Роза Хутор, Rosa Khutor

Rosa Khutor was built to host the alpine events of the 2014 Sochi Games, and it still feels like a purpose-made showcase: a slick pedestrian village on the valley floor, fast gondolas climbing the Aibga Ridge, and broad, well-groomed pistes fanning down a substantial mountainside. The scale and vertical are among the largest in Russia, and the terrain runs from gentle village-level cruising to committing upper slopes. Because the resort sits in the coastal Caucasus, the mountains are green-flanked and dramatic rather than stark. It feels contemporary and internationally minded, with the infrastructure to match. For many Russian skiers it is the aspirational domestic destination.

Go for the sheer sweep of the place and the Olympic-grade terrain, which offers more sustained vertical than almost anywhere else in the country. It suits confident intermediates and advanced skiers who want long descents and modern lifts, as well as visitors drawn by the curiosity of combining a mountain trip with the subtropical Black Sea coast just below. The polished village and hotel base also make it comfortable for a first proper ski holiday.

The season builds through December and is at its most dependable in the deep-winter months, when the upper mountain holds good cover and the groomed pistes are in their element. Being close to the sea, the lower slopes can be milder and conditions more variable than in a high continental range, so the higher terrain is where the winter feels truest. Fresh falls can be heavy, and the upper ridges reward skiing early after a storm.