Vail Ski Resort

Great ski resort - massive mountain with excellent variety of terrain. Top notch lifts and gondolas. Tons of ski in-ski out accommodations to choose from. European style village is charming with a good assortment of restaurants and shops.

One of the best resorts in Colorado, bowls are fantastic and snow conditions are perfect. Crowds are small as there is a good distribution of lifts. The views are beautiful and the trail variation is very nice. There are some very nice challenging trails and fun groomers to carve on. The greatest part of the resort has to be the back bowls. I loved blue sky basin and game creek. The village is nice and has a very nice vibe. If you are coming to visit Colorado you must take a trip to Vail!

Vail is a really special place. We spent 10 days on snow in Jan 25. It just seemed endless. Everyday we found new exciting terrain, new places to stop and eat and new places to take in the amazing views of the surrounding mountains. It was pretty expensive in town for restaurants and general shopping but that was largely due to a poor exchange rate for Aussies, certainly not a fault of the mountain. The location was also amazing being so close to so many other amazing resorts like Breck, Beaver Creek and Keystone. We managed to get to all of them and they were covered off on our Australian epic pass.

Great variety. Lots of acres. Grooming is generally very good. Intermediate in groomer Cruisers will be in heaven. Blue Sky Basin has great off Trail terrain, if the conditions are good. Everything was completely Frozen when I was there. Food is overpriced even by ski industry standards. Not really my type of crowd. Most people seem more interested in vacationing and than skiing....

Lives up to its reputation for size. The Grooming was really nice. Lift infrastructure was very good. Not the most challenging mountain. A lot of intermediate skiers. It's a good family destination, not particularly my style. Although Blue Sky basin looked amazing, it was completely frozen over when I was there. Skiing was on trail was the only option

When they talk about who has great skiing… this location is always at the top of the list! If you’ve never experienced this resort it’s time to plan and go. Summertime activities abound also!

This place amazing, I love their trails name! I also think it is nice that they have a lot of trails and Lifts to take you up, it is also nice for beginners. I was lucky that snow was soft during my staying, and also not a lot of people.

Fantastic resort! If you ski, Vail has your terrain. Great mix of open areas and trees, greens to black diamond. If you are new to skiing, there are great areas to learn without getting run over. This was my first visit, but I'll definitely be back.

Vail, Colorado, is a small town at the base of Vail Mountain, home of the massive Vail Ski Resort. It's within White River National Forest, the town is a gateway for winter sports such as skiing and snowboarding. It's the world class skiing spot! In the summer, other attractions are for golfing, hiking and cultural festivals. Gore Creek, popular for fly fishing, runs directly through the town center. I enjoy my visit and will return to ski where there will be lots of snow!

We checked out Vail this month for the first time and really enjoyed it! We've been buying various Epic passes the past few years, so figured it was time to check out the main company's resort with the same name. We had a large group and were able to book accommodations on Vrbo relatively affordably. Getting around Vail is easy with the bus system and the busses come every 30 minutes during the day. The resort is well-staffed and we always had help when we had questions about the mountain. The terrain was diverse enough for the various skill levels in our group. The terrain park wasn't fully open during all of our trip but we did get to enjoy it one day. The only major downside about this mountain is the hugeee amount of cat walks and flat areas (snowboarders beware). We had some days where we were just exploring and it was a struggle for some members of the group since there was no way to keep speed with how flat the trails were.

We've been Epic pass users for years. We have always enjoyed the Vail Resort resort throughout the US. We were impressed that Vail provided "free" user insurance for the Epic pass. But, turns out the insurance is pretty much worthless. The company Vail uses to manage the insurance, Sedgwick, does not pay out. Sedgwick hems and haws at legitimate claims making outlandish requests for doctor's statements, treatment regimens, and impossible requests. My wife and I couldn't ski this entire season. After fighting Sedgwick for three months they relented on one refund. Refusing the other submitted at the same time with the same justifications and documentation. DON'T BUY EPIC!!! We're going with the IKON pass....

The best mountain in Colorado, always a place to escape crowds and find snow. It is just vast and massive. The legendary back bowls are the best!

Note - my review is based on my ski experience at Vail Ski Resort. It has nothing to do with the cost to ski here, the Epic Pass purchase process, politics or any of the other stupid things complainers allow to ruin a good time. Vail Ski Resort is the largest ski mountain in Colorado and the third largest single mountain ski resort in the U.S. The summit is 11,570 ft. My buddy and I purchased Epic Passes for the first time this year so we could ski here. The Epic Pass allows you to ski at some of the best resorts in the country at any time with only a handful of restricted dates. I started skiing in Jr High and first learned at our little ski resort in Flagstaff, AZ. During my high school and college years, I began taking bus trip to Utah, Colorado and California to ski at bigger resorts. After a break, I switched to snowboarding for a number of years and then returned to skiing. I have been skiing at Telluride the last few years until this recent trip to Vail. The town of Vail itself is a cute, fun little town nestled in the mountains with lots of shopping and restaurants to eat at. Vail Village is designed like a Bavarian village with pedestrian streets. We even noticed most of the employees had accents. Vail caters more toward the wealthy crowd as nothing is cheap here. Vail Ski Resort was founded in 1962 and we got to ski during their 60th anniversary. We did two full days of skiing and I got to say it was some of the best skiing I have ever done in my 30+ years of skiing. Vail Ski Resort has varied terrain with over 50% of it geared toward advanced skiers and boarders. It has been rated as one of the top ski resorts in the country. Vail is separated into three section - the Front Side, the Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin. We were able to ski all three sections in two days. Day One we skied mostly the Front Side. Gondola One takes you from Vail Village to Mid-Vail where you can take a couple of express lifts to the top. Golden Peak and Lionsheads are the two other starting points. Some of my favorite runs from the Front Side were Cappuccino, Avanti, Simba, Hunky Dory, Born Free, Riva Ridge, Christmas, and Northstar. Day Two we concentrated on the Back Bowls and Blue Ski Basin. Vail Ski Resort is famous for its Back Bowls. There are seven of them - Sun Down Bowl, Sun Up Bowl, Tea Cup Bowl, China Bowl, Siberia Bowl, and Inner and Outer Mongolia Bowls. It snowed overnight and we had tons of powder to ski on. Lift lines were a little longer because it was a Saturday. We spent a part of our day skiing the China Bowl where the views were just stunning. But my favorite was the Blue Ski Basin area. It is an intermediate/expert back-country area with moguls, tree skiing, cliffs, glades, and ridges. There was so much powder and I had a blast shredding though it. There are food and drink options all around Vail. I usually stuff my coat with protein bars and don't eat much on the mountain. But we did grab drinks at Express Lift bar near the bottom of Gondola One. My favorite meal was at Dawg Haus at the bottom of Blue Ski Basin near Pete's Express Lift. It's a ski-up/ski-out hot dog shack with an order window. It seriously was one of the best chili dogs I have ever had. Overall my experience at Vail Ski Resort was absolutely amazing. Yes it did cost a bit, but it was worth it to finally ski at one of the best ski resorts in the country. Skiing here improved my ski skills and I hope to make a return trip in the future.

The best place to ski along i70. There is so much terrain you can always escape the lines

In my opinion, Vail Ski Resort is the best overall resort in the United States. Once you visit Vail, it will ruin a lot of other ski resorts for you. This is not a review for Vail Village, nor is it a review for Vail Resorts or the Epic Pass. It is the best resort for: - Intermediate-Advanced Skiing - Scope of terrain - Lift lines relative to popularity of the resort - Consistency of snow conditions - Flow of the mountain and speed at which an experienced skier can tackle it, relative to scope of terrain - Ease of traveler access relative to stature of the resort - Iconic frontside groomers It gets knocked because: - It attracts a lot of rude rich people who can't ski well - Day passes are extremely expensive (~$275 at 2022/2023 peak) - It doesn't have much sustained outrageously difficult terrain compared to Jackson Hole, Big Sky, Alta/Bird, or Telluride (or Aspen Highlands, I guess) - It can be a difficult mountain for true beginners or east coast beginners, and beginner-intermediate areas get absolutely packed during peak times. - Entry level employees can be of questionable competence - The resort is so big that it demands stays longer than 3 days. - On-mountain dining can be disappointing compared to European standards I've skied pretty much everywhere on the two mega-passes, and while many resorts still have their own sense of identity and charm and some do a really good job at filling certain niches, Vail reminds me, on an annual basis, that it is superior.

Great sunny day at Vail! Went on Friday and we still managed to get a spot in the vail village garage after 9. The game creek bowl lift and the other next to it is still closed for construction which is a bummer, but was still a fun day and had great snow! Hope later in the season they'll open it again.

Kids had epic kids pass. Came up from Colorado Springs to find out they did not authorize them. Had to turn around and go back home. They said no one can help

It's expensive and a major destination of elites for a reason. In addition to great terrain, it has food, drink and nightclubs. If you're looking to demo equipment, there are several shops with large selections of the latest and greatest. If it snows 2" or more, go to the Back Bowls early. The Back Bowl area is wide open at the top and gladed in the middle and lower elevations. Beware that a few of the bowls and lifts look similar so, until you are truly oriented you may become disoriented. - Tea Cup has Emperor's Choice & Genghis Kahn (I like going off around tower 15-16) - Orient Express has Shangra-La & Gorky Park - Skyline has Lover's Leap & Iron Mask; also leads to Pete's - Pete's has Resolution Bowl & Cloud Nine - There's way more Back Side is a temptress for most but beware her beauty; if it hasn't snowed recently, the Front Side may have better skiing. Front Side faces north and has more groomed slopes. - Avanti lift is tons of fun on a groomer day - Prima Cornice is challenging and a local powder stash - Early on a powder day, hit Game Creek Bowl for some alone time while everyone else is racing for Blue Sky Basin. The western boundary of the Back Bowls is reached from the top of Game Creek. In the past they had ski-biking at night from Lion's Head gondola. SUPER FUN! Hope it returns post-Covid Personal note: my wife and I had our first date at the Red Lion

Great resort for Alpine Ski Racing. Has big mountain terrain options, nice lifts and pleasant groomers

Although a very pretty ski village, especially over at Lionshead, don't be fooled by the green trails. I've skied Breck, Copper, Keystone, Park City, Deer Valley, Snowshoe, etc. and some of the greens in Vail were the steepest I've ever skied on. Especially the Swingsville trail which also says it's a "Family Learning Zone". It's steep from the beginning all the way to the end. That was the only thing I didn't like. Food on the mountain is pretty mediocre too and it can get quite crowded on a Friday. We went the last weekend in March and there were still tons of people. But, I still recommend going here. My husband and friends absolutely loved the back bowls and I still didn't ski all the green trails so we'll be back again.

Zero Stars for Vail, even though I love skiing there. DON'T BUY AN EPIC PASS without opting out of auto-renew. You'll never get rid of the recurring charge on your credit card. Refunds are handled by a third party insurance company, American Claims Management, that will automatically reject your claim even if you provide the required medical documentation.

Final ski day of the season. Until the next Colo do What a time. Can't wait until the next one.

Vail is a small town set within the White River National Forest. I have only visited in the winter time when it's bustling with winter activities but have heard the summer is just as enjoyable. It takes about an hour and forty five minutes to drive to Vail from Denver. Vail Village is well known for its high end shopping and places to eat. The cobblestone streets are heated and there is a skating rink in the center of town. Lionshead Village is about an eight minute walk from Vail Village and offers more eating and dining options. If you do not want to walk a bus runs between them daily.

Two stars for their pathetic virtue signaling and woke based vaccination requirement to eat food inside and for selling way too many EPIC FAIL passes. I never waste time in the chalet when skiing anyway, so it didn't effect me, but what a terrible all around company for both of the above reasons. We went on the weekday after hearing Vail oversold their EPIC FAIL passes, (which lead to ridiculously long lines on the weekends making for a miserable experience) but we went on the weekday and got lucky so it was actually short lines the whole day. What a mountain!! Definitely the best place I've skied it, it is just enormous and there is so much terrain to cover. It was a perfect day and it was a blast going everywhere. The only negative was the lack of groomed hills; despite how gigantic the mountain is apparently they decided to do the bare minimum and there was maybe two groomed hills on the whole mountain. Reading another review, it appears they used to groom way more hills, but like everything else under the Vail umbrella, they've fallen short of once respectable standards.

I feel like I cheated on Park City, but the heart wants what it wants! Planned two days at Vail, skied one. One very intense day of skiing. We spent a lot of time around AND in China Bowl. :D Chopstix was my fave, Poppyfields West was also nice. The other three decided to actually do China Bowl, and only two made it out alive. Would not advise intermediate skiers with the wrong skis to go down. We spent a good chunk of timing waiting for our friend to make it down and out of the bowl. Someone even called ski patrol to assist her, but by then, she had gotten herself out. Lodging @ Vail costs an arm and a leg, but the views of the Rockies and the massiveness of the mountain will keep me coming back for more. I still love PC, but I might love Vail more.

I would have rated it 1 star if we were just talking about the company that runs it, but I'll add a couple extra because the mountain itself is awesome. When I moved here 10 years ago, Vail was the #1 ski resort in the country. It was awesome. They'd do daytime grooming too, so you always had fresh corduroy to bomb down. But every year it gets worse and worse. They don't pay to groom during the day anymore. The food on mountain gets more expensive and more mediocre every year. They lock everyone into their Epic pass product and get their money up front, so there is no incentive for them to actually deliver "The experience of a lifetime" like they promise. And worst of all, when COVID hit, they waited until borders were closed, and then they decided to kick all their employees out of employee housing with only a couple days notice, in the middle of a snowstorm, with nowhere to go, and no way to get back to their home countries. If there is a way for "Fail Resorts" to screw something up, they will find it. Hopefully their bankruptcy isn't too far off, and then this once awesome mountain can finally get back to the shining jewel that it once was.

Unsafe conditions! I was on the chairlift 12/6/21. My backpack was stuck to the chairlift and I could not unload. I alerted the operator who didn't know how to turn off the chair until I was drafted over rocks for several feet. His coworker had to run over to replace him. Fortunately I did not suffer significant injury. Vail ski patrol told me to be "patient" as the chair lift operators are new and unfamiliar with the equipment. Their sole job is to turn on and off a chair lift. Likewise the chair was missing the emergency off lever on other chairs at the resort. The ski patrol officer Billy Madison initially tried to laugh off the incidence. When I alerted him to insufficient safety measures, he told me that "vail does not have these on their lifts" but I attached a photo from their own little eagle chair. The same officer told me vail would compensate repairs to my damaged skis and vail sports but when I went their no one had heard of him and they told me they don't do repairs, tunes or waxes.

Epic Pass service is absurdly bad. Trying to renew Epic Pass and redeem a credit from last year. Unable to renew online and phone redirects to call another time, been going on for days. AWFUL, I'm switching to IKON

What can I say Vail? You are the creme de la creme. You are fancy. You are WAY over-priced, but you are worth it. No other place in the US is quite like you. You have elegant shops, over-the-top restaurants, and hotels that cost more than my rent for a night. You are located in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Surrounded by the Colorado rocky mountains. You have more terrain than most places. Chairs and runs galore. You are so big, that you can, in fact, be the only person on a run and feel as though you own the entire mountain. I wish you were more affordable because I would visit more often, but for now, you're amazing once every 2-4 years. Don't ever change. You're top notch.

Eh, unlike Kari I would strongly argue that Vail is not so great. Here are my issues: *It's huge! But not in a good way. There are a million catwalks that just bore you to death--you have to take an annoying number of catwalks and lifts to get anywhere *The food on the mountain is both expensive and of poor quality; I expect expensive on-the-mountain lunch, but not when the quality is so low *The people are not that hot and kind of old. *Said old, not hot people also seem to be pretty racist. *Shopping isn't exciting. Woohoo! A full-priced North Face jacket that I could get on sale for 50% off at home? Pass. Let me help you all enjoy your vacation much more: if you're going to spend the dough, go to Deer Valley with their magical heated walkways and plentiful green people carrying your shit, free ski storage right as you get off the mountain, and also expensive but actually delicious food. Also, super hotties everywhere you turn and no snowboarders! What more could you ask for? Nothing.

Every year I go I stay disappointed. Ordered a pass for myself and my wife. 1 pass was shipped to me and my wife's pass was shipped to another address where I didn't live for 6 years. The order number clearly states my new address. What's interesting is the pass I received for myself had also my ex wife name. I call customer service and they tell me they can reissue the pass to the address I have but it will cost me $4. After asking them why they come up with an excuse about fraud protection. I ask them to void the $4 fee because the messed it up and they say no. This is my last trip to Vail ever

Vail is the best mountain I have ever been skiing at. Although there is a "vail tax" which makes everything more expensive than your typical ski vacation, the aura around Vail and the village really makes it special. I have been skiing at vail from a very young age and it continues to impress me with the everlasting terrain. Come to vail, bring some money, have a great time. You will not regret your experience.

I find after 30 years Vail continues to deteriorate. The quality of the workers gets lower and the prices of anything gets higher. Not a single worker in any store knew what OTG or VLT on the box meant when i tried new ski goggles. Duh ,?let me ask my manager. The grooming gets more pathetic including no more day time grooming based on legal baloney excuses . "More grooming " like on the ads couldn't be found by our group. Talked to many including wealthy south Americans that Vail courts will be moving on to other resorts. It wouldn't even surprise me if Vail Corp. drifts into financial problems. Will probably move to Tahoe or Utah. next year. Vail is no longer like "no place no place earth " Never the less its still wonderful to ski.