Sierra Nevada - Winter Sports

From November to June the Sierra Nevada offers magnificent facilities for winter sports, and as the most southerly winter sports region in Europe usually has a blue sky and brilliant sunshine as well as snow. Throughout the area much effort has been devoted to improving the available facilities, with ski-lifts and ski schools: the existing pistes are constantly supervised and are being extended. In addition to hotels there are numerous mountain huts provided by various skiing and climbing organizations.

The most southernmost ski resort in Europe, Sierra Nevada was the site of the World Alpine Ski Championships in 1996. Because it is so far south there are some years when there is a lack of snow but when it does fall, Sierra Nevada is great because you never get the bone-chilling temperatures you may encounter in more northerly areas. With a top elevation of 3,330 meters and a vertical drop of 1,198 meters, Sierra Nevada has 19 lifts and 30 miles of marked runs and 22 hotels. On a clear day you can see the coast of northern Africa but usually there is lots of snow even though you can water ski two hours away or be touring Granada and its Alhambra, just 30 minutes from the wide-open slopes.