We compared the adult 6-day lift pass at 253 ski resorts against what each one covers: kilometres of piste, lifts and vertical drop. The average works out at €69 a day. What that buys varies enormously.
Here are the winners, and one thing to check before you book any of them.
1. Dolomiti Superski, Italy — 16.5 km of piste per euro
€436 for six days, or €73 a day, for 1,200 km of piste and 450 lifts. Nothing else we track comes close on terrain per euro. It is not the cheapest pass, but you would struggle to ski a tenth of it in a week.
The catch: Dolomiti Superski is 12 valleys on one ticket, and they are not all connected by lifts. The famous Sella Ronda circuit does link Val Gardena, Alta Badia, Arabba and Val di Fassa, and you can ski between them all day. But Cortina d'Ampezzo and Kronplatz are separate areas, an hour or more away by road. Buses run between the valleys, and they are worth a day trip, but you cannot ski there and back.
2. Ski amadé, Austria — 760 km on one pass
€414 for six days, €69 a day, across 25 villages and five regions. Schladming, Flachau, Wagrain and the Gastein valley all sit on the same ticket.
The catch: the five regions are genuinely separate, 30 to 60 minutes apart by car. Within them you can ski a lot without taking off your skis: Schladming's mountains are linked, and Flachau–Wagrain–Alpendorf is one continuous area. But treating Ski amadé as a single 760 km playground means driving or taking a bus most days.
3. Les 3 Vallées, France — 600 km, all connected
€409 for six days, €68 a day. The biggest fully lift-linked ski area in the world, and that is the point: from Méribel you can ski to Courchevel, Val Thorens or Les Menuires and back without a bus.
If you want scale without logistics, this is the one. It is not the cheapest per day, but nothing else gives 600 connected kilometres at this price.
4. Portes du Soleil, France and Switzerland — 600 km across a border
€366 for six days, €61 a day, out of Avoriaz or Morzine. A circuit of a dozen villages in two countries, mostly linked by lift, and cheaper per day than the 3 Vallées.
The catch: the circuit is linked, but a few sectors need a short bus, and it is a long way round. Skiing the full loop takes a committed day and decent conditions. Plan around weather, because a broken link means a bus home.
5. Via Lattea, Italy — 400 km for €49 a day
€291 for six days, the cheapest big ski area we track. Sauze d'Oulx, Sestriere, Sansicario and Claviere sit on one mostly connected ski area, and the pass includes Montgenèvre over the French border.
This is the value pick for skiers who care more about mileage than about smart resorts.
Also worth a look
- Zillertal Superskipass, Austria — 500 km for €384. The valley's areas are separate, but the Zillertalbahn train and ski buses link them, and Hintertux's glacier is a snow-sure backup.
- Paradiski, France — 425 km for €412, with Les Arcs and La Plagne joined by the Vanoise Express cable car.
- Ski ALPIN CARD, Austria — 408 km covering Saalbach, Zell am See and Kaprun. Three separate areas: the bus or train between them takes 20 to 40 minutes.
- SKI plus CITY Pass, Austria — 13 areas around Innsbruck for €368, with free ski buses from the city and a glacier included.
How to read "one pass, several ski areas"
Multi-area passes give the best headline value on our rankings, and they are often the right choice. But be clear about which kind you are buying:
- Linked by lift means you ski from one resort to the next. The 3 Vallées, Paradiski, Alpe d'Huez and Zermatt all work this way.
- Linked by bus or train means a transfer each time you switch area. Ski amadé, the Zillertal and the Ski ALPIN CARD are in this group.
- Separate, worth a day trip means an hour or more of travel, best treated as an excursion. Cortina on the Dolomiti Superski pass is the clearest example.
Three practical questions before you book: does your accommodation sit in the biggest area on the pass, is the ski bus free and how often does it run, and will you have a car? If you are not travelling between areas, a cheaper local pass may be the better buy, and every resort page on Find Powder shows the local alternative alongside the big one.
Check the price before you buy
More than 50 of the passes we track now use dynamic pricing, where the price moves with demand and how far ahead you book. Sölden, Gurgl, Ski amadé, Bormio, Zermatt, St. Moritz, the SkiStar resorts in Scandinavia and every major North American resort all price this way. The figures in this article are high-season ticket-office prices, which are the most you would pay. Booking online a few weeks out often saves 10 to 25 percent.
Compare every resort, sort by price per day or by value, and see the full price history on our lift pass price rankings.
Prices are adult 6-day high-season passes and were correct when published. Always check with the lift company before you book.
