Sun Valley invented destination skiing. Built in 1936 by the Union Pacific Railroad to fill its winter sleeper cars, this Idaho enclave was where the chairlift itself was born, where Hollywood came to learn parallel turns, and where Hemingway chose to spend his last years. Bald Mountain still rises behind Ketchum with that exact same gravity.
Sun Valley is a ski resort with genuine ski-in/ski-out hotels in United States, in the Northern Rockies. The village sits at 1750 m and the lifts top out at 2789 m, with 120 km of pistes and 18 lifts. Its BestSnowHotels snow score is 87/100, and the season usually runs Nov 23 → Apr 27.
How we score and classify resortsRun counts and piste kilometres are indicative. Green runs only exist in France, Spain, Andorra, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Japan, the United States, Morocco, Algeria, Lesotho, South Africa, Egypt, Canada, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Chile; Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Germany start at blue. Indicative average snow depth near the top of the resort, in cm.
A handful of well-rated hotels in and around the resort. Pick one, then compare live prices across Booking, Expedia and Hotels.com.
Excellent · 1.5k reviews
One of the highest-rated places to stay in Sun Valley, with guests singling out the service and comfort.
Guests rate this hotel as excellent (4.7/5 from 1,473 reviews). It sits about 650 m from the slopes. A luxury option for Sun Valley, with live nightly rates shown for your exact dates so you always see the best price.
Very good · 38 reviews
A polished, high-end base for Sun Valley when you want to be properly looked after after a day on the snow.
Ratings from Google, prices indicative per night. Live availability and rates via our booking partners.
True ski-in/ski-out is essentially limited to the Sun Valley Lodge and Inn at the historic village base. Ketchum, the livelier town, sits 1.5 kilometres away and is served by the free KART shuttle that connects everything in the valley.
Few American mountains carry their pedigree as lightly as Bald Mountain, known to everyone here as Baldy. The vertical is 1036 metres of pitch that holds an angle the whole way down, mostly cruisable but with enough bite on Warm Springs and the Exhibition lift line to keep a skier honest. Sun Valley village itself is a small, deliberately preserved cluster of ice rink, lodge and arcade, the way Averell Harriman wanted it when he had it built in 1936 to compete with the Alps. The actual life of the valley happens 1.5 kilometres down the road in Ketchum, the working town where Hemingway lived, wrote and is buried, where galleries and fly-fishing shops sit beside one of the better restaurant scenes between Denver and Portland. The resort is still privately owned, still feels family-run despite the old-money pedigree, and the snow on the dry side of the Sawtooths is consistently lighter than its reputation suggests. The chairlift was invented here in 1936, a fact the locals will mention with the right kind of restraint.
Hotels and apartments around the lifts. Compare prices on Booking, Expedia and Hotels.com.
Everything on our site connected to Sun Valley: its area, the lists it makes, head-to-heads and trip guides.
Sun Valley offers 120 km of pistes across 18 lifts, from 1750 m to 2789 m. Whether it suits beginners depends on the dedicated learner zones at the base of the slopes, so check the local ski-school options for green and blue run access.
The season runs from Nov 23 to Apr 27, with a snow score of 87/100. The best conditions are usually from late January through February, while spring skiing in March and April brings longer days and softer afternoons.
True ski-in/ski-out is essentially limited to the Sun Valley Lodge and Inn at the historic village base. Ketchum, the livelier town, sits 1.5 kilometres away and is served by the free KART shuttle that connects everything in the valley.
Sun Valley has 120 km of marked pistes served by 18 lifts, between 1750 m and 2789 m of altitude.
Sun Valley counts about 97 marked runs in total. The colour breakdown above shows how they split by difficulty, a good guide to whether the resort fits your level.
The closest alternatives, an easy switch if dates or hotels are tight.
Northern Rockies
Northern Rockies
Northern Rockies
Resorts with a similar feel, snow record and size.
Wasatch Mountains
Canadian Rockies
Andes
Australian Alps