The euroski guide list ski and snowboarding resorts in the Austrian Alps, French Alps, German Alps and the Swiss Alps. In addition to these traditional Alpine Skiing resorts it also lists ski centres in thirteen countries in Eastern Europe plus the three major with ski resorts in Finland.

Many of these countries have recently joined the European Union and have since become popular destinations for low cost airlines. Though skiing and snow boarding in some parts of East Europe is a way of life the low cost airlines have enabled skiers from Western Europe to travel to these inexpensive resorts at very competitive prices. Many of the Eastern Europe ski resorts listed have a policy of positively welcoming families and are very accessible from capital or major cities. The list of Central and Eastern European Skiing & Snow Boarding Ski resorts is not definitive as especially in Eastern Europe..

.... the ski industry is in international tourist terms in its infancy Consequently prices are significantly cheaper. The downside is that these lower yields mean that investment in some facilities, especially chairs and lifts, are not as sophiscated as the better known Alpine ski resorts. This means queues in some resorts.

Another fairly common problem is that lift passes in some places are not intergrated to neighbouring slopes. Some of the resorts are ski theme parks and named after their sponsors - others are named by the local town or region. One thing that is immediately apparent in Eastern European ski resorts is how cheap the food and drink is. n Poland the Czech Republic, and Slovakia two people can eat good food with a few drinks with a bill around 12- 15 euros

Some ski resorts in eastern europe are still building their websites with quite

.... a few in the national language only. Others, do have have English & German pages and some are multi-lingual. Where possible euromost has linked to the English page.

A few sites are currently being built whilst others are being upgraded as in some repects the East European Skiing and snowboarding industry is in its infancy. Within a decade snowboarding and skiing in an Eastern European ski resort will become a traditional winter break or holiday as Prague or Berlin are now for a city breaks.

The Eastern European countries with Skiing and Snow boarding Ski resorts are Austria, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia & The Ukraine. Listings are given in these pages.

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Euromost welcomes 'visitors reviews' of any European ski resort or centre that you have visited. The review should be critical and honest and contain details that other euromost visitors would appreciate knowing. Please send contributions to post@euromost.info Many thanks Ed.

Zakopane Poland

Zakopane can be found in the Polands Tatra mountains. This small town takes under two hours to reach from the increasingly popular Krakow international airport. (see euromost airline guide for Krakow). It has been host to skiing activities for over a century and in 1929 and 1939 was the home of two international skiing competitions.

Since the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 it has become increasingly popular with skiers from Western Europe but has yet become internationally recognised as a winter sports destination. The reason for this is that the lifts to the resort can only move 180 visitors an hour and getting to the slopes can be a slow process unless you have pre-booked.

Investment in the lifts and the introduction of intergrated lift passes to the four seperate skiing areas will establish Zakopane as leading commercial resort probably outstripping the better known resorts amd similiarly priced resorts in Bulgaria. We found Kasprowy Wierch, a 1,987m crag particularly a delight. It has the only skiable slopes which are actually above the forest which dominates the area. It has two four-man chairlifts that serve two rocky pistes.

Beginners will find the nursery slopes at Nosal very convenient even though it is a little modest. The town of Zakopane has numerous bars and restaurants and a night club. There is an abundance of excellent food and voka available at about 35p a shot.