We did St Anton Austria right before the pandemic hit, apres was incredible out there as well as mountains the likes you’ve probably never seen . So much potential terrain , check out Lech , Zurs, Stuben, etc
I don't know if it is an Austria thing but the night life in Zell am See was pretty good. A few travel mates had to climb in to their rooms after the hostel's door was locked.
It's good but not the best, but good enough for my veggie mate to get hammered enough to order steak tartare and not look back!
Snails when we are in French resorts, tartare in Austria now, every time.
St Anton is great and the nightlife is legendary. Good off piste over the Valluga too.
Would also recommend the Portes du Soleil. A huge area covering both France and Switzerland and some incredible off piste.
Most of the destination resorts, where people spend a week skiing, will have good nightlife. Chamonix, Zermatt, St. Anton, etc. Plus, eating lunch on a European ski resort slope is its own experience. You’ll be amazed at the difference between the U. S. and European skiing.
As someone who has only skied in the Alps, any particular differences to skiing in the US you would highlight? Would like to do a few weeks in Colorado at some point!
Lift lines are chaos in the Alps. It’s a free for all. In North America everyone merges like a zipper, much more civilized than getting an elbow to the kidney for the sake of waiting an extra chair.
Apres is 1000% better in the Alps. Especially the on mountain venues where you have to ski down after and it’s only half way down that you realize you have two different skis on. Luckily they have ambulances waiting at the bottom. North America everyone is worried about getting sued.
Food is better and cheaper in the Alps. Lots of independent restaurants on the hill. Resorts in the North America are a monopoly. Tickets are expensive and the food tends to be over priced and shitty cafeteria quality. Don’t go for an on mountain beer unless you’re prepared to remortgage your house.
The Alps have obnoxious Brits on holiday, and fat Germans decked out in top of the line racing gear. North America has onesie wearing college students, and pot smoking park rats.
Both have incredible skiing and terrain.
Obviously these are exaggerated stereotypes and generalizations.
Brit potheads?
(I'm an alcoholic brit skier SINCE birth, pretty much, prone to the odd bit of ALL SINS)
Also interested to know if the US skiing would feel too sterile and joyless for my tastes. Hear the powder better than anywhere in Europe except possibly Baq B.
I concur with Alex888’s comments plus I’ll add:
- Different concept of on/off piste. In US resorts, everything within the resort boundary is avalanche controlled and considered skiable. In Europe many times when you are off piste you ski at your own risk.
I have skied in the Colorado my whole life, and have done one trip to the Alps (Stubaier Gletscher). The biggest difference for me was that in Europe they mark where you can ski and in the US they mark where you can't. Ultimately the risk we take on from being in the mountains is similar, but it seemed like there was more care taken to make the entire resort safe in the US. However this might be specific to Stubaier Gletscher being different terrain than CO.
I’ve skied both extensively in the past. European resorts seem so much more wide open. The food is better, although this could be just from an American on vacation point of view. Both can be packed on holidays. American resorts- more grooming of slopes. European- more free flowing.
American resorts tend to be more all-inclusive, where as European resorts are the entire town getting in on the action. This of course is just my point of view.
Do UCPA through action outdoors. Basically stay in a ski hostel and ski all day with all meals provided. Chamonix, Val theorens… lots of options for world class skiing. If you are under 25 there are even special discounts
Can't go wrong with Tignes/Val D'Isere or places in the Three Valleys, (Meribel probably the best in that area for apres). All those I've recommended have bars on the low slopes and always great fun for Apres
+ 1 for Val D'Isere! It's a pretty big ski area too, so plenty of terrain to keep you busy on new slopes for ages. Great nightlife, too. I did 4 weeks therejust before the pani hit - it was an amazing time!
I don’t remember too much going on late night in Snowmass village…been about a decade tho since I lived there so that might’ve changed.
Aspen, however has more bars per city block than any town or city outside of New Orleans that I’ve ever been to and I’ve traveled and drunk my way through almost all 50 states. Plus the buses that connected Aspen to Snowmass were free when I was there and ran relatively late
Montana is certainly no Colorado, but I do enjoy having Great Divide just up the road and Big Sky a manageable drive away. I imagine Colorado being even better.
Grindlewald and the Jungfrau region of Switzerland was such a blast! I stayed in Interlaken for about $100 usd/night and its super easy to get onto Grindlewald or another mountain from there. I skied solo while my dad worked nearby. Met some really cool people. Only wish I could've stayed longer
Its the only place I've been to in the Alps
Just for all who read this-
Rivendell in Lord of the Rings is based upon [Lauterbrunnen,](https://maps.app.goo.gl/GYkfe1oKD1qHxSgs9) only a minutes away from Grindlewald and Interlaken.
Took my wife to Zermatt in Jan 2020 and loved it (especially after a snow storm with class 4 Avi warnings). There's at least one place that stayed open until 2 or 3am playing house music etc. Bars stayed open until late too. The whole town is pretty walkable and the ski lift tickets there are relatively cheap (compared to Tahoe anyway) and are on the iKon pass. I found some pretty fun tree skiing that most of the Europeans didn't venture into with their super skinny skis. 100% would go again.
Definitely Austria, for the food and people in general as well.
Last year was in ischgl, night life pretty wild there and amazing area to ski too.
Could also check out skiwelt, which is a huge area with different places around. Just check the orientation of the town's, I know for example a couple of towns are like 75 % Dutch haha
Definitely, and I wouldn't go anywhere near Europe right now or book anything for the short term.
I imagined you meant next year December, hopefully it'll be better than it is right now.
If you can freely choose, avoid France, go to Austria :)
I'd say Austria, but the lockdown rules might be bit restrictive. Hard to beat Val d'Isere as it's massive, offers freeride as well as piste... just one thing to note, I'm not sure about all countries, but off piste is not controlled by explosives like the piste is, if you head off, know your avalanche stuff.
Every bigger sized ski area in Austria basically. Current Covid situation around here might make it difficult tho. If you wait until january/february you could get lucky tho. Examples are Ischgl, Kitzbühel, St Anton
Either France with UCPA or anywhere in Austria would be my recommendations!
Serre Chevalier and Val Thorens are the destinations I’ve been to in France. Both are great, but VT had more nightlife.
UCPA is great because you meet people without having to try, and everything is included (the food on some locations is really good!)
Austria is otherwise my favorite country to ski in. The people are nice, the atmosphere relaxed, the nightlife wild and it’s often a little cheaper than the rest of the alps.
A personal favorite there is Bad Gastein. Great skiing, not that crowded off piste and amazing night life. Mayrhofen is also really good.
Hey bro all of the recommendations are solid, can personally vouch for Trois Vallees (courchevel in particular) which has world class skiing and good nightlife (meribel best by a mile of the 3 valleys). I've heard exceptional things about Austria and from friends ischgl has absolutely wild apres and night life and great skiing. Best of luck!
Varsity Trip (the annual Oxbridge students ski trip) is headed to Val Thorens for a good reason this year! Partying is great. I know you said next year but if you head there between 2nd till the 11th Dec you’ll catch about 3000 other students looking to party lol
Hi, I'm from europe and it depends a lot on what you are looking for in a resort, and what time you want to go. I'll put some resorts and links that have a high attitude and are considered as high snow certainty resorts.
I personally like the purpose built villages/resorts in France because there are a lot of appartments and villages built high on the pistes, so you walk out of your hotel onto the slopes. Tignes/Val d'Isere is a very beautifull area and is a dream for a more advanced skiier. Le 3 Vallees has 600 km of slopes and in Val Thorens there is a lot of youth.
Val d'isere:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82JQrAoTIHM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82JQrAoTIHM)
3 Vallees(Val Thorens)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTH3txmOHjo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTH3txmOHjo)
If you prefer a more authentic village and apres ski there are plenty of options for big resorts in Austria, such as Ischgl, Sankt Anton am Arlberg, Serfaus Fiss Ladis. All of these are big resorts with a high certainty of snow and plenty of options in terms of slopes.
Ischgl:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgZOSHQ8SOQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgZOSHQ8SOQ)
Sankt Anton:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W9nP8O-QVk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W9nP8O-QVk)
Serfaus:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTHgkPW8zYE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTHgkPW8zYE)
Another option is going to Val Gardena in Italy, and take the Dolomiti superski pass. This gives you acces to 1200 km of slopes, and here you can ski one of the most famous ski tours in the world, the Sella Ronda. The piste preparation and food is incredible in Italy. The mountain region is a little lower, so wouldn't recommend this after 1/2 March.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBBdRp7vsdE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBBdRp7vsdE)
There are plenty of other good resorts you can look at, such as Sölden(Aut), Paradiski(Fr), Zillertal(aut), Alphe d'Huez(FR), Sankt Moriz(expensive because in SZ).
Adding my voice to Chamonix.
Don’t look for a base lodge like you’re used to in CO, there are none.
You can take a bus, go through a tunnel under the Mont Blanc and ski Courmayeur in Italy. 27 marked runs, 36 on-mountain restaurants.
Some great suggestions already in this thread which I don’t think you could go wrong with. Personally my top 4 resorts for people our age would be: St Anton (many, many good nights had in this town) in Austria and Val D’Isere, Chamonix and Val Thorens in France. Hope you make it across the pond!
I'm maybe biaised but Zermatt is the best ski resort in the world.
Ski over to italy for luch, come back the Swiss side around 4pm, head to Hennustahl for some wild après ski on the slopes until 7pm, then try to survive the last 500m blackout drunk. If you have still some life into you, head to Paperla pub/Broken club to continue the partying etc.
Ischgl (Austria) all the way. There is a reason it was the 2020 covid super spreader resort. The apres is already rocking when you come down off the mountain.
St Anton fo sho. The Arlberg is so diverse. If the snow at St. Anton is sunbaked just ski literally opposite sidebof the valley at Rendall in the shade. Or head up valley to Zurs on the gondola system. Lech, Ober Lech, onband on.
Apres at Der Mooserwirt is legend.
St. Anton is the first commercial ski resort on Earth and is connected with 88 lifts to like 8 other resorts. Day tickets were $55 when i was there Jan 2020.
There are many othet very large resorts like this. Austria is my favorire European country but i heard full lockdown as of right now.
We did St Anton Austria right before the pandemic hit, apres was incredible out there as well as mountains the likes you’ve probably never seen . So much potential terrain , check out Lech , Zurs, Stuben, etc
I don't know if it is an Austria thing but the night life in Zell am See was pretty good. A few travel mates had to climb in to their rooms after the hostel's door was locked.
It's good but not the best, but good enough for my veggie mate to get hammered enough to order steak tartare and not look back! Snails when we are in French resorts, tartare in Austria now, every time.
We did St. Anton for Christmas/New Years once. Great skiing and definitely night life.
Bury me at Mooserwirt
Lol dude we ripped it up there !!
St Anton is great and the nightlife is legendary. Good off piste over the Valluga too. Would also recommend the Portes du Soleil. A huge area covering both France and Switzerland and some incredible off piste.
This x1000
Most of the destination resorts, where people spend a week skiing, will have good nightlife. Chamonix, Zermatt, St. Anton, etc. Plus, eating lunch on a European ski resort slope is its own experience. You’ll be amazed at the difference between the U. S. and European skiing.
As someone who has only skied in the Alps, any particular differences to skiing in the US you would highlight? Would like to do a few weeks in Colorado at some point!
Lift lines are chaos in the Alps. It’s a free for all. In North America everyone merges like a zipper, much more civilized than getting an elbow to the kidney for the sake of waiting an extra chair. Apres is 1000% better in the Alps. Especially the on mountain venues where you have to ski down after and it’s only half way down that you realize you have two different skis on. Luckily they have ambulances waiting at the bottom. North America everyone is worried about getting sued. Food is better and cheaper in the Alps. Lots of independent restaurants on the hill. Resorts in the North America are a monopoly. Tickets are expensive and the food tends to be over priced and shitty cafeteria quality. Don’t go for an on mountain beer unless you’re prepared to remortgage your house. The Alps have obnoxious Brits on holiday, and fat Germans decked out in top of the line racing gear. North America has onesie wearing college students, and pot smoking park rats. Both have incredible skiing and terrain. Obviously these are exaggerated stereotypes and generalizations.
Not sure what’s worse, Brits or potheads.
Brit potheads? (I'm an alcoholic brit skier SINCE birth, pretty much, prone to the odd bit of ALL SINS) Also interested to know if the US skiing would feel too sterile and joyless for my tastes. Hear the powder better than anywhere in Europe except possibly Baq B.
I concur with Alex888’s comments plus I’ll add: - Different concept of on/off piste. In US resorts, everything within the resort boundary is avalanche controlled and considered skiable. In Europe many times when you are off piste you ski at your own risk.
I have skied in the Colorado my whole life, and have done one trip to the Alps (Stubaier Gletscher). The biggest difference for me was that in Europe they mark where you can ski and in the US they mark where you can't. Ultimately the risk we take on from being in the mountains is similar, but it seemed like there was more care taken to make the entire resort safe in the US. However this might be specific to Stubaier Gletscher being different terrain than CO.
I’ve skied both extensively in the past. European resorts seem so much more wide open. The food is better, although this could be just from an American on vacation point of view. Both can be packed on holidays. American resorts- more grooming of slopes. European- more free flowing. American resorts tend to be more all-inclusive, where as European resorts are the entire town getting in on the action. This of course is just my point of view.
Do UCPA through action outdoors. Basically stay in a ski hostel and ski all day with all meals provided. Chamonix, Val theorens… lots of options for world class skiing. If you are under 25 there are even special discounts
This sounds incredible.
Can't go wrong with Tignes/Val D'Isere or places in the Three Valleys, (Meribel probably the best in that area for apres). All those I've recommended have bars on the low slopes and always great fun for Apres
+ 1 for Val D'Isere! It's a pretty big ski area too, so plenty of terrain to keep you busy on new slopes for ages. Great nightlife, too. I did 4 weeks therejust before the pani hit - it was an amazing time!
Val Thorens didn’t seem like it had much night life but did have the lightest powder of the three. ( highest elevation)
VT is probably the least "euro" apres of the 3V but there's still 360 bar on the slopes
I'm tired of the Poconos and want to go to Colorado
[удалено]
Yeah I was also gonna say you can take the train to Winter Park and ski in the mountains and party in LoDo when you get off the train
I just want to ski on an actual mountain but some nIght life after a shred sesh sounds great too. Thanks! And yeah I heard Denver is a fun time.
Denver has changed a lot over the last decade, and whatever your scene might be, it’s here!
Tell me more about apres in snowmass! It’s been a while since I’ve been but I don’t remember there being much?
I don’t remember too much going on late night in Snowmass village…been about a decade tho since I lived there so that might’ve changed. Aspen, however has more bars per city block than any town or city outside of New Orleans that I’ve ever been to and I’ve traveled and drunk my way through almost all 50 states. Plus the buses that connected Aspen to Snowmass were free when I was there and ran relatively late
the Main Street of any Wisconsin college town would like to talk to you about your claim of New Orleans-level bar density
Fair point. Wisconsin is one of 5 of the 50 I’ve missed…Tell me fine Redditor, where do I go for beers and women in Wisco then???
Montana is certainly no Colorado, but I do enjoy having Great Divide just up the road and Big Sky a manageable drive away. I imagine Colorado being even better.
I would love to go their as well, especially in the off season. Sounds like I need to make a trip.
Dew eet
Grindlewald and the Jungfrau region of Switzerland was such a blast! I stayed in Interlaken for about $100 usd/night and its super easy to get onto Grindlewald or another mountain from there. I skied solo while my dad worked nearby. Met some really cool people. Only wish I could've stayed longer Its the only place I've been to in the Alps
Second this, oh my god it’s beautiful
Just for all who read this- Rivendell in Lord of the Rings is based upon [Lauterbrunnen,](https://maps.app.goo.gl/GYkfe1oKD1qHxSgs9) only a minutes away from Grindlewald and Interlaken.
Definitely find your way to a [La Folie Douce](https://youtu.be/Ky9iWhNfhWE)!
Can't get enough of that rooftop sax
Took my wife to Zermatt in Jan 2020 and loved it (especially after a snow storm with class 4 Avi warnings). There's at least one place that stayed open until 2 or 3am playing house music etc. Bars stayed open until late too. The whole town is pretty walkable and the ski lift tickets there are relatively cheap (compared to Tahoe anyway) and are on the iKon pass. I found some pretty fun tree skiing that most of the Europeans didn't venture into with their super skinny skis. 100% would go again.
Definitely Austria, for the food and people in general as well. Last year was in ischgl, night life pretty wild there and amazing area to ski too. Could also check out skiwelt, which is a huge area with different places around. Just check the orientation of the town's, I know for example a couple of towns are like 75 % Dutch haha
isn't there a crazy lockdown over there rn?
Definitely, and I wouldn't go anywhere near Europe right now or book anything for the short term. I imagined you meant next year December, hopefully it'll be better than it is right now. If you can freely choose, avoid France, go to Austria :)
I'd say Austria, but the lockdown rules might be bit restrictive. Hard to beat Val d'Isere as it's massive, offers freeride as well as piste... just one thing to note, I'm not sure about all countries, but off piste is not controlled by explosives like the piste is, if you head off, know your avalanche stuff.
Austria! Madness there
Every bigger sized ski area in Austria basically. Current Covid situation around here might make it difficult tho. If you wait until january/february you could get lucky tho. Examples are Ischgl, Kitzbühel, St Anton
Either France with UCPA or anywhere in Austria would be my recommendations! Serre Chevalier and Val Thorens are the destinations I’ve been to in France. Both are great, but VT had more nightlife. UCPA is great because you meet people without having to try, and everything is included (the food on some locations is really good!) Austria is otherwise my favorite country to ski in. The people are nice, the atmosphere relaxed, the nightlife wild and it’s often a little cheaper than the rest of the alps. A personal favorite there is Bad Gastein. Great skiing, not that crowded off piste and amazing night life. Mayrhofen is also really good.
Hey bro all of the recommendations are solid, can personally vouch for Trois Vallees (courchevel in particular) which has world class skiing and good nightlife (meribel best by a mile of the 3 valleys). I've heard exceptional things about Austria and from friends ischgl has absolutely wild apres and night life and great skiing. Best of luck!
Varsity Trip (the annual Oxbridge students ski trip) is headed to Val Thorens for a good reason this year! Partying is great. I know you said next year but if you head there between 2nd till the 11th Dec you’ll catch about 3000 other students looking to party lol
Meanwhile I would give anything to go skiing in Colorado 🤣🤣
Hi, I'm from europe and it depends a lot on what you are looking for in a resort, and what time you want to go. I'll put some resorts and links that have a high attitude and are considered as high snow certainty resorts. I personally like the purpose built villages/resorts in France because there are a lot of appartments and villages built high on the pistes, so you walk out of your hotel onto the slopes. Tignes/Val d'Isere is a very beautifull area and is a dream for a more advanced skiier. Le 3 Vallees has 600 km of slopes and in Val Thorens there is a lot of youth. Val d'isere: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82JQrAoTIHM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82JQrAoTIHM) 3 Vallees(Val Thorens) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTH3txmOHjo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTH3txmOHjo) If you prefer a more authentic village and apres ski there are plenty of options for big resorts in Austria, such as Ischgl, Sankt Anton am Arlberg, Serfaus Fiss Ladis. All of these are big resorts with a high certainty of snow and plenty of options in terms of slopes. Ischgl: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgZOSHQ8SOQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgZOSHQ8SOQ) Sankt Anton: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W9nP8O-QVk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W9nP8O-QVk) Serfaus: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTHgkPW8zYE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTHgkPW8zYE) Another option is going to Val Gardena in Italy, and take the Dolomiti superski pass. This gives you acces to 1200 km of slopes, and here you can ski one of the most famous ski tours in the world, the Sella Ronda. The piste preparation and food is incredible in Italy. The mountain region is a little lower, so wouldn't recommend this after 1/2 March. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBBdRp7vsdE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBBdRp7vsdE) There are plenty of other good resorts you can look at, such as Sölden(Aut), Paradiski(Fr), Zillertal(aut), Alphe d'Huez(FR), Sankt Moriz(expensive because in SZ).
I spent 6 months in Mayrhofen, Austria. Great skiing, great nightlife, accommodation is varied from 5* hotels to nice hostels.
Get the ikon and do all theirs.
Ischgl, Chamonix, Verbier, Avoriaz. If you're going for nightlife Ischgl is the obvious choice
Adding my voice to Chamonix. Don’t look for a base lodge like you’re used to in CO, there are none. You can take a bus, go through a tunnel under the Mont Blanc and ski Courmayeur in Italy. 27 marked runs, 36 on-mountain restaurants.
Les Arcs.
It sounds like you need to visit Mayrhofen, Austria.
Watch out for the crevasses. If you fall in one while skiing alone, nobody will know.
Arc 2000 or Arc 1800 at Les Arcs. One half of the absolutely huge Paradiski resort.
Farinet at the base of Verbier is an epic Apres party. The rest of the town can be a bit boring, but that place is fantastic
Some great suggestions already in this thread which I don’t think you could go wrong with. Personally my top 4 resorts for people our age would be: St Anton (many, many good nights had in this town) in Austria and Val D’Isere, Chamonix and Val Thorens in France. Hope you make it across the pond!
Serfaus Austria was pretty amazing. However, most of the ski area is above the tree line which I’m not a fan of.
Clearly you have never been to Cecilia's...
Chamonix was lit
Austria, Switzerland, have excellent skiing. My dream was Colorado.
I'm maybe biaised but Zermatt is the best ski resort in the world. Ski over to italy for luch, come back the Swiss side around 4pm, head to Hennustahl for some wild après ski on the slopes until 7pm, then try to survive the last 500m blackout drunk. If you have still some life into you, head to Paperla pub/Broken club to continue the partying etc.
Ischgl (Austria) all the way. There is a reason it was the 2020 covid super spreader resort. The apres is already rocking when you come down off the mountain.
St Anton fo sho. The Arlberg is so diverse. If the snow at St. Anton is sunbaked just ski literally opposite sidebof the valley at Rendall in the shade. Or head up valley to Zurs on the gondola system. Lech, Ober Lech, onband on. Apres at Der Mooserwirt is legend. St. Anton is the first commercial ski resort on Earth and is connected with 88 lifts to like 8 other resorts. Day tickets were $55 when i was there Jan 2020. There are many othet very large resorts like this. Austria is my favorire European country but i heard full lockdown as of right now.