Our winter vacations are provided by specialist responsible operators & accommodations committed to mountain conservation.
These full and frank independent winter vacations reviews are from travelers who have booked directly through responsibletravel.com. They are not edited by us or any of the companies we work with. Find the real story, from real travelers below.
The husky sledging was amazing and we also got to see the northern lights we did something nearly everyday and enjoyed every minute, went to the ice hotel you can't really explain in words how pretty the scenery is you have to go and see it to believe it.
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The most memorable part was stopping for lunch on top of hills with amazing views and the homegrown oranges... Top, really enjoyed, excellent value, very well organised, great fun and wonderful people. Also loved accommodation.
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Most memorable? Stunning views from high up in the Parc National de Mercantour, well worth the effort of climbing 1000 metres. Also Liz's home cooking, delish!!!! Wonderful, would like do it all again and probably will before too long.
(more)Superb. Wouldn't change anything at all (not even the outside loos in -25deg C, all part of the experience and gave us lots of laughs!).
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Absolutely fantastic. I can't wait to go again, and this time I would definitely go for longer. I want to go back this time next year, for a week with a few close friends. LOVED LOVED LOVED IT. (more)
On leaving our room at Serendip which led out straight onto the front veranda... we saw that the garden was full of fireflies. We were then led to our table out the back by the plunge pool where we would be eating dinner. The manager had arranged and lit dozens of tea lights around the garden. Priceless.
(more)Amazing - one of the best we have ever had. The different activities each day and information given on culture and history were fantastic. It was lovely to be somewhere so spoilt and quiet. (more)
A lovely family vacation or romantic getaway, off the beaten track, true Italy at its best. Some fabulous restaurants in chiavenna and wonderful food and drink, simply gorgeous views, fresh air and zillions of places to go and see from lakes to quaint villages to deserted mountain treks (more)
Very enjoyable stay, great accommodation, very friendly hosts. Would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a vacation in a beautiful location with loads to see and do (all of which is detailed in an up to date and meticulously prepared and researched information folder left in the room).
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Beautiful accommodation and right next to a lovely beach with great and unpretentious Spanish restaurants... Excellent. As good as we had hoped and will go back with our children next year who will also love it!
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The trip was 5 star born again, Liz and Mel were fantastically welcoming, extremely well informed on all aspects of the area and able to provide a very relaxing environment. (more)
Everything about this vacation was excellent, and exceeded expectations. The walking was varied, the guide/s were knowledgeable and supportive, the food was simply wonderful, and my walking companions were friends by the end of the week. (more)We all had a fantastic time and have many wonderful memories. The service at the ice hotel was more than expected... It was one, if not the best vacation we have had. I would definitely book a vacation with you again and also do this type of vacation again. Thank you for all the help you have given us.
(more)The cross country ski in the Lapland forests, with nothing but ancient trees and animal tracks around us was the most memorable part. (more)
All of our stay was wonderful although if I had to select some highlights I would say that the husky tour, seeing the Northern Lights and meeting Santa in his cottage stood out . The latter was magical and really got us into the Christmas spirit. (more)
The most memorable part was the dog sledding activity, as we harnessed the dogs and had a wonderful experience sledding with them through a blizzard in the Arctic wilderness. (more)Working with the huskies on our 2 day wilderness safari was amazing. A once in a lifetime experience and Raika, the husky guide was brilliant! (more)Most memorable was learning to self-arrest with an ice-axe - sliding head first and face down on an icy slope! (more)
We invite every traveler who books a vacation via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the vacations they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same vacation can have different views!
Committed but environmentally-aware skiers and snowboarders will be familiar with this conundrum: how can you continue to enjoy the thrill of the slopes, without jetting off around the world in search of fast-diminishing snow and thereby contributing further to global warming in the process? It's a tough one – but the choices you make are crucial. Get it right and there's a chance your kids might actually know what a pair of skis are for too. Get it wrong and the only snowboards they'll ever see will be in a museum. Lecture over – almost. There's a good reason why, environmentally speaking, the way you get to your destination is probably much more important than what you do when you get there. Aircraft emissions are the fastest-growing contributor to global warming, and a single return flight to the US can contribute the same to the world's climate change burden as everything else you do in the entire year. And with that much guilt hanging over you, how could you possibly enjoy your stay on the pistes? Enter the Alpine Snow Train. This isn't some kind of hair shirt-wearing eco-sacrifice: according to those in the know (and it's pretty much a word of mouth thing) it's a lot more entertaining than the alternatives. If you get to the Alps by Snow Train, you can ski or board with a pretty clear conscience: train travel is on average responsible for only a third of the pollution of air travel, and is also much cleaner than traveling by car (see Sidebar). And it's actually faster in a sense as well – if you let the Snow Train take the strain you can get eight days on the slopes out of one week. Mark Lynas suggests how you can do your bit to ensure that you can have your snow and ski on it too. Read more about winter in this winter vacations article.
With ski season becoming shorter and less predictable and glaciers in retreat, it seems that global warming has already begun to affect winter tourism. Mark Lynas reports on a shrinking industry. "That's it, the season's over." The two ski attendants from the Glencoe Ski Centre were sitting in front of a computer in a nearby village, watching a five-day forecast download from the internet. One of them shook his head glumly as the heavy rain-bearing depressions marched across the screen. "It's only March – we should have a month at least of winter to go yet." Scotland's snow is in retreat. According to a recent Scottish Executive report, there have been twelve days less snow cover per decade throughout the country since the late 1970s. And following the winter of 1987/88 there have been only three out of thirteen winters with an above-average snow cover duration. Those who venture into the mountains today are more likely to encounter mud and rain than frost and snow. Read more about winter vacations in this winter vacations article. 
