Finding a ski holiday for the first time can be very daunting. There are so many options it can be almost impossible to tell what the right choice is for you. Going to the right resort can make or break your enjoyment of the sport. To help you along the right path, here is our list of the best ski resorts for beginners.
The best ski resorts for beginners
Arinsal
Andorra
Arinsal has been proclaimed a sanctuary for beginners. It’s where visitors come to start their new obsession with winter sports. Beginners greatly benefit from the wide, gentle slopes – there is even an allocated area for families and new skiers.
Ascend the main gondola in the centre of Arinsal and you will be taken to the Comallempla area. This is where the ski schools gather to practice on green slopes allocated exclusively for beginners. You won’t have to worry about any other skiers rushing past as you learn.
When you’re feeling confident enough to venture further, travel over to the connected areas of Pal and Arcalis to perfect your new skills!
Other activities:
Andorra is a duty free country so take the opportunity to grab some gifts on the cheap while you’re there. There is also a full programme of apres-ski events including quiz evenings.
Obergurgl
Austria
Obergurgl is a fantastic, high resort where the focus is on beginners and family skiers. The wide, treeless slopes are perfect to practice your turns and gain confidence before heading further up the mountain for slightly more challenging runs.
There are two beginner areas, one in the village centre near the Rosskar chair lift and the other at the bottom of the village by the Festkogel chair lift. There is a big variety of slopes to practice on. You can even take the Top Express Gondola over to Hochgurgl for more beginner-friendly blue runs.
The Obergurgl ski school has an excellent reputation and all its instructors speak English. Use of two chair lifts from the base station at Obergurgl is included free with ski school tuition.
Other activities:
Have a go a snowshoeing! It’s a lot of fun and you can enjoy the mountain hikes and take in the terrific scenery in deep, unscathed snow. Also in Obergurgl, is an ice-skating rink and an indoor golf park, which is great for an afternoon of family-fun.
Lake Louise
Canada
Known for its spectacular scenery and situated next to the beautiful lake of the same name is the resort of Lake Louise. Beginners can enjoy this huge area of opens pistes, giving plenty of opportunity to learn to ski on wide-open slopes.
Beginners can explore everything the Lake Louise ski area has to offer as green runs descend the mountain from every chair lift. It is also a great resort for children to learn to ski. Located at the base station is the Minute Maid Wilderness Adventure Park, the perfect place for little beginners to practice their new skills.
Other activities:
Having a ride with a pack of huskies on the outback nature trails makes for a perfect family break from the excitement of skiing. Dog sledging is the perfect activity for exploring and enjoying the beautiful Canadian scenery. The rush of cold air on your face is exhilarating, and the kids are sure to love it!
Whistler
Canada
Whistler is renowned as the best resort in North America, and deservedly so. For those who have never skied before, it is a brilliant place to start. There are nearly 50 easy and gentle slopes around the resort providing a wide variety of slopes to practice on.
You can head up the Whistler Village Gondola or the Fitzsimmons Express to the Olympic Station. This is the easiest and calmest part of the mountain as it is made almost entirely of green runs and marked slow zones. It is the perfect place to build your confidence before moving onto blue runs, of which there are over 100 across Whistler and Blackcomb.
You’ll be spoilt for choice!
Other activities:
Fly high through the trees at 100kmph as you experience one of the world’s most spectacular ziplines! Embark on an exhilarating snowmobile adventure through the snowy woods. Or enjoy a great day out at the Whistler Blackcomb tube park and enjoy over 1000ft of sliding fun. With everything Whistler has to offer you’ll never want to leave.
Alpe d’Huez
France
Immediately above Alpe d’Huez is a fantastic snow bowl of easy green runs and wide-open pistes. They offer the perfect conditions for first-timers or those trying to build up confidence. Once you have progressed from the basics and have begun to move up to the next level, you can take the Marmottes chairlift where you can enjoy calm blue runs.
Ski schools meet in several locations around Alpe d’Huez. The main ones start near the Les Grandes Rousses base station, or in the village by the Les Bergers and L’Eclose commercial centres and charlifts. No matter where you’re staying, there’s bound to be a meet up point near you.
Other activities:
A must see when staying in Alpe d’Huez is the unique and wonderful Ice Cave! La Grotto de Glace is carved into the glacier. Every year the exhibit of sculptures and artwork inside the cave change. Open to both skiers and pedestrians, it is well worth a visit and is accessed via the second tier of the Tronçon gondola.
Other activities include an ice-skating rink, a swimming pool, snowmobiling, tobogganing, and even a chance to sky dive from Alpe d’Huez’s own Altiport. There’s plenty do to beyond learning to ski or snowboard!
Avoriaz
France
Avoriaz sits at the heart of the Portes du Soleil ski area. This traffic-free resort is perfect for beginners. The nursery slope is so close it almost runs through the town. And with multiple ski schools around the resort, it couldn’t be more convenient for beginners.
The runs around resort are gentle and wide and no matter which direction you ski there is the option to ski a lovely blue run. The wide Proclou run down to Super-Morzine is especially good run for beginners. You can easily get a gondola back up rather than continuing across to Morzine. Le Lil Stash beginners snow park runs alongside, if you start feeling courageous enough to try a jump by the end of the week.
Other activities:
As the resort is traffic-free, there are horse-drawn sleighs everywhere. Grabbing a trip from one end of Avoriaz to the other is great fun! There is also a swimming pool and a small ice rink in the middle of town, and a two-lane bowling alley and arcade in a complex on Place des Dromonts, which is a great way to spend an evening!
Flaine
France
Flaine is regarded as a fantastic resort for beginners. With three free ski lifts dotted around the bottom of the mountain, you can get a lot of practice in before you’re ready to purchase a lift pass and progress up the mountain.
Around the base station in Flaine there is a network of short, easy green slopes and gentle blue runs. This is arguably the easiest part of the Grande Massif ski area. Once you have mastered the basics there are some excellent, easy blue runs, which you can ski down to Les Carroz, Morillon and Samoëns.
ESF is the main ski school in Flaine. They have two meeting points – Forum, at the base of the Telebenne chair lift, and Forêt in the centre of the town.
Other activities:
Have you ever wanted to release your inner rally driver? The Flaine Ice Driving School lets you experience first-hand the thrill of racing a car on the snow. Courses range from short introductions to several days in length. This can be an excellent way to spend an afternoon off the slopes.
Corvara
Italy
Corvara offers one of the best beginner areas in the Dolomites. Those new to the sport will discover the perfect blend of easy slopes, breath-taking views and Italian tradition. The Alta Badia area covers 130m of slopes, 70km of which are blue runs, meaning beginners have plenty of options in this beautiful area to learn and quickly progress. Beginners will benefit from the long, wide flat runs in this area, majority accessible from lifts starting in resort. Incredible views can be seen at the top of Col Alt before beginners make their way down a number of different blue runs either back to resort or carrying on to explore other areas in the valley.
Other activities:
In Alta Badia there is a range of non-ski activities to suit any mood. Take to the ice and enjoying skating to music. At the ice stadium there is also a bar where you can enjoy drinks and snacks. Alternatively, get your adrenaline pumping with climbing, or maybe something a little more chilled and enjoy a snowshoe excursion.
Saas-Fee
Switzerland
Known as “the Pearl of the Alps”, Saas-Fee is a beautiful beginner-friendly resort, where many of the blue runs could easily be classified as green they are so gentle. Tucked away at the far end of the village are secluded nursery slopes, ideal for first time skiers and snowboarders.
However, don’t feel you have to stay on the nursery slopes for long. Once you’ve built up your confidence you can test your skills on the smooth blue runs from the top of Felskinn to Morenia and back to Saas-Fee. Confident beginners may want to accept the challenge of the Allain glacier. With friendly red runs, it may be the perfect end to a week’s adventure.
Other activities:
Saas-Fee hosts a number of sporting events throughout the winter, including the Ice Climbing World Cup and the Downhill Glacier Bike Race, which bring bustle and excitement to the resort.
Midway up the Allalin gondola, at 3,457m, is the world’s highest revolving restaurant. The Threes!xty restaurant treats guests to 360° views across the surrounding mountains while they enjoy lunch.
Wengen
Switzerland
Wengen spoils visitors with its beautiful scenery. Learn to ski in an exquisite, traffic free village perched high on the mountain, overlooking a stunning valley. There is a large nursery slope in the centre of the village, making it ultra-convenient for getting to your lessons in the morning.
Once you have grasped the basics, head up the Mannlichen cable car, which takes you from the village centre to the top of the mountain for lots of cruisy blues. For confident beginners there is the option to take the mountain railway to Kleine Schiedigg, with a fantastic range of slopes with spectacular views.
Other activities:
As if the scenery wasn’t remarkable enough, you can also take the opportunity to go on a scenic helicopter tour to admire 360° views. If that’s not for you, Wengen offers a range of non-ski activities including curling, sledging and ice-skating.
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Piste and trail classification
Knowing the piste and slope classification before you clip your skis on, and understanding that it is different in Europe and North America is always a very useful skill to have.
| Europe | Green | Easiest |
| Blue | Moderate | |
| Red | Intermediate | |
| Black | Difficult/ Expert | |
| Canada | Green | Easiest |
| Blue | Intermediate | |
| Black | Most Difficult |
Glossary of terms used in this guide:
Base station: Many resorts have a ‘base station’, which is the main gathering area at the village level where the lowest chair lifts will serve the skiing areas up the mountain.
Chair lift: Quite literally what the name says! Chair lifts vary in size and speed, small 2-person chair lifts might serve the gentler areas of the slope, whereas large 8-person chair lifts will whisk lots of skiers and boarders up the mountain quickly.
Gondola: Fundamentally an enclosed, mini-cabin lift that fits anywhere between 4-8 passengers. Generally much faster than an open chair lift.
Lift pass: Your ticket to access the resort and lifts! These days they sometimes come in the form of a waterproof tag that you have attached to the outside of your clothing, or a contactless card that can be worn inside your glove or sleeve that you simply ‘swipe’ on the barriers to get through. To read more about the different types of lift pass, please check out our other Insider’s Guide: Learn the Lingo: A-Z Glossary of ski slang and trail talk.
Nursery Slopes: Not to be associated with the idea that these are slopes for children only, nursery slopes are gentle slopes allocated to beginners only. Usually out of the way of the passing through ski traffic.
Parallel turns: A technique of skiing that you will be taught during your lessons.
Piste: ‘Piste’ is the French word for a ski run (pronounced like ‘least’). In Europe they are referred to as ‘pistes’, whereas in USA and Canada they prefer the terms slope, trail, run.
Ski bus: A bus that runs very regularly around the resort and exclusive for skiers and boarders who hold lift passes. You can be picked up from any of the numerous pick up points and dropped at the main base station.
Read our full A-Z Glossary of ski terms >
