I’ve always been one to book holidays in advance as I absolutely love the fact that I know I’m definitely going! Anyway, summers over (boo) so I’m planning the winter break. After browsing through the Thomas Cook website I’ve found, what looks like a lovely holiday in the Andes!

The Solana Hotel in Arinsal looks welcoming and cosey. It’s ideal for families and a bus stops outside every 15 to 20 minutes to take you to the stunning slopes. At a 3 star class the hotel provides an indoor pool, steam and sauna, 24 hour reception, restaurant, lounge with TV bar and is available on a half or full board basis. I checked the holiday out leaving the 6th of January 2007 and returning on the 13th on a half board basis, based on 2 people sharing leaving from London Gatwick and it was just £261. Just an idea, but have a look for yourself at www.thomascook.com.

I visited Les Gets in France with ten friends during January and stayed at the Ferme du Lavay for a week. It was absolutely fantastic apart from the fact there was very little snow – something that doesn’t happen very often in The Alps during January. The chalet is located at the top of Les Get, only a 5 minute coach ride from the main express lift. This was probably the only downside of the chalet – at the top of a long and winding hill it is difficult to get about in the evenings. During the day our chalet host took us down to the lift and picked us up in the afternoon so it wasn’t a problem.

We booked the Ferme du Lavay through Total Ski who run a lot of fully catered holidays. I must admit, this was my favourite part – having a chef cook breakfast, a four course evening meal and a cake in the afternoon every day. That’s right, no cooling on this holiday! Since the chalet was so large and there were 17 guests staying at the time we also had a cooking assistant and a cleaner, all staff worked for Total Ski.

Chalet

The chalet was just as you would imagine accommodation in the Alps to be, it looked like a wooden cabin from the outside and was snug and cosy inside. Ferme du Lavay can sleep up to 24 people therefore you can get a gist of how large this chalet is. There are three floors in total, the ground floor with three bedrooms, the middle floor with a huge lounge area, kitchen, dining area, two smaller bedrooms and a bathroom for these two rooms to share. The entrance to the chalets is also on the middle floor. The top floor consists of three larger bedrooms all with a double bed and at least one single bed.

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