Travel to Norway

Here are a few of the favourites:

Trysil
Trysil is the most trendy center for skiing in Norway, and the biggest if you count the amount of pists and lifts. They contain a major focus on security and the balance with all kinds of slopes.
Trysil has 32 lifts and 65 pists.

Oppdal
Oppdal is close to E6(the highway through Norway), and is roughly speaking 190 miles south of Trondheim.
This is a place for you if you wish to ride in the slopes, offpiste or only choose to walk on skiis.
All the lifts are on 4 individual mountaint tops. Many of the slopes are faced to the south - prefect for you if you'll like a tan in the early on summer. Oppdal has 17 lifts and 39 pists.

Hemsedal
There are other places with more lifts and longer slopes, but Hemsedal is more compelte once it comes to other offers aswell, like afterskii, entertainments and restaurants. This makes Hemsedal to the principally complete skiplace in Norway. Hemsedal has 22 lifts and 39 pists.

Stranda
National Geographic assumed that the norwegian fjords are one of the greatest places to travell to in the world. Close to the most trendy "Geiranger fjorden" is one of the most royal mountains for downhill skiing in Norway. Are you one of those who likes offpist is Stranda the greatest place north of the Alphs. Here the mountains are very steep, it is alot of snow and the view over the fjords are magical. But if you are one of those who likes it furthermost in the slopes or is gonna travel with your household, there would probably be better alternatives in Norway than Stranda. Stranda has 5 lifts and more or less 10 pists.

Hafjell and Kvitfjell
Hafjell and Kvitfjell is more or less 30 miles north of Lillehammer, and roughly speaking 3 hours with a car from Oslo. Since OL in Lillehammer in 1994 have these two places developed alot. In Hafjell and Kvitfjell there is slopes for the whole family and for all skill levels. There are 5 places around Lillehammer which all uses the "Ski Resorts Ski Pass" This is a liftpass that allowes you to travell freely connecting all those 5 places. This will acquire you a absolute access to 43 lifts and 66 slopes.

Geilo
Geilo is one of most safest places in Norway when it comes to having enough snow. Geilo has slopes for the complete family and can even offer you the opportunity to try kite-skiing, which Geilo have one of the best circumstances for in the world. Additionaly Geilo provides about 220km slopes in place of cross-country skiing.
Geilo has 20 lifts and 38 pists.

Beitostølen
Beitostølen is about 3 hours with a car from Oslo. Beitostølen can offer lots of wounderful untouched off-piste adventures, but does also offer the whole specter of different types of slopes for the family. Here you can find two centers with a total of 9 lifts, 21 slopes and 320km of pists for cross-country skiing.

Geilo in Norway stands 800 metres high, and has one of the highest ski lifts in the world, stretching 3,887 feet. Geilo is positioned three and a half hours from the capital city, whilst having good road and rail links to the village. Set amidst amazing scenery just off the banks of Fjord, Geilo is at the heart of Norways Winter Wonderland. Maintaining its reputation as an excellent family resort, Geilo has seen visitors from Europe and beyond since early 1900s. Geilo remains unspoilt, with true Norwegian character firmly intact.

With more than just skiing facilities Geilo is home to the 4 star Highland Hotel, as well as numerous lodging houses, and the famous Holms Ski Bar. Although primarily a ski resort Geilo also offers sleigh rides, wildlife adventure tours, ski orienteering, tobogganing, snow shoe walking, dog-sledging, kite-skiing, night-skiing, snowboarding, freestyle snowboarding and much more.

Geilo has also increased its reputation amongst Snowboarders in recent years beating off Lillehammer, Voss and Hemsedal in its bid to host the Norwegian Snowboarding Championship. With four sides of mountain each dedicated to snowboarding and skiing, Geilo is now able to call itself Norways first skiing location to offer 5 runs dedicated to snowboarding. With 110 runs in total, Geilo has 14% expert allowing experienced skiers to enjoy themselves on the slopes, whilst maintaining the rest of its facilities for intermediates and beginners that account for a larger number of their yearly visitors.

Geilo also offers exceptional value for money with weekly family packages starting from $1000 including accommodation, bed and breakfast. The element that stands out the most about Geilo is the way it caters for families, family diners, and especially their Christmas bonanza which includes Santa visiting the slopes with his reindeer on Christmas day, and the time leading up to christmas. Geilo never fails to be fully booked for Christmas, with so many families choosing to bring their children along to experience Christmas within this winter wonderland.

Although Geilo offers amazing family packages, it would be unfair to say that Geilo is limited to family vacations. Geilo has hosted very serious world sporting events, as well as being the training ground of the national snowboarding and skiing teams. Geilo is available from August/September all the way through to late March and is also considering investing in Avalanche Technology which generates snow from water to provide 24/365 skiing.

If you have never been to Geilo then I would recommend that you give it a go, although the family image may put certain people off visiting the slope I would suggest that checking it out is the best thing to do. From their website it is clear to see that consistent snowfall, and a good variation in the difficulty of runs, Geilo is a facility that can genuinely cater for everyone; from beginner to professional.

It has many great options for accommodation, and with good travel links as well their really is no excuse for not hoping on a plane and going to Geilo today. With thousands of people on the slopes, from different countries and different backgrounds Geilo is suitable for families and teenagers alike. With individual price plans starting from $350 a week, and well-known DJs playing at local club venues Geilo is also becoming very popular amongst those teenagers who would have previously seen Ibiza as the only place to be seen on holiday.

The ski season is here, and Andorra ski resorts are planning to offer free ski passes for children less than 14 years of age if the package is booked through an English or Irish tour operator. Andorra's resorts are also looking to broaden their market beyond skiing, snowboarding and other popular winter sports. In fact they are planning to build the Pyrenees' first every ice hotel. The Andorran ice hotel would be the most southerly seated ice hotel in the world.

Ice Hotels

Ice hotels are quite simply what their name implies: hotels carved out of ice. All ice hotels are reconstructed every year. The construction and operation are dependent on sub-zero temperatures. All walls, carvings, sculptures and furniture are made entirely out of ice. Furniture that requires assembly is held together using snice, a substance that takes the place of mortar in "brick and mortar" buildings.

Ice Hotels in Norway

The Kirkenes Snow Hotel hosted its first full season during the 2006-2007 winter season. For the 2008-2009 winter season, the hotel has 21 rooms and is considered the largest snow dome in Norway. The newest addition to the Kirkenes Snow Hotel is the Scandinavian Sauna by the lake.

The Ice Lodge is part of the Bjorligard Hotel in Norway. Due to its altitude of 1,250 meters above sea level, the Ice Lodge is enjoyed much longer into the winter season than other ice hotels. The lodge includes carved, spacious rooms with glistening ice surfaces and a bar. The Ice Bar is a great place to mingle with other Ice Lodge guests and enjoy the drink of your choice.

The Alta Igloo Hotel first came into existence in 2000. Located in the Finnmark region of Europe, it is the northernmost of all currently existing ice hotels. With 28 regular rooms and two suites, it is decorated with ice sculptures and furnishings. The hotel also has an ice chapel, gallery and bar where the drinks are served in ice glasses.

Ice Hotel in Sweden

The world's first ice hotel was created near Jukkasjarvi, Kiruna, Sweden. The idea to create ice hotels was actually almost accidental. One night, in 1990, French artist Jannot Derid held an art exhibition inside an igloo in Sweden. There were no hotel rooms available in the nearby town so some guests requested permission to sleep in the exhibition hall. The very first guests of the future Ice Hotel slept in sleeping bags on reindeer skin. The first major media attention may have been drawn to the hotel in the late 1990s when the rock group Van Halen recorded their video to the song 'Without You' in the newly built Ice Hotel.

Ice Hotel in Canada

The first Ice Hotel in North America was built in January of 2000. The original was built in the Duchesnay resort area and had only 22 bedrooms. The latest versions have had more than 80 rooms. One thing that sets the Duchesnay Ice Hotel apart from others is its chapel where several weddings are celebrated each season.

Ice Hotels in Finland and Romania

Finland's Mammut Snow Hotel is not necessarily an 'ice' hotel. This hotel is created entirely of snow. Most of Mammut Snow Hotel's furnishings, decorations and sculptures are created of ice. Similar ice decorations and sculptures are also on display in the Lainio Snow Hotel in Finland. The Mammut Snow Hotel is within the walls of the SnowCastle of Kemi, the biggest snow castle in the world. Also encased in the SnowCastle are The Castle Courtyard, The Snow Restaurant and a chapel for weddings.

Near Saariselka is the Hotel and Igloo Village Kakslauttanen. It is a small village of sorts created with snow igloos, glass igloos, an ice chapel, ice gallery and a restaurant made of snow. The impressive snow restaurant has seating to accommodate 150 people.

Balea Lake in the Fagaras Mountains of Romania is home to Eastern Europe's first ice hotel. The hotel was first created in 2006 and is at an altitude of 2034 meters above sea level. This ice hotel has accommodations for more than 150 guests and features attractions such as bobsledding and ice fishing.

Andorra to Offer More than Winter Sports

In addition to the inclusion of an ice hotel, Andorra's resorts have made more than 20 million euros worth of upgrades to existing ski areas. Improvements and additions include low-cost helicopter sight-seeing flights, tubing slopes, new ice rinks and a snowmobile circuit. For the coming winter season, Andorra's resorts plan to provide much more than meets the eye.