Why Sun Peaks Is Our Most Returned-To Resort
My favourite thing about Sun Peaks is how intimate the resort feels despite being Canada's second-largest ski area. The locals are incredibly friendly, and you'll quickly find yourself immersed in genuine, authentic Canadian mountain life.
It's exactly this combination that keeps drawing in our most well-travelled customers. Many arrive at Sun Peaks as North America regulars, having already ticked off Whistler, Banff, Breckenridge, or Aspen Snowmass - yet it's these seasoned skiers who end up settling on Sun Peaks as their "forever" resort, returning year after year. They tell me they can't get enough of the huge ski area, the intimate village, the friendly locals, restaurants and bars run by people who actually live there, ski-in ski-out accommodation, and perhaps best of all, enough space on the mountain to enjoy it all.
Sun Peaks isn't just a favourite - it's the most returned-to resort across our entire programme, and the reviews back it up. Don't just take my word for it - check out our Sun Peaks review page to see for yourself, where our customers rate it 4.8/5.
"This was our fifth visit to Sun Peaks. As always, a great experience and we are already planning next year's visit. Sun Peaks is a great place to ski, lots of variety of terrain, the trails are very well looked after, ski-in ski-out comfortable accommodation, a pretty village with a good choice of bars, restaurants and cafes and a reasonably-stocked supermarket. Would thoroughly recommend." - Alex Conboy, March 2026
The love for Sun Peaks runs deep for our customers, as seen by Andrew and Teresa Broughton who have travelled with us to Canada since 2012, and by March 2022 had holidayed in Sun Peaks six times - so much so, they wrote about it themselves in Returning "Home" to Sun Peaks.
Read on to find out why we think Sun Peaks remains a local Canadian gem, from the terrain and snow conditions to the village itself and the people who call it home.
Extensive skiing for all abilities
"Excellent ski resort. Very good ski area for all abilities. Long runs, no queues." - Gary Liddell, February 2026
"We find Sun Peaks the best resort for our needs and have returned multiple times over the years. Easy access to a variety of excellent slopes." - Jackson Sweeting, April 2026
With over 4,400 acres spread across three mountains - Tod, Sundance and Morrisey - Sun Peaks is firmly in league with some of the biggest resorts in North America. The ski area is second in size only to Whistler Blackcomb in Canada, and ranks above famous US resorts like Breckenridge, Jackson Hole and Winter Park.
Huge terrain doesn't mean intimidating slopes, though. The ski area breaks down as 10% beginner, 58% intermediate and 32% advanced/expert, and that intermediate focus is something I love about Sun Peaks: wide, beautifully groomed, uncrowded blues where you practise long turns without a soul in sight.
Each mountain has its own personality:
- Tod brings open bowls, steeper pitches and glades.
- Sundance offers some of the best cruisers in the resort and a 10-acre terrain park.
- Morrisey rounds things off with intermediate glades and moguls for the more advanced.
But it doesn't matter where you are in Sun Peaks. Every single lift delivers a green, blue and black run back down, so mixed-ability groups can split up at the top and reunite at the bottom without anyone missing out.
The terrain keeps growing too. For winter 2024/25, the high-speed West Bowl Express quad opened up 169 acres of cruisy groomers on Tod Mountain - proof there's still something new to discover, even after nearly three decades of visits.
Skiing without the crowds
"Canada's best-kept secret! Everything you need in the resort & the slopes are quiet & you can get straight on the chair lifts with no queues. This is our third year at Sun Peaks & we would highly recommend it." - Linda Burgess, March 2026
Size alone doesn't tell you how uncrowded a resort feels on the ground - what matters is how many people are sharing that terrain with you.
Even now, decades after locals started skiing it in the '60s, you can still find a run all to yourself. No one breathing down your neck... just you, the snow, and the view.
To put Sun Peaks' village and terrain scale into perspective, with Sun Peaks' 7,000-bed base, the acre-to-bed ratio is 0.6, whereas one of Europe’s famously huge ski areas, Three Valleys in the Alps, offers just 0.18 acres per bed. Dramatically more space to enjoy skiing per person, in other words!
Sun Peaks' interior BC location is also one of its advantages. Whistler sits within easy striking distance of Vancouver's 2.6 million residents, and Banff draws heavily from Calgary's 1.6 million, which means both have more weekend visitors from the city. Sun Peaks, by contrast, is closest to Kamloops, a town of just 100,000 people. There simply isn't a huge population base nearby sending skiers up the mountain every Saturday and Sunday, so the lift lines stay shorter and the powder stays untracked longer, even on weekends.
Queues are rarely an issue - a five-minute wait is considered a long one by local standards - and the resort's lift system can move 15,800 skiers an hour. That means you can step out from your hotel, clip on your skis, and be on the chairlift heading up in less than 10 minutes.
Instead, Sun Peaks offers a genuinely large ski area serving a modest number of skiers each day. That means more fresh tracks and more untouched pistes where you won't see another skier in several minutes.
Favourable weather and snow conditions... all season long!
Sun Peaks sits deep in British Columbia's interior, far from the damp coastal weather systems that resorts closer to the Pacific often have to face. The payoff is snow quality regulars can't stop talking about: an average of 6 metres (237 inches) a season, falling so far inland that it arrives light and dry rather than heavy and wet.
Locals call it "cold smoke" - it stays fluffy for days rather than setting into a crust, so powder stashes between the trees on Tod Mountain are still worth chasing well after a storm has passed.
Sun Peaks' locals are so confident in the resort's consistent snowfall each winter that they love to tell the story about the "magical cattle grid" on the transfer from Kamloops. At this point in the journey to the resort, skiers cross an invisible line that marks the point where the dry landscape of Kamloops suddenly gives way to a snow-covered wonderland, as though passing through a magical barrier.
The sunshine holds up too, staying true to Sun Peaks' name! Expect far fewer grey, fogged-in days than you'll find at coastal or lower-altitude resorts, and plenty of bluebird mornings instead. Due to the ice crystals in the cold mountain air, rainbows and sun dogs (bright patches of light that appear next to the sun) are a frequent feature in the Sun Peaks valley. Keep your eyes peeled... these make for a beautiful photo!
Interesting fact: Sun Peaks was originally called Tod Mountain, named after a 19th-century fur trader. It was rebranded in the 1990s to "Sun Peaks" to sound more appealing to European tourists, as the German translation for "Tod" is "death". The name also references the three distinct sun-drenched peaks that surround the village.
A charming, efficient ski-in ski-out village
"A great resort that ticks all the boxes. Proper ski in / ski out, connected slopes with a range of terrain all centred around a really good village." - David Evrall, February 2026
"We last visited Sun Peaks 18 years ago and whilst it has grown and developed it still has the same small town charm and appeal but with excellent facilities and range of skiing." - Steve & Sally Jones, May 2026
The village is compact, pedestrian-friendly, and small enough to walk end to end in minutes. It also has a ski-through centre, which is a real novelty! Expect slopeside accommodation and a main high street that you can ski straight through on your way to the lifts each morning.
It doesn't feel like your typical North American ski resort - and that's no accident! When it came time to design the village, designers headed to northern Italy, took inspiration from the alpine villages there, and brought that charm home. The result is a Tyrolean-style village, right down to the colourful facades and timber balconies - so picture-perfect it's even been used as a film location. Most recently, it played the backdrop to Netflix's global hit holiday rom-com My Secret Santa. The village even put on a free screening so residents could watch their beloved town on the big screen.
At its centre sits the 4* Sun Peaks Grand Hotel, the natural hub of the village and the first thing most skiers see gliding down off the lifts at the end of the day.
"Very attractive village with all the amenities needed for a really comfortable stay." - Catherine Myatt, March 2026
"New favourite resort, good range of ski runs, low lift queues, nice relaxed vibe in town and mix of restaurants." - James Simmonite, April 2025
Sun Peaks has never tried to compete with larger resorts like Whistler on scale, and that's very much the point. Having skied Whistler more times than I can count, I can say it's a fantastic resort in its own right, but a different experience entirely. Sun Peaks trades hundreds of restaurants for a smaller handful of lively, locally run bars and eateries - sushi, Italian, fine dining, or a classic plate of poutine if you're after something more Canadian. It's not a huge selection, but every option feels personal and unmistakably local.
A welcoming, local community
"A top quality resort. Huge skiing area with little or no crowds. Numerous places to dine and drink. Staff at all locations are keen for you to enjoy your stay and there is a general happy positive vibe. This was our fourth visit, there will be a fifth." - Jeff Yaxley, February 2025
Sun Peaks never feels manufactured, and it never feels corporate. It simply feels like a community that loves where it lives and wants visitors to experience it too. Almost every restaurant, café, shop and bar in the village is locally owned, and that ownership shows in a hundred small ways.
Product & Sales Manager Andy Knights says: "Perhaps the biggest difference isn't the skiing, it's the people. Walk into a restaurant and there's every chance the owner is serving your table, pop into a ski shop and you're chatting to someone who's skied these mountains for twenty years. It's the authenticity that is often missing from larger resorts overrun by tourists."
You'll find that spirit all over the village, but nowhere more so than at Bottoms Bar & Grill, a long-standing Ski Safari favourite dubbed "the locals' living room" - good food, excellent beer, and a room full of people who ski together every day.
The community spirit of this resort is evident everywhere. The local mayor owns Vertical, a coffee shop! Colin, one of the resort's snowshoe guides, used to be the chief firefighter. It's a place people live and breathe, rather than simply staff for a season. Despite opening as a resort five years before Whistler, the permanent year-round population of Sun Peaks is around 1,400 residents - just a fraction of the approximate 14,000 permanent residents of Whistler! That just goes to show that Sun Peaks has remained a tight-knit community for over 60 years.
The best way to tap into that local knowledge is the Sun Host Programme, a completely free tour hosted by volunteers who call Sun Peaks home. Tours run twice daily at 9.15am and 1pm from early December to late March, meeting between the Sunburst chairlift and the Village Day Lodge. You'll need to be comfortable skiing green runs with confident parallel turns to join in, but it's a brilliant introduction to the resort, packed with insider knowledge you simply can't get from a trail map.
Non-ski activities for all ages
"Exceptional resort with activities for everyone no matter age or ability. Beautiful scenery and fresh tracks. Just a perfect resort for all, even the non-skiers." - Lisa-Jane Kerr, February 2026
Sun Peaks isn't just a brilliant ski resort; it's a great mountain destination for anyone travelling with non-skiers or wanting a change of activity.
Snowshoeing is one of the best ways to experience a quieter side of the mountains, with an extensive trail network winding through peaceful forest and scenic viewpoints looking back over the village. Guided tours are around two hours, with all equipment included, taking in snow caves, bird feeding stations and cosy forest camps along the way, woven together with stories of the resort's history and local wildlife.
Our team experienced this first-hand on a research trip in March 2026, joining local snowshoe guide Colin. Marketing Executive Lucy had this to say:
"The snowshoeing experience was great. To have someone talk you through every aspect of the gear, technique and best tips was so helpful. A highlight for us was stopping at a campfire and snacking on homemade cookies and hot apple cider that Colin had kindly carried for us. Hearing Colin tell us all about Sun Peaks' history and town community, as well as his own experience living and working there for decades, was almost as good as the snowshoeing itself!"
Beyond snowshoeing, Sun Peaks also offers ice skating, snowmobile tours, fat biking, guided ice fishing and dog sledding, and plenty more on top. For the full rundown, take a look at our Sun Peaks Resort Guide.
"We enjoyed both the ski/snowboarding and the other activities- snowshoeing and dog sledding. Nice village trail for walking too.” - Jayne O'Brien, March 2026
Book Sun Peaks for 2026/27!
We have first-hand experience of skiing in Sun Peaks, and we're always happy to offer personal advice and suggestions. To find out more, call our knowledgeable team on 01273 224060 (Monday to Friday). Or to start planning your dream Sun Peaks holiday, request a quotation online.
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Why Book with Ski Safari?
- Our knowledge - I've skied in Canada for decades, and I know Sun Peaks like the back of my hand. Over half of our team has skied there at least once, too. That means every recommendation we make is based on our extensive first-hand experience.
- Our service - we create every holiday from scratch. This means that the quotation you receive is unique, based on your holiday preferences. Call us, and you can speak to the same person every time. We're always on hand to answer any questions, no matter how big or small, and sort all the details in between.
- Our value - our strong relationship with Sun Peaks suppliers means that we're often cheaper than you might find elsewhere. Tailor-made service doesn't have to come with a hefty price tag!
- Our happy customers - we regularly receive positive feedback from our happy customers, many of whom return year after year, and we're proud of our 4.9/5 rating on Feefo. We've also won 'Best Small Travel Company for Ski/Winter Sports Holidays' in the British Travel Awards every year from 2019 to 2025.
