The world’s best ski resorts, according to the ski experts

Ski writer Gabriella Le Breton describes the quality of skiing in Verbier as ‘stellar’

No two skiers will ever relish in the exact same equation of slope, snow and scenery. What constitutes your favourite place to ski is purely subjective: whether you favour knee-deep fresh over groomed corduroy; a charming town to stroll through or ski-to-the-door convenience; or your après ski bouncing in a bar or bubbling in a hot tub.

Between them, The Telegraph’s team of ski experts have skied in hundreds of resorts, spanning the globe. From untracked slopes in the Canadian wilderness and the powder fields of Japan, to the steepest Swiss couloirs and pistes looking out over the spires of the Dolomites, they’ve tracked endless distances in the world’s top mountain ranges in their search for perfect turns.

They also know how to have a good time off the slopes – having slept in the planet’s most opulent slope-side properties, danced (and drunk) their way around every top après haunt, and indulged in the finest mountain fare.

So, with all that experience and variety, is it possible to choose a favourite? Here, we tasked them with just that. To inspire your ski plans this winter, find out which resorts they’d return to time and time again, how they’d make the most of it and how to follow in their footsteps.

Lucy Aspden-Kean

Les Arcs, France

• Resort altitude: 1,200 to 2,000m
• Ski area size: 200km (local); 425km (Paradiski)
• Number of lifts: 53 (Les Arcs), 132 (Paradiski)

For ski writer Alf Alderson, Les Arcs has everything a keen skier could wish for - iStockphoto

Les Arcs may not be the most glamorous ski resort, but it has everything a keen skier could ever want – it’s snow sure, it has altitude and vertical (3,200m to 1,200m), a huge variety of pistes for all abilities, spectacular off-piste, a good range of accommodation and it’s easy to get to by plane, train or car. This season will be my 13th in Les Arcs and I’m still nowhere near skiing all it has to offer.

Insider skier tip

If you’re an intermediate (or better) skier, you must ski the epic Aiguille Rouge, one of the world’s longest black/red runs. From Les Arcs’ high point of 3,225m it descends 7km to Villaroger at 1,200m, and this season there’s a brand-new gondola to take you back up the mountain afterwards.

Telegraph ski writer Alf Alderson in snow-sure Les Arcs, which has pistes for all abilities - Alf Anderson

Alf Alderson

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Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis, Austria

• Resort altitude: 1,427m
• Ski area size: 214km
• Number of lifts: 68

Katja Gaskell in Les Arcs - Katja Gaskell

This trio of Tyrolean villages delivers top-notch family facilities from kids’ ski storage in the learner areas (genius!) and slopeside play villages to nighttime toboggan runs, themed family restaurant nights and the all-present – and much adored – mascots, Murmli and Berta.

It’s good news for parents too – the skiing is seriously good with snow-sure slopes for all levels, plus 2,000 hours of sunshine a year.

Insider skier tip

Thursdays are the best nights in the village of Fiss, when the 4km-long Witches toboggan run for nighttime sledging adventures. The trail finishes at the Sonnenburg Family Restaurant, with free family activities and entertainment, and the chance to make your own pizza.

Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis is particularly good for children - Andreas Kirschner

Essentials: Heidi (0117 457 6000) offers seven nights at Vaya Terrazena Serfaus from £995, for a family of four, self catering, including flights and transfers at Easter 2026.

Katja Gaskell

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Alta Badia, Italy

• Resort altitude: 1,324m
• Ski area size: 130km
• Number of lifts: 53 ski lifts

Writer Leslie Woit in Alta Badia, Italy - Leslie Woit

Alta Badia sizzles with Italian panache, hums with Teutonic precision, and glitters beneath the coral-tinged Dolomites. With six inviting South Tyrolean villages, 130km of pistes and 50-plus lifts – now linked to Cortina, too – I’ve lost my heart to this Italian beauty.

For no fewer reasons than for the immaculate grooming, top-drawer mountain lunches at 400 smart rifugi, highest calibre family-run hotels, three distinct cultures and heart-lifting lack of concrete sprawl. It excels in dirndls, dumplings and dolce vita.

Insider skier tip

Worried about missing out on rollicking Austrian après ski? L’Murin has you covered with two floors of full-on Tirolean boot-stomping dancing fun. In Corvara, near the Col Alto lift, opposite Hotel La Perla; open 4.15 to 8.45pm.

Alta Badia boasts world-class views of the coral-tinged Dolomites - Alex Moling

Leslie Woit

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Banff, Canada

• Resort altitude: 1,630m
• Ski area size: 7,748 acres
• Number of lifts: 29

Framed by the towering Rockies, Banff combines vast powder terrain with some of Canada’s most spectacular scenery

After skiing in countless resorts, those with the wow factor stand out. Banff delivers long before you arrive. Driving west, the towering wall of the Rockies is at its most impressive and gets more stunning as you approach. On arrival, three ski areas are included on one pass, each fabulous; two of them (Sunshine Village and Lake Louise) are among Canada’s largest.

A vibrant ski town, Banff is welcoming and boasts a great spa culture. Famed for its abundant, light powder – but once criticised for being too cold, in a warming world, that’s a major asset.

Insider skier tip

For four decades, snow-sure Lake Louise hosted the season-opening Alpine Skiing World Cup downhill races in late November. The great American skier Lindsey Vonn had 18 wins on the course, and in 2018 black run 7 was renamed Lake Lindsey’s Way in her honour. It’s a must-ski run.

Patrick Thorne

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Verbier, Switzerland

• Resort altitude: 1,500m
• Ski area size: 412km
• Number of lifts: 93

Its 412km of mostly north-facing pistes climb to 3,330m, complemented by some of Europe’s most challenging lift-accessed off-piste terrain.

The stellar quality of skiing, scenery and skiers never fails to inspire me, rewarding with memories of epic powder runs down Mont Gelé, Tortin and Vallon d’Arbi.

The après-ski is similarly heroic, with stalwarts like Pub Mont Fort, Fer à Cheval and Le Rouge largely resisting Verbier’s inexorable “Courchevelisation”.

Insider skier tip

Grab a cable car to Bruson on busy or snowy days – the playful, wooded pistes and off-piste runs are quieter and offer better visibility than Verbier’s main area.

A playground for serious skiers, Verbier pairs challenging off-piste with legendary après-ski in the heart of the Swiss Alps - Margarita Almpanezou

Essentials: Verbier Exclusive (01608 674011) offers seven nights in the two-bedroom apartment Hickory from CHF 2,250 (£2,097), self-catering. Fly from London to Geneva with easyJet (easyjet.com) from £72 return.

Gabriella le Breton

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St Anton, Austria

• Resort altitude: 1,300m
• Ski area size: 300km
• Number of lifts: 85km

St Anton delivers big-mountain skiing and lively energy in equal measure

With its Goldilocks combination of carvable pistes through 1,507m of vertical drop, Alpine charm and world-leading après, I’ve always had a reliably fantastic time in St Anton – the beating heart of Austria’s largest ski area. It’s not a resort for beginners, and that’s partly why I love skiing here. I never grow tired of its fast-flowing, challenging terrain, or the 200km of off-piste adventures through powder bowls and tree runs that lie just off the beaten track. Veteran skiers can’t go wrong.

Insider skier tip

Book over New Year’s Eve for reliable early-season snow, a warm Austrian party atmosphere and the best free firework display in the Alps.

Essentials: Inghams (01483 944 707) offers seven nights at the Alpine spa Hotel Ullrhaus from £1,878, half board, including flights and transfers or train travel.

Matt Ray

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Zermatt, Switzerland

• Resort altitude: 1,620m
• Ski area size: 351km
• Number of lifts: 51

Dave Watts with Matterhorn - Dave Watts

Zermatt has a magical combination of everything you could want from a ski resort. Nowhere can match its combination of excellent advanced and intermediate slopes (linked to Cervinia in Italy), a powerful lift system, reliable snow on slopes that reach 3,820m, magnificent high-mountain scenery (including the iconic Matterhorn), rustic mountain restaurants with superb food and a charming car-free village reached only by cog-railway.

Yes, it’s expensive; but any keen skier should treat themselves and try it before they die.

Insider skier tip

My favourite run is from top-to-bottom of the Gant-Hohtälli cable car – best tackled first thing in the morning. Let the crowd from the cable car head off and you’ll have an immaculately groomed, varied red run of over 1,050m vertical all to yourself. Repeat three times before the hordes arrive.

With epic high-altitude runs, gourmet mountain dining and views of the Matterhorn, Zermatt is Swiss skiing at its most magical - anshar73

Essentials: Ski Solutions (020 7471 7700) offers seven nights in the central four-star Hotel Alex from £2,095, B&B, including flights and rail transfers.

Dave Watts

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Tignes, France

• Resort altitude: 1,800m
• Ski area size: 300km (Tignes-Val d’Isere)
• Number of lifts: 34 locally; 76 (Tignes-Val d’Isere)

Tignes offers world-class terrain and Alpine adventure at a friendlier price than its neighbours - Andy Parant

Tignes is better than Val d’Isere – that’s the hill I’ll die on, if you’ll pardon the pun. Not only does it have an exceptionally long season (late November to late April), thanks to the Grande Mötte glacier, it’s also a little more affordable than its neighbour and has the same world-class skiing. Best bit? A picnic beside the spectacular Aiguille Percée rock formation – the Eye of the Needle – and a long run down the blue Corniche piste. Heaven.

Insider skier tip

Take the cable car to the top of the Grande Motte Glacier (3,456m), wait for everyone to ski down and when the coast is clear, light your afterburner and hammer down the red Double M piste like it’s your last ever run.

Matt Hampton

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Hakuba, Japan

• Resort altitude: 760m
• Ski area size: 137km
• Number of lifts: 135

With its bottomless powder, quiet slopes and rich traditions, Hakuba offers a ski experience unlike anywhere in the West

Bottomless powder is the reason Japan tops ski bucket lists. In Hakuba, it’s 13m on average. Yet the real win is the cultural immersion, made all the more accessible on mainland Honshu: onsens, temples, castles, snow monkeys, people and cuisine (think ramen lunches, izakaya dinners, 7-Eleven fried chicken (yes, really) and extraordinary vending machines).

Hakuba has it all, plus vast, steep, deep back country terrain – among the best in the world, yet empty (compared to Alpine or Rocky counterparts). Then, across 10 resorts, there’s piste skiing diversity, which, unlinked, remains uncrowded and maintains quaintness.

The mountains of Hakuba are part of Japan’s Northern Chubu-Sangaku National Park - JNTO

Of the country’s big-name ski areas, there’s much less Western influence here; with its opportunity for adventure and with authenticity in spades, I rank Hakuba number one.

Insider skier tip

Learn a few Japanese words – a little goes a long way. You can get by without, thanks to patient and friendly people and some unembarrassed miming tactics, but socially, in the land of immaculate manners, it’ll stand you in great stead on the slopes.

Essentials: Hakuba Yamano Hotel (0081 261 72 8311) has double rooms from £152, including breakfast. Fly from London Heathrow to Tokyo International Airport with British Airways from £911 return. Take the Hokuriku Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo Station and a local bus from Nagano to Hakuba (3.5 hours; £55).

Katie Bamber

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Aspen, USA

• Resort altitude: 2,422m
• Ski area size: 103km
• Number of lifts: 8

Steep glades, deep snow and old-school Rockies charm make Aspen a dazzling blend of glamour and true skier’s terrain

There are four mountains across the vast Aspen Snowmass ski area, but it’s Aspen Mountain – the oldest, least crowded, and arguably steepest – that has always been my favourite. I’ll never forget zig-zagging at top speed between the tight glades of trees that grow across many of the slopes.

There are 76 pistes in all (none for beginners) across 673 skiable acres, with an average of 8.9m of snow a year. For a European’s first foray into the Rockies, this former silver mining town – known to locals as Ajax – really is the best.

Granted, the resort has a snooty image (you won’t fail to spot spoilt celebrities at The Little Nell hotel), but if you head into town you can still find traces of Aspen’s counter-cultural roots.

Insider skier tip

Duck into the woods in between the pistes of Aspen and you may well stumble upon one of the 150 or so homemade shrines hidden among the trees.

Aspen has 76 pistes in all (none for beginners) across 673 skiable acres, and its counter-cultural roots are still in evidence today - Getty

Dedicated to various musicians, celebrities and local legends, these makeshift memorials include memorabilia, photos, tokens, plaques and other keepsakes.

This quirky folk art started in the 1970s, with Elvis Presley, Bob Marley and Jerry Garcia believed to be the first enshrined.

Essentials: Sights St Moritz Lodge & Condominiums, from £1,394pp, room only, including flights and transfers.

Dominic Bliss

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