What’s the best ski resort for your next ski-ing holiday?

If you’re hoping to catch some late season snow or starting to plan next year’s ski holiday my sponsored post from Eclipse Ski will help choose the best resorts for you.

Not all ski resorts are made equal. All will provide some snow and slopes for you to ski down, but some may be more appropriate than others, depending on what you look for in a ski holiday. With that in mind, here are Eclipse Ski’s recommendations of the best ski resorts for different needs.

Best ski resort for families

Alpe D’Huez, France – Although it’s next to impossible to pick just one resort for any of these categories, Alpe D’Huez in France is a great one for family ski holidays due to its well rounded slopes that are suitable for all abilities. It is also famous for its outstanding ski school making it an ideal place for children to learn. By offering free access to the large outdoor pool and ice skating rink with a full area lift pass, Alpe D’Huez is a winner for children.

Best resort for non-skiers

Vail, USA – Although an excellent ski resort itself, Vail is also perfect for non-skiers with a wide range of activities to enjoy whilst the rest of the group out on the slopes. During the day there’s dog-sledding, horse riding, snow tubing, ice skating, tobogganing and even an adventure entertainment centre at the top of the gondola. For the evening there are endless restaurants and bars to relax in. Counter-intuitively, what makes Vail perfect for non-skiers is that it is also an excellent ski resort, meaning that everyone in the group will be happy.

Best resort for snowboarders

Banff, Canada – Banff offers three unique areas for snowboarding and skiing: Norquay, Sunshine and Lake Louise which all offer exceptional powder trails. The best thing is that with a ‘Tri-Area’ lift pass provides easy access to all three areas so no day’s snowboarding need be the same. What really makes Banff ideal is the sheer number of snowboard gear shops, many of which also provide hire should you need it.

Best après ski

Whistler, Canada – One of the most popular ski resorts in the world, Whistler offers all kinds of après ski options. There are endless slope-side bars, clubs and restaurants. There are plenty of fires to relax by, bands to hear, food to eat and drinks to be had. Whistler’s popularity means the après business is booming here. Be careful not to have too much après fun though – Whistler in Canada is one of the few resorts to offer heli-skiing.

Best all year resort

Les Deux Alpes, France – Les Deux Alpes is one of France’s oldest and prestigious ski resorts, and thankfully available all year round due to its height and glacier. It offers everything you need for a group or family ski holiday – slopes for all abilities, snowboarding, activities for non-skiers and a bustling night-life.

Thanks for these tips to Eclipse Ski who offer a wide range of deals on ski holidays and specialise in family and group ski holidays.

Have you skied in any of these resorts? If so do tell me what your experience was and the places that you’d recommend….

Photo credits: Alpe d’Huez in France by Chris Parker, Nordic Ski with the family in Vail, Colorado by Visit Colorado ,Snowboarding in Banff , Canada by Little Lebowski Urban Achiever ,Ski in Les Deux Alpes, France by ricardo_skim4ever on flickr.

More great articles to enjoy

The Good Friday service in the ski resort of Val Cenis – in France
Keeping my ski-helmet on in Val Cenis – France
Savoyard food specialities to enjoy from the French Alps

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Olympic Fever – tips for the Vancouver Olympics

If you’re feeling the excitement of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, you’ll enjoy my guest post today from Blake Abel, with tips on how to get maximum enjoyment from your visit, based on his experiences at the Beijing Olympics.

With the Vancouver Olympics fast approaching, it is time to get Olympic fever. As travelers we can relate to the thousands of people booking flights, finding room and board and carefully planning their vacation to beautiful Vancouver in Canada. I have been all over the world, to many countries, and very few match up to the city and people you see at the Olympic Games. I went with my family to the Olympics in Beijing in the summer in 2008 to support my sister who was competing in the synchronized swimming event. Although she didn’t win a medal, we had a wonderful time and I have some Olympic size tips for those visiting Vancouver for the Olympic games.

Plan before you go

Obviously right? One thing we learned when visiting Beijing is that there was not enough time in a day to see all the sites and scenes. Any Europe traveler knows that in order to visit all the hot tourist spots, you have to plan, plan, plan. Couple that with the Olympic games, the events, the nightlife, and the spontaneous redirects and you end up in chaos.

Find a balance between visiting on a whim and seeing the things you actually want to see. We barely made it to the Great Wall and we could have seen way more countryside – disappointing!

Find a translator

This doesn’t apply to the Vancouver games unless you struggle with your English, but I found myself ruffling though my Mandarin book just to find where the bathroom was. It is important to take books like mine, but more important to have someone you know, hire, or kidnap to help you in your travels to a foreign country. If we had a translator we could have cut our time in half, from bantering with waiters, cab drivers, and policemen. Yes, policemen.

Get travel insurance

Low cost travel insurance can help you immensely. Lost baggage or getting sick can be the worst thing in a foreign country. This is something my family and I regret immensely. We incurred costs that could have been reimbursed if we had purchased trip travel insurance. My brother got appendicitis in Beijing, was rushed to a hospital and thankfully we paid Yen instead of dollars. Unfortunately, it was in the thousands of dollars. Getting out of a cab, I hit a nice Chinese man, sending him off his bike. We paid again for the accident and were almost thrown in prison. It is really important when you are traveling (yes, even to Canada) that you stay protected, and be insured.

Explore

The Olympic Games causes a lot of excitement, it catches you eye, you stay in the village you watch the events you can get into, and you miss the rest of the city/country. One of the biggest advice I can give to visitors to Vancouver is “don’t stop at Vancouver and Whistler”. I have been to these cities and though they are great, they don’t grab the full culture you can get from Canada. Visit the outskirts, go to the woods, play in the snow, and embrace the country you traveled, one hundred, a thousand miles to visit. If you don’t, you will regret it.

Many thanks for this guest post to Blake who writes about travelling insurance and loves to travel in Europe and Asia. He is currently planning his next trip to Sri Lanka with a team of Americans, there to help set up a new orphanage. His passion is to help people with travel tips, staying on budget, and find low cost travel insurance.

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