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Where to celebrate Christmas in ski resorts? our selection

2021-11-27T07:12:42.320Z


No restrictions in sight to spend the Christmas holidays on our peaks. Magical atmospheres, unusual activities or fun techno shows ... Our ideas for (re) living fully the magic of these end-of-year celebrations in the mountains, from the Alps to the Pyrenees.


If you want to spend the holidays in the mountains, see Santa Claus on his sleigh and hurtle down rather open ski slopes… Go for it!

In the French resorts, the message is clear: there will be room for the Christmas school holidays.

Reassured by the government, the French are already favoring the summits for these end-of-year celebrations, with the promise of being able to hit the slopes.

However, there is still room, despite well-established habits, with holidaymakers booking the week of New Year's Day instead.

And all the more so this year when December 25 falls on a Saturday, a day usually devoted to crossroads on the road.

Read alsoMountain: snow tires mandatory this winter

To cope with this odd schedule, the Alpine resorts, like the Pyrenees, have adapted.

Many of them offer shorter stays with à la carte access.

Better still, most of them are competing in their imagination to make this week's return to skiing an enchanting and festive experience.

Read the fileSkiing and winter sports: the

Figaro

guide

Les Carroz, activities in the hood (Grand Massif, Haute-Savoie)

Among the many assets of Les Carroz, a charming family resort that is increasingly endowed with charming addresses, there is one that hits the mark every first time: its speed of access. Because for anyone who is not used to driving on snow or making endless sharp bends in the mountains, the resort has the advantage of joining in just 15 minutes from exit 19 of the A40. Ideal with children sensitive to motion sickness. The same people greatly appreciate the fun areas of the ski area (cool zone of the Oasis, boardercross ...), the many off-ski activities (classic or rail tobogganing, fat bike, sled dogs ...) and the mountain of entertainment planned for Christmas celebrations.

As soon as they arrive, on December 18, the first holidaymakers will be able to enjoy the lighting of the Christmas tree, the start of a veritable marathon of fun proposals: fanfare and costume parade, igloo constructions, demonstration of ice sculpture, torchlight descent on the emblematic red slope of the Timalets (€ 5, from 12 years old), fireworks show, visit from Santa Claus ... All against a backdrop of seasonal jingles, hot chocolate and gingerbread in the heart of the producers' Christmas market and local artisans. To bring back: the

Mystère (s)

comic book

at Les Carroz,

imagined by Félix Meynet, the creator of the character of Fanfoué.

All-inclusive “Christmas Magic” stay (7-night accommodation, 6-day Grand Massif pass, 18 hours of ski lessons, rental of a virtual reality mask for sledding, reduction on ski lockers, etc.) from € 355 / person on a basis of 4 people.

Altitude:

1140 meters to 2100 meters

28 slopes:

4 green, 16 blue, 9 red, 4 black

Nordic area

 : yes (cross-country ski trails, biathlon, snowshoes)

Les Carroz ski passes (beginner sector):

adult day € 26 / child € 19


Grand Massif

ski pass

:

adult day € 50.90 / child 5-15 years € 38.20 / senior € 48.40

Tourist office: www.lescarroz.com

Read alsoSki: ten family resorts to book this winter 2021/2022

Flaine, spectacularly spectacular (Grand Massif, Haute-Savoie)

Rather than fireworks, the station programs nightly drone ballets from December 22.

OT Flaine

Designed by Marcel Breuer, the father of modernism, Flaine is the cherished resort of architecture and design lovers, but also a formidable

snow

"trap"

.

This resort, very popular with families, has the false air of an open-air museum: you can enjoy the works of Dubuffet, Picasso or Vasarely while exploring the entire ski area with the youngest

via

a network of blue marked slopes up to '' at the top of the Grandes Platières (2500 m).

Avant-garde, the Bauhaus nugget is also one of the ecological pioneers.

A car-free station since its opening in 1968, it already has an environmental observatory, Green Globe certification and will put into service from 2025 a new valley elevator, the Funiflaine, allowing a direct link to the Arve valley.

Until then, this winter, instead of traditional fireworks, she will be experimenting with a new kind of sound and light show, more respectful of the environment.

A sort of aerial ballet of around forty drones equipped with LEDs.

Different scenes and paintings on the theme of festivals and winter will be offered.

First performance on December 22, then on December 31 and during the winter holidays.

Altitude:

1,600 to 2,500 meters

64 runs:

8 green, 26 blue, 25 red and 5 black (139 runs for the Grand Massif ski area)

Nordic area

 : yes (cross-country ski trails, toboggan runs, snowshoe trails, trail course, yoga trail).

Flaine passes:

adult day € 46.20 / child 5-15 years € 34.70 / senior € 43.90 / points card for beginners at € 22.50

Grand Massif packages:

adult day 50.90 € / child 5-15 years 38.20 € / senior 48.40 €

Tourist office: www.flaine.com

Cauterets, live my life as a mountaineer (Hautes-Pyrénées)

At the foot of Vignemale, family outings.

Matthieu pinaud

In the Pyrenees National Park, at the foot of Vignemale and 30 minutes from Lourdes, the former stronghold of good society of the Roaring Twenties is a renowned spa town that lives all year round. Surrounded by wild nature, waterfalls and pine forests, the Cauterets area is home to two sliding sites: the Cirque du Lys, accessible from the village by cable car and the Pont d'Espagne, 7 km away, a Nordic area and beginner with a nice blue slope winding through the trees and an ungroomed red. Used to putting out the big game for Christmas, the resort is redoubling its efforts this year. Illuminations, concerts, workshops for children, Christmas parties will punctuate the first week of the school holidays until the arrival, by paraglider, of Santa Claus in the heart of the village. Another rock option for juniors:the possibility of testing, from 10 years old and with an adult, a real mountaineering race in the company of a mountain guide. The outing lasts 3 hours (from 65 € / person, group of 4 people minimum) and offers to learn to walk with crampons, to tie up, to tie knots, to evolve with an ice ax… Bring hiking boots. and warm clothes, the rest of the equipment (rope, helmet, etc.) is provided. No physical prerequisite but you have to be able to evolve in all types of snow.evolve with an ice ax… Bring hiking boots and warm clothes, the rest of the equipment (rope, helmet, etc.…) is provided. No physical prerequisite but you have to be able to evolve in all types of snow.evolve with an ice ax… Bring hiking boots and warm clothes, the rest of the equipment (rope, helmet, etc.…) is provided. No physical prerequisite but you have to be able to evolve in all types of snow.

Altitude:

960 meters (village) to 2400 meters

21 slopes:

4 green, 7 blue, 8 red and 2 black

Nordic area

 : yes (cross-country ski trails, tobogganing, snowshoe trails on the Pont d'Espagne site)

Packages:

adult day € 39 / child € 33 / beginners' packages at € 9 / € 19 / € 29

Tourist office: www.cauterets.com

Read alsoFrom the Pyrenees to the Hautes-Alpes, these small winter sports resorts linked to large areas

Les Gets, walk in the magical forest (Portes du Soleil, Haute-Savoie)

Christmas strolls.

OT Les Gets / MelCarle

The secret was unraveled several years ago: Father Christmas lives in Les Gets, in the heart of the Franco-Swiss ski area of ​​Portes du Soleil (600 km of slopes), and traditionally opens his area to visitors, rather quiet skiers, the week before his tour. New this season? His studio has moved to the heights of the Haut-Savoyard resort, on the side of Lac des Écoles, and offers a new version of his live and life-size show in the heart of the enchanted forest.

The interactive and immersive walk takes place between storytelling tours and meetings with elf actors (reservation required, adult € 7 / child from 3 to 8 years old € 5 / free for children under 3). Right next door, extend the evening with the Alta Lumina route, a stroll between “wow effect” installations, highlights and projections, which can be discovered freely, on foot. Access by car, shuttle or on foot for the more courageous. The route, about one kilometer, loops between 45 minutes and 1 hour (adult 19 € / child from 5 to 15 years 10 €) following the trail of a music peddler and his hot air balloon. A nod to the local heritage and to the Musée de la Musique Mécanique des Gets which brings together, in the village, some 900 instruments, toys, automatons and chimes, all in working order,starting with the famous 19th century wooden animal merry-go-round, relaunched on December 19, during an afternoon of Christmas carols, parades and hot chocolate.

Altitude:

1170 meters to 1800 meters

68 slopes (Les Gets / Morzine):

5 green, 26 blue, 28 red, 9 black

Nordic area

 : yes (cross-country ski trails, snowshoes)

Les Gets / Morzine packages (web rate):

adult day € 40 / child € 31 / young (16-19 years) € 34 / senior € 36


Portes du Soleil packages (web rate):

adult day € 55.5 / child 42 € / young (16-19 years) 45 € / senior 50 €


Tourist office: www.lesgets.com

Vars, the Ice Age (La Forêt Blanche, Hautes-Alpes)

Numerous activities brighten up the Southern Alps resort every year.

The 2021/2022 program is no exception to the rule.

Remi Morel

At the gates of the Queyras Regional Natural Park, Vars forms, with Risoul, the second largest ski area in the Southern Alps: the White Forest. A cirque of snow bathed in sunlight and carpeted with larches in which to find four villages: Vars-Les Claux at an altitude of 1,850 meters, the living heart of the resort, Sainte-Catherine, the sunniest site, Saint-Marcellin, the village history and Sainte-Marie, gateway to the estate. It is here that the new 4 * hotel in Vars has just opened, 16-150 with Nuxe spa and bistronomic table.

World famous for its Chabrières track, dedicated to the kilometer launched (with a record to beat 254.958 km / h!), Accessible from 6 years old on its lower part; appreciated by snowboarders and party-goers for its always lively season launches (singer Mika will be on stage on December 11) Vars remains this winter still true to its reputation as a quirky and somewhat “frosty” resort. To liven up the Christmas holidays, the telemix summit of Chabrières, at an altitude of 2,200 meters, will host an ice cave (adult € 5.50 / child € 4.50), a sort of giant igloo of around a hundred meters in which around thirty ice sculptures will be installed, inspired by the caribou, the totem animal of rail sledging.A refrigerated world split in the center of Claux with an ice village (from December 19 to January 2) featuring elves, ice sculptors and Santa's ice throne.

Altitude:

1650 meters to 2750 meters

115 slopes:

18 green, 48 blue, 39 red, 10 black

Nordic area

 : yes, in Risoul (cross-country skiing, snowshoeing)

Packages:

adult day € 43 / child € 36.60 / senior € 34.80 / beginner's package € 15


Tourist office: www.vars.com

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-11-27

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