Plan de Corones – Kronplatz

The Dome of the Alps

Travel east along the Puster Valley and sooner or later you look up and notice a mountain of unusual shape: a near-perfect dome rising in isolation above Brunico, with no buttresses or jagged ridgelines. Locals call it the “panettone,” and the nickname describes with precision both the form and the philosophy of Plan de Corones — in German Kronplatz, the “crown plateau.” A mountain that allows itself to be skied all the way to the summit, with runs radiating outward from the top like the spokes of a wheel down to the valley floors on each side. This is not an accidental geometry: it is the result of decades of planning that have turned this mountain into one of the most efficient and visited ski areas across the entire Alpine arc.

Summit Panorama

The Plan de Corones summit at 2,275 metres delivers one of the most complete 360-degree panoramas in the eastern Alps. To the north stretch the peaks of the Zillertal and Otztal with their glaciers; to the south the Fanes, Sella and Tofane Dolomites trace the unmistakeable UNESCO World Heritage silhouette. To the east the Puster Valley opens towards Austria, while to the west the view extends to the peaks of the Sciliar Nature Park. This favourable orientation also guarantees reliable snow: the north-facing slopes above Brunico and Riscone hold their powder longer than south-exposed terrain, keeping piste quality consistently high from December through April.

120 Kilometres for Every Level

The 120 kilometres of runs are divided among four main flanks — Brunico, Riscone, San Vigilio di Marebbe and Valdaora — each with its own valley base. The range of terrain covers every ability level: the red and blue pistes of moderate pitch make up the majority of the area, while select black runs on the Riscone flank offer genuine technical challenge. For families with young children, the Kinder Skiworld area near the summit provides dedicated runs with gentle gradients and tuition support points.

MMM Corones and Underground Architecture

Plan de Corones hosts at its summit one of the most extraordinary architectural achievements in the Alps: the MMM Corones, the fifth museum in Reinhold Messner’s Mountain Museum chain dedicated to world mountaineering. Designed by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid shortly before her death in 2016, the museum is embedded within the living body of the mountain — almost entirely below ground — with glazed openings that frame the surrounding peaks like living paintings. Access is simple via the gondola from Riscone, making the museum fully reachable by non-skiers too. A few steps away stands the LUMEN Museum, the world’s only institution entirely dedicated to mountain photography, with permanent and temporary exhibitions tracing the evolution of alpine imagery from the nineteenth century to the present day.

Getting There

Brunico, the main gateway to the resort, is a few minutes from the Val Pusteria motorway exit on the A22. From Innsbruck the journey takes about an hour and thirty minutes; from Bolzano follow the motorway east for around 80 kilometres, approximately fifty minutes total. The Pusteria Valley railway line serves Brunico directly, offering a genuine car-free option with dedicated shuttle buses linking the station to the gondola base stations.