ZERMATT – CHRISTMAS 2018
ZERMATT – CHRISTMAS 2018
‘Why don’t we go away skiing for Christmas this year?’ was the question posed to me by my middle son Rory over lunch one day. Well I didn’t need asking twice – what a great idea!
Obviously the booking of the holiday was the easy bit (It’s what we do)! The difficult part was co-ordinating three sons, one girlfriend and husband Ian who likes to work and does not ski. Having got permission from the boys – yes permission – ridiculous considering we were organising and paying – the rest was pretty straightforward.
Zermatt is just perfect for so many reasons – from its views of the world’s most photogenic mountain – The Matterhorn – to its narrow streets full of wonderful shops, restaurants and old wooden chalets. Zermatt itself has over 200 kilometres of pistes and is linked to Cervinia in Italy by a new gondola lift, the highest in Europe, taking you to the top of Klein Matterhorn where you can nip over into Italy and find a further 160 kilometres of pistes and a cheap cup of delicious coffee! It also has some of the best mountain restaurants in the world – Chez Vrony and Blatten to name a couple. This worked really well for us as we would generally have a full mornings skiing and then meet up with Ian for lunch – who had managed to get up the mountain either by walking (rare) or taking some means of ski lift.
We stayed at Chalet Hotel Schonegg which suited our requirements perfectly. The hotel is situated above the town itself with amazing views of The Matterhorn. Access to the town is by a super fast lift and a tunnel. The views from the dining room have been used in a couple of film/TV scenes – the most memorable being The Night Manager. Food and service all excellent and on the warmer days and in summer months they have a fabulous outdoor terrace. It has recently become a member of the prestigious Relais and Chateaux Group.
We were very lucky with the snow conditions as it was very cold before we arrived, we then had snow falling all day on Christmas Eve – organised by Spirit Away Travel – and the rest of the week it was blue skies and sunshine and perfect skiing conditions.
Zermatt at any time of year would be a winner but I can personally recommend it over Christmas. Next Christmas no doubt I will be back in the kitchen toiling over an enormous turkey with all the trimmings but if like me you feel the need to escape one year – make it Zermatt.
