It is October already and if you are a skier it is finally time to plan for your ski trips during next winter. If you are a keen skier you are probably thinking about going to Europe and test the skiing in the Alps there. For an outsider the sheer amount of skiing possibilities in the European Alps may be somewhat confusing. Here are some basic tips to help you to plan your ski trip:
Where to go: There are some thousands of different ski resorts dotted all over the entire Alps, an 1200 kilometer long mountain range stretching from Nice (France) in the Southwest to Vienna (Austria) in the Northeast. Basically the decision of choosing a particular resort depends on your specific needs: if you want to have perfect ski-in/ski-out, countless groomed pistes and dozens of lifts and don’t mind to stay in a tiny appartement you probably should think about France. Les Trois Vallees (3V) or Val d’Isere are the usual choices. If you want to experience authentic alpine life in small, quaint villages which nevertheless comes with abundant skiing possibilities some of the many ski resorts in Austria like the Arlberg area, Ischgl, Zillertal, Kitzbühel or Gastein may be perfect for you. Switzerland excels with spectacular high alpine landscapes and with its famous strife for quality based on a century-long tradition of luxury tourism. Zermatt, Verbier, St. Moritz, Davos-Klosters and the Bernese Oberland are among the many Swiss skiing destinations which are most popular by international tourists.
When to go:Usually skiing in the Alps starts with late November. However, snow falls are somewhat unreliable until mid/late December. In most valley areas the snow pack maximizes during February (in the alpine environment above 2000 m usually in March and even later in glacier areas around 3000 m). Christmas/New Year is the first seasonal peak, followed by February (school holidays in France, parts of Germany, Netherlands, and Austria). The last seasonal peak is at Easter. In between there might be some quite calm weeks with no lift queues at all and smaller prizes. The ski season ends with late April in most resorts but some ski resorts extend their season until early May.
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