Yes, it snows in Australia. From June to September the alpine resorts of NSW, Victoria and Tasmania turn white — here's where to go.
It surprises a lot of visitors, but Australia has a real snow season. From the June long weekend to roughly early October, the Australian Alps of New South Wales and Victoria — and the high country of Tasmania — get reliable snow, with ski resorts, lifts and alpine villages running in full swing.
The peak is July and August, school-holiday weeks book out early, and conditions vary year to year. Beyond the downhill resorts there's cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and simply playing in the snow. Here are the main snow destinations.
The largest ski resort in the Southern Hemisphere, Perisher links four areas — Perisher Valley, Smiggin Holes, Blue Cow and Guthega — with a huge spread of runs and lifts in Kosciuszko National Park.
Reached by road or the Skitube railway. Peak conditions in July and August.
Thredbo has Australia's longest ski runs and the most vertical drop, plus a lively alpine village. In summer it pivots to mountain biking and the walk to Mount Kosciuszko's summit.
A favourite for more advanced skiers. July–August for the best snow.
Victoria's largest resort, with ski-in/ski-out village accommodation and excellent cross-country trails alongside the downhill runs.
A well-rounded resort for families and all abilities. Peak season July–August.
Known for its high base elevation, steeper terrain and reputation for the best powder in the Victorian Alps — a favourite of more experienced skiers and boarders.
The village sits along the ridge-top. July and August are prime.
The closest major resort to Melbourne (about three hours), making Buller the go-to for weekend snow trips, with a broad spread of runs suited to families and beginners.
Busy on winter weekends; midweek is quieter.
Australia's highest and oldest ski village, so high and snow-bound that in winter you reach it by oversnow transport. Small, historic and uncrowded, right beneath Mount Kosciuszko.
A quieter, character-filled alternative to the big resorts.
A small, friendly resort closest to Melbourne's east, ideal for first-timers, families and a low-key day in the snow without the big-resort prices or crowds.
Great for learning; modest terrain for advanced skiers.
Not a downhill resort but Australia's premier cross-country and snow-play destination, an easy day trip from Melbourne with toboggan runs and groomed Nordic trails.
Perfect for a family snow day without the lift queues.
Tasmania's main downhill ski field, a compact resort on a dramatic dolerite plateau in the north-east, reached via the hair-raising switchbacks of Jacobs Ladder.
Snow is more variable here than on the mainland; check conditions before heading up.
Beyond the lifts, the Australian Alps offer cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and back-country touring through snow gums and open alpine country — a quieter, wilder side of the snow season.
For prepared, experienced travellers; alpine weather changes fast.
Australia has a real ski season, and it is also the part of Australian travel most often oversold and most often dismissed. Both reactions miss it.
The season conventionally opens on the June long weekend and runs to around the start of October, with July and August the most reliable months. The resorts sit at modest elevation by international standards — the Australian Alps are old, worn mountains rather than young sharp ones — which means natural snowfall varies enormously year to year and the fields depend heavily on snowmaking. Some seasons are excellent. Some are thin. Anyone telling you confidently in April what August will be like is guessing.
What Australia does have is treeline scenery unlike anywhere else — snow gums, twisted and white-barked, standing in open snowfields — a short flight from every major city, and a genuinely good family product. For a first-time skier, a family wanting a week that is not a beach, or anyone who has never seen snow, it works very well. For an experienced skier arriving from the Alps or the Rockies expecting comparable terrain and vertical, it will not.
Book late if you can. The difference between a good Australian snow week and a disappointing one is usually just whether you were able to wait for the forecast.
| Resort | State | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Perisher | NSW — Snowy Mountains | The largest ski area in the southern hemisphere, spread across four linked villages. Broad beginner and intermediate terrain, reachable by the Skitube from Bullocks Flat |
| Thredbo | NSW — Snowy Mountains | The longest runs and the most vertical in Australia, plus the liveliest village. Better for confident intermediates and up |
| Falls Creek | VIC — Alpine NP | Ski-in ski-out village, excellent for families, and the best cross-country network in the country |
| Mount Hotham | VIC — Alpine NP | The steepest terrain in Victoria, village at the summit, and a favourite of stronger skiers |
| Mount Buller | VIC — Alpine NP | Closest major resort to Melbourne at about three hours, which makes it the busiest and the easiest weekend option |
| Selwyn, Charlotte Pass, Mt Baw Baw | NSW / VIC | Smaller, cheaper, family-focused. Good for a first day on snow without the crowds or cost |
| Ben Lomond, Mt Mawson | Tasmania | Small and weather-dependent, but genuinely charming when it snows |
Broadly: New South Wales for the biggest area and the longest runs, Victoria for the villages and the family experience, and the small fields for a cheap first taste.
Australian snow is not cheap, and the lift pass is only part of it. Budget for lift passes, equipment hire, lessons if you need them, resort or park entry, chain hire, and accommodation that prices at a substantial premium in July and August. Multi-day passes and early-bird passes bought before the season starts are the two biggest savings available, and mid-week is consistently cheaper than weekends. The small fields — Selwyn, Baw Baw, Charlotte Pass — cost a fraction of the majors and are the sensible first outing for a family testing whether anyone actually likes it.
A large share of Australian snow visitors never put on skis, and the resorts are set up for it.
Alpine weather changes fast and Australian conditions are notoriously wet — the snow is often heavy and the wind is often serious. Waterproof outer layers rather than merely warm ones, thermals, gloves, and a beanie. Sunscreen and sunglasses are not optional: reflected UV at altitude burns faster than most people expect, and sunburn is among the most common minor injuries of an Australian ski holiday. If you are going beyond the resort boundary, that is backcountry travel with everything that implies.
Cooee Tours has been running family-owned coach touring out of Brisbane since 1974, which makes us an unlikely snow company — and yet the trip we get asked about most in winter by Queensland families is precisely this one, because a great many Queensland children have never seen snow.
The practical route is a flight to Sydney, Canberra or Melbourne and ground transport from there, and we can arrange the Brisbane end, group airport transfers, and the touring around it. For clubs, schools and extended families travelling together, having the movement handled at both ends is the difference between a holiday and a logistics exercise. Call 0409 661 342 or email contact@cooeetours.com.au.
Related reading: our guides to the best winter escapes in Australia, where to go in July and Australia's best national parks.
If nobody in the group has skied before, the order in which you book things matters more than where you go.
And book accommodation in the valley towns rather than on the mountain if budget matters. Jindabyne, Mansfield, Bright and Mount Beauty are all substantially cheaper than resort accommodation, at the cost of a drive each morning — which is exactly the trade most Australian families make.
The honest summary is that Australian skiing does not compete internationally on terrain, vertical or snow reliability, and everybody who skis here knows it. What it offers instead is proximity — a short flight and a drive from every major city — a family product that works, and a landscape that genuinely exists nowhere else. Snow gum country under fresh snow is one of the more beautiful things in this country, and no amount of comparison to the Alps changes that.
The practical advice reduces to a few things. Go in July or August. Book late if you possibly can, so you are booking a forecast rather than a hope. Take waterproof layers rather than merely warm ones. Carry chains and know how to fit them. And if it is anyone's first time, give it two days and start on a small field.
Then, if you catch a good week, it is as good a holiday as this country offers.
The Australian Alps are a large protected landscape and the ski fields occupy a small fraction of them. Several of the better winter experiences involve no lift at all.
Above the resort boundary, everything changes. Alpine weather in Australia kills people most years, usually because a fine morning became a whiteout by afternoon. Carry navigation you can use without a phone, tell someone your route, and turn back earlier than feels necessary.
Worth knowing while you are standing in it, because Australian alpine country is genuinely unusual and most visitors never hear why.
Australia has very little alpine terrain — a fraction of one per cent of the continent sits above the treeline — and it is old. These are worn-down remnants of far larger ranges, which is why the summits are rounded rather than sharp and why Mount Kosciuszko, the highest point in the country at 2,228 metres, is a walk rather than a climb.
The snow gum is the signature. Eucalyptus pauciflora grows at the treeline in twisted, multi-stemmed forms with bark that peels into ribbons of white, grey, olive and orange, and a stand of them in snow is genuinely unlike anything in the northern hemisphere. Many were badly burnt in the 2019–20 fires and the recovery is visible along several resort access roads.
Above the trees, the Main Range holds Australia's only genuine glacial landscape — cirques, moraines and a handful of glacial lakes including Blue Lake, carved during the last ice age. The alpine wildflower season in January and February, when the same country is snow-free and carpeted in colour, is arguably as spectacular as the winter and almost nobody goes.
The mountain pygmy possum lives here too — the only Australian mammal that hibernates under snow, critically endangered, and the reason for a number of the resort environmental controls people occasionally grumble about.
All of which is a long way of saying that if the snow is thin in the year you visit, the country is still worth the trip.
Cooee Tours can help arrange touring and transfers to the Australian snowfields — talk to us about building a winter alpine trip.
Talk to us about a snow tripYes. The Australian Alps of New South Wales and Victoria, and the high country of Tasmania, get reliable snow each winter, with ski resorts, lifts and alpine villages operating from around the June long weekend to early October.
Roughly the June long weekend to early October, with July and August the peak months for the most reliable snow. Conditions vary year to year, and school-holiday weeks book out well in advance.
Perisher is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, Thredbo has the longest runs and most vertical, and Falls Creek and Mt Hotham are the Victorian standouts. Mt Buller and Mt Baw Baw are the most accessible from Melbourne for weekend trips.
Yes. Lake Mountain in Victoria specialises in cross-country skiing, tobogganing and snow-play, and most resorts offer snowshoeing, snow tubing and village experiences. It's easy to enjoy the snow without hitting the downhill runs.
Mt Buller (about three hours) and Mt Baw Baw are the closest downhill resorts to Melbourne, with Falls Creek, Mt Hotham and the cross-country trails of Lake Mountain also within reach.
It depends what you want. Perisher in New South Wales is the largest ski area in the southern hemisphere with broad beginner and intermediate terrain. Thredbo has the longest runs and most vertical. In Victoria, Falls Creek is the best family and cross-country option, Mount Hotham the steepest, and Mount Buller the closest to Melbourne at about three hours.
Yes, in declared conditions on resort access roads, and they are checked. Two-wheel-drive vehicles must carry them and four-wheel drives frequently must too. Hire them on the way up if you do not own a set, and learn to fit them before you are doing it in a queue in the dark. Perisher's Skitube from Bullocks Flat avoids the issue entirely.
More than most people expect, because the lift pass is only part of it — add equipment hire, lessons, resort or national park entry, chain hire, and peak-season accommodation. Early-bird and multi-day passes are the biggest savings, mid-week is cheaper than weekends, and the small fields like Selwyn, Baw Baw and Charlotte Pass cost a fraction of the majors.
Easily, and many visitors do. Tobogganing areas, snowshoeing through the snow gums, cross-country trails, and sightseeing chairlifts all operate for non-skiers. For a great many Australian and international visitors, simply standing in falling snow among snow gums is the whole point, and it needs no lift pass.
Waterproof outer layers rather than merely warm ones — Australian alpine conditions are notoriously wet and windy. Thermals, gloves, a beanie, and sunscreen and sunglasses, because reflected UV at altitude burns quickly and sunburn is one of the most common minor injuries of an Australian ski holiday.
Australian snow conditions vary a lot year to year, so check live snow reports before committing, and book accommodation and lift passes well ahead for the July–August peak and any school-holiday weeks. Resort entry fees, oversnow transport and gear hire all add up, so factor those in — and remember that the weather on the alpine tops can change fast, even in the middle of the season.
A snow holiday also pairs naturally with the dry-season warmth up north for travellers wanting both extremes in one winter trip. See our guide to the best places to visit in July for ideas on combining snow and sun. First-timers should budget a day or two for lessons and acclimatising to the altitude and cold before tackling the bigger runs, and chains or all-wheel drive are often required on the alpine roads in winter.
Cooee Tours acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and recognise that the places described here hold deep cultural significance for the First Peoples who have cared for them for tens of thousands of years.