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Folks typically ask “which is the perfect ski resort?” – however there are as many solutions to that query as there are sorts of skier and snowboarder. Novices will wish to be on totally different pistes to hurry demons, whereas younger households may not just like the haunts favoured by occasion animals.
Right here’s our collection of resorts that could be finest for sure sorts of skiers to assist your 2022-23 winter vacation go along with a bang.
Greatest by practice: the Three Valleys, France
Attain the Three Valleys by practice (Getty)
You’ll be able to attain many ski resorts in Austria and Switzerland by practice (see snowcarbon.co.uk) however nothing is as handy because the direct service from St Pancras to the French Alps.
Eurostar cancelled its in style service in 2020, however tour operator Travelski Categorical stepped in to supply direct trains as a part of a package deal deal that features ski passes and lodging in sure resorts.
This yr it has added extra resorts, together with two extra within the huge Three Valleys ski space: high-altitude Val Thorens and stylish Courchevel. You journey out on Friday evening so you possibly can ski for seven days on the planet’s greatest ski space and return the next Saturday night. Technique to go!
Greatest on a finances: Borovets, Bulgaria
Borovets in Bulgaria as soon as once more topped the Submit Workplace’s annual survey of best-value ski resorts. However what’s it like?
The 58km of slopes are unfold over three distinct sectors. The very best, Markudjik, has Alpine-like views throughout snowy peaks. In Sitnyakovo, inexperienced persons’ pistes wind by dense fir forest crossing steep pink and black runs with views of the modernist village.
And if you happen to take the egg-shaped, fibre-glass gondola (straight out of the Nineteen Eighties) to Yastrebetz, you have got spectacular views throughout the plain.
The instructors are good, most inns have swimming pools, and excursions are reasonably priced. So it’s the hands-down selection for these on a finances – or was till this season, when Crystal Ski launched much more finances package deal holidays to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Now that’s a vacation spot for the adventurous.
Greatest for non-skiing companions: Jungfrau, Switzerland
Grindelwald, Switzerland (Getty)
What to do if you happen to ski and your associate doesn’t? Go to Switzerland, the place trains double as ski lifts, and a brand new service from Zurich airport cuts the journey time to the Jungfrau area by an hour.
Right here you possibly can each go to Mürren’s revolving Piz Gloria restaurant – the setting for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – with its clifftop (however secure) strolling routes. And you may recreate Bond’s well-known chase, whereas your associate takes the cable automobile again down.
It’s principally walkers who take the railway contained in the imposing north face of the Eiger to the restaurant overlooking the Aletsch glacier stretching 23km into the space. Once more your associate can race you down – in a practice that trundles alongside the piste.
For a extra equal contest, strive Grindelwald’s slopes, the place the pistes criss-cross runs filled with tobogganers by quaint villages.
Greatest for a brief break: Pays de Gex, France
It might come as a shock that Geneva, which has a gentle stream of low-cost flights, has resorts which can be simply 20 minutes to an hour’s drive away.
Pays de Gex, within the Jura mountains, has three such downhill ski areas: Lélex-Crozet, Mijoux-La Faucille and Menthières. All are small, conventional communes the place carry passes begin at €20 a day.
For cross-country snowboarding, head to La Vattay-Valserine with its 130km of trails.
Greatest for après: Söll, Austria
Get your apres kicks in Soll (Getty/iStock)
Austria is the undisputed residence of après-ski and few venues can rival the well-known Mooserwirt bar in St Anton. However for someplace inexpensive strive Söll.
The occasion city is in style with youthful crowds with its giant, club-like venues and is a part of the enormous SkiWelt space. This in flip has teamed up with one other massive space, KitzSki, a three-minute bus journey away, to supply a mixed move. So you possibly can earn your beers doing a circuit involving 88km of descent masking an astonishing 17,000 vertical metres in a day.
So long as you don’t overdo it on the schnapps, you possibly can attain the slope the place Dave Ryding grew to become the primary Briton to win an Alpine snowboarding World Cup race in Kitzbühel earlier this yr. Ski arduous – rejoice tougher!
Greatest for Santa: Ruka, Finland
Finland is a favorite for younger households wanting a winter vacation that focuses on visits to Santa, Northern Lights watching, cross-country snowboarding, canine and even reindeer sledding, as a lot as downhill snowboarding.
For a very long time, there have been justtwo essential choices – Levi and Ylläs. However a 3rd resort, Ruka, is catching up quick, with a brand new gondola and a brand new village with a extra Alpine really feel than its rivals.
The snowboarding couldn’t be extra totally different to the Alps, although. At this latitude the dawn/sundown bathes the rime-covered fences in a pink gentle for only a few hours every day, after which the slopes are floodlit. The pistes are pretty brief, although you would possibly be pleased about the excuse for warm chocolate breaks when it’s chilly, and a lot of the cabins and flats have saunas to heat up in.
You’ll be able to ski in Ruka any time till early Could, nonetheless British tour operators solely provide packages and direct flights till early February.
Greatest for late-season household snowboarding: Geilo and Voss, Norway
Geilo continues to be snowy late within the season (Getty/iStock)
If you happen to’re on the lookout for an Easter break, any of the upper resorts (in addition to decrease Austrian ones, which have invested closely in environment friendly snow-making) will assure snow-covered pistes. However for these on the lookout for a winter wonderland, Norway retains its snowy garb for longer.
The latest “inexperienced line” gentle rail service from Bergen airport means you possibly can attain resorts resembling Geilo, with its 34km of pistes unfold over two sides of the valley, with only one change of practice.
And it’s value stopping at Voss, with its new 3S gondola that takes you direct from the platform to the slopes. The connections from listed below are so good you could depart the slopes after 3pm and be within the airport at 5.30pm on your night flight again residence.
Greatest for a metropolis ski break: Innsbruck, Austria
A metropolis ski break is good for skiers who like the intense lights too, and this season Innsbruck has added a brand new cultural attraction to the 21 lined by its Ski Plus Metropolis Go – Lumagica, an out of doors gentle present on the Hofgarten palace.
All 13 of Innsbruck’s resorts are 15 to 75 minutes from town centre by tram, bus or practice, and so they embrace the Stubai glacier, with its 42km of runs, and Kühtai, one of many highest resorts within the Alps.
For essentially the most spectacular views over town, strive the Nordkette, which you’ll attain from a brand new terminal within the metropolis centre. And don’t really feel self-conscious; you’ll see loads of different individuals in ski gear within the coronary heart of this buzzing college metropolis.
Greatest for English-speaking instructors: Grandvalira, Andorra
Pas de la Casa within the Grandvalira ski space (Getty/iStock)
Tiny Andorra nonetheless manages to be one of many greatest locations for British skiers. Considered one of its best points of interest, aside from the sunshine, is the variety of native English-speaking instructors.
An additional attraction this winter is that its three ski areas have banded collectively to supply countrywide ski passes. So skiers on the lofty 210km of Grandvalira pistes that stretch from Pas de la Casa to Canillo by way of Soldeu can now purchase passes giving entry to the extra tree-lined 63km of slopes of Pal-Arinsal or the 30km at freeride mecca Ordino-Arcalís and vice versa.
Getting between the areas nonetheless includes buses (although tour operators hope to put on coaches for day journeys, if there may be demand), however you possibly can take the chance to go duty-free buying en route within the capital, Andorra la Vella, which additionally has the enormous Caldea thermal spa.
Greatest for surroundings (and historical past): Dolomiti Superski, Italy
Each resort boasts spectacular surroundings, however the rose-tinted rocks of the Dolomites are particularly eye-catching. And within the Dolomiti Superski space, you get prime views as you do clockwise and anti-clockwise circuits of the magnificent Sella Gruppo massif, which is within the centre of an space that has a mass of pistes to discover, coming off it just like the spokes of a wheel.
The realm is understood for its eating places, however historical past buffs may even leap on the likelihood to do the Grande Guerra circuit – a tour on skis of the trenches and fortifications of the First World Battle, when this space was fought over between the Austrians and Italians. The tour finishes with a ski carry with a distinction – a horse-drawn sled that tows you to Armenterola.
Greatest for spas: Unhealthy Kleinkirchheim, Austria
Unhealthy Kleinkirchheim combines on-piste enjoyable with decadent off-piste spas (Getty)
For spa-lovers, there can solely be one nation of selection – Austria. Its inns are replete with a mass of steam rooms, saunas, indoor and out of doors swimming pools and leisure rooms wherein to assuage aching muscle tissues and reacquaint your self with numb digits after a day on the slopes.
So how to decide on between them? Effectively, for many who like southerly, sunny snowboarding and reasonably priced costs, Ryanair this winter is flying direct to Klagenfurt from Stansted and Manchester. From right here, the spa city of Unhealthy Kleinkirchheim is simply 50 minutes away.
The picturesque ski-in/ski-out resort has 103km of pistes, together with the difficult Franz Klammer run, as it’s residence to Olympic downhill legend Franz Klammer. Maybe you’ll even stumble upon him within the steam room…
Greatest for chalet lovers: Tignes-Val d’Isère, France
A mix of tighter labour legal guidelines, Brexit rules, Covid fears and employees shortages imply that what was till not too long ago one of the crucial in style methods of occurring a ski vacation – the catered chalet – has all however disappeared.
Now it’s making a comeback within the type of the “contactless chalet”, the place you discover all of your meals pre-prepared within the fridge and have breakfast delivered daily, with wine and logs for the hearth additionally laid on in the identical manner.
Ski France was one of many pioneers of contactless chalets final winter and this yr has added 5 extra, together with the chalet Val Rogoney in Val d’Isère, considered one of France’s most well-known resorts and an off-piste mecca. The chalets don’t come low-cost, however for these mourning the lack of that almost all convivial of holidays and fireplace evenings, it could be simply the ticket.