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Ski Canada - Alberta

Sunshine Village Resort Reviews


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Visitor reviews for Sunshine Village Ski Resort

Sunshine Village Ratings

Overall: 3.5. Based on 81 votes and 111 reviews.

Rate this resort

Snowsure: 4.4

  • Occasionally gets enough snow for skiing
  • Is often closed due to a lack of snow
  • Occasionally suffers from a lack of snow
  • Rarely suffers from a lack of snow
  • Sunshine Village is snowsure even in the poorest seasons

Variety of pistes: 4.3

  • The ski runs are featureless and unvaried
  • The ski runs are varied but not extensive enough for a week
  • Sunshine Village has diverse and interesting pistes including forests and high alpine terrain

Off-piste: 4.0

  • No off-piste worth mentioning
  • Off piste is out-of-bounds
  • Some varied offpiste that stays fresh for one or two days
  • A vast array of off-piste routes that can stay untracked for several days

Scenery: 4.6

  • An ugly resort in a bland setting
  • Average mountain views and resort
  • A spectacular setting and a beautiful / historic resort town

Access: 3.8

  • At least one overnight stop
  • Requires a whole day
  • Requires more than half a day – you may have time for a few turns
  • Arrive by lunchtime and ski all afternoon
  • There is a main airport within an hour of Sunshine Village

Public Transport: 3.6

  • There are no buses or taxis to Sunshine Village
  • There are slow or infrequent buses / trains available
  • Getting to the resort is easy with frequent bus / train connections

Accommodation: 3.5

  • No places to stay in/near Sunshine Village
  • A few places to stay in the resort
  • A wide variety of accommodation suitable to suit all budgets

Cheap Rooms: 2.8

  • No budget accommodation available
  • Just one or two hostels so book ahead
  • Several cheap hostels and pensions available

Luxury Hotels: 3.8

  • No luxury accommodation available
  • Just one or two luxury hotels so book ahead
  • Several up-market hotels in Sunshine Village

Ski in/Ski out: 3.4

  • The ski area is located far from any accommodation
  • A free ski bus takes you to the ski area in a short trip
  • Ski-in ski-out accommodation is available

Childcare: 3.6

  • There are no child care facilities at Sunshine Village
  • The resort has limited child-care facilities
  • the resort has excellent child-care facilities including at least one reasonably priced creche

Snowmaking: 2.2

  • Sunshine Village relies entirely on natural snow
  • There are just a few snow cannons
  • There are snowmaking facilities on all pistes

Snow Grooming: 4.0

  • There are no snow groomers at Sunshine Village
  • Occasionally some pistes are left ungroomed and in a poor state
  • All the runs at Sunshine Village are groomed daily

Shelter: 3.3

  • There is nowhere to ski when it is windy or visibility is bad and lifts often shut
  • There are some trees for poor visibility but main lifts sometimes close
  • Sunshine Village is mostly in forest where you can ski in flat-light and windy days, lifts rarely close

Nearby options: 3.2

  • If snow conditions are poor at Sunshine Village, it will be poor everywhere nearby
  • There are good alternatives within an hours drive
  • Other locations on the same lift pass provide a rich variety of snowsure ski conditions

Regional rating: 4.4

  • Sunshine Village usually has poor snow conditions compared to other resorts in region
  • Has average conditions for the region
  • Usually has the best snow conditions in the region

Lift Staff: 4.0

  • The staff at Sunshine Village are rude or unhelpful
  • Lift staff at Sunshine Village are pleasant, cheerful and eager to help

Crowds/Queues: 3.7

  • The resort is always busy and there are usually long lift queues
  • It is quiet apart from occasional weekends and school holidays
  • It is uncrowded and lift queues are very rare

Ski Schools: 4.0

  • No ski schools available
  • One or two ski schools but local language only
  • A few ski schools but book early for multi-lingual instructors
  • Plenty of ski schools and multi-lingual instructors available
  • Excellent ski schools with friendly multi-lingual ski instructors

Hire and Repairs: 4.1

  • Nothing can be sourced, not even ski-wax or ptex
  • There are some ski shops but rentals need to be booked in advance
  • Good quality ski equipment can be purchased or hired and overnight repairs are possible

Beginners: 4.0

  • Beginners can only watch others ski and snowboard
  • A few gentle slopes but beginners will get bored in less than a week
  • Vast areas of gentle terrain

Intermediates: 4.3

  • No intermediate terrain at Sunshine Village
  • Intermediate skiers will get bored after a few days
  • Vast areas of cruising runs

Advanced: 4.1

  • Nothing for advanced skiers and snowboarders
  • Enough steep terrain for a few days with some good offpiste
  • Enough steep terrain and offpiste areas to entertain advanced skiers for at least a week

Snow Park: 3.7

  • Not even a kicker at Sunshine Village
  • Average sized park quite well looked after
  • Huge park area and expertly crafted pipes, jumps and boardercross trails

Cross-country: 2.3

  • There is nowhere to go for cross-country skiing around Sunshine Village
  • There are some cross country trails available
  • The area features many spectacular and well maintained cross-country trails

Luge/Toboggan: 1.3

  • No designated luge or toboggan runs
  • There are toboggan runs that open quite often
  • Sunshine Village has long and well maintained luge / toboggan facilities suitable for all ages

Mountain Dining: 3.0

  • Nowhere to buy food by the pistes
  • Some places to eat up on the mountain but they are often busy and expensive
  • There is a variety of excellent mountain eateries right next to the slopes to suit all budgets

Eating: 3.2

  • Bring your own food, there isn't even a shop
  • There are a few places to eat in the resort but nothing special
  • A wide variety of places to eat and drink in the resort, from fast food to fancy restaurants

Apres-Ski: 3.1

  • Nothing to do, not even a bar
  • There are a few bars in the resort but nothing special
  • Clubs and bars stay open until very late and have a friendly atmosphere

Other Sports: 2.0

  • No sports facilities at all apart from ski lifts
  • Resort has just a small public swimming pool
  • Resort has all kinds of sports facilities, including a full-size swimming pool

Entertainment: 2.6

  • Besides the snow and walking there is nothing to do here
  • The non-skier will find things to do for few days but may become bored after a week
  • The resort area is a fascinating place to visit, regardless of winter sports

Winter Walks: 2.8

  • Very limited walking and no snowshoe trails
  • A couple of designated scenic walking/snowshoe trails
  • Extensive and diverse winter walking trails for all abilities

Ski Pass Value: 3.2

  • A 1 week ski pass is overpriced compared to the number of lifts available
  • The ski pass is averagely priced and covers a reasonable number of lifts
  • Ski passes are excellent value for money and cover a lot of lifts spanning a big area

Value (National): 3.5

  • Overall, Sunshine Village is one of the most expensive ski resorts in the country and not worth the money
  • Overall represents average value for money
  • Overall offers the best value resort in the country

Value (Global): 3.5

  • Overall, Sunshine Village is one of the most expensive ski resorts in the world
  • Overall it offers pretty average value for money compared to resorts from other countries
  • Internationally the resort offers excellent value for money

Show all 35 ratings

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February 26, 2026
Robert from Ski United Kingdom United Kingdom
I have just stayed in Banff with my family and skied at Sunshine so thought I would share some feedback. We normally ski twice a year in Europe (France/Italy/Austria) so have experienced numerous different resorts. Positives - the natural snow cover and condition of the pistes was very good. The variety of runs was good, something for all abilities. Having most runs lead to the central village was convenient for easily meeting up. The food and drink was basic, but not expensive. Negatives - Mostly by comparison to European resorts - The lift passes are very, very expensive. The lifts are mainly very old and slow with no footrests or covers. Fast modern covered and heated lifts are common in Europe, where it is usually much less cold. The bus service from Banff is terrible, really terrible. In Europe the ski bus is one every 10 minutes in the morning 8am to 10 am and from 3pm - 5pm. Here it's one every hour or so. Consequently, large queues build up at the bus stop (in minus 28 when we were there) and the bus cannot take all the queue, so you wait for another bus, sometimes again. On arrival at the lift station, the car park is huge (not surprising people prefer to drive as there are not enough buses). How poor for the environment is that? Then as all the buses arrive at a similar time the queue for the gondola is huge as well. This was a considerable waste of skiing time and a very poor experience. Overall, we had a good time and really liked Banff, Sunshine and Lake Louise. A few improvements to the bus service and the lifts would make the whole experience much better.
November 30, 2024
TyTipton96
Beautiful resort with so many options to choose from. Can often find pow stashes throughout the resort even if it's early season. Canada's best snow!
July 08, 2023
Chuck
Amazing ski resort. I won't say what my favorite runs are (not really marked runs) because I don't want others to ski on them. I like it best when the temperature is very low and the wind is strong. My only beef is most people put the chairlift bar down the second the chair touches their legs; and the bar bashes down on my helmet. I never use the bar.
May 01, 2023
alasdair russell
What a hill! I've been skiing/boarding here for over 2 decades and it's got so much varied terrain and such good snow. All natural sweet, sweet powder.
February 23, 2023
Tony
Today I was skiing with my 7 year old son on Strawberry. A private coach (a male at 50-60yrs old) was teaching a lady to do S turn on a narrow area. They really should have found another wide area to practice this. My son just took two days off school (but he did much better job than that lady) and felt very nervous when passing them. I could feel his nervousness and tried to follow him closely, then the lady hit me and both of us fall down. While the coach pushed me on the ground for three minutes and yelled to me I should watch his client. I was really shocked and my son was scared too. You guys really need to do such practice in a wider area but not expect everybody to avoid you. I understand that his showing attitude was for more tips but it was a hurt to child who was watching everything. He didn’t want to ski any more after this and kept asking me why the coach yelled to us. Sunshine is a nice place and we really enjoyed the last few days here. My son’s coaches are also very professional and polite. But this gentlemen should understand not only your client needs your care, but every visitor should be treated equally.
April 07, 2021
Rob F
Incredible skiing here with something for everyone. Iconic views, great slack country, consistent snow quality, in-bounds extreme zones. If you're a so-called local Bow Valley "expert" always telling everyone how proud you are of yourself, and have never done a super-lap (Delirium Dive to Wild West) then us city folks will have a good laugh:)
November 26, 2020
Robert
Sunshine was amazing - fantastic snow and first rate covid safety. So happy they do not allow the crazy "no-maskers". That would shut down the whole place.
November 09, 2020
Sarah-Joy
I did not get to experience Sunshine Village today as we were refused to even stand in line for a pass as I am mask exempt. It is disheartening as my children were looking forward to learning to skin a beautiful space.
March 03, 2020
Karen
Just want to say I have never experienced such great service from the rental shop! Got my skis tuned after a sticky couple laps and was overwhelmed by the service Jesse and Cam provided for me. Made my day!
February 22, 2020
Songsparrow
Best local snow most days. Amazing intermediate choices. SSV overstates their annual snowfall. Good lifts. Staff seem generally happy. Food service excluded here. These poor kids know they serve slop. The garbage tree on the Angel chairlift is a disgrace in a national park. Dirty underwear and diapers hanging from a tree beside the lift. Where else would you see this except at Sunshine Village? Oh yeah, or Lake Louise. Gotta be the worst food at any western Canadian ski resort. Scurfield feels the crowds will come and eat no matter how poor the food. Can't argue there. Worse than Jasper? Hard to achieve this, but yes, worse than Marmot. If you've experienced the food at Whistler-Blackcomb or Whitewater then you know the crap served at Alberta resorts is way substandard. SSV's food is the worst, especially at Goats Eye. Don't give us that "Well it's only a temporary building and the facilities don't..." We know you're slackin' big time Scurfield family! The entitled attitude of this owner who gouges the public and runs a very average operation leaves some of us hoping for a change.