Family Skiing Holidays in Scandinavia

The Nordic countries are not the first destination that spring to mind when it comes to deciding on where to take a family skiing holiday – and not the cheapest, despite, in the with the exception of Finland and Iceland, being outside the currently expensive Eurozone. However, they do have some simply entrancing resorts offering atmosphere in spades, and with some research and planning you can keep costs down.

Note that although the oldest type of skiing, Nordic skiing, originated in Norway, you can also Alpine (downhill) ski here – Nordic is generally on flat trails and includes cross-country skiing.

FINLAND

This winter wonderland has gone from virtually nothing a few years ago to a major family ski destination – and it’s nowhere near as expensive as other Nordic countries. There’s lots of skiing, but all of it on low, rounded mountains known as fells, so to make up for the lack of big runs and dramatic peaks, the country has focused on all the other attractions – reindeer sleigh-rides, snow-mobiles, husky-sledding, ice-fishing, ice-driving and, of course, visits to Santa. The result is charming and utterly child-friendly resorts that are always decked out in twinkling lights, set against eerie, flat, icy scenery. Children and adults alike are entranced, even if it can get a trifle chilly. 

Most of the ski areas are in the Finnish part of Lapland, way up north, with some almost within small-arms fire of the Russian border. This means yet another adventure – in the early part of the year, floodlights are on the slopes when you go out in the morning and when you finish in the afternoon, the sky being a perpetual twilight apart from a short spell at lunchtime. By late season it’s light until late in the evening. To stay, you’ll find modern hotels, apartments and cosy wooden cabins and cottages, some by the lifts, others neatly hidden in the woods.

The biggest and best resort is Levi, calling itself the ‘Official Ski Resort of Santa Claus’, with a number of hotels, bars and restaurants in the closest there is to a real village. The ski-school is friendly and English-speaking, and it’s less than 30 minutes to the airport. Children have great fun at rustic dinner evenings, where they can tuck into reindeer sausages and salmon soup. For the Levi Tunturi Spa Hotel, click here. For the Kittila Winter Adventure including skiing at Levi, click here.

The resorts of Pyha, Ruka and Yllas are also good – for the Ruka & Kuusamo Snow Business Adventure, click here. Tarko, further south and on a frozen lake, is fun, with horse-riding and the chance to jump through a hole in the ice wearing an inflatable survival suit.

NORWAY

If you can get past the price of the drink (and the food), Norway is a child-friendly country, although the resorts are not always convenient. Geilo is a quiet, pretty place on the rail line from Oslo, with easygoing slopes outside the door (for preference, the door to the costly but sublime Dr Holms Hotel). Hemsedal, further north, is quiet but has some good nursery slopes. Both have scenery that is attractive in a bleak kind of way but little to specifically appeal to children. For that you need to head for the 1994 Olympic centre of Lillehammer, although this involves getting a bus to the slopes – the nearest is Hafjell, with a good family area, 15km away. Voss has a good new children’s area but is a busy town. 

SWEDEN

Åre (pronounced U-ray) is the only real family skiing option in Sweden, with packages available through Neilson. This is a pretty little town of brightly painted wooden buildings, and both it and the skiing follow a frozen lakeside. The skiing is good for beginners and intermediates, there are excellent nursery areas for children (with free skiing up to age , and reindeer- and dog-sleighs, skating and other Nordic pleasures.

DENMARK

Denmark doesn’t have any proper ski resorts and some of the mountains rise no more than 100m, yet it is possible to ski – generally cross-country. DanParcs Søhøjlandet. Hedelands Ski Centre in the suburbs of Copenhagen has snow-cannons to make its short runs authentic in winter

near Silkeborg in the centre of the country has a big year-round dry slope that can get covered in snow in winter.

ICELAND

As with Denmark, you wouldn’t come to Iceland for the express purpose of skiing, but there are a few options if you’re in the country, including a couple of small areas near Reykjavik, accessible by bus from the city centre. Bláfjöll, the country’s largest ski area, with 11 lifts, is a good place for learners but has a few harder slopes too; its main slopes are floodlit in the evening, and there’s floodlit cross-country skiing and a ski-school at weekends. Skálafell has five lifts, including Iceland’s longest, at 1.2km. Its main slopes are illuminated, and there is a cross-country area and a ski-school at weekends.

In the north of the country, near the city of Akureyri, is Hlidarfjall with 12km of pistes, the longest 2.5km. Mainly a beginner resort, it also has a snowboard terrain park and cross-country skiing.

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