Skiing in May in The Pyrenees

Can you ski in the Pyrenees in May?

No. By May the Pyrenean ski season is over everywhere. The major resorts on both the French and Spanish sides close in the first half of April: Saint Lary Soulan and Baqueira Beret both finish around the first week of April, and the Andorran giant Grandvalira typically wraps up by mid April. There is no glacier skiing anywhere in the Pyrenees, so once the lifts stop and the spring sun strips the snow, there is no high altitude fallback to keep a resort running into May as there is in the high Alps.

The reason is altitude and latitude working together. Pyrenean resorts top out lower than the great glacier resorts of the Alps, and the range sits far enough south that the strong spring sun melts the snowpack quickly through April. Even in a big snow year, the lower bases and south facing slopes that make the Pyrenees so pleasant in midwinter become their weakness in late spring, and operators close while the snow is still reasonable up high rather than run half a mountain at a loss.

So the honest answer for a May trip is clear: the Pyrenees are the wrong choice for skiing this month. If your dates are fixed in May and you want to ski, you need to look elsewhere. If your dates are flexible, the Pyrenees are a wonderful and great value ski destination from December to early April, and that is when to come for the snow.

Where can you ski in May instead?

For genuine May skiing your best options are the high Western Alpine resorts and glaciers, which keep running long after the Pyrenees have closed. The highest snow sure French resorts such as Tignes and Val Thorens, and Italian Cervinia under the Matterhorn, hold real spring snow into May, and the permanent glaciers above 3,000 meters offer dependable morning skiing through the warm months. These are a manageable redirection if you are already planning a European trip, and they deliver the warm, sunny spring skiing that May travelers are usually after.

The other option, if you want a full ski week rather than a few high runs, is to follow winter to the Southern Hemisphere, although the southern season is only just opening in May and does not hit its stride until June and July. Our guide to summer skiing in Europe covers which Alpine glaciers run into the warm months, and our Southern Hemisphere skiing guide covers the timing if you would rather chase a full winter on the other side of the world.

What is the Pyrenees like in May if you still want to visit?

May is a beautiful time to be in the Pyrenees even though you cannot ski, and the mountains shift quickly into their spring and early summer character. The high passes begin to clear, the valleys turn green and flower filled, the rivers run high with snowmelt, and the hiking lower down opens up while the high peaks still wear their last snow. Resort villages such as Saint Lary and the Spanish and Andorran bases are quiet and inexpensive between the ski and summer seasons, which makes May a calm, good value month for a mountain break that is not about skiing.

For travelers willing to swap skis for boots, May offers excellent lower and mid altitude walking, spa and wellness stays in the ski towns at off season rates, and the famous Pyrenean thermal baths at their most relaxing. The high mountain hiking and the via ferrata come into their own a little later, in June and through summer, once more of the snow has cleared from altitude. As a skiing month, though, May in the Pyrenees is simply closed.

When should you come back to ski the Pyrenees?

Come back between December and early April, which is the full Pyrenean ski season. The resorts generally open in late November to early December, with reliable conditions building through December. January and February bring the deepest, coldest and most reliable snow, and are the safest months for snow certainty, though February carries the Spanish and French half term crowds. March is often the sweet spot, pairing good snow with longer, sunnier days and the famous Pyrenean blue skies, and the season winds down through late March into early April.

If you want the best snow, choose January or February. If you want the best balance of snow, sun and value, choose March. The Pyrenees are one of Europe's best value ski destinations in season, with lower prices than the marquee Alps, so the reward for planning a winter trip rather than a May one is real. For skiing, treat May as off season and plan for the December to April window instead.

May in The Pyrenees: the case for and against

Common questions