11 titles in 14 years: Val Thorens is the world's best ski resort again

Val Thorens seen from the Blanchot run on a January morning, 2022. Photo: DimiTalen via Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Val Thorens in the French Alps has won "World's Best Ski Resort" at the World Ski Awards for the fourth year in a row. The results of the 14th edition came out on Tuesday 10 November 2026. Deer Valley in Utah and Kitzbühel in Austria were the other two finalists. Val Thorens has now won the title 11 times since the first awards in 2013.

• Val Thorens wins World's Best Ski Resort 2026; Deer Valley Resort and Kitzbühel were the other finalists.
• It is the 11th title for Val Thorens and the fourth in a row (2023–2026).
• The winners come from votes by ski industry professionals and the public, not from a test of snow or pistes.
• LAAX won best freestyle resort, Bergbahn AG Kitzbühel best ski resort company, Compagnie des Alpes best resort group.
• Val Thorens opens its own ski area on Saturday 21 November; the whole Les 3 Vallées area follows on 5 December.

The World Ski Awards name a winner in each category from a public vote. Ski industry professionals and skiers cast the votes, and the nominee with the most votes wins, as Euronews reports. The organisers publish no vote counts.

The three finalists for the world title appear in alphabetical order, so there is no official second or third place, the Dutch site Snowplaza points out. Snowplaza adds that the vote is not a technical judgement of snow quality or piste grooming. A title tells you which resort many voters like best; it says nothing about the quality of the skiing.

Sion Rapson, managing director of the World Ski Awards, said, as quoted by Travel Tomorrow: "This year's winners demonstrate the dynamic nature of our industry, showcasing a finely crafted blend of sustainability, innovation, and luxury."

Only three resorts have held the world title since the awards started. The winners pages of the World Ski Awards give this list:

Val Thorens sits at 2,300 m; Euronews calls it the highest ski resort in Europe. It is part of Les 3 Vallées, about 600 km of pistes together with Courchevel and Méribel.

Switzerland took most of the hotel and chalet titles, and Austria took the company prize. The main resort awards of 2026:

Each country also has its own winner. Some of the national titles for 2026:

The Val Thorens website gives these dates for the 2026-27 season:

The season starts with La Grande Première on 21 and 22 November, a launch weekend with an equipment village where skiers can try skis and gear from more than 50 brands. As at every resort, the first weeks depend on the snow: an opening date tells you when lifts start to run, not how many runs are open.

The Val Thorens-Orelle area lies between 2,300 and 3,230 m. In the first weeks of the season the skiing is on groomed runs, often hard in the morning. A ski of 80–92 mm under the foot fits that well: narrow enough to hold an edge on firm snow, wide enough for the soft snow that wind and sun leave beside the piste.

The figures are the makers' own; we compare them, we do not ski the products. To find the right all-mountain ski for your level, use the Pick-a-Ski ski finder.