Still Haven’t Booked Your Ski Holiday? Here’s What I’d Do Now

If you’re reading this in November and still haven’t booked your ski holiday, firstly, don’t panic.

You’re certainly not the only one.

Every year, I speak to people who have spent weeks saying, “We really should book something”, only to suddenly realise that the ski season is just around the corner and they still haven’t decided where they’re going.

And actually, this can be quite a nice time to make a decision.

The excitement of the new ski season is starting to build, the mountains are getting their first proper covering of snow, and suddenly that holiday you’ve been talking about all summer feels much more real.

But if you haven’t booked yet, I wouldn’t leave it too much longer.

Here’s what I’d do.

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Start With The Dates, Not The Destination

If your dates are fixed because of school holidays, start there.

Christmas and New Year are particularly popular, and the same applies to other school-holiday periods. By this point in the year, some of the most sought-after accommodation will already have gone, so I’d work out exactly when you can travel and then see what is still available.

If your dates are flexible, you’re in a much better position.

Moving your holiday dates can sometimes open up completely different options, and there are plenty of advantages to travelling outside the busiest weeks.

January, for example, can be a wonderfully peaceful time to ski once the excitement of New Year has passed. The resort is quieter, the mountains can feel wonderfully calm and, for anyone who doesn’t have children tied to school holidays, it can be a lovely time to visit.

So don’t automatically assume that you have to wait until February half-term for your ski holiday.

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Decide What Sort of Holiday You Actually Want

This sounds obvious, but I think it’s something people sometimes overlook.

Are you looking for somewhere lively with lots happening in the evenings? Do you want a quiet mountain village? Is skiing the main priority, or do you want somewhere where you can enjoy good food, beautiful scenery and time away from the slopes as well?

And what about the accommodation?

For me, this is one of the biggest differences between simply booking somewhere to sleep and choosing a ski holiday that you genuinely look forward to.

A catered ski chalet gives you a very different experience from a self-catered apartment or hotel. After skiing all day, there is something wonderful about coming back to a warm chalet, taking off your boots and knowing you don’t have to think about dinner.

You can have a drink, relax, talk about the day’s skiing and let somebody else worry about the cooking.

That is one of the reasons I love the catered chalet experience so much.

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Think About The Location

If you’re considering a ski holiday in France, don’t just look at the name of the ski area.

Look at where the chalet actually is.

Les Coches is a good example of why I think location matters. It’s a traditional mountain village, but it gives you easy access to both Paradiski resorts of La Plagne and Les Arcs.

That means you’re not choosing between having a lovely village atmosphere and having a huge amount of skiing. You can have both.

For keen skiers, having access to the wider Paradiski area gives you an enormous amount of terrain to explore. For less experienced skiers, there are plenty of opportunities to stay closer to home and build confidence.

And for people who don’t ski every minute of the day, there’s a village to enjoy as well.

That’s important to me because I don’t think a ski holiday should be entirely about how many runs you can fit into the week.

Sometimes the best part of the day is sitting down for lunch, stopping for a hot chocolate, enjoying the view from a mountain restaurant, or coming back to the chalet in the afternoon and deciding that your legs have done quite enough for one day.

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Don’t Forget The Things That Need Organising

One of the reasons people put off booking a ski holiday is that it can feel complicated. And honestly, I understand.

There are flights, transfers, accommodation, ski hire, ski school, and lift passes to think about.

But you don’t necessarily have to organise everything on your own.

At Ice & Fire, I’m always happy to help guests work through the practical side of their holiday. We can help organise transfers and offer advice about ski school, ski hire and book lift passes, so you don’t have to spend hours trying to work out what makes the most sense.

This is particularly useful if it’s your first ski holiday.

There are lots of things that seem confusing when you’ve never done them before, from knowing what sort of lift pass you need to working out where the children should have lessons and how to get everyone and their luggage from the airport to the chalet.

Once you know how it all works, it becomes much easier.

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Think About What Happens After Skiing

This is something I always think about when I’m choosing where I’d want to spend a holiday.

Imagine the end of a day’s skiing. You’ve been outside for hours, your cheeks are cold, your legs are tired, and you’re ready to take your boots off.

What happens next?

For me, this is where a good catered ski chalet really comes into its own.

At Ice & Fire, you can come back to the chalet, get warm and relax. There’s afternoon tea waiting, and later a four-course dinner.

You’ll sit down to a proper meal rather than having to decide what to cook, go shopping or head back out into the cold.

It sounds like a small thing, but after several days of skiing, not having to organise dinner becomes one of those luxuries you really appreciate.

And food is a big part of the experience for us. I love cooking and I want our guests to enjoy eating together, whether that’s a relaxed meal after skiing, local cheese with a glass of wine or one of our more special dinners.

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If Christmas is What You’re Considering…

This is probably the point where I’d say: don’t leave it too late.

There is something particularly magical about Christmas in the French Alps. Les Coches looks beautiful under snow, the mountains feel enormous and the whole village takes on a completely different atmosphere.

At Ice & Fire, our Christmas Day is deliberately relaxed. Guests can spend the day skiing and enjoying the mountains rather than worrying about preparing Christmas lunch.

When everyone comes back to the chalet in the late afternoon, there are homemade mince pies waiting. Later, we have Christmas dinner, usually around 7pm, although we can arrange an earlier dinner depending on the group.

For me, that feels like a much nicer way to spend Christmas.

You get to enjoy the mountains during the day, then come back to a warm chalet, good food and a festive evening without anyone having to spend hours in the kitchen.

If you’ve always wondered what Christmas in the mountains would actually be like, this is a lovely time of year to start thinking seriously about it.

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And Don’t Assume You’ve Missed Your Chance

This is probably the most important thing I’d say.

If you’ve been putting off booking because you thought you were too late, have a look before assuming there is nothing available.

You may have to be a little more flexible than you would have been earlier in the year, particularly if you’re travelling during a popular school holiday, but there are still options.

And if you can travel outside those peak dates, you may find that the mountains offer something slightly different again.

January can be peaceful after New Year. March can be beautiful, with longer days and plenty of sunshine, while April brings the possibility of spring skiing, warmer afternoons and the end-of-season atmosphere.

So if you’ve been thinking about a ski holiday, I wouldn’t write this winter off simply because you haven’t booked yet.

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What I’d Do Now

I’d keep it simple. Get the calendar out, decide when I can realistically travel, and then start looking at what’s available.

I’d think about the sort of holiday I actually want rather than simply choosing the first chalet I find. I’d look at the location, the skiing, what’s included and what help is available with all those little practical details.

And then I’d book it.

Not because I think you should rush into a decision, but because there is something rather wonderful about having your ski holiday sitting in the calendar.

Once it’s booked, you can stop thinking about whether you should go and start thinking about the things that really matter.

What run are you going to ski first? Where are you going to have lunch? Will you finally try that mountain restaurant you’ve heard about? And, most importantly, how quickly can you get back into those ski boots?

If you still haven’t booked your ski holiday, perhaps now is the time.

And if you’re considering Les Coches and would like to talk through your options, I’m always happy to help.

Johanna