Milan, Italy – The 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics are less than one year away. The games begin on February 6th, 2026 and end on February 22nd, 2026. The Paralympic Winter Olympics will follow beginning on March 6th, 2026 and wrapping up on March 15th, 2026. The games return to Italy after 20 years. It will be the fourth Olympics to be hosted in this country.
Previous Olympic Games held in Italy include:
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- 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin
- 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome
- 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina D’Ampezzo
Milan Cortina will be the largest winter games yet, with 116 medal events in 16 sports. There are 79 medal opportunities in the 6 sports at the Paralympics as well. There will be a new event introduced at these games: ski mountaineering. The sport, more commonly known as “skimo”, combines skiing and climbing. Additionally, women’s ski jumping has added the large hill event, and skeleton added a mixed relay.
The location is expected to attract a huge crowd of visitors from around the world. For many Europeans, the city is easily accessible to get to. This will be the first winter games since the COVID-19 pandemic, which will attract even more excited fans.
Most Americans will enjoy the games on T.V. from the comfort of their own home. But for those planning on making the trip to Italy to watch in person, here are some important things to know.
Getting There:
It’s important for people in our local community to know that there are no flights directly from Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) to any of the Milan airports, meaning flying to Milan will require at least one stop to get on a connecting flight.
Also important to know, there are 3 international airports in Milan- Malpensa (MXP), Linate (LIN) and Bergamo (BGY). Malpensa Airport is the main airport in Milan and the second busiest airport in Italy. Linate is the closet airport to the city center and the second busiest airport in Milan. Bergamo Airport is the least popular airport in the city.
There are many airline options available from DTW depending on your price point.
I personally chose to travel on United Airlines from DTW to Newark (EWR) to Milan (MXP) when I studied in Italy a few years back. Of course, there are multiple other options for flights.
Ticket Information:
For the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics, a lottery system was introduced for ticket purchases. According to a statement from the official website: “We wanted to ensure that everyone had the opportunity to access tickets to the biggest sporting event in the world, and as we expect ticket demand to exceed actual availability, especially in the early stages of sales, we introduced the lottery system”. This method avoids excessive online waiting times and avoids ticket queues. Overall, the approach aims to make the shopping experience fair and easy for ticket buyers. The initial draw has already begun, with participants needing to sign up by January 15th of this year. Those who signed up will receive an email with directions to access the priority ticket sale. Everyone who signed up will be drawn at some point. The order that names are drawn is random and not determined by when they registered. Even though registration and drawing have already begun for priority sales, general sales begin in April 2025, so the opportunity to buy remaining tickets will be available at that time. These tickets will be sold at a first come first sold basis, not a lottery style. For the winter paralympic games, ticket sales will begin in March 2025. Tickets for the winter 2026 Olympic games start at 3o euros. According to a press release from the Olympics, more than 20% of the tickets will be available for under 40 euros and more than half priced under 100 euros. For the paralympic winter games, tickets will start at 1o euros for kids under 14 years old and 89% of tickets will be for sale under 35 euros. For reference, 1 euro is equal to 1.03 US dollars. The full list of prices is available here.
Where to Stay:
The Olympic Winter Games take place across multiple cities in northern Italy.
- Bormio (alpine skiing (M) and ski mountaineering)
- Livigno (freestyle skiing and snowboard)
- Predazzo (Nordic combined and ski jumping)
- Verona (closing ceremony)
- Cortina + Anterselva (alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, luge and skeleton)
- Milano (figure skating, ice hockey, short track, speed skating and opening ceremony)
- Tesero (cross-country skiing and ski jumping)
There are some hospitality packages available in partnership with the Milan Cortina games. The Official Hospitality packages include a guaranteed Olympic Winter Games ticket combined with additional benefits such as lounge access, food and beverages. On Location is the official hospitality provider for not only the 2026 games, but the 2028 games. The company has over 20 years of experience, including being the official provider for the Paris 2024 games. The company offers a variety of packages options including ticket-inclusive overnight packages and ticket-inclusive hospitality packages. Additional information is available on their website.
For additional information, you can go to the official website linked here.