While skiing originated in Europe snowboarding was pioneered in the US. At first many European resorts banned snowboarding but by the 90s it was allowed in most resorts. These days snowboarders are free to enjoy the pistes all over the continent and Europe snowboarding holidays are almost as popular as ski holidays.
Although Europe snowboarding is dominated by the Alps there are plenty of other mountain ranges to choose from. You can snowboard an hour from the sunny ‘Costa Del Sol’ in the Sierra Nevada mountains in Southern Spain or hit the slopes within the Arctic circle in Northern Scandinavia.
To the east you can snowboard at the far edge of Europe in the Urals of Russia or the Caucasus mountains of Turkey on the edge of the Middle East. Heading west into the middle of the Atlantic you can even snowboard in Iceland. Far within its geographic extremities mountain ranges such as, the Balkans, Carpathians, Pyrenees, Kjolen and many smaller ranges offer a wide range of Europe snowboarding holidays.
From the UK the most popular country for a snowboarding holiday is France with famous resorts such as Les Arcs, Val d’Isere, Chamonix and many more offering incredible snowboarding. Also popular are Austria and Italy which are considered a little cheaper than France, Switzerland which is more expensive and Bulgaria and Andorra which are among the cheapest options for Europe snowboarding holidays.
Norway was long considered a very expensive Europe snowboarding option but has become a lot cheaper due to currency fluctuations and along with resorts in Spain, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland and Finland are growing in popularity as the industry diversifies.
Snowboarding in Europe has come a long way since its shaky introduction that had resorts banning the ‘young rebels’ on boards that were considered a danger to skiers. It is embraced across the continent that provides some of the best snowboarding in the world.
