Christmas Ski Weeks Are The Best

We all dream of a White Christmas, and when you head to the mountains for the festivities, you’ll actually get one!

Christmas in ski resorts is pure magic: snow-dusted chalets, twinkling lights, Santa skiing down the slopes and a festive après-ski scene create a storybook atmosphere. Days are spent carving fresh powder; evenings a stroll around the Advent market and then some mulled wine by the fire. You’re living the dream of all those Christmas number one pop songs.

Planning Christmas in the snow? Our complete guide to Christmas ski holidays has this year’s key dates, Christmas markets, Krampus Night, meeting Santa in Lapland, New Year parties and the latest Christmas deals.

Pick Your Week

The first thing to decide is whether you’d like the pre-Christmas week or the actual Christmas week. In 2026 the big day falls on a Friday, so fly out on Saturday 19 or Sunday 20 December and you’ll have plenty of time to settle in before Christmas Eve, then recover afterwards before the flight home. Sunday 27 December is the busiest day for coming back, so if that’s your date, don’t leave booking flights until the last minute. If you want to get into the Christmas spirit early and benefit from quieter slopes and lower prices, you have the option to head out during the pre-Christmas week, returning home on the weekend of 19 and 20 December.

Ski Holiday Deals Here

Choose Your Resort

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Although most ski areas will have opened by mid-December, Christmas week does come early in the season, which makes some skiers nervous about how much snow they’ll find waiting for them. One way to avoid the risk is to choose a resort with a glacier or high-altitude slopes that have already been open for a month or more before the big day. The only problem is that most of the more classic ‘Christmassy’ resorts are low-altitude, traditional villages. One way around that is to pick a traditional resort with high-altitude terrain on its doorstep. You’ll find a few suggestions that fit the bill in our “Best Ski Resorts for a Fabulous Christmas” feature up next.

Let Someone Else Deck The Halls

Another big plus of Christmas in the mountains is that someone else puts up the decorations and cooks the lunch. There’s no washing up, leftovers to get sick of or tinsel to take down. British ski chalet holiday companies like Skiworld, Ski Beat, VIP SKI and others offer festive, home-from-home experiences in their beautifully decorated chalets with twinkling lights, trees and stockings. Christmas Day will usually include a traditional roast lunch with all the trimmings, plenty of fizz and even mince pies. Staff often organise games, carol singing and even a visit from Santa.

Christmas Events

Most resorts lay on plenty of extra activities at Christmas, many of them with families in mind. La Plagne runs a whole festive programme through Christmas week, with appearances by Santa, children’s shows, fireworks and plenty of hot chocolate. Over in Austria, Saalfelden Leogang in SalzburgerLand celebrates Advent with a string of small Christmas markets, live brass band music to cut the chill and handmade gifts you won’t find on the high street. It’s one of many ski areas that now have Christmas markets to add to your time on the slopes, and you’ll find 2026 dates for some of the biggest and best in our Best Ski Resorts with Christmas Markets guide. And on Christmas Day itself, Zell am See’s divers bring an illuminated Christmas tree up from the bottom of the lake, which is not something you’ll see at home.

Festive Food – Alpine Style

Although it’s usually possible to have a proper British Christmas lunch in the Alps, it can be fun to mix in local dishes too. Mountain food is made for cold December nights, so expect raclette, fondue and tartiflette on plenty of menus, while the Christmas markets are full of roasted chestnuts, mulled wine and spiced biscuits. In Austria and South Tyrol, look out for Kiachl, a fried dough served with cranberry jam or sauerkraut, and you’ll find Stollen and Lebkuchen gingerbread everywhere from the Tyrol to Bavaria.

Will There Be Snow At Christmas?

It’s the question everyone asks, and the honest answer is usually, but not always. Christmas comes early in the season, so lower villages can be green one year and buried the next. If snow on Christmas morning really matters, go high or go north. Glacier resorts like Hintertux, Saas-Fee and the Stubai (on Innsbruck’s ski pass) are weeks into their season by December, and Lapland’s Levi has normally been open since October. Our First Tracks guide to the best resorts for early season skiing has more options that are already running well before the 25th.

Staying On For New Year?

If you’d rather swap the turkey for fireworks, New Year’s Eve in a ski resort is a party in its own right. Courchevel, Méribel and Val Thorens put on some of the biggest celebrations in the Alps, with fireworks over the slopes and DJs into the small hours. New Year’s Day 2027 falls on a Friday too, so you get a long weekend to recover. Our Christmas In The Snow guide has the details.

Snow-covered villages, torchlit descents, Christmas markets and a lunch you didn’t have to cook. Give yourself the gift of skiing this year and you might just get the White Christmas you’ve been dreaming of.

More Christmas in the snow: The Best Ski Resorts For A Fabulous Christmas, from Santa in Lapland to Krampus in Kitzbühel, and Best Ski Resorts with Christmas Markets, with 2026 dates for Innsbruck, Chamonix, Val Gardena and more.