Squaw Valley Ski Resort (United States)

The pedestrian, European-style Village at the Squaw Valley base area gives easy access to the pistes and offers a selection of restaurants, shops and no less than 8 hot tubs. Squaw Valley is always lively, with a lively après-ski scene and live music in the Village Plaza. The village even has a California Wine Bar and firepits for roasting marshmallows – the place is heaven! Squaw Valley was purpose-built for the 1960 Winter Olympics and today the base area revolves around the self-contained Village, which also hosts most of the overnight guests.

Squaw Valley is known for pumping out amazingly skilled tiny skiers and snowboarders and offers lessons starting from age 3. When you visit you will probably see these kids whizzing past you on their way to the expert terrain! Don’t worry, less confident children will have no problem learning to master their turns in the beginner’s areas. Squaw Valley - Alpine Meadows is a three-and-a-half-hour drive from San Francisco International Airport; there are a variety of operators that run shuttle buses from San Francisco.