My family of 5 have been planning to spend 7 days skiing in Zermatt this Christmas. Due to record low snow conditions we are considering changing our plans. We need help coming up with an alternate plan. We are open to suggestions. What would you recommend as a 4 day trip from Zurich?

Hi PVBPat,

We can help you more if you can give us some more information: are you still looking for snow, are you considering a warmer climate, would you want a city, would you want a lake . . . etc.

If it were me, I would go to Zermatt anyway. It's been snowing in the BO, so perhaps also in the Valais. And you can always have a great time walking the Alpine trails, sampling local wine, visiting nearby villages, etc.

s

I have no idea if this is of interest to your family, but I enjoy the towns outside Geneva along Lac Leman (Lausanne, Vevey, Montreux). You can visit Chateau de Chillon. Gruyeres makes a good day trip from this area.

Just want to tell you that it started snowing in the Alps this weekend. Things can change a lot with some days of heavy snow fall!

It might be good to have a back up plan, but you won't know until few days before your trip if you will be able to ski or not.

Further more: there are SO many people that go skiing during Christmas, that the people in the ski stations will use the snow canons as much as possible in order to satisfy their clients !

Conditions can change in 24 hours, as they are doing this weekend. But it is also good to know that owners of snowless resorts are very appreciative of people who don't cancel and compensate them in other ways.

This really has helped. Thank-you. I think we will go to Zermatt as planned and hope for more snow. I like the idea of the day trip along Lac Leman. Any idea how long a train ride from Zermatt that would be?

Hi again,

I usually limit my day-trips to two hours by train each way -- or else all I'll remember of the day is that four-walled moving carriage.

The trip from Zermatt to Montreux takes from 2h48 to 3h10, so that busts my limit for a day trip. However, if you're departing from the Geneva airport, you could just leave one day early and spend the night in Montreux.

Rail schedules at www.rail.ch.

Good luck!

s

There is snow! It's been snowing since early Saturday morning. My kids are playing in the snow right now and we are at 950 meters.

As the first flakes of snow fell, there was a simultaneous yodel heard throughout the alps: our ski season can finally start!

What you can do is to persuade your neighbours to sell the SUV, turn their heating down a couple of degrees and refrain from putting masses of lit-up Christmas decorations outside their houses.