Kosher Ski Trips: Where to Go and How Shabbat Works

Most ski guides talk about pistes, snow depth and lift-pass prices. For a traveller who keeps kosher, that is the easy part. The questions that actually decide whether the holiday works are different ones: what do you eat for five days straight, is there a minyan, and what does Shabbat look like somewhere the sun sets at 4:15pm and the nearest synagogue is a two-hour drive away. The honest answer is that the number of ski destinations where this genuinely works is small - but they do exist, and they are very different from one another. At one end is a full kosher hotel with a synagogue and mikveh on site. At the other are excellent ski towns where a local Chabad house is the entire infrastructure, and anyone who did not order food in advance will spend Shabbat with tins of tuna. This guide walks through the destinations we checked, and exactly what needs arranging ahead at each.

The three things that make a ski destination workable

First, food you do not have to carry in a suitcase. Five days of skiing means five big breakfasts and five dinners after a day outdoors - tinned supplies run out on day two. Second, a minyan: many ski destinations have a small Jewish community or a Chabad house, but a reliable thrice-daily minyan is rare, and in some places it runs only in season. Third, and this is where most people are caught out - Shabbat on a mountain. In December and January, Shabbat comes in across the Alps at around 4:00 to 4:30pm, which means Friday on the slopes ends at lunchtime, not at sunset. Anyone planning a full Friday of skiing will find themselves running back to the hotel in the dark.

Canazei, the Dolomites - the one option that needs no planning

If one destination solves all three conditions at once, it is Val di Fassa in the Italian Dolomites. My Kosher Hotel in Alba di Canazei is a four-star hotel with a kosher kitchen, a synagogue inside the hotel running Shacharit, Mincha and Maariv daily, and a mikveh on site - all of this per the hotel's own website, where its kashrut certificate is also published. It operates year-round, not only in ski season, and it sits inside the Dolomiti Superski area, one of the largest linked ski regions in Europe. What that means in practice: you can book a week of skiing without arranging anything in advance beyond the room. It is also the only destination on this list where Shabbat on the mountain is not a logistical problem but simply Shabbat - everything is in the same building.

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Stay in the kosher area of Canazei

Canazei does not have one obvious Jewish quarter. My Kosher Hotel Synagogue (synagogue listed on the site) is the anchor - book a hotel within walking distance of it rather than picking a random part of Canazei.

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Park City, Utah - a kosher restaurant on the mountain, and Shabbat meals in a bag

Park City is probably the easiest ski town in the United States for a kosher traveller. Bistro Kosher Deli operates in Canyons Village and is reported to be the only kosher restaurant in America sitting right by a ski resort. It opens Sunday to Thursday in the evening, and closes on Friday and Saturday. Which is exactly why the important part is what happens before Shabbat. Chabad of Park City, based in the same Canyons Village complex, takes kosher food orders including two Shabbat packages - "Friday Night in a Bag" and "Shabbat Lunch in a Bag", around $80 each. Orders must be placed at least 24 hours in advance, and delivery within Park City is available for an additional fee. Chabad also runs a co-op that brings in kosher meat, poultry and products the local supermarkets do not stock. So: you can ski all week, eat dinner out, and go into Shabbat with proper food - provided you ordered on Thursday, not on Friday.

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Stay in the kosher area of Park City

Park City does not have one obvious Jewish quarter. Bistro Kosher Deli (the kosher restaurant listed on the site, inside the Canyons Village ski area) is the anchor - book somewhere near it rather than picking a random part of town.

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Aspen and Vail, Colorado - there is a Chabad house, there are no restaurants

Colorado's two famous ski towns both have active Chabad houses. Aspen has a Chabad community centre led by Rabbi Mendel Mintz, with a synagogue and a mikvah, which hosts visitors for Shabbat meals - in peak season, from Thanksgiving through April, the town's population doubles or triples, and a good share of those visitors are looking for exactly this. Vail has its own Chabad centre. But this needs saying plainly: in Aspen there is almost no kosher eating out. The family running Chabad cooks nearly every meal themselves. These are excellent destinations for someone who takes an apartment with a kitchen and organises in advance - and poor ones for anyone expecting to sort it out on arrival.

Bansko, Bulgaria - the budget option, with a seasonal kosher restaurant

Bansko has become a popular ski destination in recent years, particularly among Israelis, largely on price - lift pass, lodging and lessons cost a fraction of Alpine equivalents. The Platinum Hotel and Casino houses Little Israel, presented as the first kosher restaurant in Bansko and, according to the hotel's own page, under constant supervision of the Chief Rabbinate. Two important caveats. First, the restaurant is seasonal - it opens for the ski season and closes at the end of it, and the dates move year to year, so confirm with the hotel before booking flights. Second, the hotel's page makes no mention of a synagogue, a minyan or any specific Shabbat arrangement. Anyone travelling there over Shabbat should clarify that with them directly, in advance.

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Stay in the kosher area of Bansko

Bansko does not have one obvious Jewish quarter. Platinum Hotel and Casino Bansko (hotel listed on the site) is the anchor - book a hotel within walking distance of it rather than picking a random part of Bansko.

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Bariloche, Argentina - skiing in July, while the other hemisphere sleeps

The season in Bariloche runs roughly June to September - exactly when Europe is in summer. If you want skiing during the long school holidays, this is the option. The main ski area is Cerro Catedral, the largest in South America, and the town sits on Lake Nahuel Huapi. What makes Bariloche particularly relevant is its long-established Chabad house, led by Rabbi Boaz Klein and his family since 2009. It grew up around the stream of Israeli travellers who come to Patagonia after the army - a good share of whom keep kosher - and it provides Shabbat meals, prayers and basic help. This is not kosher-hotel infrastructure, but it is the backbone of a community used to hosting travellers, and that is a great deal more than most ski resorts in the world offer.

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Stay in the kosher area of Bariloche

Bariloche does not have one obvious Jewish quarter. Chabad House of Bariloche (Chabad house listed on the site) is the anchor - book a hotel within walking distance of it rather than picking a random part of Bariloche.

Search hotels in BarilocheIHG hotels (Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza & more)

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Whistler, Canada - and how it differs from the rest

Whistler, which hosted the alpine events of the 2010 Winter Olympics, has a Chabad house led by Rabbi Schneur Druk. It is a very large ski resort two hours' drive from Vancouver - and that is the key difference from Aspen or Bansko: Vancouver is a city with real kosher infrastructure, so you can stock up on the way rather than arriving at the mountain empty-handed. This is in fact the strategy that works at many destinations: stop looking for kashrut in the ski town, and build the trip around a large city nearby.

The Alpine paradox: the big Jewish season there is August, not January

A common assumption is that the Swiss and Austrian Alps are the heart of kosher skiing. In practice it is the other way round: organised Jewish life there - daily minyanim, kosher shelves in Migros and Coop, whole family holiday seasons - is concentrated in the summer months, and above all in August. In areas like Zell am See, Kaprun and Saalbach, that month is the peak. In January, those same areas are far quieter Jewishly. So a European winter really has two routes. The first is an organised kosher ski package - operators who take a hotel or chalet for the season and bring in a kitchen, a mashgiach and a minyan. These run every year, but the operators and resorts change, so check who is running this season and what exactly is included. The second is to base the trip on a nearby city with existing infrastructure: Zurich, Milan and Vienna each have between six and nine kosher restaurants, and all are within driving distance of ski country.

Shabbat on the mountain: four things to settle before you fly

Time. Check the actual candle-lighting time at your destination for your exact dates, not an estimate. In the Alps in late December that is around 4pm, and at many resorts the last lift down runs close to it. Plan Friday as a half day. Food. At almost every destination on this list, Shabbat meals need ordering ahead - at least 24 hours in Park City, and sometimes a week in smaller places. Asking on Friday morning is nearly always too late. The room. A mechanical key instead of a keycard, and a Shabbat lift, are the two details that decide whether a hotel works. Ask the hotel in writing before booking. The minyan. Do not assume a regular minyan exists because a Chabad house does. In many ski towns it runs only in season, and sometimes only on Shabbat. Ask directly.

If you want a week of skiing without running a project - Canazei. If you want a big resort with a restaurant and a workable Shabbat - Park City. If price is the deciding factor - Bansko, once you have confirmed the restaurant is open on your dates. And if you are looking to ski during the summer holidays - Bariloche. What they all have in common is that the part needing planning is not the skiing, it is Shabbat. Every one of these destinations works - provided the phone call or the email goes out two weeks before the flight, and not on Thursday night. If you find more current information about any destination on this list, we would be glad to hear it and update.