Rated Ski Resorts in Europe

Abisko is often considered the best place to see the northern lights on a budget. This is because the village has a special microclimate that makes catching the dancing lights on the sky a lot more likely than in other Scandinavian destinations. This means shorter stays are needed, which is easier on the budget.

Iceland is at its best in winter, when the alien-looking landscape is covered in blue ice as far as the eye can see. The land of the eternal glaciers, Iceland offers the kind of adventures you can't find anywhere else in Europe.

Sitting at an altitude of over 2,000 meters with 140 kilometers of pistes, Val Thorens is the highest and most famous ski resort in Europe. The resort is surrounded by dramatic peaks and a blanket of snow as far as the eye can see – great for sports enthusiasts but also truly spectacular to see.

The Bregenz Forest is the Zermatt of snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. With many kilometers of trails available, chances are good you'll get to enjoy this winter wonderland much on your own.

During most of the year, Zermatt is a sleepy village. Come winter, though, skiers of all abilities descend upon it to take over the 200-plus kilometers of pistes. Zermatt is a haven for expert skiers, with off-piste opportunities and top stations sitting at altitudes of almost 4,000 meters.

Rising to 2,962 meters, Zugspitze is Germany's highest mountain, and its popularity with skiers is enhanced by the beautiful Bavarian town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen at its foot. From its summit, which can now be accessed by a new cable car, extends a 360-degree panorama that reaches as far as 250 kilometers and includes mountain peaks in four countries.

With the same world-class skiing as its neighboring Dolomite resort Cortina D'Ampezzo, but without the glitz or prices, the villages of Val Gardena offer a more casual, low-key experience.

The number of world ski competitions that have been hosted at St. Moritz should tell you something about this famous resort: this is world-class skiing. The Winter Olympics were held here in 1928 and 1948, and you can often see competitions at its Olympic ski-jump.

Ski towns don't get any prettier or more romantic than the walled village of Kitzbühel, in the Austrian Alps, not far from Innsbruck and Salzburg. Although its colorful, frescoed buildings house deluxe hotels and pricey shops like those of Cortina or St. Moritz, Kitzbühel also welcomes families and budget travelers with small family-run inns.

Serious skiers head to Austria's Arlberg region for no-nonsense high-challenge skiing, which they find on the more than a dozen super-expert runs at St. Anton. The longest of these is the demanding 10-kilometer Valluga-St. Anton, with an elevation differential of 1,347 meters.

Its setting on snowcapped Mont Blanc, Europe's tallest peak at 4,807 meters, would make Chamonix a skiing icon, even without the quintessential French Alpine village that lies at its base. The altitude of the mountain and the glaciers around Chamonix have a cooling effect that preserves the snow, assuring it some of the best and longest lasting snow conditions in the Alps.