Stop 1 · France
Grenoble
Host of the 1968 Winter Olympics, where Jean-Claude Killy won all three alpine golds. The Bastille cable car opened in 1934; its bubble cabins date from 1976. The Isère and Drac rivers meet here.
Host towns of the Winter Olympics
Five places that spent a fortnight in February with the world watching them slide, jump and skate — three of them small mountain towns that have lived on the memory ever since.
The five stops
Stop 2 · Italy
Cortina d'Ampezzo
Host of the 1956 Winter Olympics and co-host, with Milan, of the 2026 Games. For Your Eyes Only (1981) filmed here. The Dolomites were inscribed by UNESCO in 2009.
Stop 3 · Norway
Lillehammer
Host of the 1994 Winter Olympics, the first on the new two-year offset, and of the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics. Maihaugen is Norway's largest open-air museum; the lake is Mjøsa.
Stop 4 · Japan
Sapporo
Host of the 1972 Winter Olympics, Asia's first. Annual snowfall averages 479 cm; the Snow Festival dates from 1950. Sapporo Breweries dates from 1876.
Stop 5 · United States
Lake Placid
Host of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics. The 'Miracle on Ice' was the 1980 US–USSR hockey semi-final; Eric Heiden won five speed-skating golds. The 1980 athletes' village became FCI Ray Brook.
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