One of Colorado's most popular resorts, Breckenridge has expert skiing up to 12,998 feet if you are prepared to hike for it.

With the addition of the 307 acres of expert only terrain on Peak 7 a few years ago, Breckenridge now has four mountains, named Peaks 7, 8, 9 and 10.

Peak 8, with half of the resort's 2000+ skiable acres, is largely classified as expert terrain.

Peak 10 is also mainly for experts, with 63% of its terrain classified most difficult.

Most of the gentler slopes are on user-friendly Peak 9 which has almost half of the resort's lifts and snowmaking covering a quarter of its terrain.

Breckenridge is not purpose-built, rather it is an original mining town with 171 listed buildings. The town was founded in 1859 and is the oldest continually inhabited community in the Colorado mountains.

As you'd expect, there's a huge choice of things to do off the slope and a vast range of lodging options, with an accommodation capacity of 23,000. The variety of meals served up by the 50 or so restaurants in town is possibly unequaled at a North American ski resort.

Dining options include Cajun, French, German, Hunan Chinese, Java, Mandarin, Mexican, Native American, Northern Italian, Organic, Rastafarian, Southern Italian, Sushi and Vegetarian.