Great Tours to Tempt You During Your Ski Holiday

There’s a particular satisfaction in skiing or snowboarding to somewhere, rather than clocking up laps on the same lifts and runs.

Perhaps it’s a deep-rooted instinct inherited from our ancestors that makes skiers and snowboarders from the British Isles feel a strong urge to explore. The larger, interconnected domains recognise this and have generated and published clearly signposted itineraries and tours that cater for a wide range of abilities during their ski and snowboard holiday.

A well-designed circuit or tour, ideally with a lunch stop halfway round, helps satisfy our appetite for exploration and adventure. It enables skiers and snowboarders to track their progress across a mountain while enjoying changes in the scenery.

Here are a few examples of places you will find great places to ‘do a circuit’.

Austria’s Skicircus

This tour will take approximately six hours to complete, or seven hours if you prefer a lunch stop. The 65km circuit involves a 12,400m of elevation change and all 32 lifts in the interlinked Saalbach Hinterglemm, Leogang, and Fieberbrunn ski areas.

Before embarking on the trip, you can download an app which enables you to register for a competition. All skiers completing the challenge qualify for a reward and entry into a prize draw at the end of the season. First prize is a week’s stay in the area, including lift passes.

• Saalbach
• Leogang
• Hinterglemm/Fieberbrunn

The Tauern Circuit

This circuit is a wonderful way of discovering the entire ski area of Obertauern in Austria. You never ski/snowboard the same piste twice, whatever your ski level and starting anywhere in the resort.

The red circuit travels clockwise over 12km (4,000m elevation change), via nine lifts, suits steady intermediate skiers and takes around two hours to complete.

For the less confident, the green circuit travels counter-clockwise and uses seven lifts. For younger skiers and snowboarders, the Bobby Circuit is a modified version especially suited to minors, with the option of detours through the ghost train and the wave course. Older children can tackle the MyTrackRound, which incorporates a slalom and speed course.

• Obertauern

The 3-Cable Car Tour (3-Bahnen tour)

This tour around Switzerland’s Graubünden connects the historic resorts of Davos, Arosa, and Lenzerheide via a safari of off-piste descents.

It should only be tackled by experienced ski and snowboard freeriders in safe snow and weather conditions, with a local guide.

After an early start on the Parsennbahn from Davos Dorf and a cable-car ride to the summit of the Weissfluh, the beautiful long descent to Langwies is an alpine classic.

There’s more powder to enjoy, from Arosa’s Hörnli cable car to hideaway Tschiertschen and on from there to Parpan and Lenzerheide before a restful return to Davos by Postbus.

• Davos
• Arosa
• Lenzerheide

The Giro delle Cime

This lovely 35km ski/snowboard tour is in the 3 Zinnen Dolomites ski region of Italy’s Sud Tirol. It is accessible to confident intermediate skiers and above and connects five mountains (Monte Elmo, Stiergarten, Croda Rossa, Kreuzberg and Val Comelico) using 11 lifts.

It leads skiers away from the main piste network into the peaceful and panoramic UNESCO World Heritage Dolomites site with unforgettable views of the iconic Tre Cime di Laveredo.

• Dolomites

For more information on all the resorts mentioned above, plus the choice of accommodation available through Ski Line, click on the name of the resort. You can also speak to the experts at Ski Line using the contact details or online chat facility on the website.