It’s easier than ever for skiers to get to the slopes this year, with a string of new flight routes.
British Airways is doubling the number of flights from Heathrow to Salzburg for the Austrian Alps including Zell am See, while EasyJet is launching its Gatwick to Klagenfurt connection on December 16 for Carinthia.
Or there are 13 new routes from across Britain to the French Alps and Pyrenees.
Grenoble and Chambery, the closest airports to the Isere, Hautes Alpes and Savoie departements, are having existing routes extended with 38 extra planes per week from 11 UK airports, including Heathrow, London City and Manchester with BA, Stansted and Birmingham with Jet 2, Bristol and Gatwick with Easyjet, and Doncaster Sheffield, Luton and Exeter with Thomson Airways.
EasyJet is also launching three weekly flights from Southampton to Geneva. Or for the Pyrenees, Ryanair is launching new flights from Edinburgh to Toulouse and Carcassonne.
Prefer not to fly? Eurostar’s direct snow train will be heading to Moutiers, Aime and Bourg St Maurice from St Pancras overnight on Fridays and during the day on Saturdays.
Inghams celebrates 20 years in Lapland
Ski tour operator Inghams is marking its 20th anniversary in Finnish Lapland with an extended winter programme, running to the end of March in Levi and Ylläs, plus four new resorts in Italy and France.
The five-star Star Arctic Hotel is also due to open in Saariselkä in December, with rooms looking out onto the snowy wilderness and luxury suites with private sauna or glass cabin.
Visitors will also benefit from new direct flights from Gatwick to Ivalo between December 17 and March 3, cutting the transfer time to Saariselkä to 20 minutes, down from around three hours.
And for those heading to Italy, the popular complimentary ‘Meet the Pistes’ ski hosting service is back at many of the resorts including new addition Livigno, with reps helping new guests who are red run competent plan their week and offering tips on the best ski runs and mountain restaurants.
New plans for La Plagne
The family-friendly resort of La Plagne in the French Alps has announced a string of new activities to tempt people onto the slopes.
For complete beginners, the ‘Go to Ski’ helps teach the right movements made by a skier’s feet — the snow scooter style device is also great to help others perfect their technique and posture.
And the family fun ski run, the longest in France on its launch last year including tunnels, jumps and raised bends, has been extended for this winter.
The world’s longest slalom race is also returning to the area on March 31, with 400 people expected to take part in the Superslalom event.
To refuel — or if you prefer après-ski to actual ski — Michelin starred chef Phil Howard is opening a new restaurant in Plagne Montalbert after 25 years of managing double Michelin-starred restaurant The Square in central London.
