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Once you’ve experienced the utter joy of doorstep skiing, the days of trudging about in ski boots or cramming into shuttle buses seem a thing of the past. There are ski resorts where the odd chalet or hotel is ski in, ski out, and then there are ski resorts that are almost entirely ski-to-the-door – and these ten are the best of them.
Most ski-out resorts were built in the sixties and seventies, on purposefully-picked-out mountainsides with convenience as top priority. Some are architectural wonders of their time, while others… Let’s just say they’re no fairy-tale mountain towns, but really who cares when the surroundings are so spectacular and easily reachable?
Top 10 Ski-in/out Resorts
When you’re in a ski area like the Portes du Soleil, you want to spend every last second exploring it. Which is where Avoriaz 1800 comes in. You’ll find it occupying the highest position in the mammoth 650km ski area, completely car free and ski-in, ski-out-able. From top notch hotels to tiny apartments, everywhere here has doorstep skiing - and as a charming touch, if you’re not swooshing about on skis, snowboard or sled, you can catch a horse and cart around resort.
What trumps a ski resort with doorstep skiing? Multiple ski resorts with doorstep skiing… Whether you’re based in Plagne Soleil, Plagne 1800, Plagne 2100, Belle Plagne, Plagne Centre, Aime la Plagne, Montchavin-Les Coches, Bellecote OR Plagne Villages, there’s accommodation throughout that’ll see you on the slopes in seconds. Born in the sixties, this multi-village resort forms part of a massive ski area, the Paradiski. 425km of pistes are your playground, connecting Plagne with the other ski-out resort of Les Arcs. Even with the time you save not having to walk or bus to the slopes, you’d have to be a seriously speedy skier to cover the whole thing in a week.
Les Arcs has four villages, all of them purposefully placed on the mountainsides of the magnificent Paradiski ski area. Arc 1600 was the first to be built in ’68, followed by Arc 1800 and Arc 2000 in the seventies, then most recently Arc 1950 in 2003. These ski-to-the-door resorts are car-free, with hotels, chalets and apartments giving you swift access to the second biggest linked ski area in the world, where 70% of slopes are a snow sure 2000m+ high.
A lot of thought went into VT when it was put together in the seventies, and the main focus was slopeside convenience. The resort has doorstep skiing throughout with easy access between hotels, chalets, restaurants, bars and the slopes. And these aren’t any old slopes – they’re incredibly snow sure (this happens to be the highest ski resort in Europe) and part of the legendary 3 Vallees, the biggest linked ski area in the world. In a jiffy you can find yourself up on the ever-white Peclet glacier, crossing over to Meribel or soaking up one of the best views in the alps at Cime Caron.
There are chalets, hotels and apartments within a stone’s throw of the slopes in all four areas of Val Claret, Le Lac, Tignes 1800/Les Boisses and Le Lavachet. Some bits look more purpose built than others (Brevieres is one of the prettier parts), but it’s not a big deal when you’re based in one of the most incredible ski areas in the world - glacier skiing, powder runs, wild parties at Folie Douce, the lot.
Val is perfect proof that not all-ski out resorts are purpose-built concrete jungles. Home to an 11th century Baroque church and oodles of wood and stone chalets, Val is a pretty, old resort with mountains on both sides – and deliciously speedy access to them. High tech lifts and top notch pistes serve the hamlets of La Daille and Le Fornet as well as the centre of Val d’Isere in-between (where you’ll find most ski schools, bars and restaurants). Whether your budget covers a self-catered apartment or seriously luxurious chalet, doorstep skiing’s possible in a real range of accommodation here.
You don’t come to Les Menuires for a spa getaway or to buff-up on history. You come here to ski straight into the whopping 3 Valleys, and straight back home at the end of the day. Scour the enormous 3V’s piste map and Les Mens is just below Val Thorens (Europe’s highest ski resort) with swift access to the same snow sure terrain. Lifts and pistes zig zag from one end of the resort to the other, making the mountains accessible wherever you stay.
Very few Austrian ski resorts have doorstep skiing, but up at 1930 metres, Obergurgl’s an excellent exception. High end hoteliers soon sniffed out the piste-side potential, building twenty something 4* hotels and a fabulous five star, moments from the gondolas, chairlifts and red and blue runs. Higher yet, tiny Hochgurgl has its own handful of hotels to stay in, putting you in the middle of the magnificent ski area.
Flaine prides itself in being a doorstep skiing resort, designed first and foremost to make skiing hassle free. Getting around’s so easy that the centre has been able to stay fabulously car-free, and if you’re staying out of the main resort, shuttle buses provide easy access. The Grand Massif ski area’s your playground here, and Flaine’s wide, open pistes are its highest and most snow sure. Runs leading back to the village are graded green, blue and red, with a gondola, cable car and chair lifts whisking you up, up and away.
Way back when, the very first skiers in the Alps schussed about as a means of getting from A to B when the usual heavy snowfall struck. Snow blanketing Lech village isn’t uncommon, and lifts dotted along the resort - plus the blue, red and black pistes leading back to them - are easily reachable from most hotels, chalets, shops and restaurants. But for even more convenient doorstep skiing, base yourself in Oberlech, Zurs or Zug, the little villages right on the mountainside above Lech.
Of all the European countries, France is easily the best nation for doorstep skiing, with dozens of resorts built and developed over the last sixty years. The concrete-jungle stereotype of ski in, ski out resorts is slowly becoming extinct, with buildings getting alpine facelifts to help them blend better into the scene.
To experience these ski-out resorts at their greatest, visit in the middle of the ski season when a good snow base has built up and fresh snowfall keeps the cover brilliant. You might find that early in the ski season, or late in the spring, some resorts and properties known as ‘ski out’ don’t have good enough snow surrounding them to be properly ski-in and out-able.
Best ski in / ski out ski resorts
| Resort | Country | Best ski in/ski out hotel or chalet |
|---|---|---|
| Avoriaz | France | Chalet Beluga – on the ski slope |
| La Plagne | France | Club Med La Plagne 2100 – right by the slopes |
| Les Arcs | France | Hotel Taj-I Mah – opposite ski lifts & ski school |
| Val Thorens | France | Hotel Altapura – ski in & out, opposite chairlift |
| Tignes | France | Village Montana Hotel – opposite the ski lifts |
| Val d'Isere | France | Bellevarde Lodge Savoie – on the piste |
| Les Menuires | France | Chalet Hayley – on the doorstep of the gondola |
| Obergurgl | Austria | Hotel Bergwelt – ski from 20m away |
| Flaine | France | Terminal Neige Totum – on the slopes |
| Lech | Austria | Hotel Arlberg – ski to & from the door |
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