Esquiar en España

Sierra Nevada es una estación con muy buenas pistas y aunque la nieve no es la mejor, está casi garantizada. La vida nocturna es probablemente la mejor de España, os recomiendo el Sticky Fingers y para una cena buena y barata el Rey Midas es la mejor elección.

Sierra Nevada is a very exotic resort, snow is 90% guaranteed, good lifts and wide slopes, sun shines most of the days though windy days stop the resort 9 o 10 days every season. Rey Midas is a good choice for dining (cheap and good) and Sticky Fingers is the soul of the night (until 5 o 6 in th morning)

Yo voy a esquiar a Sierra Nevada desde hace cinco años por lo que la conozco perfectamente. Como todas la estaciones de esquí tiene sus cosas buenas y sus cosa malas. Se puede destacar la climatología (con una enorme cantidad de horas de sol al año), la calidad de las pistas (anchas, bien cuidadas, variedad de dificultad, buen ambiente y muy divertidas),buena oferta hotelera,zona urbana con discotecas, pubs, patinaje sobre hielo,piscinas, centro de alto rendimiento deportivo... Se puede decir que es bastante normal el sistema de remontes, la señalización, los servicios en pistas...
Pero en mi opinión el problema de Sierra Nevada es el viento. Realmente es un problema unos 10 o 15 días por temporada, pero durante estos días la estación por seguridad siempre tiene que cerrar. Esto produce muchas críticas sobre todo porque la zona de taquillas esta resguardada del viento por diversas montañas y la gente siempre cree que es un cierre inútil.

Quitando la gente que visita la estación en estos desafortunados días,por lo general quien viene una vez repite. Por eso bajo mi opinión es una estación de esquí totalmente recomendable.

I am here for three months of Spanish courses and snowboarding with my girlfriend. We live in Granada and drive up every day (about half an hour s drive). Parking is free, about five minutes walk from the gondola up to the middle station. We have been boarding for one week now, so we can probably give our impressions about the resort:

- First, a small update to your info and some reviews. There are now 61km of runs, all of which are open as of today, with about 150-200cm of snow. That s a LOT more than the Alps have right now, although most people will admit this is a bit of a freak year, weather-wise.

- We would very much hesitate to call the lift system old. Maybe for those spoilt by the proliferation of chairlifts in the US, the prospect of about 20% T-bars is daunting, but there are plenty of new, express four-seat chairlifts which are fantastic. Yes, queues can be long at the weekend, but today we were waiting no more than five minutes for a lift. The advice is obvious - avoid public holidays if you can, the same applies to every resort I have skied in.

- The runs are well-prepared in general, and at night you can see them being groomed from Granada, 40km away. Some runs can get quite uneven in the afternoon, but with a big choice of runs, even timid beginners should not have problems finding suitable runs.

- The people we see on the runs are bloody awful skiers in general (there are a lot of holiday makers from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, and Brits and Germans who live on the Costa del Sol and come up for a few days). Safety rules are completely ignored by skiers, so you often see people stopped for a cigarette behind blind corners, skiing completely out of control, too fast, etc, etc... Have eyes in the back of your head is the best advice.

- Queueing etiquette is fairly non-existent, it must be said, but you have to be patient... :-)

- The climate is great. Although it is true that the lifts are closed fairly often due to high winds (at least they have been this past week). Everyone who lives here tells us that in the next few months, it is generally sunshine, snow and empty slopes - and they know we have a season ticket, so they are not lying.

- Day passes are a bit dear, at 4.100 pesetas, but it gets much cheaper for longer periods - we paid 70.000 pts for a season, which is very good value.

- The resort has all the shops and bars you would expect to find, and prices do not seem to be extortionate (Spain is fairly cheap in general compared to Alpine countries). We cant comment on the nightlife, because Granada has all we need!

Have fun.

All I can say is wow! This was one of the best skiing resorts I have ever been to. The lifts and operaters a re great. You might get held up once in a while but not for a long time. The hotels in the area are great also. I definetly recommend this place to any travelers going in that area.

Estación pequeña junto a Candanchú, se puede usar el forfait en las dos estaciones. Las pistas son amplias y no muy pendientes.

Estación pequeña pero con muy buena reputación, aquí se han formado la mayoría de los profesores de la Escuela Española de Esquí. Suele llover a menudo por lo que la nieve va y viene con mucha facilidad.

Está en el Valle de Benasque, uno de los más bonitos de todo el Pirineo, la estación tiene un accesso algo incómodo a las pistas pero éstas son amplias y comodas.

Tiene la fama de ser la mejor estación de españa, muchos kms de pistas, remontes modernos y bien situados, una visita imprescindible para esquiar en España

Una estación muy pequeña pero entrañable.