We are from the east coast with no decent resorts near us. A couple of years ago, we decided to go west and I spent forever researching resorts and what would work for us. At the time, Beaver Creek was our choice (and it is amazing), but this time, we were getting together over Thanksgiving week with our extended family and needed a place that would have lots to do in case it didn't snow, but also gave us a good chance of snow based on elevation. So we chose Breckenridge. First, it's pretty convenient to the airport and there are dozens and dozens of companies who shuttle people back and forth so a car isn't totally necessary. Second, we rented a home from Moving Mountains who are fabulous so that helped. Third, while I didn't go on the mountain, about 10 of my family did and thought it was a lot of fun with good trails. We were blessed with a huge amount of snow and much more came during out stay so it was true winter wonderland. Fourth, other points... I think in my small experience, the thing that's a bit different than say, Beaver Creek, is that there isn't really an apres place at the foot of the gondola (Peak 8, etc). There might be downtown on Main Street, but the only thing at Peak 8 is a bar and basic overpriced restaurant with burgers and chicken fingers (they do have a small outside area and maybe another spot) but whenever I went (which was almost every day), it was more a place to get on the mountain to do your thing versus any sort of 'chill out' spot. I'd give BC the edge on that part. But, Breck has Main St which is loaded with great shops and restaurants. Finally - we flatlanders had some mild headaches at first, nothing major regarding altitude, but we did drink lots of water. The Breck base is about 10,000 ft so it's pretty high. What we did have was lots of dry noses and the Floridians in our group were looking for moisture in the air and none was found lol. A saline spray might help with that. Overall, we very much enjoyed Breck but realize we visited on the very front end of the season and were lucky we had so much snow.

OK here is a quick guide for first-timers to Breckenridge ski resort. Before you buy ski lift tickets (sold by the day), understand that you don't need them to enter the property and you don't need them if you have purchased Ski School classes. You don't need them to rent equipment and go on the bunny slopes or ski in the learning areas. You only need lift tickets/Epic passes to get on the ski lifts/superchairs to get to the green, blue and black slopes. We did not know this because we are new to skiing, and our family only wanted to ski on the bunny hills and take Ski School classes on our short trip. We all bought 3-day ski lift tickets online before our trip...which we didn't use. And they are not cheap. We had a great time at the base of Peak 9 learning how to ski in the Camelback Training area and Ski School at Beaver Run. The Breckenridge staff is robust and everywhere, very friendly, smiling, outgoing and eager to help. You can rent your equipment there at the resort but we saved money by renting from Blue River Sports across the street. While you are skiing, you can put your stuff in a locker $27 per day. At the end of the day, since you don't want to lug all your heavy, heavy, cumbersome skis, poles and ski boots home, they have a Ski Check very conveniently located, where for a $14 per person fee, they will keep your ski gear overnight and it's easy to pick it up in the morning. Don't bring cash because the lockers, Ski Check, and all the food places only take credit/debit/electronic payments. Overall we had a great weekend learning to ski, and love the resort and the town!

Nice resort with a lot of skiable areas good for beginners and intermediates. Wide open slopes. A lot of snowboarders. The week we were there I'd say there were equal number skiers and snowboarders. When there's no fresh snow and cold after a few days the trail surfaces tend to get scraped flat and could get icy and slick especially higher up and above the tree lines. Weekends can get quite crowded especially at peak 9 where the easiest slopes are. The blues at peak 8 and 7 are mostly nice except for a couple of steeper hills - Northstar and Dukes. Peak 6 is blue also but should be considered double blue and due to the wind could be icy and unpleasant. Breck is high up with base at 9600 ft so need to be careful about altitude sickness.

What the ski world has come to in the past 30 years? I grew up skiing in the Pacific Northwest's "Cascade Concrete", logged ski years on professional ski patrol at Alpental & many a ski trip to the Tahoe area. Skiing was affordable to the common person! I then moved to AZ and hung up my hickory sticks for the best part of 20 years. When I decided to get back I was astounded at lift ticket prices, even opting for Europe ski trips as a cheaper alternative. After suffering the brutality of 17 hour flights to Austria - I declared to myself that there had to be another way. I dug into research and bought an "Epic Local Pass" good at all Vail owned reports including Breckenridge. I'm glad I did. The value of the pass coupled with the customer experience I've had in my two trips to Breck this year has been Epic, pun intended. I'll end up using my pass ~14+ times this year which puts my daily lift ticket cost at around $70 compared to the online / walk up rate rate of over $200. Both times this year the mountain was in great shape thanks to a commitment to groom most of the blue runs including some black making the skiing more accommodating to most skiers. The pass offers discounts on equipment rentals, shuttles to DIA and mountain restaurants. All of the mountain staff at every touch point were outgoing, friendly and committed to skier happiness and well being! I'm happily drinking the Vail reports Kool aide and will likely be back to Breck for a summer experience and for sure (prey for snow) next year!

Ski resort and mountain are really nice, it even features the highest ski lift in US. Howevet the ski lift tickey had become outrageously expensive, and places where you rent skis don t even kee them overnight. Town is really small so restaurants are crowded

Having lived and skied in Vail for years, I was excited when my husband planned a ski trip to Breckenridge—it was such a nice change of pace. The drive was also shorter from Northern Colorado, and we treated ourselves to a private car service so we didn’t have to stress about driving or parking. It made the trip feel easy and relaxing right from the start. Breckenridge has such a fun, laid-back vibe. The town is charming and full of great shops and restaurants, and it felt less crowded than what I’m used to in Vail. On the mountain, I loved skiing some new terrain. The Claimjumper run on Peak 7 was a favorite—wide, smooth, and perfect for cruising.

We came skiing on a family and trip and was wandering aimlessly trying to find exactly where to go when we were approached by a Vanesa Garcia that could see we were having a tough time on where to go. She jumped in and ensured we got to where we needed and was able to source the right instructor for my fiance to go to. Vanesa was amazing!!