This NC mountain town ranks among best ski destinations in North America. Here’s why
North Carolina is home to one of the best ski destinations on the continent, new rankings show.
Banner Elk — positioned near mountain ski resorts — ranks No. 6 on a list of top getaway spots boasting access to slopes and nearby activities. The results come from USA Today’s 10Best, which creates travel-related rankings.
To create the list of best ski towns in North America, 10Best said it turned to travel experts. Editors narrowed down their top choices before readers voted on their favorites up to one time per day over the course of a month.
In the resulting readers’ choice awards, several of the top-ranking ski destinations were in the Northeast, West or Canada. But Banner Elk, roughly 75 miles northeast of Asheville, also made its mark on the list.
The town received praise for its proximity to the “ideal” terrain at the Sugar Mountain and Beech Mountain ski resorts. “Together, those two ski areas provide Banner Elk visitors a total of 38 slopes, 17 lifts, 16 tubing lanes, two terrain parks, two ski schools and two ice skating rinks,” according to the bannerelk.com tourism website.
“Besides hitting the slopes, you can take a ride down the Wilderness Run Alpine Coaster, go wine tasting at the Banner Elk Winery, indulge in great food, or go snow tubing,” 10Best wrote in its Dec. 1 report.
Though Banner Elk tourism officials have called it “North Carolina’s ski town,” the mountain destination has made a name for itself in other ways. In 2022, it ranked among the nation’s best small towns for tourists and was home to one of the most desirable Airbnb rentals.
In the more recent rankings, the No. 1 ski town was Red River, New Mexico. No place in North Carolina earned a spot on 10Best’s related lists, which considered top ski resorts, snowboarding spots and other winter travel destinations.
In the past, 10Best has told McClatchy News it doesn’t share the number of people who voted in its contests.
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