Making life a holiday with interesting vacation and adventure ideas.

France is still the most popular choice for Brits wanting a quick ski holiday, whether last minute or a planned getaway, the reason for the popularity is simple, France claims to have the largest number of skiable slopes in the world and some of the best can be reached in just a few hours from the UK.

Although the Pyrenees on the French - Spanish border offers some superb slopes and great resorts, the best-known French ski resorts are to be found in the Alpine region and being closest to the UK, this is exactly where most of the skiers head.

There are about 40 ski resorts within just an hour's drive of France's Chambery airport, which is called the gateway to the Alps. The resorts include the popular destinations of Courcheval and Meribel and those prepared to drive for a further two hours are spoilt for choice, with a further 74 ski resorts to choose from, not least of which is the deservedly popular Chamonix.

Of course, you could take the ski train. Board at London's Waterloo International (or at Ashford International in Kent) to enjoy a non-stop journey, all the way to the foot of the slopes in the French Alps. Or alternatively, take advantage of an overnight coach service for your travelling to give you more time on the slopes.

For more information and to book Ski Holidays in France junp to:
Cheap France Ski Holidays

or jump to:
Overnight Coach Service including Ski Weekends in France

Both our recommended suppliers are established holiday providers with excellent reputations. They are also ABTA and ATOL bonded, so customers can be assured that their travel arrangements and holiday money is protected and secure. However, note that ABTA, the Association of British Travel Agents and ATOL, the Air Travel Organisers' Licensing schemes are both UK operated organizations and as such, scheme benefits usually only cover UK customers. As always, you must check and confirm all details with supliers before making any payments.

The picture of Morzine was photographed by Steven Griffin.

Labels: Alps, Chamonix, coach, France, holidays, Morzine, skiing, train

Rail Europe's popular Eurostar Ski Train has kicked off another season. Tickets for departures between December 14 and January 15, 2009, are already on sale and tickets for the period from February 9 to March 6, 2009, go on sale tomorrow.

The Eurostar Ski Train runs between England's London St Pancras to Bourg Saint-Maurice in the French Alps and the new high-speed rail links mean that Alpine hubs such as Grenoble are a mere six hours from London.

Labels: Alps, France, ski train, skiing, snowboarding

The Red Bull X-Alps, literally takes off on July 23, 2007, as 30 participants embark on an 850 km adventure race across the Alps, from Krippenstein in the Austrian Dachstein range, to Monaco. Arguably one of the world's toughest adventure races, competitors will paraglide, run and climb for 12 to 20 days, taking as little as three to four hours sleep per day; there are four check points on the course, Marmolada in Italy, Eiger in Switzerland, then Mont Blanc and Mont Gros in France.

Live Tracking technology on the Red Bull X-Alps web site will enable the exact location of the competitors to be monitored throughout the race.

There are many paragliding holidays in our searchable database of activity holidays and you may also find our article on Paragliding Vacations interesting.

Labels: 2007, adventure racing, Alps, Red Bull X-Alps

At last, the Alpine ski resorts are now covered in snow. Heavy snow has been falling falling across Europe with snow as low as 800 metres or 2,600ft.

Here are links to snow reports provided by ultimate-ski.com for some popular European ski resorts:

Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France
Les Arcs, France
Verbier/Val de Bagnes, Switzerland
Mayrhofen, Austria
Monterosa, Italy

But beware, heavy snowfall does not come without danger, watch out for avalanche alerts.

Labels: Alps, European, ski, snow reports, snowboard