The Burrow
Dec 14, 2023
For many people, there are few activities as thrilling as skiing or snowboarding. Whether you are an experienced veteran, cruising down the slopes in style, or a ski-slopes newbie, taking in the stunning vistas and crisp mountain air for the first time, the slopes are truly a captivating and magical place.
There are so many beautiful locations across the world to do it too – Europe, North America, and even Oceanic locations like New Zealand.
So what are some of the best ski locations?
As experts in travel insurance, we wanted to take a look at some of the best cities and destinations for people wanting to go on a snowy adventure. We gathered data for 50 different locations and ranked them in our index below.
Here are the results.
Coming out on top was Hakuba in Japan, scoring 8.91 on our index. Hakuba had the highest number of accommodation options listed on TripAdvisor at 769, some of the highest snowfall at 11 metres a year on average, combined with the second cheapest average ski pass price at US$33.
Across the 50 different ski trip destinations we analysed, the top three destinations for highest average snowfall were all in Japan. Niseko was first at 15,000mm, followed by Rusutsu at 14,000mm and Hakuba at 11,000mm. Japanese snow powder – JAPOW for short – is considered some of the best in the world for skiing and snowboarding, making Japanese snowfields some of the most popular ski trip destinations on the planet, despite a shorter total length of ski runs compared to other locations.
Second on the list is the French city of Grenoble. Grenoble scored 8.23 thanks to its high number of ski runs in the region. Located up in the French Alps, those in search of winter sports have over 1,000kms of ski runs to enjoy. Specifically, Grenoble has the longest total beginner grade ski runs at 456kms, and the longest total length of intermediate grade descents at 390kms. It also had the second-longest total length of advanced grade runs at 178kms.
Grenoble also had the cheapest average ski pass cost at US$24. What held Grenoble back was a middle-of-the-pack level of annual snowfall at 3,900mm, and a lower number of listed accommodation options on TripAdvisor at 77.
Roughly 200kms away from Grenoble is the French village of Morzine, which scored 7.92 on our index. Located in the alps by the France-Switzerland border, Morzine has long ski runs for beginner and intermediate skiers at 310kms of beginner grade slopes and 210kms of intermediate runs. It also has a solid number of accommodation options to choose from at 292.
Morzine also has the fourth-longest length of advanced runs on our index at 60kms (the same as Kicking Horse in Canada and Bend in the USA), but its ski pass tickets cost U$S65, and the average annual snowfall is 3,430mm a year – both of which sit roughly in the middle of all locations in our index.
French ski destinations performed very well in our index, with five out of the top 10 locations being found in the French Alps. The European Alps in general seem to be a great destination with two Austrian towns and one Swiss ski village (St. Anton am Arlberg, Saalbach and Zermatt respectively) also landing in the top 10. The other two places at the top of the index went to Japan with the highest scoring location Hakuba, as well as the Canadian town of Banff.
What helped the European locations score so well was a combination of long total ski runs, high numbers of accommodation options, and ski pass prices that (apart from Grenoble) weren’t the cheapest, but were far from the most expensive in comparison to the other cities on the index.
“French ski destinations performed very well in our index, with five out of the top 10 locations being found in the French Alps.”
There was a clear trend in the data where American and Australian locations were the most expensive for ski passes – despite having very low total lengths of ski runs in comparison to other locations. While the US location of Aspen has some of the highest intermediate and advanced ski run lengths (216kms and 243kms respectively), it is also the most expensive with ski passes costing an average US$228 per day. While American locations have decent snowfall, most have very low ski run totals and lower numbers of accommodation options.
It’s even worse in Australia. The low numbers of accommodation, combined with expensive ski passes, low ski run lengths and some of the lowest average annual snowfall make Australian ski destinations a very expensive choice.
With all these factors combined, Australian and American ski runs appear overpriced, and definitely don’t appear to be good options for beginners.
Rank | Destinations | Accommodation | Beginner ski run length (kms) | Intermediate ski run length (kms) | Advanced ski run length (kms) | Annual snowfall (mm) | AVG ski pass prices (USD per day) | Index score |
1 | Hakuba, Japan | 769 | 93 | 81 | 42 | 11,000 | $33 | 8.91 |
2 | Grenoble, France | 77 | 456 | 390 | 178 | 3,900 | $24 | 8.23 |
3 | Morzine, France | 292 | 310 | 210 | 60 | 3,430 | $65 | 7.92 |
4 | St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria | 309 | 130 | 122 | 50 | 3,580 | $70 | 7.55 |
4 | Tignes, France | 163 | 170 | 78 | 52 | 5,630 | $66 | 7.55 |
5 | Val-d’Isère, France | 149 | 170 | 78 | 52 | 4,740 | $66 | 7.24 |
6 | Saalbach, Austria | 291 | 140 | 112 | 18 | 4,740 | $76 | 6.97 |
7 | Megève, France | 66 | 126 | 184 | 38 | 2,810 | $51 | 6.83 |
8 | Banff, Canada | 82 | 64 | 116 | 83 | 5,384 | $102 | 6.66 |
9 | Zermatt, Switzerland | 287 | 75 | 220 | 27 | 3,410 | $111 | 6.63 |
10 | Chamonix, France | 261 | 32 | 51 | 34 | 3,600 | $54 | 6.56 |
11 | Anchorage, USA | 236 | 23 | 42 | 27 | 10,439 | $57 | 6.49 |
12 | Aspen, USA | 90 | 47 | 216 | 243 | 7,798 | $228 | 6.46 |
12 | Whistler, Canada | 142 | 40 | 110 | 50 | 8,534 | $148 | 6.46 |
13 | Kitzbuhel, Austria | 134 | 111 | 75 | 22 | 2,080 | $54 | 6.29 |
14 | Livigno, Italy | 366 | 30 | 65 | 20 | 2,710 | $62 | 6.05 |
15 | Mayrhofen, Austria | 267 | 44 | 66 | 32 | 2,350 | $77 | 5.85 |
16 | Lucerne, Switzerland | 149 | 48 | 24 | 15 | 3,560 | $41 | 5.78 |
17 | Fernie, Canada | 53 | 42 | 58 | 42 | 6,883 | $106 | 5.64 |
18 | Grindelwald, Switzerland | 113 | 63 | 67 | 21 | 2,920 | $82 | 5.47 |
19 | Jackson, USA | 119 | 19 | 52 | 53 | 10,871 | $154 | 5.44 |
20 | Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy | 108 | 55 | 69 | 16 | 2,620 | $72 | 5.30 |
21 | Granada, Spain | 628 | 51 | 53 | 8 | 190 | $60 | 5.20 |
21 | Innsbruck, Austria | 169 | 18 | 54 | 14 | 2,140 | $46 | 5.20 |
22 | Åre , Sweden | 47 | 64 | 67 | 13 | 980 | $46 | 5.06 |
23 | Niseko, Japan | 107 | 22 | 18 | 10 | 15,000 | $57 | 5.03 |
24 | Oberstdorf, Germany | 315 | 24 | 29 | 7 | 3,140 | $61 | 4.96 |
25 | Kicking Horse, Canada | 125 | 20 | 20 | 60 | 5,003 | $106 | 4.93 |
26 | Bend, USA | 70 | 15 | 25 | 60 | 10,312 | $194 | 4.42 |
26 | Queenstown, New Zealand | 269 | 20 | 40 | 30 | 939 | $100 | 4.42 |
27 | Furano, Japan | 101 | 15 | 13 | 4 | 9,000 | $43 | 4.35 |
28 | Alpbach, Austria | 92 | 31 | 52 | 12 | 1,940 | $62 | 4.32 |
29 | Wānaka, New Zealand | 133 | 13 | 29 | 20 | 5,500 | $110 | 4.11 |
30 | Panorama, Canada | 11 | 20 | 55 | 25 | 4,241 | $123 | 4.01 |
31 | Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany | 153 | 19 | 34 | 10 | 1,840 | $65 | 3.81 |
32 | Revelstoke, Canada | 64 | 16 | 18 | 21 | 6,096 | $118 | 3.70 |
33 | Bormio, Italy | 123 | 14 | 34 | 2 | 2,140 | $55 | 3.50 |
34 | Hemsedal, Norway | 37 | 32 | 11 | 6 | 2,560 | $48 | 3.47 |
35 | Stowe, USA | 57 | 20 | 42 | 8 | 5,638 | $198 | 3.46 |
36 | Rusutsu, Japan | 19 | 13 | 17 | 12 | 14,000 | $77 | 3.40 |
36 | Telluride, USA | 30 | 6 | 51 | 29 | 5,511 | $218 | 3.40 |
37 | Mount Hutt, New Zealand | 202 | 10 | 20 | 10 | 1,803 | $95 | 2.82 |
38 | Hovden, Norway | 9 | 23 | 17 | 1 | 3,400 | $63 | 2.69 |
39 | Geilo, Norway | 28 | 18 | 12 | 4 | 2,660 | $61 | 2.58 |
39 | Perisher, Australia | 33 | 25 | 30 | 10 | 1,981 | $149 | 2.58 |
40 | Oberjoch, Germany | 17 | 6 | 24 | 2 | 2,680 | $53 | 2.55 |
41 | Thredbo, Australia | 37 | 15 | 25 | 12 | 2,023 | $133 | 2.17 |
42 | Vaduz, Liechtenstein | 6 | 11 | 9 | 3 | 2,610 | $57 | 2.04 |
43 | Riksgränsen, Sweden | 9 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 510 | $41 | 1.80 |
44 | Falls Creek, Australia | 39 | 6 | 35 | 8 | 1,448 | $153 | 1.67 |
Compare the Market’s General Manager of General Insurance, Adrian Taylor, notes that it’s vital to get the right type of policy for a ski trip, as regular travel insurance likely won’t cover snow sport activities and related events.
“Regular travel insurance might not cover emergency rescue or medical expenses if you have an accident while skiing. Both of these can be very expensive if something goes wrong and you don’t have insurance for it,” Taylor explains.
“Beyond the serious medical rescue benefits, ski trip cover can also insure you for financial loss from unused equipment and passes if the weather turns and you can’t go on your planned snow sport adventure. It can also cover accidental damage or theft of your ski gear when it isn’t in use, and that includes your own skis or hired equipment.”
To calculate the index, we gathered data cross six different metrics for 50 different ski locations. We assigned each location a score for each different metric out of 10, with the best scoring location for that data point getting a score of 10, and the worst scoring location getting a score of 0. Once this was done for all data points, these scores were averaged for each country, providing a score out of 10. The higher the score, the better the location for ski trips. The data points were scored in the following ways:
Note: this information is accurate as of 08/10/2023 and is subject to change.