Italy hosts the Winter Olympics from February 6th to 22nd, with events scattered across northern Italy from Milan to mountain resorts in the Dolomites. Here's what you need to know if you're planning to attend or travel during the Games.
When and where
The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics run from February 6th to 22nd, followed by the Paralympics from March 6th to 15th. The full competition schedule is available here.
This is the first Winter Olympics with two official host cities: Milan handles most ice events while Cortina d'Ampezzo hosts Alpine skiing and sliding sports. It's also the most geographically spread-out Games in history, held across the regions of Lombardy and Veneto and the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano.
READ ALSO: Five things visitors can expect from Italy's 2026 Winter Olympics
The opening ceremony takes place at Milan's San Siro stadium on February 6th, with performances from Andrea Bocelli, Mariah Carey and Laura Pausini. The closing ceremony will be held at Verona's Roman Arena on February 22nd.
Around 2,900 athletes from just over 90 countries will compete for 116 medals across eight sports and 16 disciplines. This will be the most gender-balanced Winter Olympics, with women making up 47 percent of competitors and 50 women's events in a new record.
New events include ski mountaineering (athletes climb and ski down mountains), women's doubles luge, women's large hill ski jumping, and dual moguls in freestyle skiing.
The venues
Milan hosts figure skating, short track, ice hockey and speed skating. The city has three airports and extensive metro and rail connections. Ice hockey finals will be at the new Santagiulia arena, which organisers have insisted will be ready in time despite construction delays and concerns over rink size.
Figure skating and short track are at the existing Unipol Forum in Assago, while speed skating uses a temporary oval at Fiera Milano Rho.
READ ALSO: GUIDE: The best restaurants and bars near the Milan Olympic venues
Cortina d'Ampezzo, around a 400km drive northeast of Milan in the Dolomites, hosts women's Alpine skiing at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre, curling at the historic 1956 Olympic stadium, and the sliding sports (bobsleigh, luge, skeleton) at the Cortina Sliding Centre, which was built in under two years and completed just in time for the Games.
Bormio and Livigno in Valtellina host men's Alpine skiing at the Stelvio Ski Centre (one of the world's most challenging downhill courses), freestyle skiing, snowboarding and the debut of ski mountaineering. Both resorts are near the Swiss border, around 200km north of Milan.
Val di Fiemme hosts cross-country skiing in Tesero and ski jumping in Predazzo, around 100km northeast of Trento.
Antholz-Anterselva, near the Austrian border in South Tyrol, hosts biathlon at a venue that can accommodate 19,000 spectators, the largest capacity of any Olympic site.
READ ALSO: Olympic Games in northern Italy's South Tyrol have German twist
Getting tickets
Tickets for many events are on sale through the official Milano Cortina 2026 website as of February 4th.
All tickets are digital and accessed through the official website. There are no authorised resellers and buying elsewhere risks cancelled or fake tickets.
Travel and accommodation
Accommodation in host cities will be expensive and heavily booked.
As a major city, Milan has good public transport links and will provide stepped-up train, metro and bus services for the Games, including at night.
Getting to the mountain sites will be more difficult as there is no high-speed Olympic train as there was for Beijing in 2022. Reaching these areas by public transport will require bus transfers from train stations.
READ ALSO: 'A real challenge': How to travel between venues at Italy's Winter Olympics
This means that for spectators, car travel will often remain faster despite the risk of traffic jams, very limited access to the resorts and reservation-only parking. If driving, winter tyres or snow chains are mandatory.
February weather in Milan is usually mild and sunny, between 2-12°C. Mountain venues will often be below freezing all day, with nighttime temperatures around -10°C.
What else to know
Italy will offer enhanced train services during the Olympics, with regional operator Trenord bringing the total number of connections offered in Lombardy to 2,500 per day.
Be aware that some areas, particularly Cortina and the mountain venues, have been construction sites for months as Italy rushed to complete facilities, with organisers on Sunday admitting there was still work to be done on the Santagiulia Arena. The atmosphere may feel less polished than at previous Olympics.
Milan and other host cities will likely see increased crowds, higher prices and some disruption during the Games. If you live in or near host areas and aren't planning to attend events, you may want to avoid travel during peak dates like the opening ceremony weekend and the final few days of competition.
Comments