25 Great Ski Towns of the World: From Chamonix and Zermatt to Niseko

The best ski holidays combine a great mountain with a town worth coming back to at the end of the day. These 25 ski towns and resorts span both hemispheres, from Olympic hosts like Chamonix, Cortina d’Ampezzo and Whistler to old mining towns in Colorado and Utah, glacier skiing in Austria and the Andes, and the deep snows of Hokkaido and Alaska.

Southern Hemisphere: New Zealand, Australia and the Andes

South of the equator the ski season runs roughly from June to October, which makes these resorts a summer escape for northern skiers.

1. Wānaka, New Zealand

Wānaka sits at the southern end of Lake Wānaka in Otago, on New Zealand’s South Island, about 120 km from Queenstown. It is the base for three snow areas: Treble Cone, Cardrona Alpine Resort and the Snow Farm cross-country area, so a single lakeside stay covers steep skiing, family terrain and Nordic trails.

2. Treble Cone, New Zealand

The closest ski area to Wānaka, about 35 minutes’ drive away, Treble Cone has the longest vertical rise in the Queenstown Southern Lakes district: about 700 m of lifted vertical between roughly 1,260 m and the 2,088 m summit. It began as a club field in 1968, and its steep runs (45% advanced) look straight down onto Lake Wānaka and across to Mount Aspiring/Tititea.

3. Perisher, Australia

Perisher, in Kosciuszko National Park in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, is the largest ski resort in the Southern Hemisphere. It links four areas, Perisher Valley, Smiggin Holes, Guthega and Blue Cow, with 45 lifts across about 1,245 hectares between 1,720 m and 2,054 m. Visitors drive up from Jindabyne or ride the Skitube, an underground rack railway from Bullocks Flat.

4. Las Leñas, Argentina

Opened in July 1983 in Mendoza province, Las Leñas skis from 2,240 m to 3,430 m, a vertical of about 1,200 m. It is famous for reliable powder and extensive off-piste terrain suited to extreme skiing. The season usually runs from mid-June to mid-October, and the airport at Malargüe is about 95 km away.

5. Portillo, Chile

Portillo’s hotel stands at 2,880 m beside the Laguna del Inca, close to the Argentine border at Paso Los Libertadores and about 160 km by road from Santiago. In August 1966 it hosted the Alpine World Ski Championships, where Jean-Claude Killy won gold in the downhill and combined. Lifts run from 2,548 m to 3,310 m.

Europe: Alpine and Dolomite classics

6. Chamonix, France

Chamonix hosted the very first Winter Olympic Games in 1924 and sits just north of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe. The Aiguille du Midi cable car climbs to 3,842 m, the valley is known for the off-piste Vallée Blanche, and the main ski areas are Les Grands Montets, Brévent-Flégère and Balme. The 11.6 km Mont Blanc Tunnel, opened in 1965, links the valley to Courmayeur in Italy.

7. Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

At 1,224 m in the heart of the Dolomites, Cortina has hosted the Winter Olympics twice: in 1956 and, with Milan, in 2026. It has around 115–120 km of its own pistes and sits at the centre of the 12 resorts of the Dolomiti Superski, with the Tofane among the peaks above town.

8. Kitzbühel, Austria

This walled Tyrolean town, granted town rights in 1271 and enriched by medieval silver and copper mining, is home to the Hahnenkamm races on the Streif, often called the world’s hardest downhill. Skiers have 168 km of slopes and 56 lifts, plus 40 km of cross-country tracks, about 100 km east of Innsbruck.

9. Hintertux Glacier, Austria

At the head of the Tux valley, a side valley of the Zillertal, the Hintertux Glacier rises from 1,500 m to 3,250 m. It has 64 km of pistes, including the 12 km Schwarze Pfanne, and a skiing season that usually runs from early autumn to late spring. Inside the glacier, the Natur Eis Palast crevasse, discovered in 2007, takes visitors 25 m down into the ice.

10. Tignes, France

Tignes shares about 300 km of pistes with Val d’Isère, an area once known as the Espace Killy, and its villages sit around 2,100 m. Runs on the Grande Motte reach 3,456 m, with glacier skiing in early summer. The original village lies beneath the Lac du Chevril, drowned when the Tignes Dam was completed in 1952. Tignes hosted the freestyle events of the 1992 Winter Olympics.

11. Zermatt, Switzerland

Zermatt, at about 1,620 m, is car-free beneath the 4,478 m Matterhorn. Its highest cable car reaches the Klein Matterhorn at 3,883 m, and a link at Testa Grigia lets skiers cross into Italy at Breuil-Cervinia and Valtournenche. The Gornergrat rack railway climbs to 3,089 m in about 29 minutes.

North America: the Rockies, Cascades and Coast

12. Whistler, British Columbia

Whistler Blackcomb is the largest ski area in North America, with 8,171 acres and more than 1,500 m of vertical on each mountain. The Peak 2 Peak Gondola, opened in 2008, links the two summits with a 3.02 km unsupported span, 436 m above the valley floor. Whistler hosted the alpine events of the 2010 Winter Olympics and lies 137 km from Vancouver airport.

13. Banff, Alberta

Canada’s national park system began at Banff in 1885 with a reserve around the Cave and Basin hot springs. At about 1,400 m and 126 km west of Calgary, the town is the base for three ski areas in Banff National Park: Mt Norquay, Sunshine Village and Lake Louise.

14. Fernie, British Columbia

Fernie is a coal-mining town in the Elk Valley whose brick downtown was rebuilt after a firestorm destroyed the town in 1908. Fernie Alpine Resort, on the Lizard Range, has five alpine bowls (Siberia, Cedar, Timber, Currie and Lizard), about 2,500 acres, 1,082 m of vertical and an average snowfall of 875 cm.

15. Whitefish, Montana

Whitefish Mountain Resort, called Big Mountain until 2007, opened in December 1947 just 6 km from town and west of Glacier National Park. It offers 3,020 acres, a 2,078 m summit and 717 m of vertical.

16. Bend, Oregon

Mount Bachelor, 35 km from Bend, is a Cascade Range volcano with 4,323 skiable acres and 1,026 m of lift-served vertical. The Summit Express rises to within about 20 m of the top, so on clear days you can ski 360 degrees off the summit. The season runs from mid-November to the end of May, weather permitting.

17. Girdwood, Alaska

Girdwood began as a gold-rush supply camp, named after Colonel James Girdwood, who staked claims on Crow Creek in 1896. After the 1964 earthquake sank the original townsite into Turnagain Arm, residents moved up the valley. Alyeska Resort, about 48 km from downtown Anchorage, rises from just 80 m above sea level, has about 975 m of vertical and averages over 17 m of snow at the top of the Glacier Bowl chair.

18. Truckee, California

Truckee is a railroad town at about 1,875 m in the Sierra Nevada, where Central Pacific tracks arrived in 1868 and Amtrak’s California Zephyr still stops daily. Nearby Donner Lake recalls the snowbound Donner Party of 1846. The town is a base for the ski resorts north of Lake Tahoe.

Mining towns of Colorado, Utah and New Mexico

19. Aspen, Colorado

Aspen was founded in 1879 during the Colorado Silver Boom and crashed with the silver market in 1893. Today it sits just below 2,400 m with four ski areas: Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk and Snowmass. Buttermilk has hosted the Winter X Games since 2002, and the town is home to the Aspen Music Festival and School and the Aspen Institute.

20. Crested Butte, Colorado

Crested Butte Mountain Resort opened in 1960 at Mount Crested Butte, above the historic town. Its summit reaches 3,707 m with 931 m of vertical, and it is known for expert terrain such as the Headwall and North Face chutes.

21. Park City, Utah

Park City was a silver-mining town from the 1860s, and more than 1,000 miles of old tunnels still run beneath its slopes. Skiing began at Treasure Mountain in 1963, and the 2015 merger with Canyons created the largest ski area in the United States. Just 51 km from Salt Lake City, it co-hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics and is set to host events again in 2034.

22. Taos, New Mexico

Ernie and Rhoda Blake founded Taos Ski Valley in 1955, about 30 minutes up the canyon from the town of Taos. The Kachina lift reaches 3,804 m. Taos was one of the last American resorts to allow snowboarding, lifting its ban only in March 2008.

Eastern North America and Japan

23. Mont-Tremblant, Quebec

Opened in 1939 in the Laurentians, about 130 km northwest of Montréal, Mont Tremblant has 102 trails on four sides (North, South, Soleil and The Edge) with 645 m of vertical from an 875 m summit. A pedestrian village of hotels, shops and restaurants sits at its base.

24. North Conway, New Hampshire

In 1932 “snow trains” began bringing skiers to North Conway, in what is called the birthplace of American skiing. The village lies in the White Mountains with Mount Washington to the northwest, Cranmore Mountain Resort on its doorstep, Victorian-era train rides on the Conway Scenic Railroad, and its famous outlet shops.

25. Niseko, Japan

Niseko, in Hokkaido, is built around Niseko Annupuri (1,308 m), where four ski areas, Grand Hirafu, Hanazono, Niseko Village and Annupuri, share the Niseko United lift pass. Nearby Kutchan averages 921 cm of snow a year, and the volcanic cone of Mount Yōtei dominates the view. Buses link the area with New Chitose Airport and Sapporo.

Choosing the right ski town

• Match the season: Southern Hemisphere resorts run from about June to October; northern ones from late November to April, with glacier skiing at Hintertux and Tignes stretching the calendar.
• Town or slopeside: Banff, Bend and Wānaka are town bases with a drive to the lifts; Zermatt, Mont-Tremblant’s village and Portillo’s hotel put you closer to the snow.
• Look at passes: Dolomiti Superski, Niseko United and the Tignes–Val d’Isère pass cover far more terrain than a single mountain ticket.

Explore more: a closer North American shortlist; planning around a family’s daily needs.

Related reading

• 15 Swiss Ski Resorts: Compare the Villages, Terrain and Connected Areas
• Québec City at Christmas: Old Streets and the Wider Winter Season
• Nineteen Snowboarding Destinations to Research on a Budget
• Thirty-Seven Ski Areas in Western Canada: Mountain Regions and Resort Choices
• Twelve North American Ski Destinations: Terrain and Trip Planning
• Twenty-Five Family Ski Destinations: Bases, Lessons and Daily Logistics

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