Snow holidays are honestly some of my favourite holidays. There's so much variety that can be had, from a family holiday to Lapland, to an (après) ski holiday with mates. Each destination offers a very unique experience, whether it be a scenic train ride to get to the destination (as in Zermatt, Switzerland), or ice-karting (as in Livigno, Italy), and I'm here to share some of my favourite snow memories and recommendations.
When I think of snow holidays, I think firstly of Scandinavia. When I was 10 years old, my family went to Sweden for our first ever snow holiday and we fell in love with skiing, the mountains, and the culture. Sweden has a lot of unique things to offer, two of my favourite being the ice hotel in the Arctic Circle and dog sledding. Learning how to ski was a very funny experience and led to many falls but provided everyone with a lot of entertainment, and the instructors are always very laid back and adventurous, making the lessons very fun. Our resort also allowed night skiing which I absolutely loved.
The next place we skied was in Norway and this was the coldest temperature I've ever experienced, at -27°C; this meant ice literally forming on your eyelashes and nose hairs. By this point we were learning to do small ski jumps and slalom, which we found endlessly entertaining. If you're into ski jumps, I'd recommend visiting Holmenkollbakken in Oslo - this was a bit different to the ski jumps we'd been practising but hey, it gave us something to work towards. One slightly poignant memory of Norway was going to ski school one morning and finding out that the Northern lights had been visible the previous night and we'd missed them (we tried to make up for it by going to a frozen lake to see them that night but it turns out that's not how it works).
From then on, we tried to go at least once a year in our February half-term and Easter holidays if possible, and one year we decided to try out Finland. We visited Lapland, which is in the Arctic Circle and allows you can meet Santa and experience the rural lifestyle. My parents thought this would be a great idea, and although the reindeers, huskies, and warm berry juice were great, visiting Santa was the most memorable part of the experience (namely because we were the oldest 'kids' there by about 5 years and definitely too old to be visiting Santa). Nonetheless, Finland was lovely and my favourite memory has to be riding snowmobiles (although my mum and brother did overturn their snowmobile which wasn't ideal).
After a few years of skiing, we became confident and needed a new challenge, so my brother and I decided to try snowboarding. We always saw snowboarders sitting on their bums at the top of the slopes, struggling to get off the chair lifts, and losing momentum on long flats, so we set off to Whistler, Canada in 2012 to see what all the fun was about. Admittedly, Canada is the favourite snow destination for my family as the people are lovely, the slopes are perfect, and the landscape is beautiful, so we were buzzing. The cool thing about being able to ski as well meant that we could understand the mechanism of snowboarding, as it's essentially the same as parallel skiing, but boy is there a difference between being side-on whilst turning on black runs and facing directly down the slope. I personally find snowboarding a lot more fun than skiing as tricks are easier, people are more chill, and off-piste offers a lot more adrenaline, but I am definitely better at skiing and appreciate its advantages (such as getting off chair lifts much easier and being able to gain speed on flats!).
Canada has so much to offer, but I'd strongly recommend Whistler or Banff as both locations are beautiful and the slope conditions are perfect in December! We try and spend a few days elsewhere too since the flight is so long, and if you have time I'd try to visit Niagara Falls; after skiing in Banff, we took a helicopter ride over the waterfalls and it was truly stunning. (Tim Horton's timbits are delicious too!)
More recently, we spent my 21st birthday in Livigno, Italy. This was a beautiful (tax-free!) destination with a cool one-way tunnel (the direction depending on the time of day) and a picturesque lake. There were all the typical ski village essentials, including fire pits to roast marshmallows and crêperies, however my favourite feature of this resort was the ice-karting piste. My family is competitive at go-karting as there's a track 5 minutes from our house in Portugal, but we'd never experienced it on ice where the drift is much more pronounced (unfortunately I lost, but hey, it's the taking part that counts right?).
For me, there is nothing like a snow holiday. Spending the day skiing and snowboarding, with a well-deserved goulash for lunch, then exploring the ski village (specifically the bars and crêperies), then coming home to a warm fire and relaxing; what's not to love?
I am aware that skiing can be very expensive, however many companies offer package deals, and from the UK, France can be relatively cheap whilst allowing you to cross over the border to Italy for a more satisfying lunch (for example, La Thuile/La Rosière resorts). Alternatively, in 2010, we once drove via the EuroTunnel all the way to Austria to ski with extended family and had a great time (despite one person getting appendicitis, another person sick, and a further person's knees suffering). Coming from someone who used to spend every Christmas (and birthday) in the sunny Madeira, I have to say there's something special about White Christmases, and snow holidays offer the chance to meet new people, challenge yourself, and stay fit, with the backdrop of beautiful mountains - the only thing I wouldn't recommend are the dreaded moguls!
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