There's excellent ski school and plenty of gentle, well-groomed green runs. The main learning areas are up the mountain (for example around the Olympic and Emerald zones and at the top of the Whistler Village Gondola), so you take a gondola up and usually ride it down too. Beginner terrain isn't always open early in the season. Group lessons cost a lot, and nervous skiers can find the scale, the crowds on busy runs and the low visibility daunting at first.

Huge numbers of long, wide, groomed blue runs on both mountains. Cruising from the alpine down to the village gives very long top-to-bottom descents, and the PEAK 2 PEAK gondola makes it easy to switch mountains. A strong intermediate won't get bored in a week.

World-class: steep alpine bowls, chutes, glades and tree skiing, and deep Pacific powder after storms. The best-known areas include Whistler's Peak and Harmony zones and Blackcomb's Spanky's Ladder and the Blackcomb Glacier. Guided off-piste and heli-skiing are available. Hire a guide for anything outside the ski area boundary, as the avalanche risk is real.

A huge favourite with snowboarders. The lifts are almost all gondolas and chairs, there are several terrain parks (including a superpipe) for all levels, and the trees and bowls are great in powder. Watch out for a few flat cat-tracks and long traverses.

One of the best ski villages for non-skiers. The car-free village is full of shops, cafés and restaurants. There's sightseeing on the PEAK 2 PEAK gondola, plus snowshoeing, tubing, ziplining, snowmobiling, spas (including the Scandinave Spa), the Audain Art Museum and the Olympic Park.

Very good ski school with English-speaking instructors, plenty of activities off the slopes, and a safe village where you get around on foot. Children's prices are lower (an advance child Day Pass is about half the adult price). Downsides: it's expensive for a family, the flight is long and the time change hits jet-lagged kids, and the learning areas are up the mountain rather than at the village. Book childcare and kids' lessons early.

Some of the best après-ski in North America. Busy bars sit at the bottom of the slopes in Whistler Village and at the base of Blackcomb, and there are nightclubs and live music late into the night. It has a young, international feel, with lots of Australian and British seasonnaires. Remember that Canadian drinks are expensive and you must be 19 to drink.

The ski area runs from about 650 m to 2,280 m. Pacific storms bring very heavy snowfall up high, and snow is usually reliable in the alpine from mid-December to April, with glacier terrain on Blackcomb. Mild, wet storms can bring rain and heavy or icy snow at village level, and the lower runs back to the village can be thin early or late in the season. January to March is the most reliable time. Early December and late April are riskier for the lower slopes.