Looking for a special place to stay in Iceland?
21.12.2023 - 13:31 / forbes.com
It’s believed that the Norwegians invented modern skiing as we know it, and the first destination ski resort was Switzerland’s St. Moritz around 1864—more than half a century before the oldest operating mountain in the U.S. opened. It was the ski loving but mountain-challenged British that popularized the very notion of the ski vacation, traveling to the Alps for food, fun and skiing.
Given this long ski history of pioneering European travelers, maybe it’s time we learned something from them. This has never been more relevant, as the U.S. model of luxury ski travel, which revolves largely around ski-in/ski-out four- and five-star hotels, has spun out of control in terms of cost, amongst unheard of demand and a big post-pandemic jump in ski travel. When popular destinations are sold out and a thousand dollars a night no longer gets you much at many top ski hotels, maybe it is time to try something different.
While there are certainly grand European ski hotels like Badrutt’s Palace in St. Moritz or the Victoria Jungfrau in Interlaken, the norm for English ski travelers has long been rental chalets versus hotels, an almost complete reversal of the U.S. model. And while there are certainly luxury homes for rent at major Western resorts, these are not the same as the European chalet model. All across the Alps, specialty operators manage staffed chalets, which typically are rented by the week, come with private chefs and include most meals, with wine, and may also come with ski guides/instructors or even a masseuse. While you could replicate this almost anyplace by purchasing services and hiring people a la carte, the European model is usually much more affordable, and tends to work better and more smoothly because staff is typically full-time at a given chalet for the entire season, and operators managing multiple properties provide common infrastructure such as drivers to take you around town, something almost never included in domestic rentals. Perhaps most importantly, the chalet model almost always involves much better food.
All-inclusive chalet stays in Europe are more like private self-contained boutique resorts, a unique twist on the winter holiday that happens to be found at the world’s largest ski resorts, with tons of terrain. It’s a model anyone interested in skiing and food will love.
I’ve had the pleasure of doing some of these chalet stays in France, and they are also widely available in Switzerland and to a lesser degree in Austria in and Italy. Coming back to a huge chalet with its own hot tub, sauna and steam room, to be greeted with an already roaring fireplace and staff pouring wine or champagne with canapes, beats the shared amenities and overpriced nickel and diming common at even the
Looking for a special place to stay in Iceland?
One Thursday last March I emerged from the Jungfraujoch, Europe’s highest train station, and crossed into another world. Inside the station, a guide with a novelty Swiss flag was marshalling a party of Asian visitors. Outside, we were soon on the Jungfraufirn, a small glacier that feeds the Aletsch, the largest glacier in the Alps. Sunlight shone through breaks in the cloud, and the ice, flanked by buttresses of dark rock, ran south for miles. The pitch was gentle and the ungroomed snow looked inviting.
It was 2:38 p.m. on August 21, 2017, when day turned to night. That was the precise moment in Greenville, South Carolina, when the moon, passing between the sun and Earth, fully blocked our view of the sun.
For the vast majority of travelers, a cruise is anything from a weekend getaway to a 7- or 14-day vacation in the sun. Some people can afford the time and money to splash out on a longer trip, perhaps an intensive month-long historic tour of the Mediterranean, or the Caribbean and Central America. But for the fortunate few, there is another option.
Norway is a treasure trove of remarkable experiences waiting to be discovered.
Veganuary was inititated by a UK non-profit organisation ten years ago to encourage people worldwide to try vegan for January and beyond. Millions of people have signed up to their one-month vegan pledge since 2014 and the number of vegan food products continues to grow. To make things easier, the organisation offers to send anyone willing to take the challenge their celebrity cookbook, meal plans and recipes – all for free. And here are 15 new food and drink products recommended for anyone going vegan this month and beyond.
Exploring Yorkshire’s coastline on two wheels is about to get a whole lot easier. Route YC, the organisation which promotes the Yorkshire coast, has teamed up with leading adventure cyclists to launch a series of new cycle routes in January. Ranging from nine to 260 miles, the routes are designed to help visitors of all abilities get off the beaten track on gravel, touring and road bikes.
If you’ve been conjuring up images of whipping down the ski slope (or simply getting cozy during apres-ski in a beautiful setting), you might also be wondering about the best ski destinations to check off your bucket list. New data from the travel insurance experts at Compare the Market AU has recently revealed some of the objectively best ski destinations in the world to help bring your vision to reality.
One of the most picturesque villages in the Tirol, Alpbach is not the place for a rip-roaring après ski scene, but its clutch of classic wooden chalet hotels, traditional stube restaurants and quiet bars make it a great choice for a restorative mountain break. Alongside the perfectly groomed pistes accessed by the Wiedersbergerhorn gondola, are easy snow-shoeing trails, a 7km toboggan run and torchlit hikes. Mountain huts dot the Alpbachtal-Wildschönau valley, serving käsespätzle (Tirolean macaroni cheese) and spiced gluhwein. Stay at the Post, a charming, family-run hotel in the heart of the village – and the best value in town.Doubles from £138 B&B; hotel-post.co.at
British skies dazzle when the sun sinks, and there are a handful of dark sky reserves and discovery sites where the lack of light pollution can help stargazing enthusiasts feel that bit closer to the universe. Take a winter stomp across freezing moors or a late-night summer drive up to a remote hilltop to find a sky full of stars with distant planets glittering overhead on clear nights. Often, there’s no need for a telescope either — star clusters such as Pleiades and Hyades, the Milky Way, nebulae and shooting stars can often be seen with the naked eye or with the help of a pair of cheap binoculars and stargazing apps such as Stellarium Mobile.
Thailand is perfect for families and kids of all ages.
If we adopted a child’s-eye view of the world, how would we choose to have fun? It’s likely to be about more than the usual incentives, such as an ice cream, suggests research from Nature Communications. According to the journal, children as young as four seek experiences that deliver positive results, guide action, answer questions about the world — and are just plain fun. Whether it’s getting up-close with crustaceans on a rockpooling adventure, diving into a good book at a literature festival, learning to surf, taking to the stage or gazing at the stars, these 12 UK-based experiences deliver hands-on learning and creativity.