Practical Information for visiting Aosta

Aosta is at the end of a valley and better connected than that suggests.

The railway runs to Turin in about two hours, with a change; the line has been slow to modernise and the bus is often faster.

By road, the A5 motorway runs the length of the valley: Turin is about an hour and a half and Milan about two.

The Mont Blanc tunnel puts Chamonix and France forty minutes from Courmayeur, and the Great St Bernard tunnel puts Switzerland about an hour from the city.

The nearest airports are Turin at about an hour and a half and Milan at two and a half; Geneva is around two and a half through the tunnel.

Buses connect the city to Milan, Turin, Chamonix and Geneva.

Coverage for mobile networks is good in the main valley and unreliable in the side valleys.

Aosta is a very safe city and crime is not a consideration.

The hazards are mountain ones and they are serious. Altitude matters quickly here: the side valleys reach 3,000 metres and the cable cars go higher, and altitude sickness is a real possibility for the unacclimatised.

Weather at height changes fast, and snow can fall on high passes in any month.

Glacier travel requires a guide, equipment and experience; crevasse falls kill people in this region every year.

Winter driving is serious. Winter tyres or chains are a legal requirement from mid-October, and side-valley roads close for snow and avalanche risk.

Avalanche danger off-piste is high through the winter; the region publishes a daily bulletin.

Summer sun at this altitude burns fast, and so does reflected light off snow.

Emergency services are reached on 112, mountain rescue through the same number.

No vaccinations or special precautions are needed; provision here is good and mountain-focused.

Altitude is the main medical consideration. The city at 583 metres is fine; the cable cars and passes above 3,000 metres are not, and people with heart or lung conditions should take that seriously.

Sun and reflected light at altitude require proper protection, including eye protection on snow.

Cold is a hazard in every season above the treeline.

Ticks are present in the lower woodland.

Aosta has a hospital with an emergency department serving the whole region, and a mountain rescue service with helicopters and doctors that is among the most experienced in the Alps.

Pharmacies operate a published rota, and staff generally speak Italian and French.

EHIC and GHIC cards are accepted; insurance covering mountain rescue and winter sports is strongly advisable here.

The single emergency number across Italy is 112, reaching police, ambulance, fire and mountain rescue, with operators here working in Italian and French.

Other numbers still in use: 113 police, 118 medical, 115 fire.

For mountain rescue, call 112 and ask for the Soccorso Alpino Valdostano, which flies with a doctor aboard and is one of the most experienced services in the Alps.

The Ospedale Parini in Aosta has a full emergency department and is the region's only hospital.

Report thefts to the Carabinieri or the Polizia, both with stations in the city, for the report an insurer will require.

There is no foreign consular representation in the region; the nearest are in Turin and Milan, with embassies in Rome, and the French and Swiss borders within an hour by tunnel.

The region publishes a daily avalanche bulletin in winter, in Italian and French, which anyone going off-piste should read.