Where altitude is the address
8 of the World's Most Famous Mountain & Ski Towns
From the Matterhorn's shadow to the Japanese powder belt, these are the towns that have basically become synonyms for mountain travel.
The world's most famous ski and mountain towns are tiny by city standards — most have fewer than 20,000 permanent residents — but they punch enormously above their weight in skiers, climbers and Instagram posts per square kilometre.
Northwest Territories, Canada · pop. 19,234
Yellowknife isn't a ski town in the alpine sense, but it's a top destination for backcountry skiing, ice-road driving and aurora chasing.
Innlandet, Norway · pop. 2,578
Trysil is Norway's largest ski resort — quietly one of Europe's most family-friendly and reliable winters.
Río Negro, Argentina · pop. 135,755
Bariloche, on the Argentine side of the Andes, is South America's biggest ski destination and a year-round outdoor town.
Hokkaido, Japan · pop. 5,074
Niseko gets some of the deepest, lightest powder in the world — Siberian air meets Sea of Japan moisture and dumps it on Hokkaido.
Alberta, Canada · pop. 7,847
Banff sits inside Canada's first national park; turquoise lakes, big peaks and resident elk make it the postcard of the Canadian Rockies.
Tyrol, Austria · pop. 130,585
Innsbruck has hosted two Winter Olympics and is one of the few cities where you can ski before lunch and walk a baroque old town after.
Chamonix, beneath Mont Blanc, hosted the very first Winter Olympics in 1924 and is still the spiritual home of alpinism.
Valais, Switzerland · pop. 5,786
Car-free Zermatt sits in the shadow of the Matterhorn and is one of the very few European resorts with year-round skiing.
More lists
10 Cities With the Most Skyscrapers in the World
Where the skyline never stops climbing
10 Cities With the Worst Traffic in the World
Where rush hour is a way of life
10 Cities With the Best Public Transportation
Where you really don't need a car
8 Highest-Altitude Cities in the World
Where the air gets thin and the views get long
8 Oldest Continuously Inhabited Cities in the World
Places where someone has been home for thousands of years
10 Coldest Inhabited Cities in the World
Where winter is genuinely dangerous
10 Hottest Cities in the World
Where summer routinely crosses 50°C
10 Largest Megacities in the World
Where tens of millions share a single metro
8 Cities Built on Water
Where canals are the streets
10 of the World's Best-Preserved Old Towns
Where history is still the street plan
10 Most Expensive Cities in the World
Where a coffee costs ten dollars
10 Most Visited Cities by International Tourists
Where the world goes on holiday
7 of the Rainiest Inhabited Places on Earth
Where the rain is the climate, not the weather
8 of the Northernmost Cities in the World
Where the sun stops setting in summer
7 of the Southernmost Cities in the World
Where the next stop is Antarctica
8 of the Sunniest Cities in the World
Where clouds are a special event
8 of the World's Greenest Cities
Where sustainability is a city policy, not a slogan
7 of the World's Most Multilingual Cities
Where the official languages run into the dozens
8 Cities With the Most Billionaires
Where extreme wealth concentrates
10 of the Best Cities for Digital Nomads
Where Wi-Fi, weather and visas all line up
10 Cities Most at Risk From Rising Sea Levels
Where climate change is a near-term planning problem
10 of the World's Most Walkable Cities
Where the car is a guest, not the host
10 of the World's Best Cities for Nightlife
Where 'last call' is a foreign concept
10 of the World's Best Food Cities
Where eating is the point of visiting
For entertainment only. Rankings on this page are editorial picks compiled from public sources for fun and discovery — they aren't a scientific measurement. Population figures and place details come from open data; see the linked place pages for sources.