!
How far in advance do you need to plan for the Winter Olympics?
How far in advance do you need to plan for the Winter Olympics? The pre-registration for early access to ticketing was about one year in advance. I registered by January 2025 for early access tickets to purchase in February 2025. The advantage with this was that many events were 20% off. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get the tickets you want on the first ticket sales event. The tickets are released in batches, and there are many opportunities to buy tickets for new events. And even if you do not plan one year in advance, you can buy tickets much closer to the actual event start. I bought alpine skiing tickets one week before the event!
Can you re-sell your tickets?
Yes! You can sell your tickets via the official ticketing platform starting about 1-2 months before the event. This also means that you can buy re-sell tickets for the original ticket price up to 2 months before the event. The process is quite simple and you only pay a small platform surcharge to list your tickets for re-sell.
How to Experience the Winter Olympics – Where to stay
I believe the most difficult part of experiencing the winter olympics is finding accommodation. For months and months we were searching for an Airbnb or hotel near Cortina. We finally booked an apartment for 5 nights in the town of Alleghe, which was about 1 hour driving from Cortina. Luckily, about one month before the Olympics I found another apartment in the town of San Vito di Cadore, 15 minutes outside of Cortina. It was located 5 minutes walking from the Olympic shuttle bus into Cortina and also 5 minutes driving from the San Vito ski slopes. My advice would be to book free cancellation accommodation and then keep actively looking right up until the Olympics.
How to Experience the Winter Olympics – Combine skiing with Olympic Events
What made our Winter Olympics so much fun was that we combined skiing with Olympic events. For this reason we purposefully chose Olympic events in Cortina, and not, for example in Milan. We would ski in the morning and afternoon until around 3 pm and then head back to our Airbnb to get ready for the evening Olympic events. We left around 2-3 hours before our events to not be rushed. From San Vito it was a short 15 minute bus ride to Cortina but then you did need to walk about 20 minutes to the Olympic stadiums and events. We alternated Olympic events and childcare. One evening my parents would watch the kids and my husband and I would go to the Olympics. The next night we would do the reverse. It worked pretty well!
Can children attend the Winter Olympics?
So yes, kids can go to the Olympics. However, each person who enters must have a ticket. That means kids (even babies!) all pay a full price ticket. Also, the events such as luge, bobsleigh and alpine skiing are all outside. Only curling (of the events we saw) was inside. It can be pretty cold! Especially at night. We dressed in full ski clothes (ski pants, long underwear, ski jackets) for each event. I think the kids would have been pretty miserable late at night in the cold. If you must take the kids to an event, dress warmly, try to attend indoor events, and aim for daytime rather than the evening.
How to Experience the Winter Olympics – Transportation during the events
We rented a car to get us from the Venice airport to San Vito di Cadore. However, to actually attend the Olympic events we took the Olympic shuttle bus and did not use the car at all. Do not plan to drive into the Olympic hosting cities! They are blocked off to everyone except residents. A few months before the Olympics they share the park & ride locations and shuttle buses. We booked parking spots for the park & rides; however, since we ended up just walking to the shuttle bus stops the park & ride tickets were completely unnecessary. Oh well! Better safe than sorry! If you will need to drive to the shuttle bus, just be sure to book a parking spot in advance. There were also city buses that went into Cortina and transported those going to the Olympic games for free. So between the city buses and the dedicated Olympic shuttle buses, there are plenty of ways to get into the Olympic hosting city.
And that was our experience attending the Winter Olympics in Cortina, Italy! We hope this post gives you some further insight into how to experience the Winter Olympics and we look forward to the next Winter Olympics in the French Alps in 2030!
