Skiing
Val d’Isère named world’s best ski resort
With the winter season fast approaching, the French Alps have a new title to celebrate: Val d’Isère has been named the world’s Best Overall Ski Resort at the 2026 Snomad Ski Resort Awards, earning an outstanding score of 4.62 out of 5.
The skiers’ own verdict
What sets this ranking apart is its method: no panel of experts, no tourism-board campaigns. The winners are decided from 153,854 ratings collected from skiers and snowboarders throughout the 2025/26 season. The verdict comes straight from the riding community itself — and it is emphatic: the Savoyard resort tops the world ranking. A result with unusual legitimacy, since the judges are the very people who clip into their skis every winter.
Behind it, the podium is entirely European, with Italy’s Livigno and Val Gardena taking second and third. Zooming out, Europe claimed 41 of the 60 gold, silver and bronze medals awarded across every category worldwide — a dominance that confirms the continent’s status as the world capital of alpine skiing. The 2025 champion, America’s Grand Targhee, hands over its crown, and the gap between the two continents has rarely looked wider.
The specialist categories
Beyond the overall title, the category awards map each mountain range’s strengths with precision. Austria’s Ischgl swept three distinctions: après-ski, accommodation and groomed runs — the perfect-trip trifecta, according to voters. Switzerland placed two winners: Laax, the benchmark for snow parks and European powder, and Verbier, the undisputed queen of off-piste and moguls.
Further north, Finland’s Ruka charmed voters with its tree-lined runs and quiet slopes, far from the crowds of the big Alpine domains. This segmentation is the ranking’s greatest strength: rather than a single winner, it hands skiers a compass for their own desires — nightlife, powder, easy family cruising or backcountry adventure.
A crown that arrives right on time
The announcement lands just as enthusiasts are planning their winter getaways — for the still-undecided traveler, the ranking doubles as a buyer’s guide at full scale. For Val d’Isère, a village perched at 1,850 metres in the French Alps and famed for some of Europe’s most reliable snowfall, the distinction is a global shop window and a powerful argument in the fierce battle the great resorts wage for skiers’ hearts.
Whether the Savoyard resort keeps its title in 2027 remains to be seen. One thing is certain: this winter, all eyes — and plenty of skis — will be pointed at the Tarentaise.