 Poster: A snowHead
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Have never been skiing over the festive period but really keen to try this year and would like any good recommendations from fellow Snowheads !
All my skiing has been in France but the OH fancies somewhere more 'wintry' and traditional so was looking at Switzerland (or maybe Austria). We are a family of 4 but the kids are teenagers and very proficient on reds / some blacks. The other half is competent but nervous so would need a resort with a decent range of green / blues. As ever, a good snow record is important. Blue sky days a bonus (accepting its going to be darker earlier in Dec). Would also like a traditional village / resort atmosphere, plus non-ski activities. Missus would like a spa option and would consider chalets or hotels. So.........any ideas most welcome !
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Excellent idea to ski over Christmas. Austria is likely to be cheaper than Switzerland, given the exchange rate, and has plenty of "traditional villages".
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Zermatt
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Mürren? Wengen? Davos?
Huge list to carry on from there.
Austria or Italy also couldwork and maybe cheaper...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Small Swiss places eg Leukerbad, Grimentz, Belalp also worth a look.
Austria: we loved Serfaus, Kitzbuhel, Lech.
For me at Christmas you want a traditional village with trees etc and not a high alpine one, just something about the atmosphere worth having at that time.
All these work well for your combination of skiers in our experience but thenSwiss ones are relatively small resorts (which hElps on lift passes etc)
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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We were in Bad Hofgastein in Austria one New Year; large, pretty village in the valley, there was live music in the square, a big good-natured crowd and the fireworks at midnight had to be seen to be believed, several large hotels had their own display but the town is small and you can see them all.
The downside is that because it is in the valley, it can be a bit of a long way to the snow - bus (depending where in the village you are), cable car, chairlift. But places up in the mountains won't be as pretty and there won't be as much going on. Champoussin in Switzerland, where our apartment is, is right by the slopes but on NYE it has five minutes of fireworks and then one bar where everyone goes. It's a compromise really.
If it's Switzerland you want you could look at somewhere like Saas Fee which is an attractive town and a bit closer to the slopes than BH, although I haven't been there at New Year so I don't know how they party.
The other thing is that the weather can be a bit grim at that time of year, the snow base is still developing and you will be lucky not to lose at least one day's skiing to bad visibility due to falling snow/cloud; it will be cold and days are short. Compromise again.
Have fun wherever you decide to go 
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damobloke1, Christmas better than New Year. More accommodation to chose from, less people on ze piste. Loads of places in Austria, Italy, Switzerland can be very "Christmassy". Maybe look at Kitzbuhel, Innsbruck (Christmas market), Alpbach etc.
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+1 for Zermatt, it is such a lovely, pretty resort with fantastic hotels. Have a look at Hotel Mirabeau, Hotel Beau-site, Cervo. If you are on a tighter budget then smaller resorts could be cheaper of course.
Christmas in general is a lot less busy than New Year week so I would go for that.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Agree, Christmas much quieter (and cheaper)! than New Year but there is more atmosphere because there are more people New Year.
+1. For Zermatt but it is expensive. There are lots of small Austrian and Swiss resorts that will have lots of atmosphere and be cheaper. Personally if it were me I'd look at places such as Leukerbad unless I'd won the lottery, in which case it's Zermatt
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Zermatt is undoubtedly not the budget option but is really special. There are some more 'reasonable' options, depending on your budget, Le Petit Hotel gets good reviews but no spa, then there are places like the Welcome B&B where we have stayed a number of times, mixture of hotel style rooms and apartments, with the option of Breakfast available to those in apartments also. We also stay at the Hotel Perren, a simple family run three star with a relatively new spa. It's not fancy, but very clean and well run. You could look at the Parnass also. If it's higher end you want, the possibilities are many and varied! The Zermatt website www.zermatt.ch lists all the hotels. Many may show up as 'no availability' but always worth emailing the hotels direct.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Zermatt's very nice, but you pay for it. Saas fee is up the next valley and very similar to Zermatt in terms of topography, height and extent of the skiing, but it's cheaper. Grimentz also good, skiing goes nice and high, but very different from Zermatt in that it's relatively unknown.
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