Snowy holiday without skiing?

[liveeverysecond]

Do these exist? I've got an idea of a snowy holiday, lodge, open fire etc but we're not skiers. Looking for February half term... any ideas please?

Sight seeing in Iceland?

Zermatt

Iceland would be great but probably out of budget with 3 DDs! Have been before and amazing... definitely want to go again one day.

Thank you, will take a look!

We’ve done this several times in Switzerland. We go winter walking instead of skiing and do the normal ski resort activities in the evenings. There are loads of walking trails marked out and you can toboggan or snowshoe walk as well. We went to Grindelwald last year which was great.

Amazing. This sounds like the sort of thing we're after. We're a family of 5 which often makes holidays difficult... did you stay in a lodge or hotel?

Lots of smaller or less obvious resorts may suit. Engelberg, Interlaken, Kandersteg, Saas Fee, Arosa in Switzerland, Seefeld, Zell am See,
St Johann in Tirol in Austria. Italy and France tend to be more hit and miss in terms of character and non ski activities. You would need deep pockets for half term now though, and resorts are usually busy.

Not Zermatt (or any other high end ski resort) in feb half term unless you are made of money. €17 for a crepe! Zermatt is otherwise a really good place to go for a no-skiing mountain holiday as it has good walks, excellent restaurants and nice hotels.

Try somewhere outside of a major ski resort so you get snow, mountains etc but don't pay the premium for being near the pistes. Alpbach in Austria might be good (is a small ski resort) or somewhere in southern Germany. You'd likely have to stay in a hotel, apartment or B&B though unless you go to France. I assume by lodge you mean a chalet and those are mostly in France , and are often catered so again can be expensive. You could get a really sweet little apartment though, like this: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/51896721?sourceimpressionid=p31666887608jME6KU%2B4lPQ1X6xM

Switzerland is unlikely to be cheaper than Iceland. Try Austria and stay in a chalet or Pierre vacances (though no log fire).

February half term will be full of skiers so not cheap either.

Lapland. Reindeer, husky sledding, tobogganing.

Last time we stayed in a hotel as it was just the two of us but when our kids were with us we always stayed in a chalet or apartment and self catered. The Switzerland Travel Centre website gives you an idea of the type of things you can do but we normally book direct as it’s cheaper - the one exception was when we stayed in St Moritz then took the glacier express to Zermatt - it was more complicated and they organised everything for us. I would look at Saas Fee it’s high so snow is guaranteed and it’s better value than Zermatt if you are on a budget. Thé tourism website www.saas-fee.ch/en/ is good to see what accommodation is available. Pretty sure you can do similar holidays in other countries too.

Ruka in Finland.

I recommend getting in touch with Penny from the Adventure Creators. She helps organise holidays in the Pyrenees. We just had a wonderful summer holiday week there, and she can tailor accommodation etc to your budget. She can help with winter holidays too - you get a number of points to spend on different activities and can choose from lots of different things, many snow based but not skiing.

This is the link to the winter adventures holiday
www.adventurecreators.com/adventures/winter-multi-activity-holiday/

Have a look at Lake Bled in Slovenia - it's absolutely gorgeous, relatively cheap, and because the skiing isn't extensive it tends to be quite quiet in the winter.

Norway, Scandinavia generally will be cheaper for accommodation but not sure about living expenses.

Scotland?

I came here to say the same thing. You need to look at Eastern Europe for cheap snow holidays. www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/feb/14/eastern-europe-skiing-budget-resorts
All our work meetings and conferences are now happening in Eastern Europe as well. Two weeks ago, it was Sofia, next week it will be Prague.
There is a boom happening in Eastern Europe because of the financial hit.

My brother and family went to Finland a couple of years ago and had a great time with no skiing involved.

A part of our state gets 56 feet of snow a year and is one of the snowiest places on earth. Is that enough snow? There are places here where it snows a lot but it’s flat so no skiing. So, head to the west coast of the USA! It’s beautiful here.

I see others have suggested the Swiss Alps too, getting about on the single track mountain trains and cable car rides are great fun for children... I use a travel agency called www.skiline.co.uk I find them very useful. But do give skiing a try, its great fun