Best Ski Resorts for Christmas and New Year 2026/27

There are two ways to choose a Christmas ski holiday. One starts with the skiing: where will your group find suitable terrain in late December? The other starts with the holiday: where would you enjoy spending Christmas even if you skied less than expected?

Neither is wrong. Trouble starts when you book for one and expect the other. A high Alpine base can be an excellent skiing decision without looking like a Christmas card. A lovely village can deliver a memorable week without offering the right mountain for a confident group.

Our shortlist separates those priorities. These are editorial recommendations, not a promise of snow, empty slopes or a particular festive programme. Event schedules and individual accommodation arrangements should be checked directly for your dates.

The shortlist

Val Thorens: put skiing at the centre of the week

Val Thorens is our first choice here for a group whose Christmas present is a proper ski week. The resort places its village at 2,300 metres, and its published 2026/27 calendar schedules local skiing from 21 November, followed by the wider Three Valleys from 5 December.

Those are reasons to shortlist it, not reasons to stop checking conditions. Exposure is part of the bargain at altitude. Pick your accommodation for access and comfort, and make sure the less committed skiers have somewhere they will enjoy returning to early.

At Christmas, a workable apartment can be worth more than a glamorous address. Check where the lift, rental shop and lesson meeting point sit in relation to your door. Carrying a child's equipment uphill before a lesson is a detail that becomes rather less minor after the first morning.

Choose it if: skiing is the shared purpose of the trip. Choose somewhere else if an old village and relaxed non-skiing days matter more than mountain access.

Obergurgl–Hochgurgl: organise the holiday around the hotel

Gurgl's own ski-area information places its terrain between 1,800 and 3,030 metres. That makes it a sensible high-altitude candidate for late December, without requiring a glacier to be the centrepiece of the trip.

We would approach this as a hotel-first booking. Compare the actual package: meals, room configuration, wellness access, children's arrangements and the walk to skiing. Ask whether Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve brings a compulsory dinner charge. Do not assume a festive meal is included because the hotel offers half-board on ordinary dates.

For a mixed-age group, a comfortable base can make the week work even when people finish skiing at different times. The trade-off is that a well-run hotel holiday may leave less room in the budget for extras. Obtain the total in writing before comparing it with a self-catered trip.

Choose it if: you want a high Alpine ski holiday with a settled daily routine, rather than a different evening plan every night.

Levi: let Christmas be more than a ski week

Levi makes the most sense when you want a family winter holiday that includes skiing, not an Alpine mileage holiday transplanted to Finland. The official Christmas information lists seasonal activities, music and opportunities to explore the slopes and cross-country tracks. Exact programmes need checking for the dates you book.

December also brings the polar-night period. Levi's own seasonal guide places it from December into early January. Expect the light and atmosphere to be part of the experience, rather than planning around long afternoons in sunshine.

Leave gaps in the itinerary. A lesson, an excursion and a late evening activity may look efficient on a booking sheet; with cold children, it can become a schedule nobody enjoys. Check age limits and transport arrangements before paying for activities.

Choose it if: the children will value the wider winter setting as much as the skiing. For adults focused on long Alpine descents, start with the other options.

Serfaus–Fiss–Ladis: build the week around learning

The strongest reason to choose Serfaus–Fiss–Ladis is its specific provision for children, including Berta's Kinderland, Murmli's Kinderalm and Murmlipark. That is more useful to a young beginner than a resort's headline number of kilometres.

Book around the lesson first. Confirm the right group, language, meeting point and lunch arrangements, then choose accommodation that makes that daily journey manageable. Siblings of different ages may not meet in the same place or finish together.

We would favour it over a more famous expert resort for a family in which the children's first successful ski week is the main objective. A larger reputation cannot compensate for the wrong teaching set-up.

Choose it if: learning is the priority, and you are willing to plan the practical details before choosing the room.

Zermatt: make room for the people who will ski less

Zermatt is worth considering when the group does not want every conversation to revolve around lifts. Our recommendation is to choose it for the whole stay rather than trying to justify it with a single dramatic mountain photograph.

Before paying for the broadest ski pass, work out what each person will use. A beginner, a pedestrian and an experienced skier may need different tickets. The operator publishes a dedicated beginner-pass option as well as its other products; a whole-area purchase is not automatically the sensible starting point for everyone.

Keep weather in the plan. The resort's own lift-status and wind information should guide each day's ambitions. Do not build an entire festive holiday around one exposed high-level excursion operating at a fixed time.

Choose it if: the group wants a town-based holiday and can afford to choose accommodation for comfort and location, not simply the lowest available price.

Christmas week or New Year?

For the French resorts, the official school Christmas break runs from 19 December 2026 to 4 January 2027. That does not predict an exact queue or room price, but it does tell you both Christmas and New Year fall inside a major domestic holiday period.

If you are comparing the two weeks, obtain complete quotes rather than assuming one is cheaper. Include festive supplements, transfers, lessons and any minimum stay. Check the actual school calendar if your dates are constrained; UK holidays vary by area and school.

Our verdict: Val Thorens for skiing-first groups, Levi for a Christmas-centred family trip, and Serfaus–Fiss–Ladis for young learners. Choose Gurgl when the hotel is central to the holiday, or Zermatt when the non-skiing hours deserve equal attention. The right answer depends on what the least enthusiastic skier will enjoy, not just what the strongest skier can ski.

For the wider month, see our December skiing guide.