Winter in Colorado: An overview of Beaver Creek and Vail

I've been lucky enough to ski at both Beaver Creek and Vail a few times over the last 5 years and have now spent enough time at these amazing ski resorts to be able to provide an overview of my experiences. Here's my overview of Beaver Creek and Vail, providing a glimpse of what you can expect if you ever visit either of these beautiful places in Colorado.

Beaver Creek is a top notch overall Colorado skiing experience.

Beaver Creek Overview

• Around 2 hours from Denver International Airport, though bad weather conditions (and Colorado mountain weather is very unpredictable) can add significant additional travel time. A more expensive, yet efficient flight option is to fly to the small and pristine Eagle County Regional Airport which is only 30-40 minutes from Beaver Creek.

• Beaver Creek is often described as Vail’s smaller, more refined and less chaotic sibling. It’s a full luxury resort village with high-end lodging, restaurants, and a polished, upscale feel.

• They have 150+ runs, 25 lifts, and extremely well-groomed terrain. It’s famous for immaculate corduroy and a layout that feels intuitive and is easy to navigate.

• Beaver Creek is known for wide-open groomers, shorter lines and offers a calmer alternative to Vail. It's much less crowded and offers challenging terrain (the Birds of Prey runs) and bowls to keep advanced skiers satisfied and plenty of green and blue runs for beginners, families and intermediate skiers.

• Some favorite runs of mine include the Little Brave->Bear Paw->Roughlock run which is a really fun ride that runs above and crosses below numerous bridges taking you right into the part of the village that includes the Ritz Carlton hotel and the Bachelor Gulch express lift. This is one of the coolest runs I've ever skied. I also enjoy Latigo which is a great winding run with some moguls (for those interested) that takes you into the heart of the village where most of the shops and dining options are located.

• This is a great 2–4 night luxury ski trip destination. I recommend pairing two days at Beaver Creek with one day at Vail to take in the different vibe and terrain of each mountain.

• The resort is modern, polished, and extremely well-run. Everything is connected—lifts, village, hotels, dining—and service is top notch. They also feature unique places like the Cookie Cabin and Candy Cabin at the top of some of the lifts which are as popular with the adults as the families.

• The village vibe is classy and relaxed with plenty of high end shops, fire pits, wine bars, a skating rink and numerous casual and more refined dining options to satisfy any and every taste. This is not the place for loud après chaos. It feels European in tone, just cleaner and more American-luxury.

• My favorite dining locations are Blue Moose (laid back, great pizza), Golden Eagle Inn (American with a unique menu and homey feel) and Coyote Cafe (casual Mexican that's fun and always busy).

  
  

Vail Overview

• Around 2 hours from Denver International Airport (can be 3+ on weekends). Flying into Eagle County Regional Airport is more expensive, but it's only 45 minutes from Vail, dropping you smack dab in the middle of the Rockies.

• Vail is one of the flagship mega-resorts in North America and is often considered to be the closest thing the U.S. has to a true Alpine-scale ski domain. It’s massive, iconic, and built for destination skiing. They have 190+ runs, 30+ lifts, with legendary terrain variety. The real magic is in the Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin—huge, rolling alpine terrain that feels endless.

• They have options for all skier levels, but intermediate and advanced skiers get the most out of Vail (53% of the terrain is Advanced/Expert). The best of Vail (and what sets it apart) is the bowls, incredibly long groomers and tree skiing.

• This is an excellent 3–6 night destination trip on its own. You could easily ski multiple days without repeating the same zones, and pairing it with Beaver Creek gives you two very different experiences in one trip.

• The resort is huge and modern with a purpose-built European-style village (Vail Village + Lionshead). It’s busy, expensive and well connected, but it’s sprawling compared to Beaver Creek at over 2 times the size.

• My favorite park of Vail is Blue Sky Basin and the best days I've had skiing in Colorado have been the 2 days I've skied at Blue Sky Basin. On other occasions at Vail, this area has been closed due to the conditions. With the long catwalks which extend for miles, it's an effort to get here but it feels like you've earned a badge when you finally arrive.

• All the runs off of Pete's Express (Lift 39 in Blue Sky Basin) are great and there's a cool restaurant/cafe in this area, the Two Elk Biergarten, positioned between the Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin. Having a coffee, beer, snack or meal here is an "as cool as it gets" ski experience as you kind of wonder "How did I make it here?" and "Who thought to put this here?"

• The skiing in this area features amazing beautiful tree lined green scenery that epitomizes the beauty of Colorado. I particularly enjoyed the Grand Review and Cloud 9 runs and soaked up the beauty as I cruised around on the roads (or catwalks) to navigate this part of the mountain.

• There are lots of cool places to get a meal or a drink in the village including at the traditional Pepi's Bar and Restaurant which is a traditional Austrian restaurant with excellent food (the goulash, schnitzel and stroganoff are terrific) and an authentic European ambience.

• The après scene is one of the best in the U.S.—live music, packed bars, people watching, and a real international destination feel.

In a snapshot, Beaver Creek is polished and pristine in every facet. This is a luxury skiing experience and they ensure that the crowds never get too big so you can always get a lot of skiing in without long waits. This isn't a party place, yet it has plenty of bars, restaurants and shops and has an incredible ski village with all the bells and whistles.

In contrast, Vail is world wide famous, massive (5300 acres vs. 2100 at Beaver Creek) and much more crowded. Everyone wants to go to Vail; it offers what many consider to be the best overall ski experience in Colorado. The après ski scene and the overall experience in the village is terrific with a bit more energy than Beaver Creek. It's also a much larger village; they even have big name concerts and small music festivals.

Mountain stream in downtown Vail