Planning your first ski holiday can be daunting. There is a lot to consider – from equipment hire to lift passes and lessons – but the first place to start is choosing your ski resort.
The most important things first-timers should look for are: a good dedicated beginner area, with a very gentle slope and an easy-to-use lift; easy pistes to progress to; a good ski school, with instructors who speak English well; a resort that has a good snow record; and, preferably, accommodation that’s near the beginner area and main lifts, to reduce the logistics of getting to the slopes each day.
It’s also advised to take two or three lessons at an indoor snow slope before you depart. This will enable you to get used to the equipment and learn the basics of sliding downhill safely, walking uphill and using a draglift. It will also save you valuable time when you hit the slopes for real and enable you to make faster progress and enjoy your holiday. If there isn’t a snow slope near you, have lessons at a dry slope instead. I also recommend getting physically fit enough for the slopes, whatever your age.
To help solve the puzzle of booking your first ski trip, here’s our pick of 10 beginner-friendly ski resorts.
Soldeu, Andorra
Best for a wonderful ski school
Soldeu Ski and Snowboard School (which also covers neighbouring El Tarter) is renowned for its excellent tuition and English-speaking instructors, many of whom are British.
There’s a vast and snow-sure beginner area at Espiolets (an area of pistes reached by gondola from the centre of the resort) and another above El Tarter (also reached by gondola).
Progression to easy green and blue runs is simple. By the end of a week’s holiday, many beginners will be able to enjoy the whole of the Grandvalira ski area, which covers more than 200km of pistes and is the largest ski area in the Pyrenees.
Soldeu is a lively resort, popular with British holidaymakers, with several good bars for après-ski, including the Villager (at the foot of the slopes), Fat Albert’s (in a 300-year-old barn) and Aspen (a pub with pool tables, table football, live music and a big-screen television showing sport).
Soldeu’s ski school is renowned for its excellent tuition – MARC GASCH
Where to stay
Crystal Ski offers the four-star Sport Hotel Village, next to the gondola, from £1,116.
Alpe d’Huez, France
Best for a huge ski area of sunny easy slopes
Known as the “Island in the Sun”, Alpe d’Huez has ample south-facing slopes and gets an average of 300 sunny days a year.
The beginner areas, located near the main base stations, are usually bathed in sunshine and novices have access to free lifts for their first turns. From there, there’s the chance to progress to a huge number of easy and mostly wide green and blue pistes, which criss-cross the lower half of the mountain.
There’s a great indoor-outdoor pool to relax in after skiing, plus an Olympic-size ice rink and a wide range of bars.
The beginner slopes in Alpe d’Huez are usually bathed in sunshine – Ross Woodhall/Getty
Where to stay
Skiworld offers Chalet Salagou, 100m from the Télécentre lift that runs through the resort and an easy green run, from £1,309, chalet board.
Saas-Fee, Switzerland
Best for late-season holidays
Saas-Fee is one of my favourite resorts – a traditional old mountain village, with narrow car-free streets and stunning views of a ring of 4,000m peaks. It’s known as the “Pearl of the Alps” for good reason.
The resort’s ski area goes up to 3,500m and includes the Allalin glacier. It can be bitterly cold in midwinter – when the village gets little sun – so it’s best for a March or April holiday.
There’s a superb, out-of-the-way beginner area at the edge of the village, for which there’s a cheap beginner lift pass available. After that, the easiest runs are gentle blues and reds high up on the glacier. The runs between mid-mountain and the village are much steeper and beginners should take the gondola down.
Saas-Fee has a superb beginner area at the edge of the village – Puzzle Media
Where to stay
Iglu Ski offers the three-star Hotel Bristol at the foot of the slopes, opposite the ski school meeting point and next to the beginner area, from £1,345 for a room with a balcony.
Montgenèvre, France
Best for family fun
This resort is famously snowy because of its position on a high pass on the Italian border. The main road has been banished to a tunnel, leaving the resort with no through traffic and great for families.
The huge, resort-level beginner area is ideal, with a magic carpet lift and a long draglift. Beginners move on from there to lovely long green runs, accessed by a lift that has both chairs and gondolas. A further chairlift takes you all the way to the top of the mountain and yet another green piste.
Off the slopes, there’s lots of fun for families, including an excellent aquatic centre, the 1,400m long Monty Express sled-on-rails ride and a big outdoor ice skating rink.
Montgenevre is a snow-sure resort with a huge beginner area – Michele D’Ottavio/Alamy Stock Photo
Where to stay
Erna Low offers Residence Napoleon, next to the ski school meeting place and beginner area, with swimming pool, hot tub, steam room and saunas, from £492, self-catering, based on four people sharing a two-bedroom apartment, including flights and transfers.
Obergurgl, Austria
Best for jolly Austrian après-ski
Obergurgl is the highest parish in Austria, set at 1,930m. Its church was consecrated in 1737 and over the years modern hotels and other buildings have been added in a sympathetic chalet style.
But it remains small and is set in a remote location at the end of the Ötz valley. There’s no through traffic and it has a calm and relaxed atmosphere. The slopes are high and about the most snow-sure of Europe’s non-glacier terrain.
The ski school has an excellent reputation and there are beginner areas at each end of the village. The easy blue from the Hohe Mut gondola mid-station to the village is a great run to progress to.
Après-ski when the lifts close is jolly, especially at the Nederhütte (at the mid-station of the Hohe Mut gondola) and at bars at the bottom of the lifts.
Obergurgl has a relaxed atmosphere, an excellent ski school and accessible slopes – Roman Huber
Where to stay
Inghams offers the four-star Olympia, right by the beginner area, from £1,100.
Val d’Isère, France
Best for mixed-ability groups
Until 2016, I wouldn’t have dreamed of recommending Val d’Isère to beginners. But then a brilliant new beginner area opened high up (2,560m) on the Solaise mountain, served by covered moving carpet lifts, a cosy café at the top and a new gondola to and from the village.
That supplements the long-standing village-level beginner area. And from the new area it’s easy to take the Madeleine chairlift to a wide, easy green run and several easy blues. The downside is there are no easy runs to valley level – beginners should ride the lifts down.
Intermediates and experts have vast amounts of terrain to try – including world-class off-piste.
After adding a new beginner area, Val d’Isere truly now has something to offer every level of skier – Val d’Isere Tourisme
Where to stay
Le Ski offers Chalet Bel Air from £901, chalet board, including use of outdoor hot tubs and a shuttle service to/from the slopes.
Valmorel, France
Best for a cute, traffic-free village centre
Valmorel was purpose-built in the 1970s with a traffic-free main street at the foot of the slopes, designed to look like a traditional old French mountain village.
There’s a beginner area next to this with a moving carpet and draglift that are free to use. Plus two other areas at the tops of the main gondolas out of the village. Progression is by easy blue runs up the mountain and long gentle greens, served by a series of draglifts along a ridge down to Doucy.
At the top of the Planchamp gondola there’s a snowtubing area and a Pirate Village with lots of fun activities for children.
Valmorel is a laidback, car-free resort with a great atmosphere for beginners – Artur Debat
Where to stay
Peak Retreats offers the luxury Anitea apartments at the foot of the slopes, with a swimming pool, hot tub, sauna, steam room and underground parking, from £541, self catering, based on four sharing a two-bedroom apartment, self-drive, including Flexiplus Le Shuttle crossings.
Cervinia, Italy
Best for easy slopes and cross-border cruising
Cervinia is high (2,050m), snow-sure and its pistes are almost universally easy. First-timers have a wonderful beginner area at resort level with a free moving carpet lift and chairlift. There’s another beginner area up the mountain at Plan Maison.
Progression is easy, with lots of easy blue runs. By the end of a week’s holiday fast learners will even be able to go over the top ridge to Zermatt in Switzerland and enjoy the very gentle runs on the glacier there.
One of my favourite mountain restaurants in Cervinia is among the blue runs at mid-mountain level, Chalet Etoile. Booking is essential.
Cervinia is snow-sure and its pistes are almost universally easy – AscentXmedia/Getty
Where to stay
Ski Line offers the three-star Breuil hotel at the foot of the slopes, with a steam room and sauna, from £1,119.
Passo Tonale, Italy
Best for low-budget learning
Passo Tonale attracts a lot of beginners and its ski schools have good reputations. Covered moving carpet lifts serve excellent beginner areas. After that, fast chairlifts take you to plenty of easy blue runs and almost as easy red – all on high, snow-sure sunny slopes.
On the opposite side of the valley is the Presena glacier sector, served by a three-stage gondola, with an easy blue run beneath its middle section. More confident skiers will enjoy some of the steeper slopes in neighbouring (lift- and piste-linked) Ponte di Legno too.
Prices – on and off the slopes – are low by Alpine standards. There’s an open-air ice rink and several lively bars for après-ski.
Cheap with good ski schools – Passo Tonale is a hit with beginners – Mauro Mariotti
Where to stay
Ski Solutions offers the four-star Miramonti, at the foot of the lifts and by the ski school meeting point, from £817.
Beaver Creek, Colorado, USA
Best for money-no-object luxury
“Not Exactly Roughing It” is Beaver Creek’s slogan. If you’d like luxury and top-notch service while you learn to ski, Beaver Creek is the place to be: its slopes are delightfully quiet, even by US standards; its lodgings are luxurious; its ski instructors are the best; its snow is dry, powdery and perfectly groomed.
Beaver Creek is known for its quiet slopes and luxury lodgings – Madison Miller/Beaver Creek Resort
The beginner slope at resort level is excellent and served by a short gondola. Up the mountain and served by chairlifts, McCoy Park has lots of splendidly easy green and blue runs. And the main mountain, served by successive fast chairs from the base, is full of easy runs too – including top-to-bottom options of over 1,000m vertical.
Where to stay
Ski Independence offers the five-star Park Hyatt Resort & Spa at the foot of the slopes, with a swimming pool and five hot tubs, next to the ski school meeting point and the main lift up the mountain, from £3,560, B&B.
Unless otherwise stated, prices are per person, for a week, based on two people sharing a room, half board, including flights and transfers.
Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.