Skiers and riders can argue for days over which mountain they think is the absolute best in the world. Everyone has a different personal metric for their “best” list—be it the number of lifts, snow conditions, après offerings, ease of access, or just how many vertical feet they can get with each run. But thanks to a broadly based study, there’s a more concrete answer.
In November 2024, travel booking website Omio shared its findings after researching and ranking more than 6,000 ski resorts around the globe. It ranked these resorts based on 11 factors, including the cost of an adult, youth, and child ticket, customer ratings, whether there was access to a ski school, the distance of each trail, and the number of events at the resort during the season. The company gave each variable a score out of 100, ordered the resorts from best to worst by each variable, and assigned them a final score. The ski resort score was then divided by the maximum score possible to create an index out of 100.
After looking at all this information, the company determined that Arosa Lenzerheide in Switzerland is the best in the world.
“Arosa Lenzerheide scored an impressive 91.73 on Omio’s custom index scale,” the team explained in their findings. They noted that the mountain scored 4.7 out of five stars in visitor reviews and offers “state-of-the-art facilities and the opportunity to enjoy the great variety of ski runs or relax in cozy mountain restaurants.” The study also found that skiers and riders had 225 kilometers (over 139 miles) of slopes to shred, along with “reliable snow cover,” all accessible from 43 lifts. “Not to mention, the resort holds seven events during the ski season,” the team added, “including the FIS Ski Cross World Cup Arosa and the Swiss Snow Walk and Run.”
Unfortunately for U.S. skiers, the list was dominated by European ski resorts, which made up the entire top 20.
“It may be no surprise that European destinations have dominated the rankings due to their geography,” the team stated. “The Alps have long been a popular destination for ski-goers, but now travelers can easily find the best resorts based on their preferred holiday destination.”
While five of the top 20 resorts were in Switzerland, Austria had an impressive showing, with 12 mentions. That includes Sölden, which came in second with a score of 91.68, followed by SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental, Saalbach, Hochkönig, and Kitzbühel. Breaking up the Austrian resorts were Campiglio in Italy and Serre Chevalier in France, before the top 10 was rounded out by Zillertal and Kaltenbach, both in—you guessed it—Austria. So if you’re a keen skier, it might be time to book that ticket to Europe.
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