I went looking at pro hockey in Europe outside the top tier: France Division 1, HockeyEttan, the Alps Hockey League, and Erste Liga. Some of the towns that play in these leagues are interesting places.
Below are fourteen of them, across seven countries. Each one is a real club playing in the 2025-26 season.
Italian & Austrian Alps
Cortina d'Ampezzo · SG Cortina Hafro · Alps Hockey League · Italy
A Dolomite resort town in northern Italy. Population around 5,400. Hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956 and 2026.
Selva di Val Gardena · HC Gherdëina · Alps Hockey League · Italy
A village of about 2,600 in South Tyrol, beneath the Sassolungo. Most residents speak Ladin as a first language, alongside Italian and German.
Kitzbühel · EC Adler Stadtwerke Kitzbühel · Alps Hockey League · Austria
A Tyrolean ski town of about 8,200, German-speaking. Home of the Hahnenkamm downhill race.
Ritten / Renon · Rittner Buam SkyAlps · Alps Hockey League · Italy
A plateau above Bolzano, connected to the city by a 12-minute cable car. The rink sits on the infield of a 400-metre outdoor speed-skating oval. Mostly German-speaking.
Sterzing / Vipiteno · Wipptal Broncos Weihenstephan · Alps Hockey League · Italy
Italy's northernmost town, on the Brenner Pass. Forty minutes south of Innsbruck and forty minutes north of Bolzano. German-speaking South Tyrol.
French Alps
Saint-Gervais & Megève · Yétis du Mont-Blanc · France Division 1 · France
Two villages at the foot of Mont Blanc. About 75 minutes from Geneva. Megève was developed as a resort by the Rothschild family in the 1920s.
Morzine · Pingouins de Morzine-Avoriaz · France Division 1 · France
A Savoyard village of about 2,600 in the Portes du Soleil ski area, on the French-Swiss border. Around 90 minutes from Geneva.
Méribel · HCMP Bouquetins · France Division 1 · France
A French ski resort in Les Trois Vallées. Base elevation 1,450 m. Local building code requires wood, stone, and slate.
Chambéry · Éléphants de Chambéry · France Division 1 · France
The former capital of the House of Savoy. A city of about 60,000 near Lake Bourget. Roughly an hour from Geneva, Annecy, and Grenoble.
Sweden
Kiruna · Kiruna IF · HockeyEttan Norra
Sweden's northernmost town, 145 km inside the Arctic Circle. Currently being relocated three kilometres east to accommodate the underlying iron mine.
Sundsvall · IF Sundsvall Hockey · HockeyEttan Norra
A coastal city of about 58,000 in central Sweden. Known as Stenstaden (the Stone City) after being rebuilt in stone following the fire of 1888.
Hudiksvall · Hudiksvalls HC · HockeyEttan Norra
A town on the Gulf of Bothnia, nicknamed Glada Hudik (Happy Hudik). About three hours north of Stockholm by train.
Off the beaten path
Miercurea Ciuc · HSC Csíkszereda · Erste Liga · Romania
A Hungarian-speaking Székely town in the Eastern Carpathians. About 81% of residents are ethnic Hungarian. One of the coldest places in Romania.
Jesenice · HDD Jesenice · Alps Hockey League · Slovenia
A Slovenian steel town of about 13,000. Fifteen minutes from Lake Bled and 45 minutes from Ljubljana. Home rink is the Podmežakla.