Winter activity holiday, Switzerland
| country: | Switzerland |
| location: | Swiss Alps |
| trip type: | Moderate walking holidays |
| departures: | 2008: 20 Dec, 27 Dec |
| price: | From £845 - £1095 (8 days) including flights from the UK, from £725 - £995 excluding flights. Single supplement £70 |
read 5 travellers reviews
the amazing things you'll be doing
Superb Swiss mountain scenery and a variety of winter fun in this mixed activity week.
Our base for this trip is the famous village of Kandersteg, full of Swiss charm and located in a valley ringed by the imposing snow-capped summits of the Bernese Oberland. Cable cars lead up to the Oeschinensee, a beautiful frozen lake surrounded by ice-clad cliffs, and to the high valley of Sunbuhl at 2000m. There are a few downhill pistes, but most winter visitors come for the wide range of other winter activities available, including cross-country skiing, winter walking, ski-touring, ice-skating, curling and tobogganing. Our busy programme combines a full range of activities, all of them relatively undemanding, and some of them easy to master!
Optional activities: Downhill skiing, Further cross-country skiing, Tandem paragliding, Ice-climbing, Horse-carriage rides
Accommodation: This Swiss chalet-style hotel has comfortable en suite rooms with satellite tv. The hotel offers a sauna, sun-bed and jacuzzi, ideal for rejuvenating after a busy day of winter activities. The residents lounge has fine views over the Blumlisalp mountains and features an open fire-place.
Our base for this trip is the famous village of Kandersteg, full of Swiss charm and located in a valley ringed by the imposing snow-capped summits of the Bernese Oberland. Cable cars lead up to the Oeschinensee, a beautiful frozen lake surrounded by ice-clad cliffs, and to the high valley of Sunbuhl at 2000m. There are a few downhill pistes, but most winter visitors come for the wide range of other winter activities available, including cross-country skiing, winter walking, ski-touring, ice-skating, curling and tobogganing. Our busy programme combines a full range of activities, all of them relatively undemanding, and some of them easy to master!
Optional activities: Downhill skiing, Further cross-country skiing, Tandem paragliding, Ice-climbing, Horse-carriage rides
Accommodation: This Swiss chalet-style hotel has comfortable en suite rooms with satellite tv. The hotel offers a sauna, sun-bed and jacuzzi, ideal for rejuvenating after a busy day of winter activities. The residents lounge has fine views over the Blumlisalp mountains and features an open fire-place.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Fly to Zurich. Transfer by Swiss Rail to Kandersteg (2 - 3 hours). |
| Day 2-3: | Two days of cross-country skiing; instruction in the mornings, and guided tours in the afternoons. |
| Day 4: | To Oeschinensee Lake by cable car - tobogganing back into town. Ice-skating in the afternoon. |
| Day 5: | Free day. Options include train to Interlaken, or downhill or cross-country skiing. |
| Day 6: | An easy half-day snowshoe walk. Afternoon back at the ice-rink to try curling. |
| Day 7: | Walk from Sunbuhl cable car towards Gemmi Pass, either on a compact snow-track or with snowshoes. |
| Day 8: | Return train to Zurich. Fly to London. |
travellers' tales
This really was an activity holiday with the emphasis on fun. Absolutely suitable for beginners, and a great introduction to lots of winter sports. There were also optional activities for the evenings... the accommodation was excellent and the hotel staff friendly. (more)
small group adventure holiday
Typically you will be sharing your experiences with between 4-20 like minded travellers (depending on the trip, operator and how many others are booked on the trip) and you'll have a group leader with you. Whether you are travelling alone or with friends its good value, and a great way to meet new people! While itineraries are pre-planned there is some flexibility and you'll have plenty of privacy. This trip will appeal to travellers of all ages who enjoy meeting new people as well as seeing new places.award winner
This tourism business won an award in our 2004 Responsible Tourism Awards - organised by responsibletravel.com in association with The Times, World Travel Market and Geographical, Magazine of the Royal Geographical Societyhow this holiday makes a difference
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Our whole ethos of an 'snow' holiday is about promoting alternative versions of winter tourism that use nature in its unspoilt condition, rather than seeking to alter it. We use small villages and family run hotels, chosen for their access to unspoilt mountain terrain, rather than number of lifts and resort facilities.
We travel from Zurich airport to our hotel by rail: the Swiss network is famously efficient and very environmentally friendly. The hotel itself - small and family-run - is very much a part of the local community: the village yodelling club practises in its lounge one night a week. Our programme of activities lets us see the very best of Switzerland's imposing mountain scenery, but in a way that does no damage. We will ensure that our operations do not disrupt or lead to the displacement of local people so we ensure that our type and scale of tourism is appropriate to local conditions and operate within the limits set by local appropriate infrastructure and carrying capacity. We have teamed up with Friends of Conservation to support projects at Ranthambore, India, Nava Kiran Orphanage, Nepal and on the edge of the Masai Mara, Kenya. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |