12 best ski resorts in the world

Our TOP of the best ski resorts in the world with end­less beau­ty, devel­oped infra­struc­ture and slopes of vary­ing dif­fi­cul­ty. Places where both skiers and snow­board­ers will have plen­ty of fun, and begin­ners will learn the basics of extreme sports.

Top luxury ski resorts

For the most demand­ing and wealthy trav­el­ers, resorts of the high­est lev­el have been cre­at­ed with lux­u­ri­ous hotels and restau­rants locat­ed in near­by vil­lages or right on the slopes. In such towns, there are sure to be design­er cloth­ing stores, enter­tain­ment com­plex­es, beau­ty salons and spa cen­ters to spend time not only doing sports, but also tak­ing care of your­self.

Lech, Austria — the snowiest resort in Europe

A favorite place for celebri­ties, bohemi­ans and rep­re­sen­ta­tives of roy­al fam­i­lies. Par­tic­u­lar atten­tion is paid to clean­li­ness and ecol­o­gy — all build­ings are heat­ed exclu­sive­ly with wood. In order not to spoil the appear­ance of the vil­lage, pipes are laid under­ground. Also in Leh there is a ban on the instal­la­tion of satel­lite dish­es, and there are very few noisy par­ties here.

The resort is locat­ed at an alti­tude of 1500 m and has a spe­cial cli­mate, thanks to which the snow cov­er remains until the end of April.

Lech is part of the net­work of resorts locat­ed high­er up the slope — Zürs and Ober­lech. They can only be reached by lift, but there are as many as 95 funic­u­lars here: cab­in, chair­lift, rope tow. The south­ern slopes are designed for chil­dren, begin­ners and inter­me­di­ate skiers, while the north has trails for pro­fes­sion­als.

The total area of ​​the ski resort is 230 hectares, on which 55 slopes are equipped, and the longest of them is 5 km. Arti­fi­cial snow cov­ers no more than 17–18% of the total area.

Pros:

• A huge area and an abun­dance of trails of dif­fer­ent dif­fi­cul­ty lev­els;
• Top class hotels and gourmet restau­rants;
• Calm and seclud­ed atmos­phere;
• Pic­turesque land­scapes;
• Car­ing for the envi­ron­ment;
• Own unique attrac­tion “White Ring” with a length of 22 km.

Minus­es:

• Lit­tle noisy enter­tain­ment;
• Snow­board­ers and freestylers will not be inter­est­ed here.

Leh is a great place for soli­tude or fam­i­ly hol­i­days dur­ing the win­ter hol­i­days, although young peo­ple will find it a bit bor­ing here. How­ev­er, hotel rooms have to be booked months in advance.

Wengen, Switzerland — the largest resort in the country

The main advan­tage of Wen­gen is con­sid­ered to be a mag­nif­i­cent snow­board park where you can ride plen­ty on slopes of any com­plex­i­ty. The vil­lage also has some­thing to see: there are many attrac­tions, cul­tur­al val­ues, enter­tain­ment cen­ters and cin­e­mas.

The vil­lage is locat­ed in Cen­tral Switzer­land and is sur­round­ed by three moun­tains: Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau. It is for­bid­den to trav­el by car — only by train. By the way, the local rail­way sta­tion is the high­est in Europe.

A mod­er­ate­ly cold cli­mate reigns here, the air tem­per­a­ture in Jan­u­ary bare­ly exceeds ‑3 degrees, and in April it is +4. The vil­lage is locat­ed at an alti­tude of 1274 m, and the peaks of the moun­tains reach 2340 m.

The dis­tri­b­u­tion of pistes is as fol­lows: 30% blue for begin­ners, 50% red for inter­me­di­ates and 20% black for pros. Also in Wen­gen there are slopes for cross-coun­try ski­ing, carv­ing and 19 lifts.

Pros:

• Devel­oped infra­struc­ture;
• Many attrac­tions and cul­tur­al and enter­tain­ment cen­ters;
• Spa­cious snow­board park;
• Ski slopes of vary­ing dif­fi­cul­ty;
• Mod­er­ate­ly cold cli­mate;
• Beau­ti­ful nature;
• Excur­sion pro­grams;
• Pre­mi­um hotels.

Minus­es:

• Lug­gage will have to be car­ried by your­self due to lack of cars;
• You need to get there with trans­fers by train.

Hol­i­days in this fab­u­lous town will appeal to all fam­i­ly mem­bers. The tourist sea­son in Wen­gen opens from mid-Decem­ber and lasts until the sec­ond half of April. All equip­ment can be rent­ed, and after the descent, warm up in a cozy cafe and treat your­self to spicy mulled wine.

Aspen, Colorado (USA) — the most expensive resort in America

The resort con­sists of four ski areas with a total length of 200 km, and there is a place for ath­letes with dif­fer­ent lev­els of train­ing. Ski lifts deliv­er skiers to the top, from which you can admire the local beau­ties and see Aspen from a bird’s eye view.

The build­ings in the vil­lage are built main­ly in the Vic­to­ri­an style. Restau­rants, cafes, bars, clubs, shops and sou­venir shops are open for vis­i­tors. Many celebri­ties here have their own accom­mo­da­tion and love to spend time at this resort in win­ter and sum­mer.

Aspen often hosts Ski World Cup com­pe­ti­tions. There are only four slopes, and one lift leads to them, but there are no long queues. But there are slopes for every taste: from chil­dren’s to the most dif­fi­cult routes with a lot of obsta­cles. You can get here by plane, train or pri­vate heli­copter.

Pros:

• Many hotels of dif­fer­ent “star”;
• Gor­geous land­scapes at any time of the year;
• The snow sea­son lasts 5 months — from Novem­ber to April;
• Tracks of var­i­ous dif­fi­cul­ty;
• Enter­tain­ment cen­ters and reg­u­lar events;
• There are play­grounds and instruc­tors teach­ing ski­ing.

Minus­es:

• Expen­sive;
• Few rope­ways.

In Aspen, every­thing is done accord­ing to the “expen­sive-rich” prin­ci­ple, but for a per­son with an aver­age income (by Amer­i­can stan­dards), such a vaca­tion is quite afford­able. The town has hotels not only of pre­mi­um class, but also of 2–3 stars, with no less qual­i­ty ser­vice. At the tops there are restau­rants where you can have lunch, warm up with hot tea and con­tin­ue enter­tain­ment.

Courchevel, France — the famous resort complex

Here, wealthy tourists are met with French hos­pi­tal­i­ty, chic and com­fort. Courchev­el is locat­ed in the moun­tain­ous zone of the Three Val­leys and, in fact, is a sym­bio­sis of 7 sep­a­rate resorts. Skiers here are wait­ing for 102 slopes from green to black, but the slopes here are either gen­tle and smooth, or steep and unbro­ken. Before the Christ­mas hol­i­days, Courchev­el hosts the Russ­ian Week. At this time, the best mod­els of the world, celebri­ties and just peo­ple with a sol­id income come to the resort.

After mas­ter­ing the slopes, tourists are offered to relax in restau­rants, bars, night­clubs, recu­per­ate in spas, saunas or swim in the pool. For chil­dren, spe­cial schools, kinder­gartens and nurs­eries are orga­nized, where you can leave crumbs from 6 months and relax in full. To get to know Courchev­el from above, you can book a hot air bal­loon flight.

Pros:

• Lots of snow up to 7 m thick;
• Mild cli­mate — at the height of win­ter the tem­per­a­ture does not fall below ‑10 ° C;
• Mass of enter­tain­ment cen­ters;
• It is pos­si­ble to leave chil­dren under super­vi­sion in kinder­gartens and schools;
• Shops with spe­cial equip­ment (order can be placed online);
• 174 lifts;
• Deli­cious cui­sine.

Minus­es:

• The run­way of Courchev­el Air­port does not accept all air­craft.

The best lift sys­tem is ready to trans­port up to 200,000 tourists to the peaks in one hour. The only draw­back of Courchev­el is con­sid­ered to be a dan­ger­ous air­port where not every pilot will land, so it is bet­ter to get here by car, bus or train.

The last option is the cheap­est and slow­est, but on the way you can admire nature and local attrac­tions.

The best mid-range ski resorts

Not all resorts inflate prices to attract the atten­tion of the rich. There are more acces­si­ble and pop­u­lar places where you can ride and relax with no less com­fort. These are main­ly Euro­pean coun­tries or Argenti­na with its largest resort in South Amer­i­ca, Cer­ro Cas­tor.

Cortina, Italy — Queen of the Dolomites

An aver­age resort with a poor set of attrac­tions, includ­ing: a mod­ern art gallery, a parish church, local squares and a gor­geous land­scape.

The tourist town has hotels, shops with brand­ed items, sou­venir shops, cafes and restau­rants. On the slopes, tourists will find trails for snow­board­ing and ski­ing with their own lev­els of dif­fi­cul­ty. After ski­ing, you can stroll through the snow-cov­ered streets of the vil­lage and vis­it cozy cafes.

Corti­na is locat­ed at an alti­tude of 1224 m above sea lev­el and is the sun­ni­est val­ley of the Dolomites. There is always “per­fect” weath­er here. The total length of the tracks is 140 km, of which 11 km is occu­pied by the longest obsta­cle course. The remain­ing routes are dis­trib­uted as fol­lows: 5 green, 42 blue, 19 red and 8 black.

Pros:

• Mild cli­mate and clear sun­ny weath­er;
• Long and var­ied trails;
• Not crowd­ed;
• Over 450 lifts;
• Suit­able for begin­ners and inter­me­di­ate skiers;
• Inex­pen­sive hotels and deli­cious cui­sine;
• Over 130 cross-coun­try ski­ing and snow­board­ing trails.

Minus­es:

• Few sights;
• Pro­fes­sion­als are bored here.

Accord­ing to tourists, the title of “Queen” of Corti­na clear­ly does not jus­ti­fy. Yes, the scenery is beau­ti­ful and the weath­er is always great, but the same can be said for most oth­er ski resorts.

Pas de la Casa, Andorra — the resort with the highest cable car

On the bor­der with France, there is a small town with three thou­sand inhab­i­tants, which annu­al­ly receives skiers from all over the world. The tourism busi­ness is well devel­oped here: there are hotels for every bud­get, trails of vary­ing dif­fi­cul­ty, spas with ther­mal water, restau­rants and oth­er infra­struc­ture.

In the shops you can buy any sou­venirs and goods at an afford­able price, because Andor­ra is a state of duty-free trade.

The resort of Pas itself is locat­ed in a con­ve­nient place — above the clouds, at a lev­el of 1980 m. On the cable car you can climb to a height of up to 2640 m. Clear weath­er and a tem­per­ate cold cli­mate always reign here. The aver­age tem­per­a­ture in win­ter is +3 °C, and in sum­mer it ris­es to +20. The ski sea­son is short­er than in oth­er places and lasts from Decem­ber to March.

Pros:

• Always good weath­er;
• Aver­age prices for every­thing;
• Lots of enter­tain­ment cen­ters;
• Own ski school;
• Spas with mas­sages and water from local ther­mal springs;
• 55 wide slopes and 31 lifts.

Minus­es:

• Small height dif­fer­ence.

The resort staff is friend­ly, but begin­ners should be more care­ful — it is bet­ter to book rooms and excur­sions via the Inter­net so that two prices are not torn off. By the way, every 3‑star hotel here has its own ski school and offers relax­ing spa treat­ments (pool, jacuzzi, mas­sage, Turk­ish bath, etc.).

Whitsler, Canada — the largest resort in North America

The snow park is locat­ed at an alti­tude of 2200 m and offers 100 slopes of any com­plex­i­ty, plus a vari­ety of enter­tain­ment for chil­dren and adults. You can ski here not only in win­ter, but also in sum­mer — from the glac­i­er. True, this is not an easy task and only the pros can do it.

In addi­tion to stan­dard ski­ing and snow­board­ing, Whit­sler offers cycling or active recre­ation in the Fam­i­ly Adven­ture Park with play areas, tram­po­lines and cable cars.

In Wit­sler, in the most severe weath­er, the frost is not low­er than ‑15 ° C, and the aver­age tem­per­a­ture is kept with­in ‑5 degrees. The ski area runs at an alti­tude of 653 to 2182 m, the longest track is 11 km.

Pros:

• You can ski both in sum­mer and in win­ter;
• Com­fort­able and spa­cious tracks for skiers and snow­board­ers;
• Lots of enter­tain­ment, more than 200 restau­rants, bars and cafes;
• Suit­able for fam­i­lies;
• There is a snow­mo­bile rental.

Minus­es:

• There are 16 lifts in total;
• There are arti­fi­cial­ly snow-cov­ered areas.

Cana­da is not so close, but if you are in those parts, be sure to vis­it the Whit­sler resort. In addi­tion to ski­ing, here you will be offered oth­er equal­ly inter­est­ing enter­tain­ments. The town has enough inex­pen­sive restau­rants and cafes, and young peo­ple will appre­ci­ate the local night­clubs.

Perisher, Australia — for beginners and professionals

The largest ski resort in the entire South­ern Hemi­sphere cov­ers an area of ​​12.5 km² and is locat­ed at an alti­tude of 1605 m. 47 lifts and a large 8‑seat high-speed Dop­pelmeier deliv­er tourists to the top. The slopes are ide­al for both begin­ners and pro­fes­sion­als — here every­one will find their own descent.

The peak of the ski­ing sea­son will fall in June-Octo­ber, it is dur­ing this peri­od that win­ter comes in Aus­tralia. Three areas are pre­pared for skiers, inter­con­nect­ed by lifts. For thrill-seek­ers there are dif­fi­cult black tracks, but if nec­es­sary, they can be bypassed on blue and green ones. How­ev­er, here you should not rush at great speed — at any moment you can stum­ble upon a begin­ner.

Pros:

• You can ride in the sum­mer;
• Spa­cious and var­ied tracks of dif­fer­ent lev­els;
• Suf­fi­cient num­ber of lifts;
• Ski­ing and snow­board­ing allowed;
• Unusu­al land­scapes.

Minus­es:

• far to get;
• Large area of ​​arti­fi­cial snow.

In Per­ish­er, not only ski­ing is avail­able, but also sled­ding, skate­board­ing, as well as paraglid­ing with an instruc­tor. It has its own ski school and equip­ment rental.

Best Economy Ski Resorts

If the bud­get is lim­it­ed, ski­ing usu­al­ly goes to the Russ­ian moun­tains or the Ukrain­ian Carpathi­ans. But there are also inex­pen­sive for­eign resorts, espe­cial­ly since get­ting to them is also not far away.

Luosto, Finland – Lapland’s fairy tale

Vis­i­tors love the famous resort in Fin­land for a relax­ing hol­i­day and har­mo­ny with nature. The slopes here are well-groomed and ide­al for ski­ing and board­ing (94 km of slopes are pre­pared for them), as well as for snow­mo­bil­ing and sled­ding (250 km). In local restau­rants, you can taste nation­al dish­es, taste strong and non-alco­holic drinks.

Luos­to has a ski school for begin­ners. Oth­er activ­i­ties include ice fish­ing, an excur­sion to the amethyst stone mine and get­ting to know the cul­ture of Lap­land. At night, you can admire the polar lights and walk along the desert­ed streets of the town.

Pros:

• Incred­i­ble beau­ty of the night sky and auro­ra bore­alis;
• 8 slopes, 2 of which are illu­mi­nat­ed;
• snow­board park;
• High qual­i­ty recre­ation;
• Con­ve­nient loca­tion of cot­tages and hotels;
• Ski school.

Minus­es:

• The height of the hills is only 490 m.

In the vil­lage of Luos­to there is an open amphithe­ater, cafes, bars, restau­rants (one of them is locat­ed right on the moun­tain). For chil­dren and adults, an excur­sion to the amethyst mine will seem fas­ci­nat­ing, where you can get a “sou­venir” for your­self.

Bohinj, Slovenia — a resort with a natural ice rink

Two ski areas warm­ly wel­come tourists — 36 km of slopes, the longest of which is 8.5 km. 9 lifts will take you to them. For cross-coun­try ski­ing, anoth­er 45 km of tracks are reserved. The max­i­mum point of the sum­mit is only 634 m, respec­tive­ly, the ele­va­tion dif­fer­ence is small, so begin­ners will like the slopes. But the mas­ters of sports have noth­ing to do here.

But the resort has a nat­ur­al curl­ing rink, and in the evening night­clubs, bars and restau­rants invite vaca­tion­ers. A sep­a­rate gym and an indoor pool have been built in Bohinj for ath­letes and sup­port­ers of a healthy lifestyle.

Pros:

• Own ice rink on the lake;
• Wide trails for begin­ners;
• The vil­lage has hotels, apart­ments and chalets for fam­i­lies;
• Calm atmos­phere — ide­al for soli­tude or relax­ing with chil­dren;
• There are sports cen­ters and 2 ski schools.

Minus­es:

• A small height — pro­fes­sion­als are not inter­est­ed here.

Bohinj has nev­er been famous for loud events and noisy par­ties. Peace and qui­et reign here, which the old­er gen­er­a­tion loves so much. True, every Feb­ru­ary it hosts a bal­loon fes­ti­val.

Pamporovo, Bulgaria — ski resort with thermal springs

Due to the influ­ence of the Aegean Sea, the cli­mate in this area is mild — in win­ter the tem­per­a­ture does not fall below ‑7 ° C, and the aver­age fig­ure is ‑3. Snow­falls are plen­ti­ful here — up to 1.5 m of pre­cip­i­ta­tion falls dur­ing the win­ter, although there are also unpleas­ant sur­pris­es in the form of show­ers.

Tourists go to Pam­poro­vo not only to con­quer the almost 2‑kilometer peak, but also to improve their health in sana­to­ri­ums and spa cen­ters that offer sul­fur, radon and ther­mal baths.

The total length of the moun­tain slopes is 17.5 km, plus sep­a­rate cross-coun­try ski­ing routes with a total length of 25 km. For begin­ners, 4 gen­tle slopes are equipped, the pros will take their breath away on steep slopes with obsta­cles, and snow­board­ers on fan parks with jumps.

Pros:

• Many inex­pen­sive hotels with a high lev­el of ser­vice;
• High moun­tains;
• There are trails of all dif­fi­cul­ties;
• Fun park for snow­board­ers;
• Spa cen­ters with well­ness baths;
• Bil­liards and bowl­ing are orga­nized for evening rest;
• Local tav­erns with nation­al cui­sine.

Minus­es:

• Rest can be spoiled by bad weath­er;
• Long trans­fer to Sofia;
• There is lit­tle snow at the begin­ning of the sea­son.

Hav­ing rolled enough in Pam­poro­vo, it is worth walk­ing through the local church­es, vis­it­ing muse­ums and monas­ter­ies. In spring, you can enjoy the clean alpine air and walk around the sur­round­ings with ther­mal springs.

Kopaonik, Serbia — the sunniest resort

This nation­al reserve occu­pies 11,800 hectares, being the largest resort in Ser­bia. For clear weath­er for 200 days a year, the local moun­tain range was nick­named the Solar Moun­tain. Dur­ing the day, the air tem­per­a­ture here is ‑1..-5 °C, and at night it drops to ‑10.

More than 20 pistes of vary­ing dif­fi­cul­ty have been laid on the ter­ri­to­ry of the resort, the main part of them (11 pcs.) falls on the mid­dle lev­el. The longest one is 3.5 km long. In Kopaonik there is a ski school with Russ­ian-speak­ing instruc­tors, a kinder­garten, hotels for every taste and bud­get, as well as ancient church­es and monas­ter­ies includ­ed in the UNESCO list.

Pros:

• Mild cli­mate;
• Trails of dif­fer­ent dif­fi­cul­ty lev­els;
• Ski school;
• Mod­er­ate prices;
• Nice wel­com­ing atmos­phere.

Minus­es:

• The con­di­tion of the tracks is poor­ly mon­i­tored;
• Prices go up for the new year.

Peo­ple in Kopaonik are friend­ly, and there is no lan­guage bar­ri­er as such. Weath­er and nature are also pleas­ing. This place is great for fam­i­lies and gives every­one the oppor­tu­ni­ty to mas­ter ski­ing.