Family Christmas ski holidays: how to get the chalet break right

Christmas in the mountains comes down to very little: a torchlight descent winding through the dark, and a big house where the whole family is together at last. This year the school holidays run from Saturday 19 December 2026 to Monday 4 January 2027, for every French school-holiday zone at once, which makes these two weeks among the most sought-after of the winter. Here is how to get them right, from the snow you hope for to the chalet you book.

Snow at Christmas: what we know

Let’s be honest from the start: nobody can guarantee snow at Christmas. As Météo-France points out, every snow-cover indicator is falling, with marked differences depending on altitude and aspect. Marie Dumont, director of the Centre d’études de la neige, sums it up: the snow “arrives later, leaves earlier, and below a certain altitude it is becoming more and more unpredictable”.

Two things therefore matter over the holidays. Altitude first: Val Thorens, at 2300m, and the Tignes and Val d’Isère ski area open as early as November. Then man-made snow, which according to INRAE forms a base layer that allows the pistes to be groomed from the start of the season: in Courchevel it covers more than half the pistes, and Val d’Isère uses it on more than 65km. The lower village resorts keep their Christmas charm whatever happens, but their pistes depend more on the weather.

Where to spend Christmas: resort highlights

In Courchevel, the big event is a sporting one: on Tuesday 22 December 2026, the Stade Émile-Allais hosts a women’s World Cup night slalom, in two runs at 5.45pm and 8.45pm. Last year the ESF also laid on a torchlight descent by its instructors on Christmas Eve, followed by photos with Father Christmas. For the following week, see our guide to New Year on the slopes, resort by resort.

In Méribel, the Father Christmas parade is, according to the tourist office, “eagerly awaited every 24 December in the streets of Méribel”, and the ESF puts on a torchlight descent and an instructors’ show every Wednesday of the Christmas holidays, from 5.30pm. For New Year, the office describes the midnight fireworks on 31 December as “the unmissable event to close the year”.

In Megève, the season opens with the lighting of the big tree on the village square, on 5 December 2026. From 21 to 31 December, the Christmas village sets up Father Christmas’s office and workshops for children, and the Father Christmas parade leaves the village square on Thursday 24 December at 5.30pm.

In Val d’Isère, the Magie de Noël sets up a forest of wishing trees and a letterbox for Father Christmas from 21 to 27 December. The ESF holds a torchlight descent on the Face de Bellevarde on Tuesday 22 December at 6pm, weather permitting, and New Year’s Eve gets under way from 9pm on the snow front, with fireworks at midnight at the foot of Bellevarde.

Other resorts are getting ready too: in La Clusaz, the Pestacles du Père Noël run from 20 December to 1 January, with Father Christmas arriving on the 24th and a ski show on the 31st; in Les Gets, “Father Christmas lives in Les Gets” from 20 to 24 December; in Tignes, festivities on 24 and 25 December come before a midnight firework display at Tignes le Lac. In Val Thorens, the 2026 programme had not yet been published in early October; last year Father Christmas welcomed children in his igloo on Place Caron.

The chalet, the real Christmas home

A Christmas ski trip is often the chance to gather the people you see too rarely: grandparents, cousins, lifelong friends. For a week, the chalet becomes the family home. Count bedrooms rather than beds, and look for a large table for Christmas Eve dinner and a sitting room where everyone fits around the fire. Our selections of chalets for 10 people and for 20 people start from there.

Some houses come with a chef, and our agents can arrange other services on request, so that dinner on the 24th does not rest on one person’s shoulders. A pool or spa keeps the children busy between outings, and if the family dog is coming too, our dog-friendly chalets will welcome it as well.

AEC tip. Chalets are generally let Saturday to Saturday: for Christmas that means 19 to 26 December, for New Year 26 December to 2 January. Some accept Sunday to Sunday, which is handy for getting home the day before school starts again on 4 January.

Book early, and not just the chalet

The festive weeks are the busiest of early winter, and everything gets booked. The ESF ski school in Courchevel warns that the resort is very busy at Christmas: “we recommend booking your lessons in advance”; the tourist office says the same for every peak period. In Méribel, the ESF warns that for supervised children’s lunches “places are limited”, and at the ESF in Val Thorens, online booking for lessons closes three days before they start.

For the chalet, the safest approach is to ask for a provisional option as soon as your dates are fixed. Our guide to renting a luxury chalet explains how, and our guide to family ski holidays covers lessons, childcare and lift passes for the youngest.

Where to stay

For high-altitude snow, look at Val Thorens, Val d’Isère, Tignes or Courchevel. For village atmosphere, Megève, La Clusaz and Les Gets have their illuminated squares. The simplest thing is to write to us: send us your dates and the number in your party, and our agents will put together a selection for you. To find out which resorts will be open at Christmas, see our guide to ski resort opening dates; for the rest of the winter, our guide to February ski holidays.

And on the evening of the 24th, when the last torch has reached the bottom of the piste, there will still be the fire in the hearth and the whole family around the table.

Frequently asked questions