Best value ski destinations
By the time you add up transport, accommodation, ski hire, lift passes and overpriced food on the slopes, ski holidays certainly aren’t cheap. But there are some resorts that will give you more bang for your buck. These are the best value ski destinations around the world.
Hakuba, Japan
Japan is better value overall than resorts in Europe and North America, and Hakuba is the best value of all. The resort has an average snow depth of 2.5 metres and there are more than 200 runs across 10 resorts. Two-day passes start from around $110 and a five-day weekday pass is less than $200. It can be quite tricky to organise an independent ski holiday in Japan so you’re best off going with a tour operator. A seven-night package including accommodation, breakfast and a ski pass is around $1,100 per person.
Les Menuires, France
You’ll need to understand that value in French ski resorts is a relative term – none of them are going to be cheap. But Les Menuires in the famed Les Trois Vallees (The Three Valleys) offers the best value for skiing on par with surrounding pricey resorts like Courcheval and Meribel. In fact, it’s where a lot of locals in the area ski because the runs and quiet and there are no lines at the lifts. Unfortunately, the village is dominated by a hideously ugly concrete apartment building, but look past that and you’ll find plenty of cheap self-contained apartments. If you’re careful, you can ski here for around $110 a day including accommodation, meals, ski pass (that covers the whole Three Valleys area) and ski hire.
Vogel, Slovenia
If you want a real bargain basement European ski holiday, stay away from the traditional resorts and head east – way east. Vogel is quite small (with just 18 square kilometres of piste) but there’s a lot of variety and runs to suit every level of skier. At just 1,800 metres the resort is low by European standards, but snowfall is reliable and plentiful. The resort sits in a national park so there is no development or artificial snow making, so it has a delightfully unspoiled – and is incredibly beautiful. You won’t hear many other voices speaking English (let alone with an New Zealand accent) but the Slovenians are renowned for being friendly and welcoming. A one-week lift pass costs only around $200 and you can find a decent hotel for less than $110 a night.
Durango Mountain Resort (Purgatory), Colorado
In December 2013 TripAdvisor chose this small US resort as the best value ski destination in North America. A day on the slopes here (including accommodation, lift pass, equipment hire and meals) costs around $240. Compare that to Vail, the most expensive resort in North America, where you’ll be looking at close to $885 per day. Durango is one of the last unspoilt Old West ski towns in the US and has a beautifully preserved, historic downtown, as well as more than 1,300 skiable acres, five terrain parks, a kids’ play area and heliskiing nearby. It also has some of the best weather in the US and no lift lines.
Banff, Canada (pictured above)
Sitting in the heart of the Rockies, Banff has one of the biggest ski areas in North America and fantastic snow cover. The ski season is also very long, running from at least November to May, and this is where the value comes in – go at the start or end of the season and you can get some fantastic deals. Skiers stay in the town of Banff itself, rather than on the slopes, but you can reach the three surrounding ski areas via a free bus service. It’s regarded as the best value ski destination in Canada with lift tickets costing around $88 a day.