Planning a winter getaway? Travelling by ferry is not only good value but allows you to take all your clothing and sports gear with you, without hefty baggage fees. Furthermore, taking your own car saves you from lugging heavy equipment around and helps you to get on the road quickly to reach your destination sooner. Skiliftkarussell Winterberg has more than 27km of slopes, 29 lifts and two toboggan lifts.
Weekenders and short breakers can fit in more skiing and snowboarding by taking advantage of floodlit evening sessions, which keep slopes open until 10pm. It also offers free parking! Skiliftkarussell Winterberg is less than 6h 30 min drive from the ports of Calais and Dunkirk or 4h 30min from the Dutch ports at Hook of Holland, Rotterdam and IJmuiden.
Switch the slopes at Chamonix for La Clusaz. It is a small, pretty resort in Savoie featuring characterful wooden chalets and a main town square with bars, shops and fantastic restaurants. This hidden gem also offers experiences including sunset descents, night-time dog sledding, ice floating in Lac de Confins and paragliding.
La Clusaz is conveniently close to the Autoroute Blanche, making it an 8 and a half hour drive from the ferry terminal at Calais and a slightly shorter car journey from the Normandy ports of Dieppe, Caen and Le Havre. Add a little adventure to a winter trip across the Solent with geocaching. However, the real reward is discovering parts of the Isle of Wight that may otherwise go unexplored.
Use the Geocache app to plan a cycling or walking route that suits your group — pick a trail with easy-to-spot caches for young children or, wannabe detectives can choose a more mentally challenging route that requires puzzle solving. Our favourite is the 5-mile circular route that goes through farmland to Newtown Bay — the only other way to reach this cache is by boat. Formed from an extinct volcano, the island produces some of the densest, strongest granite in the world.
