This Gorgeous Destination Was Just Named the No. 1 Ski Resort in the World — and It Has 139 Miles of Trails to Explore

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, on-mountain parties, ease of access, or just how many vertical feet they can get with each run. But now, thanks to a new study, we may have a more concrete answer.

In November, Omio, a travel booking website, 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, if there was access to a ski school, the distance of each trail, and the number of events at the resort during the season. It 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, it named Arosa Lenzerheide in Switzerland — a mountain we got a taste of last year — the best in the world. 

“Arosa Lenzerheide scored an impressive 91.73 on Omio’s custom index scale,” the team explained in their findings. It noted that the mountain has a 4.7/5-star review from previous visitors and has “state-of-the-art facilities and the opportunity to enjoy the great variety of ski runs or relax in cozy mountain restaurants.” It also found that skiers and riders had 225 kilometers (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,” it added, “including the FIS Ski Cross World Cup Arosa and the Swiss Snow Walk and Run.”

Sorry to U.S. skiers, but Europe absolutely dominated the list, making 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.” 

Switzerland made up five of the top 20 resorts, but Austria also had an impressive showing, with 12 mentions in the top 20. That includes Sölden, in Austria, which came in second with a score of 91.68. It was joined by SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser-Brixental in Austria in third, followed by Saalbach in Austria, Hochkönig in Austria, Kitzbühel, which is also in Austria, and Campiglio in Italy, Serre Chevalier in France, Zillertal in Austria, and Kaltenbach in — you guessed it — Austria rounding out the top 10. So, maybe it’s time to book that ticket to Austria, right?