Top 5 Must-Visit Ski and Snowboarding Hotspots for Your 2025 Adventure

Prepared for a winter getaway? Whether you’re considering the upcoming months or already planning for the next festive holiday season, several popular destinations have surfaced as the premier places to visit presently, featuring new infrastructure, excellent amenities, ample snow, or various other enticing reasons. These represent the five trendiest ski and snowboarding vacation hotspots to explore in 2025.

Big Sky, MT

In the United States, few destinations have been hotter in recent years than Montana’s Big Sky, and this innovative mega-resort shows no indications of slowing down, with substantial upgrades planned for both this season and the next. The growing popularity of skiing has proven to be a double-edged sword, leading some resorts to contend with record crowds, lengthy lift queues, and crowded trails. Increasingly, the modern luxury in ski travel lies in destinations with reduced congestion, and as the second largest resort in the nation, Big Sky has the capacity to accommodate a large number of visitors. However, it also has fewer lodging options compared to many of its competitors, attracting fewer travelers initially but managing them more efficiently throughout the resort, owing to the most sophisticated lift infrastructure in North America. Additionally, around three feet of fresh powder has already fallen this month.

Big Sky is finalizing a decade-long extensive enhancement initiative known as Vision 2025, which has introduced the first new tram constructed in this nation in 15 years, along with this winter’s longest 8-passenger chair lift globally, featuring a bubble to ensure passenger comfort. This development made Big Sky the sole resort on the continent to possess two 8-passenger lifts or three bubble chairs. As a final touch, a state-of-the-art two-stage gondola is being launched for the upcoming season, alongside the world’s first mountain property from the top-tier luxury hotel brand One & Only, complementing the existing Montage at the upscale end.

Recent enhancements also included a complete overhaul of the primary base area dining, drinking, and retail facilities, updates to the resort-managed base area ski-in/out lodges, and upgrades throughout and around the resort. For this winter, United has increased air connectivity to gateway Bozeman, MT, making access easier than ever (read more about the new United routes here). Big Sky is included in the global Ikon Pass, allowing passholders to ski for free here.

Cortina & The Dolomites

Cortina, known as “The Queen of the Dolomites,” has long stood as Italy’s most luxurious ski town, a site of the Winter Olympics and famed for its ski scenes in the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only. The Olympics will return in 2026 for the first time in seven decades, drawing renewed media focus, investment, and enhancements, including the inaugural mountain resort from the illustrious luxury brand Mandarin Oriental.

However, perhaps the most significant change for visitors occurred in 2021 with the launch of the Cortina Skyline gondola, which for the first time connected the slopes of the town with the primary Dolomiti Superski network, the world’s second largest ski resort. Previously, visitors had to choose between staying in Cortina, which boasts grand hotels and dining establishments but less skiing, or the smaller towns in the nearby valleys of Val Gardena and Alta Badia, which offered significantly more skiing and snowboarding terrain. Now, everything is interconnected, via one of the world’s most advanced networks of lifts—over 400 chairs, gondolas, trams, and surface lifts.

Consequently, the Dolomites have experienced a surge in popularity among U.S. audiences in recent years as the region has gained recognition. It’s a place characterized by spectacular natural scenery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and an extensive array of trails and lifts linking several picturesque towns brimming with world-class accommodations and dining options. It is undoubtedly my preferred skiing destination globally, and compared to any U.S. resort, it is considerably more affordable and expansive. Venice serves as the gateway, which is an excellent place to visit during the winter off-season, and Dolomiti Superski is part of the global Ikon Pass, allowing passholders to ski for free here. For further details, refer to my Forbes article on the Dolomites.

The Rest of the Alps

European skiing has been particularly appealing recently, with the major resorts in France, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy ranking among the largest globally (depending on methodologies, either the eight, nine, or ten largest resorts on the planet can be found in these four nations). For those who haven’t visited, it is almost unimaginable how expansive some of these resorts are, connecting multiple ski regions into mega-regions backed by exceptionally efficient lift networks, far more advanced than most of what we possess here. Several of these expansive resorts even cross borders, spanning multiple countries.

In addition to the sheer scale, it’s considerably more economical (lift tickets and lessons are about a quarter…to half the cost of the U.S.), the cuisine is significantly superior, and there is an extensive selection of accommodations, ranging from family-run lodges to ultra-luxurious options, including staffed chalets with personal chefs. Ultimately, it’s a ski getaway that also serves as a European holiday, providing two experiences for the price of one—or even less than the cost of one in our nation.

I’m astonished it has taken this long for the American market to widely uncover the delights of skiing in Europe, but part of this can be attributed to the recent soaring expenses of skiing domestically. Just last week, I authored a comprehensive, lengthy article detailing all the reasons to ski and snowboard in Europe, as well as where to visit, which you can read here.

Japan

It’s been more than ten years since skiing and riding in Japan captured the attention of Americans, and aside from the pandemic, interest has not diminished—especially with the current weak yen against the strong dollar exchange rate. The primary allure and catalyst for this passion is the extraordinarily abundant snowfall, offering more deep, dry powder than any other ski location worldwide, so much that it has received the moniker JaPow. Imagine the finest winter you can envisage out West, then multiply or triple those snowfalls, and you’ll grasp what this winter paradise provides, with the opportunity for fresh tracks every day you’re there.

It’s the snow that has shifted perceptions, but you also gain a rich cultural experience in one of the premier culinary hotspots globally, with lift passes that are much more affordable (more akin to Europe) than anything you would encounter at major resorts here. A ski or snowboard journey to Japan is more of an adventure or experience than merely a fantastic ski trip, but rest assured, the skiing is superb. So is the cuisine, distinctive lodgings like traditional ryokans, the onsen hot springs bathing, and a weekend extension in Tokyo. For those in search of a more modern luxury experience, the Ritz-Carlton Reserve and Park Hyatt hotels in Niseko match favorably against just about any skiing destination.

It’s a complete offering, but it’s one you will wish to research and seek assistance in planning, starting with which of the key areas (Hokkaido or Nagano) to visit, as they are quite distinct, and one is more apt to suit your preferences. You can read my detailed article for Town + Country magazine here, but I suggest engaging a knowledgeable outfitter with expertise in the area to arrange 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 sought-after ski and snowboard destination, Whistler/Blackcomb, while Banff National Park in Alberta boasts two of the continent’s largest resorts sharing a single ticket, Sunshine Village and Lake Louise. Our northern neighbor is consistently a popular ski getaway, but in recent years, a new contender has come forth by revisiting the past and presenting a traditional, value-focused, “pure” ski and snowboard experience. It also provides a road trip adventure, featuring multiple resorts, some quite large, and copious amounts of snow—12-feet thus far this season.

The atmosphere emphasizes the skiing and riding rather than European fashion shops and overpriced meals, so if you enjoy deep snow and no lift lines, this is a place for you. There is also an abundance of sno-cat skiing in the vicinity, with more than a dozen operators, providing the top method to enjoy world-class untracked powder without resorting to heli-skiing. However, if that’s what you desire, there is also plenty of heli-skiing available here. In terms of winter enjoyment, there’s an abundance of everything.

This “next big thing” is British Columbia’s Powder Highway, a circular roadway connecting eight ski resorts that receive a significant amount of snowfall, hence the name. Several of these are truly legitimate ski vacation spots on their own, and while the region greatly appeals to road trippers and those who purchased Sprinter or other camper vans during the pandemic, there’s no necessity to relocate to enjoy ample turns. Five of the eight resorts here are as large or larger than Wyoming’s Jackson Hole, known as “The Big One,” one of the most renowned destination ski resorts in the U.S., which spans 2,500 acres. These standout resorts include Red Mountain, Revelstoke, Fernie, Panorama, and Kicking Horse, referred to as the “Champagne Powder Capital of Canada.” To illustrate, Red Mountain features 3,850 acres, Kicking Horse 3,400, Revelstoke 3,121, Panorama 2,975, and Fernie 2,500+.