Best ski resorts: curated lists by intent

The Alps and Pyrenees resorts most likely to deliver real snow, picked by our 0 to 100 snow score and high-altitude pedigree.

Wide, gentle slopes, traffic-free villages and dedicated kids' areas: the resorts that get parents and children right.

The most polished, high-end addresses in the Alps and Pyrenees, where Michelin stars and ski-in concierge come standard.

America's most glamorous mountains, where five-star hotels, ski valets and world-class dining meet the deep, dry snow of the Rockies and the Wasatch.

Resorts with year-round or autumn-opening glacier skiing, where the snow keeps coming when the rest of the Alps run out.

The biggest connected ski domains in Europe by lift-served piste kilometres, for skiers who want somewhere different every day.

Big mountains, low prices: where lift passes, hotels and lunches all run cheaper than the headline names.

Where the off-piste is the point: lift-served descents, big terrain and the snow culture to back it up.

Resorts with the biggest beginner areas and the gentlest slopes, so first-time skiers can find their feet without fear.

Where the village itself sits high: the resorts with the loftiest base altitudes in the Alps and Pyrenees.

Resorts where the village itself bans cars, with horse-drawn sleighs and electric taxis instead.

Resorts with the biggest, best-shaped snowparks in Europe, for skiers and snowboarders who came for the kickers.

Resorts within ~2 hours of Geneva airport, perfect for a long weekend or a one-flight ski week.

The French Alps from Lyon: resorts within driving range for a long weekend, picked by snow reliability and lift size.

The Austrian Alps from Munich: easy weekend resorts for park, party and Tirolean cruising, with snow you can count on.

The Spanish, Andorran and Catalan Pyrenees on a short drive from Barcelona, all on the same side of the mountain as the sun.

Japow on tap: the Hokkaido + Honshu resorts that earn Japan its powder-skiing reputation, ranked by snow score.

The Japanese resorts that earn the japow nickname every winter: ridiculous snowfall, light dry flakes, and trees made for it.

The crown jewels of US skiing across the Rockies, the Wasatch, the Sierra Nevada, the Tetons and the East Coast: twenty resorts ranked by snow and terrain.

Where North American skiers chase the goods: the resorts with the highest snowfall and the steepest in-bounds terrain in the Lower 48.

The Colorado classics: high-altitude Rockies skiing from Vail and Aspen to Telluride, Breckenridge and Steamboat, all reachable from Denver or Eagle.

The greatest snow on earth, or so the licence plates say: Snowbird, Alta, Park City and Deer Valley, all within 45 minutes of Salt Lake City airport.

New England ski country, where the sport grew up in the 1930s: classic Vermont resorts a drive from Boston, New York or Montréal.

Yes, you can ski in Africa: Morocco's Atlas, Algeria's Djurdjura, Lesotho's Maluti, South Africa's Drakensberg and even an indoor slope in Cairo.

Whistler's Pacific maritime giant, the Banff National Park trio, the alpine steeps of Kicking Horse and Revelstoke, plus East-Coast Tremblant and Mont-Sainte-Anne: ten resorts that frame Canadian skiing in one list.

The PyeongChang 2018 Olympic legacy plus the Seoul day-trip resorts and the southern outlier: ten ski destinations that frame the Korean winter on one ranked list.

The Snowy Mountains and the Victorian Alps: five resorts that frame Australian skiing on one ranked list, all Southern Hemisphere winter Jun-Sep.

The Southern Alps of South Island: five resorts above Wanaka, Queenstown and Methven, Southern Hemisphere season Jun-Oct, no on-mountain lodging.

The Andes around Santiago: three classics that frame Chilean skiing, Portillo on Laguna del Inca, Valle Nevado and La Parva in the Tres Valles cluster, Southern Hemisphere Jun-Oct.

From the Patagonian lakes to the high Mendoza Andes and the far south of Tierra del Fuego, the pick of Argentine skiing, Southern Hemisphere Jun to Oct.

Forget the Megève price tag. Eastern Europe, the Pyrenees, and a handful of overlooked Italian valleys deliver real vertical, real snow, and real apres for half what you'd pay in Verbier. Here's where lift passes still cost under 45 euros a day.

From Gare de Lyon to your first chairlift in under six hours. The TGV des Neiges and the autoroute A6 turn the Tarentaise and Mont-Blanc valleys into a long weekend playground for Parisians. Here are the resorts that make a Friday-night departure feel reasonable.

Geneva is closer to a London skier than Edinburgh is to Penzance. With a one-hour BA flight and a 90-minute transfer, the four big French valleys are easy half-term territory. Swiss classics add altitude, and Japan rewards the long-haul brave with the world's best powder.

By April the sun is high, the t-shirts come out, and only the resorts with altitude or a glacier still deserve your money. These are the names that ski into May and beyond, where corn snow at lunch and a deckchair at 3pm is the format, not a compromise.

Powder mornings, spa afternoons, candle-lit tasting menus, and a view that justifies the whole trip. A ski honeymoon is for couples who'd rather share a chairlift than a beach lounger. These are the resorts that have the chalets, the chefs, and the mountain to back it up.

Ranked by summit altitude across all 22 countries, the resorts that ski highest, from the Rockies and the Alps to the Chilean Andes.

From slope-side umbrella bars at 3pm to clubs that run until dawn, these resorts pair serious snow with the biggest parties in the mountains.

Spas, scenic gondolas, real towns and snowy walks: these resorts make a memorable mountain holiday even if you never clip into a ski.

World-class parks, deep powder and barely a flat traverse in sight: these are the resorts snowboarders rate above all others.

Step straight from a five-star suite onto the snow at France's most exclusive addresses, from Courchevel 1850 to Val d'Isere.

Glide from your suite onto Dolomite slopes at Italy's most elegant resorts, where fine dining meets postcard peaks in Cortina and Alta Badia.

Ski straight to the door with the kids and skip the car entirely at France's most family-friendly slope-side resorts, from Avoriaz to Les Arcs.

Ski to the door and let the kids loose in dedicated snow zones at Austria's warmest family resorts, from Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis to Saalbach.