Skiing for Christmas

BLUEBIE

Hi

I would like to take my son skiing over christmas this year, but have never been beofre, can anyone point me in the right direction of good places to go, where to book etc. I know not everywhere will have snow at that time of year so recommendations and advice would be good.

Ruby_Roo

It depends on your budget - you pay premium prices for Christmas, so budget is a big issue.

I can only speak from my experience but we did Banff in January 2010 through Virgin Holidays, which was amazing - 3 ski areas, guaranteed snow, a lovely village with lots of reasonably priced hotels and eateries, and some good non-ski activities (snowmobiling and dogsledding - both excellent).

We did Breckenridge in January 2011 through Crystal Holidays, which was absolutely amazing - Colorado had the best snow in 15 years so conditions were "epic" (as our Rep put it). This was also a lovely village, though a bit livelier and bigger than Banff. There are a number of peaks to ski, and the village has a free bus service all around town and to/from the ski areas.

BLUEBIE

Mmmm, think Colerado might be lightly out of budget, had France / Italy in mind really.

But thanks

B

alun4

1.Will you be "self catering" or in an hotel?
2.What age is your son?
3. When you say not gone before does that mean not before at Christmas or (both) of you never skied?
4. Would you fly or drive?

poe.tuesday

you also have to factor in the snow conditions at that time of year so look for either resorts up north (scandinavia) or high up or glacier

I would always say to go to lapland, you are going to get snow, you are going to have fun and it will not be scary

look at inghams and crystalski and look at resorts like yllas, levi and saariselka, only problem with christmas and new year is that it will be expensive so if you can go the first week in jan the price will be much lower - the ski school package is also good value in finland

badskindollheart

Mayrhofen in Austria is great. There are two different areas to ski - Penken and Ahorn. Ahorn is fantastic for beginners, not at all crowded and mainly blue runs. Penken is a bigger area with more challenging runs.

If you go to Europe and are worried about snow, make sure you book a glacier resort - you'll be guaranteed snow then.

Skiing is a fantastic holiday - hope you enjoy it! x

alanrowell

The problem is that Christmas is right at the start of the season - so there's no guarantee of snow unless you go to a high altitude resort or a Scandinavian resort - or go to North America. Weather is also more unpredictable than in late February or March so you may have days when you can't ski at all

North America is surprisingly affordable and snow reliable but you need to go for at least 10 days because of jet-lag, it can be REALLY COLD - temps well below zero and many of the resorts are at high altitude - over a mile high.

I'd go for Scandinavia - there's a chance of the Northern Lights and there will be snow.

k0nstantine

BLUEBIE wrote: »

Mmmm, think Colerado might be lightly out of budget, had France / Italy in mind really.

But thanks

B

Have a look at Livigno in Italy.
I went there about two years ago for Christmas and paid £400 for flights, transfers, and half board.
They have 12 black, 37 red and 29 blue pistes, as well as offering other activities such as tobogganing (great fun), tube sledging, nordic walking, ice skating, snow moiling etc.
You can take a look at the resort here:
http://www.skipasslivigno.com/index_eng.php
As for snow, there was plenty there when i went, and it snowed 5/7 days!

Kaeuqs

I've skied Xmas/New Year three times. I went to Alpe d'Huez, France; St Anton, Austria; and Whistler, Canada. All three had superb snow coverage, which to me was the biggest concern.

Of those resorts, both St Anton and Whistler are pretty good in bad weather, as they have a high proportion of tree-lined runs. Alpe d'Huez has limited tree-lined skiing.

All three resorts have a good number of other activities to keep you entertained away from the slopes. I've always found Alpe D'Huez to be one of the better French resorts in this respect.

x_missymoo_x

A bit closer to home, we went skiing for Christmas last year in the Cairngorms, Scotland. It was the first time I and the rest of my party have ever skiied (some also tried boarding) and I absolutely loved it, however I know seasoned skiiers often find it expensive and the train up can get extremely busy so you would have to learn how to use the lifts to save time.

We had booked 2 consecutive days of lessons, however I felt confident after my first day to go it alone on the second! The conditions we had were unbelievable, so much snow it really was a winter wonderland. The thing I love about Cairngorm is the proximity to other attractions around the area. For example, I recently went back with my H2B for a week in Feb and in addition to 4 days skiing we also went to Loch Ness, had a reindeer trek, went to Inverness and on the way home spent the day in Edinburgh. Not the cheapest of holidays but well worth it IMO for a first-timer.