Christmas in the mountains: skiing over Christmas and New Year

Planning a Christmas ski holiday

The two weeks of Christmas and New Year are the most popular, and the most expensive, of the winter. Many lift companies price them as peak: in Zakopane, for example, the 2026/27 day card costs more from 21 December to 3 January, and Sierra Nevada’s ticket-office calendar has its highest day price over Christmas. In the Pyrenees, close to 200,000 skiers came to Baqueira Beret over the Christmas holidays alone in its fiftieth winter.

Our advice: for early-season snow, choose a high-altitude or northern resort; book ski school, childcare and equipment hire when you book your stay, as classes fill first; and if your dates are flexible, the weeks after 6 January are quieter and better value.

Zakopane →   Sierra Nevada →   Baqueira Beret →

Christmas in the resorts

In Scandinavia, Christmas is a season of its own: Åre and Hemsedal both run their Christmas period from 18 December to 10 January, with the long blue light of the northern winter and floodlit skiing after dark. In the Alps, Chamonix opens its new ten-person gondola from Argentière to Lognan for Christmas 2026, reviving the Grands Montets. In Madonna di Campiglio, you can ride up after the lifts close for an aperitivo in a mountain hut and ski down by torchlight with the instructors.

Åre →   Hemsedal →   Chamonix →   Madonna di Campiglio →

New Year in the mountains

Around New Year, Oberstdorf’s jumping hills host the opening of the Four Hills Tournament, one of the great fixtures of the winter. In St. Moritz, the Cresta Run below the Kulm opens just before Christmas, sending riders head-first down the ice. In Gudauri, in Georgia, the New Year holidays are the busiest weeks of the season, so book well ahead.

Oberstdorf →   St. Moritz →   Gudauri →

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