Hi Kelly welcome to Fodors. I'll let others give the jazz on Swiss ski resorts. My advice is, unless money has no value to you, go to Austria. The resorts are generally nicer, the people welcoming and the dollar will go further.

The valley with Zell-am-Zee is pretty good, you could book a chalet with cooking staff for less than you would get 2 nice rooms in a Swiss hotel.

So is that what you are interested in doing?

If so, the skiing there is, as I'm sure you know, wonderful and most places have runs for all abilities. While I spend most of my European skiing year in the french alps (Val d'isere, Chamonix, etc), on the Swiss side, I've only skied Grindelwald, Gstaad, and Wirrehorn. Enjoyed them all. If I had to choose, however, I'd spend the Christmas holidays in Zermatt. Such a great town. -- finally got to see it just two weeks ago, and as fabulous as it is in summer, my best friend told me it is magical in winter. The newish space age looking gondolas up to the runs are outstanding and they boast a top notch ski school for all capabilities.

Have fun!

Hi Kelly_Parrish,

Many hotels in most resorts will offer a seven-night, half-board, 6-day ski pass deal that would be the best option for you and your family. The only hard part will be to choose the resort.

I would just spend seven nights at the ski resort and then two or three nights in Luzern or Zürich before you fly out.

Some notes to consider --

Some places, like Zermatt, require a full week's stay over Christmas, and some hotels are even requiring a two week's stay. There's a lot of demand for hotel rooms at that time, and some hotel guests even make their reservations for the next year as they are checking out at the current year. So -- once you've decided on a spot, make your reservations asap and be prepared to stay for a full week.

Some of the resorts may not have great snow so early in the season. For instance, the resorts of the Jungfrau area (Wengen, Mürren, Grindelwald) don't get great snow until February. The places that have a good chance of snow (Zermatt) are the ones that will be sold out first.

And, for what it's worth, I just cannot get myself to like Zermatt. To my eye, it is overbuilt and overcrowded. I'm not the only one I know who feels this way -- but we are definitely in the minority!!

Have fun as you plan!

s