Italy Guide
Piemonte and Valle d'Aosta
The Gran Paradiso National Park
The Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso ( 
www.pngp.it ) is Italy's first national park, spread around the valleys at the foot of 4061-metre-high Monte Gran Paradiso. The park's three valleys – Cogne, Valsavarenche and Val di Rhêmes – are popular, but tourist development has been cautious and well organized. The hotels are good (you get far more for your money than you would in one of the nearby towns) and the campsites not too vast – camping outside of campsites is not permitted. There are a few mountain rifugios and bivacchi (unoccupied shelters) between which run well-marked footpaths. Though it's primarily a summer resort for walkers, the cross-country skiing is also good, and every winter a 45-kilometre Gran Paradiso trek is organized at Cogne. The starting-point for the ascent of Gran Paradiso itself is Pont in the Valsavarenche, while Cogne gives access to the Alta Via 2, a long, high-level mountain trail.
Regular buses run throughout the year from Aosta to Cogne and Valsavarenche and along the Val di Rhêmes from mid-June to mid-September. If you're using your own transport, access to either of these valleys is easiest from the village of Introd, about 2km from Villeneuve, which is on the main bus route.