Nothing transforms early winter quite like a ski trip. One day you’re mired deep in late-November or early-December darkness; the next you’re staring slack-jawed at some snaggle-toothed mountain, with the new season’s snow beneath your skis, wishing you’d booked your hotel room for three months, not three nights. The sudden sense of grandeur, speed and sunlight has never felt so refreshing.
So if you can spare a weekend or more between now and Christmas, grab your ski boots and go. This is low season. There are plenty of flights available and in most resorts lots of unbooked rooms. And after a nerve-racking period when hardly a flake of snow fell, there’s fresh snow on the higher slopes too. The mid-range forecasts suggest more is coming.
Here, we’ve picked some of the best options for long weekends and seven-night stays. We’ve pulled out a couple of Christmas plums too. Families take note: if you can wriggle free of your yuletide commitments back home, there are significant discounts to be bagged.
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1. Val Thorens, France
More than 10,000 skiers will be at Val Thorens’s opening weekend
GETTY IAMGES
The snow forecast for the Alps next week will be a godsend for Val Thorens, whose opening weekend kicks off on Friday. If the skies clear in time, expect more than 10,000 skiers to make their first euphoric turns of winter on its rolling slopes, before dancing to piste-side DJ sets. Book a two-night lift pass and accommodation package directly with the resort, staying at the simple but spick and span Résidence Chamois d’Or apartments, and don’t forget to sign up to test the latest skis free of charge (digitaltestcenter.com).
Details Two nights’ self-catering for four from £148pp including two-daylift pass (booking.valthorens.com). Fly to Geneva or take the train to Moûtiers
2. Val d’Isère, France
Val d’Isère hosts a World Cup ski race on December 14-15
ALAMY
Nothing injects excitement into the early season quite like a World Cup ski race — as you’ll discover if you join the crowds at Val d’Isère’s Critérium de la Première Neige on December 14-15 (from £8.30; worldcup-valdisere.com). But you’ll want to do plenty of skiing yourself as well, so check into the Chalet Hôtel du Fornet at the far end of the valley, and focus on the under-used but multi-faceted Fornet and Solaise sectors ‒ or ski over to Tignes. At both ends of this snow-sure ski area the lifts rise above 3,000m.
Details Four nights’ half-board from £564pp (hotel-du-fornet-valdisere.com). Fly to Geneva or take the train to Bourg-Saint-Maurice
3. Hintertux, Austria
Find snow-sure pistes on the Hintertux glacier
GETTY IMAGES
You don’t have to be a ski-racer to love the Hintertux area. Yes, in the autumn you’ll find national ski teams training on one of its two snow-sure glaciers, the unusually steep Tuxer Ferner. But the Riepenkees opposite is much less challenging, and as the snow line moves down the mountain, the area becomes a sizeable weekenders’ playground perfect for confident but not expert piste skiers. Hire a car so you can drive up to the lifts from the friendly Tirolerhof hotel, and stretch your muscles each afternoon in its serene outdoor pool.
Details Half-board doubles from £283 (tirolerhof-tux.at). Fly to Innsbruck
4. Cervinia, Italy
Cervinia’s high terrain has already had a welcome dusting of snow
ALAMY
In the flukey, early days of winter, the eye-wateringly high terrain connecting Cervinia with neighbouring Zermatt in Switzerland is a reliable place to ski, and last Tuesday it had a welcome dusting of white to complement the work of the snow cannons. More is due next week, and if it falls, expect an extensive early season area of intermediate-friendly pistes to open up beneath the sky-scraping spike of Monte Cervino (aka the Matterhorn). The luxe-y ski-in, ski-out Bergman Mountain hotel is a convenient and comfortable base.
Details Four nights’ B&B from £1,150pp, including flights (momentumxp.co.uk)
5. Gurgl, Austria
Obergurgl is an intermediate-friendly area
ALAMY
The snow cannons have been hard at work in high-altitude Gurgl (3,030m at the top), laying down a firm, consistent base for next weekend’s World Cup slalom races. Once they’re over, this medium-sized, intermediate-friendly resort is a canny pick for early-season skiers in search of comfort as well as cold, grippy snow. Book the Edelweiss & Gurgl hotel for the full effect. Close to two key lifts, it offers a state-of-the-art rental centre in the basement and a smooth, well-balanced mix of Tyrolean style and 21st-century mod-cons.
Details Seven nights’ half-board from £1,769pp, including flights, departing December 14 (inghams.co.uk)
6. Selva, Italy
Selva di Val Gardena has one of the world’s best snow-making systems
ALAMY
Few European rock faces can match the crinkle-cut drama of the Sassolungo’s cliffs. The 3,181m peak dominates the pistes in the Val Gardena, and your first sight of them, at the top of the Ciampinoi lift from Selva, is the perfect overture to a long weekend of easy and spectacular Dolomite skiing. Early-season cover — on-piste, at least — is more or less guaranteed by one of the world’s best snow-making systems, and speedy access from Gatwick is provided by Sky Alps’ flights to Bolzano, 45 minutes’ drive away. Book the chic Linder Cycling Hotel so you’re close to the key lift.
Details Four nights’ B&B from £652pp (linder.it). Fly to Bolzano
7. Whistler, Canada
Whistler could be due a bumper crop of snow this year
LEANNA RATHKELLY
North American skiers wait with bated breath. Will the climate anomaly known as La Niña develop over the Pacific? If it does, Whistler could be due a bumper crop of the white stuff — and over a metre of snowfall has already been recorded, so the signs are promising. Skiing there is not a bargain-basement undertaking, and the slopes will be busy from the get-go (opening day is November 22). But if Mother Nature turns the powder taps on, off-pisters will relish its avalanche-protected, ski-anywhere slopes. Stay at the Pan Pacific Mountainside, a big glossy hotel with heated outdoor pool and hot tubs, to be close to the lifts.
Details Seven nights’ room-only from £1,929pp, including flights and lift pass (ski-i.com)
8. Les Deux Alpes, France
Les Deux Alpes hosts a December music festival, and has a new gondola
SOUMIS A COPYRIGHT
Les Deux Alpes has good reason to celebrate the start of the 2024-5 season. It’s opening a new high-speed gondola that halves journey times up to its broad and snow-sure glacier. So expect an extra buzz at this year’s Rise music festival, which will pack the resort with dance music fans between December 7-14 (six-day ticket and lift pass £445pp; rise-festival.com). DJ duo Chase & Status are headlining, so if you’re tempted, be quick. Among the handful of flights-inclusive packages remaining is a week in the upmarket Neige et Soleil apartments, close to both lifts and pistes.
Details Seven nights’ self-catering for four from £689pp, including flights (heidi.com)
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• 20 of the best ski resorts in Europe for 2024
9. Les Arcs, France
The Club Belambra Hôtel du Golf is close to lifts, pistes and ski-school meeting points
JEROME CARRET
Christmas holidays have been selling slowly this year to all but the highest resorts. With the first winter snow falling, that may change. But at the time of writing there are significant discounts to be bagged, including this 33 per cent price cut to a week in the Club Belambra Hôtel du Golf. This striking glass-walled modernist block hotel is close to lifts, pistes and ski-school meeting points in easy-skiing Arc 1800, which makes popping back for lunch (part of the all-inclusive package) a cinch. Kids’ clubs are also included in the price.
Details Seven nights’ all-inclusive from £1,233pp, including flights (crystalski.co.uk)
10. Les Menuires, France
Neilson’s Hotel Le Menuire & Spa has £100pp off Christmas week
ALAMY
There’s only £100pp off Christmas week at Neilson’s Hotel Le Menuire & Spa, but with family-friendly quad rooms still available and the vast Three Valleys ski area beckoning, you may feel it’s worth paying a little extra. Guests also get at least two free guided tours of the pistes with qualified ski instructors, and there are kids’ clubs available for an extra fee. The resort’s indoor sports centre is nearby too, complete with a giant soft-play zone.
Details Seven nights’ half-board from £1,340pp, including flights (neilson.co.uk)
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