Ready for a winter vacation? Whether you are looking at the coming few months or are already thinking ahead to next festive holiday season, a few hotspots have emerged as the top places to go right now, with new infrastructure, great amenities, tons of snow, or for a variety of other reasons. These are the 5 hottest ski and snowboarding travel destinations to visit in 2025.
Big Sky, MT
In the U.S, there has been no hotter destination in recent years than Montana’s Big Sky, and this forward-thinking mega-resort shows no signs of slowing down, with more significant upgrades for this season –and next. Skiing’s popularity has been a double-edged sword, with some resorts seeing record crowds, long lift lines and packed trails. More and more, the new luxury in ski travel is places with less congestion, and as the second biggest resort in the nation, Big Sky has the capacity to handle a lot of people. But it also has less lodging than many of its peers, and attracts fewer visitors to begin with, while moving them around the resort better, thanks to the most advanced lift infrastructure in North America. Oh, and there’s been about three feet of fresh powder already this month.
Big Sky is the second largest ski resort in the United States, arguably the best, and topped by … [+] iconic Lone Peak, “America’s Matterhorn.”Benjamin Saheb for Big Sky Resort
Big Sky is putting the finishing touches on a decade long massive upgrade program called Vision 2025 that added the first new tram built in this country in 15 years, and for this winter, the longest 8-passenger chair in the world, with a bubble to keep passengers cozy. That made Big Sky the only resort on the continent with two 8-passenger lifts or three bubble chairs. As the final touch, there’s a new state-of-the-art two-stage gondola being rolled out for the coming season, along with the world’s first mountain property from top tier luxury brand One & Only hotels, joining the existing Montage at the high-end.
Other recent additions included a major revamp of the main base area food, beverage and retail facilities, updates of the resort-owned base area ski-in/out hotels, and upgrades all across and around the resort. For this winter, United increased airlift into gateway Bozeman, MT making it easier to get to than ever (read more about the new United routes here). Big Sky is on the global Ikon Pass, so passholders can ski free here.
Cortina & The DolomitesCortina d’Ampezzo is one of the marquee ski towns in Europe, and will host the 2026 Winter Olympic … [+] Games.getty
Cortina, “The Queen of the Dolomites,” has long been Italy’s poshest ski town, home to the Winter Olympics and famous for ski scenes in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only. In 2026 the Olympics return for the first time in 70 years, bringing renewed media attention, investment and upgrades, such as the first ever mountain resort from renowned luxury brand Mandarin Oriental.
But perhaps most importantly for visitors, in 2021 the Cortina Skyline gondola was opened, and for the first time, this connected the town’s slopes with the main Dolomiti Superski network, the world’s second largest ski resort. Prior to this, visitors had to choose between staying in Cortina, with its grand hotels and restaurants but less skiing, or out in the smaller towns of neighboring valleys Val Gardena and Alta Badia, with a lot more ski and snowboard terrain. Now it is all connected, by one of the world’s most advanced networks of lifts—more than 400 chairs, gondolas, trams and surface lifts.
In turn, the Dolomites overall have been booming in popularity with the U.S. audience in recent years as the region has been “discovered.” It is a place of stunning natural beauty, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its endless system of trails and lifts connect several storybook towns full of world-class hotels and restaurants. It is simply my favorite place in the world to go skiing, and compared to any U.S. resort, it’s much cheaper and much bigger. The gateway is Venice, which is great to visit in the winter off-season, and Dolomiti Superksi is on the global Ikon Pass, so passholders can ski free here. For a lot more detail, read my Forbes feature on the Dolomites.
The Rest of the AlpsThe Alps are full of top ski and snowboard destinations, such as Switzerland’s Zermatt, home of the … [+] Matterhorngetty
European skiing has been hot lately, and the big resorts of France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy are simply the biggest in the world (depending how you count, either the eight, nine or ten biggest resorts on earth are all in these four countries). If you have not been it is almost incomprehensible how large some of these resorts are, connecting multiple ski areas into mega-regions with hyper-efficient lift networks, much more advanced than almost anything we have here. Several of these mega-resorts even cross the borders and span multiple countries.
On top of the sheer size, it’s much cheaper (lift tickets and lessons are a quarter to half the price of the U.S.), the food is much better, and there is a huge array of lodging, from mom and pop to ultra-luxury to staffed chalets with private chefs. At the end of the day, it’s a ski vacation that is also a European vacation, two trips for the price of one—or less than the price of one in our country.
I’m amazed it has taken so long for the American market to broadly discover the charms of European skiing, but part of this has to do with recently skyrocketing costs of skiing domestically. Just last week I wrote a very detailed, long and in-depth feature on all the reasons to ski and snowboard in Europe, and where to go, so read that here.
JapanPowder, powder and more powder, in bounds and out. That’s why skiers and snowboarders love Japan.getty
It’s been over a decade since skiing and riding in Japan hit the American consciousness, and besides from the pandemic, interest has not slowed much—especially with the recent very weak yen to strong dollar exchange rate. The biggest appeal and the driver of all this is the incredibly prolific snowfall, more deep, dry powder than any other ski destination on earth, so much it has earned the nickname JaPow. Take the best winter you can imagine out West, then double or triple those snowfalls, and you get a sense of what this winter wonderland offers, with the potential for deep fresh tracks every day you are there.
It’s the snow that has moved the needle, but you also get a distinct cultural immersion, in one of the best culinary destinations on earth, with lift tickets that are much cheaper (more like Europe) than you are ever see at major resorts here. A ski or snowboard trip to Japan is more of an adventure or experience than just a great ski trip, but make no mistake, the skiing is great. So is the food, unique lodging like traditional ryokans, the onsen hot springs bathing and a weekend extension in Tokyo. For those seeking a more contemporary luxury experience, the Ritz-Carlton Reserve and Park Hyatt hotels at Niseko compare favorably with just about anything in skiing.The food is not too shabby either.getty
It’s a complete package, but it is one you will want to research and get some help planning, starting with which of the marquee areas (Hokkaido or Nagano) to go to, as they are very different, and one is more likely right for you. You can read my in-depth article for Town + Country magazine here, but I recommend using a knowledgeable outfitter with experience in the region to organize a trip to Japan, such as ski travel specialists Alpine Adventures or Scout Ski.
Canada’s Powder Highway
Canada has long been home to North America’s largest and most popular ski and snowboard destination, Whistler/Blackcomb, while Banff National Park in Alberta has two of the largest resorts on the continent sharing a single ticket, Sunshine Village and Lake Lousie. Our northern neighbor is a perennially popular ski escape, but in recent years a new contender has emerged by turning back the clock and offering an old school, value oriented, “pure” ski and snowboard aesthetic. It also offers a road trip experience, with multiple resorts, some of them huge, and lots of snow—12-feet so far this season.Revelstoke is one of eight ski resorts that comprise Canada’s “Powder Highway.”getty
The ambiance is more about the skiing and riding and less about European fashion boutiques and overpriced pasta, so if you like deep snow and no lift lines, this is a place for you. There is also a lot of sno-cat skiing in the area, more than a dozen operators, the best way to experience world-class untracked powder without going heli-skiing. But if you want it, there is also a ton of heli-skiing here. In terms of winter fun, there’s a ton of everything.
This “next big thing” is British Columbia’s Powder Highway, a circular road route linking eight ski resorts that get a lot of snow, hence the name. Several of these are legitimate ski vacation destinations in and of themselves, and while the region appeals wildly to road trippers and those who ran out and bought Sprinter or other camper vans in the pandemic, there is no need to move around to get in plenty of turns. Five of the eight resorts here are as big or bigger than Wyoming’s Jackson Hole, “The Big One,” one of the most famed destination ski resorts in the U.S., which clocks in at 2,500-acres. These standouts include Red Mountain, Revelstoke, Fernie, Panorama and Kicking Horse, the “Champagne Powder Capital of Canada.” To give you an idea, Red Mountain has 3,850-acres, Kicking Horse 3,400, Revelstoke 3,121, Panorama 2,975, and Fernie 2,500+.
