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Inntravel Frequently Asked QuestionsHolidays in the Snow• Cross-country skiing: the basics Cross-country skiing: the basicsQ: Is cross-country skiing hard to pick up?
Q: Do I need any special equipment? A: Other than the skis and shoes, which you can hire locally, you do not require any special equipment or clothing. For holidays in the Alps, we recommend that you ski in tracksuit bottoms with knee-length socks and wear several cotton layers and only a light jacket on top as you generate quite a bit of heat once you get into your stride! Naturally, if you are travelling to Scandinavia, or if you plan to take lessons and are likely spend some time standing about watching demonstrations, you will need a little more protection against the cold - combine several cotton layers with thermal underwear and over trousers. Finding the right range of skiing and other activitiesQ: Which villages are the best for cross-country beginners? A: In no particular order, Ylläs, Geilo, Gålå, Sjusjøen, Pertisau, Leutasch, Ramsau, Kandersteg, Blitzingen and Zuoz are all good for beginners, with plenty of easy trails nearby and good ski schools. We offer special Try-It-Out weeks for beginners during the season’s quietest periods at Sjusjøen, Pertisau, Kandersteg and Blitzingen. Included are lessons with other Inntravel beginners from your hotel, and ski equipment hire for the week. Q: I am an experienced cross-country skier but my partner is relatively new to the sport. Where would you recommend? A: Zuoz is a good choice for experienced skiers, yet also offers good skiing for beginners/novices. Other villages which offer excellent skiing for all abilities are Sjusjøen, Gålå, Ylläs and Blitzingen. Q: Which villages offer the best mix of cross-country and downhill skiing?
Q: We are intermediate downhill skiers. Where do you recommend? A: The best places are St-Luc (the village itself offers great skiing for intermediates, but longer, more challenging slopes can easily be accessed by post bus), Geilo, Leogang (which offers the best of both worlds - you stay in a traditional village yet can access the renowned Saalbach-Hinterglemm domain), Engelberg and Kastelruth (where you are also close to the Dolomiti Superski area). Q: We don’t want to spend all our time skiing. Which villages offer the widest range of alternative activities? A: For a wide range of other activities, choose Ramsau (winter walking, guided snow-shoeing, horse-drawn sleigh rides, curling, tennis), Kandersteg (winter walking, ice-skating, curling, horse-drawn sleigh rides, excursions by rail to the Matterhorn and other areas), Kastelruth (winter walking, ice-skating, tobogganing, horse-drawn sleigh rides), or Ylläs which offers a range of unique activities such as husky and reindeer safaris, ice-fishing and snowmobiling. Q: We are looking to spend the entire week walking. Which villages offer the most paths?
Q: We are no longer particularly active but love the winter. Do you have any holidays that fit the bill? A: Hotel Wiesenhof in Pertisau, Hotel Victoria in Kandersteg, Posthotel Engiadina in Zuoz, Hotel Meisser in Guarda and Hotel Castle in Blitzingen are all ideal for simply relaxing and admiring the scenery. Alternatively, our winter journeys are an excellent way of seeing a variety of winter scenery with the minimum of exertion. We offer three-centre holidays in Switzerland, Austria/Italy and France/Spain, all linked by scenic rail journeys, as well as a holiday combining the Norwegian Hurtigruten Journey (a journey by ship along the Norwegian coast) with four nights on the Lofoten Islands. Choosing the right hotelQ: We have two young children. Where would you recommend?
Q: We have two teenagers. Which hotels do you suggest? A: Kandersteg, Engelberg, Ramsau and Pertisau are all reasonably lively villages and offer a wide range of activities that should appeal to teenagers when they come off the trails, including snowboarding lessons at Ramsau and floodlit tobogganing at Pertisau, and ice skating at Kandersteg. With the exception of that at Engelberg, all the hotels have indoor pools, and most also have games rooms with table tennis and billiards. While Ylläs is quite a quiet village, the unique activities on offer - snowmobiling, husky and reindeer safaris and torchlit walks - also make it a good choice for families with (young) teenagers. Q: My partner and I are taking a winter holiday to celebrate our 50th birthdays and want to do it in style. Which hotel do you recommend?
Travel issuesQ: I would prefer not to fly. Can I travel by Eurostar to any of your hotels? A: The hotels that are best suited to travel by Eurostar (that is to say, destinations that can be reached comfortably within a day, with good connections), are Hotel Victoria in Kandersteg, Romantik Hotel Bella Tola in St-Luc, Hotel Edelweiss in Engelberg, Posthotel Engiadina in Zuoz and the Hotel Meisser in Guarda. Please contact us for details and prices. As another alternative to flying, you can travel self-drive to our hotels in Switzerland, Austria, Italy and France. This offers excellent value, particularly for parties of three or more travelling in the same car. Please call us for a quotation. Q: We do not want a long and complicated journey between the airport and the hotel. A: For several of our winter holidays, we offer transfers from the airport direct to the hotel. These are: Pertisau (45mins), Mösern (50mins), Leutasch (50mins), Ylläs (50mins), Leogang (1hr) and Ramsau (1hr). Miscellaneous questionsQ: Do we have to stay for a week?
Q: Your hotels in Norway and Finland look lovely but I had always thought that the cold and the short days would spoil a winter holiday there? A: It is true that on paper, average temperatures in December and January, the very heart of winter, can seem off-putting. However, in reality, it feels considerably warmer due to the lack of humidity. As regards the short days, the wealth of floodlit tracks means that you can ski even after it has got dark, and by February our chosen villages enjoy 8 or 9 hours of daylight, similar to Britain. |
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A: No, it is very easy to pick up the basics - much easier than
downhill skiing. You basically adopt a gliding motion and because you
ski along ‘tramlines’ on specially prepared tracks, steering
is easy. If you are a complete beginner, we recommend a couple of lessons
at the start of the week, but by the end of your holiday you could well
be able to ski up to 15 miles a day!
A: The best of our chosen villages for both cross-country and downhill skiing are 
A: Our villages in Austria offer the most extensive networks of specially
prepared winter walking paths. There are 150km prepared paths
around 
A: For babies and toddlers, the 
A: All our ski hotels offer very high standards of comfort and service,
but for something really special, opt for the 
A: We offer long weekend breaks at three of our hotels: the