It’s that magical time of the years again when we all hope for a White Christmas and many of us wish we could escape the stress of organising Christmas at home.
The good news for Christmas 2015 is that there’s been quite a lot of snow already, so unlike last year it’s looking like a white Christmas in the Alps at least.
The other good news is that we’ve never seen quite so many Christmas bargains being offered by tour operators, who are reporting bookings over the festive season are well down – meaning there are good deals to be had even at this late stage.
Many resorts have also put together family Christmas packages which combine value with festive fun activities.
Credit – Sunday River
This year Christmas day falls on a Friday which means you can get to resort well ahead of the final Christmas frenzy and enjoy four days on the slopes as your special week builds up to Christmas Eve then Christmas Day in resort, with most tour operators flying you home on Boxing Day – although some are offering Sunday transfers if you prefer, so you depart on the 27th.
As an extra treat for grown up boys and girls, Santa has made the pound much stronger against the Euro so you can buy more Christmas treats for the kids, and indeed yourself, for less.
Christmas Holiday Choices
1 – Meet Father Christmas in Les Menuires
The family-friendly resort in the 3 Valleys is pulling out all the stops this year to make Christmas week extra special for families. Father Christmas will be around for photos on the snow front at la Croisette all week and Les Menuires is throwing on free children’s entertainment, chocolates and goodies plus a torchlit descent and fireworks.
An all-inclusive, limited edition stay for 2 adults and 2 children in ski-in/ski-out apartment accommodation including a 6-day Les 3 Vallées family pass as well as a Christmas tree and decorations delivered to your apartment costs from €1,699 (£1195) per week for the family. Excludes travel and food – contact Les Menuires Réservation +33 (0)4 79 00 79 79
Credit – Sunday River
2 – Alta Badia’s Christmas Village
Stunningly beautiful and family-friendly all year round anyway, Alta Badia in the Italian Dolomites takes on an extra level of attraction in the run up to Christmas when the pedestrian area of San Cassiano, one of the valley’s villages, is transformed in to the Paîsc da Nadé, a winter Christmas village, which brings you the traditional atmosphere of the South Tyrol valleys at Christmas.
There are wooden huts, glittering lights and seasonal decorations to provide the setting for a programme packed with activities and events. The cosy lodges offer a wide range of culinary delights and traditional regional products. This year for the first time ever, visitors can try the “Star of Christmas”, a sweet temptation especially created for the occasion by Michelin-star Norbert Niederkofler.
There’ll be performances by the local choirs, a traditional wooden nativity scene created by local artists and an animal enclosure. The Christmas village is open from 4pm to 7pm each evening.
Credit – Crystal Ski and Ruka
3 – Fully Catered in Meribel
Oner of the big stresses of Christmas can be organising the catering, so a chalet holiday when the chalet staff cook all the key meals for you, and organise the Christmas decorations, leavers you free to just enjoy the good parts of Christmas – looking at the decorations and eating the food!
As we went to press Meriski the Meribel specialists still had Christmas-week availability in their brand new Prestige Chalet Kashmir situated in the charming hamlet of La Gittaz from £699 per person per week.
“Enjoy the most relaxing Christmas ever, without having to lift a finger!” said a company temptress.
4 – A VIP Ski Christmas
VIP Chalets is one of the biggest players on the chalet market with 70 properties to choose from, they’ll be catering for 750 guests this Christmas! – a third of them excited kids.
The company recently published some of their Christmas stats including the facts that they’re guests will between them be pulling 800 Crackers, gazing in wonder at 72 Christmas trees after staff have untangled 90 sets of Christmas lights. 375 Bottles of Champagne and 100 of port will be quaffed, and another 2500 bottles of fine wine plus 1000 mince pies. Whilst the festive food intake will include 250 turkeys, a dozen big salmons and a precise 2726 roast potatoes and 3496 brussel sprouts
Prices start from £999 per person based in Morzine and including return air travel between Gatwick or Manchester and Geneva.
5 – High Value Christmas in Serre Chevalier
Credit – Serre Chevalier
Serre Chevalier Vallée has a special family package this winter for just £937 (€1336). The price includes 7-nights self-catering accommodation for two adults and two children aged under 18 with 6-day lift passes for all also included!
Serre chevalier is one of France’s largest, but also most underrated resorts, “It has excellent skiing, friendly locals and reasonable prices. It’s home to the sort of restaurants you hope to find in a French ski resort but seldom do,” Felice Hardy wrote in The Guardian. serre-chevalier.com
6 – Christmas Ski Weekend
If you don’t fancy the usual full Christmas ski week there are lots of options to go for different durations. One of the experts in this area are SkiWeekends.com who offer four ski day breaks from Christmas Eve right through the holiday weekend to 28th December, so you may not need to take any time off work to get two-thirds of a ski week in. Or at the other extreme if you want to indulge why not enjoy 7.5 days skiing with a 21st December departure and really make the most of Christmas!
7 – Christmas Family Chalets
Credit – OT Les Gets
Ski Famille is a chalet company that specialises in families for holidays, so they can reasonably argue that no company is better set up than they do deal with a family Christmas in the mountains.
“While your family enjoys a day on the slopes, your chalet chef will prepare a traditional Christmas meal; Father Christmas will make a special visit and the Ski Famille team will tackle the Christmas washing up while you curl up by the fire with another glass of wine!” said company director Chris Thompson.
Ski Famille is offering a selection of high-quality catered chalets in charming Les Gets at this discounted rate. All Ski Famille properties will be decorated for the Christmas holidays and the company runs thirteen family focussed chalets in La Plagne, Les Gets and Reberty 2000. with an in-chalet À La Carte Childcare service, so there’s no need for a snowy trudge to a centralised crèche, parents just put on their skis and go. Children will enjoy a vast array of festive activities as part of Ski Famille’s optional in-chalet child care the company promises.
Current Christmas week deals can be found in the ‘Offers’ section of the company’s website: skifamille.co.uk
8 – Christmas Ski Guarantee
If you were a victim of the thin snow cover in the Alps last Christmas and are feeling nervous about this year (although, as mentioned above, it was looking more ‘normal’ as we went to press this December), you may be interested in a ‘ski guarantee’ from Club Med, a specialist in family-friendly ski villages.
The Club Med Ski Guarantee promises a 50% refund on the price of each day, for holidays between 20th December and 27th December 2015, that the National Ski School cancels lessons due to insufficient snow.
The adult holiday price for a 20th December departure is £1,229 meaning the refund per day would be £88 in the unhappy event that its needed.
9 – 2-for-1 Christmas Lift Passes in Italy
Esprit Ski, the family ski specialists, are offering 2-for-1 Monterosa Area lift passes on all pre-booked adult passes for departures on the 19th December for Christmas week a saving of £144. Children under 8 ski free.
The company offers catered family chalet holidays in the village of Gressoney, right in the heart of the Monterosa ski area.
At time of going to press deals included £1789 for a family of four (was £2749) staying in the Chalet Hotel Valverde. The price is based on a family of 4, (2 adults and 2 children under 12) and includes return flights from Birmingham to Turin, transfers, free wifi, free baby listening, spa area, sauna and steam room, and seven nights chalet catered accommodation with a cooked breakfast, afternoon tea, children’s high tea and 5-course dinners with complimentary wine (6 nights). Child Care and other regional departures are available at a supplement.
10 – Meet Santa On His Home Turf
Credit – Crystal Ski and Ruka
Apparently seeing the northern lights is the most popular item on adults’ bucket lists, but fort kids it must surely be going to visit Santa at his secret home up in the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland.
The good news is you can do both, keep everyone happy, and enjoy some skiing in to the bargain on empty, powdery snow slopes, floodlit in the dark northern winter.
Various tour operators have various packages available but Crystal Ski’s Santa Adventure Week based in the top resort of Ruka includes taster sessions of snowmobiling, dog sledding and reindeer visit as well as the all important visit to Santa’s Secret Cottage, a 25 minutes drive from the resort.
Santa’s elves will welcome you and start some fun and games outside, followed by hot drinks in a lakeside hut. You will then meet Santa and he will invite you inside his cottage where you will hear stories of Rudolf, his elves and why he left the North Pole. You’ll be taught a traditional Christmas song in Finnish and there will be cookies and drinks.
Credit – Crystal Ski and Ruka
By Sally Brookes
