Best ski resort

Morzine is great, easy enough skiing/boarding, very nice scenery and lovely town.

Or go Canada or West Coast USA, lots of snow, prob only 300 extra for your flights per person

Agree with loving Italy but they are having it hardest of all with snow this season. Hasn't really been any natural snow there yet this season.

Some pics in this article are frankly disturbing:

http://www.planetski.eu/news/7497

Cervinia nice and dramatic, fair bit of skiing and very high but susceptible to wind closures. The dolomites are stunningly beautiful, prob the most scenic skiing in the world, but the resorts are quite strung out. Livigno is very good value and decent skiing, but transfer tends to be very long. Madonna di Campiglio (or something like that) is supposed to be great and is on my list but haven't made it yet. Pila decent but very small ski area.

I'm sticking with Saalbach, so many pluses and some great runs here. Ischgl comes in a close second for me.

Bear in mind much of Italy has yet to get any snow this season and is running on artificial snow (which reports on line bizarrely are suggesting is skiing well), although I think the Northern resorts are due to benefit from the dump forecast for the next few days

dubgirl15 wrote: »

Hi hoping you can provide me with some recommendations. Hoping to go skiing on the week on the 2nd Jan. Have spent the last two Christmas days skiing in zell am see , loved it there but looking to try a new resort this year. We are a couple not looking for anywhere wild, just good skiing , nice scenery and nice food! As I said this is our third time to go skiing so still very much beginners. Open to any suggestions at this stage!

I know it's too late for this year but it may be helpful to you/some for later experience.

You were asking for the best ski resort. I'd answer you it all depends on what you're searching for.

• ski only: amount/length of pistes, quality of the lifts, height difference from top to bottom, quality of the snow/elevation of the resort, exclusively on pistes or off-pistes/freeride, snowpark, etc... ;
• scenery/landscape, resort "friendliness": a small mountain village or a "ski-factory" ;
• après-ski: restaurants, pubs, night-clubs ;
• facilities: shops, other non-ski activities ;

and what you're willing/able to spend (skipass, accomodation comfort, food (**), après-ski).

Now, considering your criterion I bolded, I'd say you should find great places in the Southern Alps in France (*). Being French, I have almost no experience of skiing abroad (just tried Spain) so can't give you advice elsewhere but I can tell you that Spain is expensive and the Pyrenees too. Ditto the Vosges. Savoyard Alps are generally more expensive than Southern ones. Grenoble and the Hautes-Alpes/Savoie border being the boundary between Northern and Southern Alps.
I'm a bit surprised by the amount of posts saying Italy's cheaper. One of my good friend, Italian, was always coming to France (and not the cheapest place, actually maybe one of the most expensive, Val d'Isère) because it was cheaper than Italy!

(*) Vars/Risoul (La Forêt Blanche) should suit you. It's a big enough skiing area. If you're OK with a smaller area, Saint Véran is a superb place. Or, around Gap, in the Champsaur valley, there are many (very) small "familly" resorts (e.g. Chaillol, Saint-Léger les Mélèzes) but it's not very high and it's very sunny so careful with the snow conditions. In the area, Les Orres is great value too (check when Marseille is on holiday since it can be quite packed when it's the case).
In the Northern Alps, the Maurienne valley offers good deals. Valmeinier/Valloire (if you look for a calm place, favour Valmeinier), Val Cenis are great mid-size resorts. Aussois and Bonneval-sur-Arc are smaller but have great character. Probably a bit more expensive than the Southern Alps ones I mentioned above.

(**) About food, it also depends upon what you're planning to do: buy food and cook yourself or go in restaurants. First option is of course much cheaper and guarantees you good food if you plan it a little bit ahead (local markets, delis in the nearest towns).

stecleary wrote: »

Transfers are a pain with Barcelona being the lesser of two evils, The French love to close roads.

Not sure what you're on about with this but I presume you don't know the area. Acces to Pas de la Casa is done via 2 main roads on the French side (from Perpignan or Toulouse). From Toulouse, it's OK up to Ax-les-Thermes, then the Ariège valley is very steep and narrow at places and subject to avalanche. From Perpignan, it's OK up to Bourg-Madame and then the Carol valley is extremely steep and narrow and thus very avalanche-friendly. The Puymorens Pass (well you use the tunnel in the winter) can be a pain alright but again if it's closed, it's because it's dangerous. Don't forget Pas de la Casa is almost 2100m high. While access through Andorra is in a much wider valley and you can stop at Canillo at 1500m high or Soldeu at 1800m high. Now, up to you if you prefer losing a day or your life ...