With lots of options, choosing the right ski resort can be a difficult decision. Knowing what you want from your trip has a big impact on what resort would be best suited to your needs. Do you want to learn whist you’re out there and have daily lessons? Do you want to spend your days mastering new tricks in the park? Do you want a good night scene or somewhere that’s child friendly? For us, a big ski area is a must as we tend to cover a lot of ground. Below are some of my recommendations if you’re planning a trip to Europe. 

Val Thorens, France

Val Thorens is a cheaper option compared to its more desirable neighbours Courchevel and Meribel with just as much to offer, including a Michelin star restaurant. VT (as it’s referred to by the seasonaires) is the highest ski resort in Europe, thus it’s a pretty snow sure resort. Being higher up than its neighbours also gives you the advantage of getting up the mountain before the crowd as you’re already half way there. The Three Valleys range is the biggest ski area in the world (in terms of pistes), you will never get bored with such a big area to explore. Be sure to stop off at the legendary Folie Douce on you last run of the day for wildest afternoon parties, just make you’re in a fit state to ski back to town. The resort centre itself is small but lively with a good choice of bars and restaurants.

Recommended for eating

The Frog –  highest pub in Europe - great for cheap pub grub eats and early evening après drinks.

Johns American (or they have a separate Scandinavian restaurant) – best burgers in VT along with tasty Tex-Mex and BBQ options. 

Jean Sulpice - Michelin star restaurant fine dining with fantastic panoramic views.

Recommended for après

Folie Douce – dance on tables in your ski boots whilst having champagne squirted over you.

Malaysia – carry on the party in to the early hours.

Avoriaz, France

A purpose built pedestrianised ski resort on the Portes du Soleil range. Avoriaz is a much quieter but in a much better position than Morzine which sits at the bottom of the mountain. From Avoriaz you have much easier access to the larger ski area, you can ski to Switzerland whereas, in my opinion the Morzine side of the mountain more limited. If you’re in to your park riding be sure to check out ‘The Stash’, a 100% natural snow park developed Jake Burton himself. There is also a ‘Mini Stash’ for the kids, and us grown up too. Avoriaz is more of a family resort, if you’re wanting to be part of the party scene then Morzine may be more suited to you. Having said that, there are still a couple of bars that get a bit lively in the evening

Recommended for eating

La Chapca - simple, good value and friendly service.

La Taniere - large varied menu with everything from pizza to traditional raclette. Be warned this place does get busy.

Recommended for après

Le Globe Trotters - ideal stop off on you're way back from the mountain to your digs.

Le Yak - Avoriaz's only night club.

Sauze d’Olux, Italy

Sauze is one of the larger, more popular resorts on the Milky Way range that covers both Italy and France. The resort is nestled between larch tree forests with many of the best runs winding through the trees back to the town. It's a red run paradise, making it ideal for rookies progressing off the blue runs but tasty enough to keep the more exspeienced skier happy. Sauze d’Oulx, Sestriere (Olympic village) and San Sicario were all part of the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics. If the conditions are good and you’re feeling brave head over to Sestriere where you can ski the Olympic downhill and super-g. Being in Italy the food in town is generally of a good standard and surprisingly reasonably priced. The apres is a quite or as lively as you want to make it, with most bars hosting happy hours. 

Recommended for eating

Old Inn - Italian BBQ at it's best cooked in front of you on an enormous grill.

Ristorante Assietta - Super tasty pizza's.

Sugo's - Traditional Italian pasta dishes.

Recommended for après

Derby Bar - busy during happy hour. Comfortable sofas to chill and watch skiing on the TV.

Il Lampione - wine bar and music.

Other places to consider

Tignes, France - High, fairly snow sure and big ski area.

Soll, Austria - biggest ski area in Austria with a good après scene.

Pas De La Casa, Andorra - tax free and friendly on the pocket.

Are you planning a ski trip soon? I'm off to Les Arcs in France on the 4th February.

MIRISSA

Mirissa had a really chilled out vibe to it. Although, I believe they do have some big party nights, we just didn’t find them. The beach front is home to some great bars, all of which have a happy hour which lasts way more than just 1 hour ;) We made Central Beach Café our watering hole of choice, mainly because it happened to be the first place we stumbled across when we were trying to figure out how to get on to the beach. Both the food and cocktails were super tasty and reasonably priced. Cocktails were just 350 rupees during happy hour.

Whilst in Mirissa we arranged a whale watching tour. If you’re a responsible wildlife tourist – DON’T GO! I’d done lots of research before arriving and thought I was a being responsible animal lover. I asked the company all the right questions and they assured me that the whales would be respected. Around 12 boats loudly revved and spun viciously in the water, all eager to get as close as possible for a glimpse of the giant blue whale when it surfaced. I didn’t move from seat once during the trip in protest, that’s not the way I wanted to see a whale. I think this kind of tourism is in it’s infancy in Sri Lanka. The tour operators are just trying to give customers what they paid for, only people like me and you can help make a change. 

UNAWATUNA

Regardless the bad write up from Lonely Planet, Unawatuna turned out to be my favorite beach town. I liked the fact that the main road was directly behind the beach, in fact the only time we ventured on to the ‘main’ road was to go to the wine store.  Una is known as being a party town, and that’s what we got. We met up with a couple we met earlier on in our trip and all ended up at local’s house party up on the cliff side. 

Partying aside, Unawatuna is just a short tuk tuk ride away from Galle. I didn’t feel like I was in Sri Lanka in Galle, it felt more like a European town, it was a Dutch colony after all. As pleasing on the eye as the town was with its fancy Italian gelato and boutique shops, I didn’t really like it. I much preferred the hustle and bustle of the real Sri Lanka, the manic roads, welcoming people and tasty food – we couldn’t even find a roti shop in Galle much to our disappointment. 

HIKKADUWA

We arrived in Hikka with one aim – to see turtles. With the high tide comes the 4 or 5 resident green turtles, encouraged by the locals who feed them seaweed. Whilst I don't necessarily agree with encouraging wild animals to come in to contact with humans, the man who feeds these giant turtles is trying his best to educate tourists in how to respect not only the turtles but the ocean in general. 

The tsunami museum which was once someone’s house before being affected by the tsunami in 2004 is also worth a visit. There’s not much to see other than pictures, drawings and newspaper clippings, but it still really tugged on my heart strings, within the first five minutes I was in tears. Everyone in the area has been affected in on one way or another, even whole families were wiped out. Visiting the museum made me realise that I want to do some good during my travels and help others. 

2017 PLANS

The long drive to Cornwall over the Christmas break really gave me and the boy the chance to talk about the future. Recently my feet have been incredibly itchy so a good chat was in order. We’ve always talked about going ‘travelling’, but it’s never materialised. Both of us are quite sensible, we are avid savers and always think about the long term. The aspect of travelling long term we find most frightening is; what will we do when we are old, what about our pensions? I also have a horse which would be a huge sacrifice for me to give up, she is my absolute pride and joy. However, all that is not enough for me to want to stay anymore. 

After a five hour drive there, four days in Cornwall and a five hour drive back, we’d made some decisions. The most important decision being, let's be brave and live our dreams. We don't where or for how long for, just that we'll leave around Christmas this year. It’s going to be a hard few months in the run up but I have no doubt in my mind that it won’t be worth it. 

In the meantime, we are off to Les Arcs, France on the 4th February skiing. This will probably be my only holiday abroad this year and probably also the last time I'll ski for a while.

I’d love to hear if anyone else is planning a trip – short or long term?

EPIC TRAIN RIDES, STUNNING VIEWS AND BRILLIANT BREWS

We took the 9.47am train from Kandy and arrived in Ella around 3.30pm. The train journey was an adventure in itself. The best seats in the house are by far the open doors. We sat in the door for the duration of the ride looking out over the beautiful landscape. Be aware that you won't be the only one anchoring after a prime viewing spot, you will need to be quick in securing your space. Both sides of the train have good and bad sections depending on which side of the hill the train is hugging. We sat on the right side of the train and weren't disappointed.

Ella itself is a lot more developed than I had expected with trendy bars and even a coffee shop that served drinkable coffee (most coffee in Sri Lanka is vile). We spent our evenings in the popular traveller hang out Chill Café. At the beginning of the trip I’ve promised myself I would only eat local food but I gave up at the first hurdle once I clocked eyes on the delicious looking pizza on the next table. Another great place for a quick Roti is The Number 1 Roti shop, by far the best I tasted all trip.

By the time we’d dropped off our bags and drank some tea with our home stay hosts on the first day it was too late to do anything other than get our bearings around town. On our second day, we had a morning walk up Little Adams Peak. I had been expecting a strenuous hike but it turned out to be a pleasant walk with a short, gentle accent. The views of the endless hills basking in the morning sun were beautiful, even the local street dogs seem to like it up there. The round trip probably took us around an hour and a half, including some time at top to take selfies. 

A short walk from Little Adams Peak is the Nine Arch Bridge. I struggled slightly with the path down to the bridge. The terrain was uneven and slippery from the rain. I broke my knee in a horse riding accident two years ago resulting in my knee being pinned back together. Since then, I’ve always struggling going down hill. We’d only just made it to the bridge when I heard a noise in the distance. It was hard to tell what and where it was coming at first, but it soon became apparent it was a train and that we were on the wrong side in order to get a photo. We made a run for it, I don’t think I’ve ever ran so fast in my life, especially with my dodgy knee. Unfortunately I didn't quite get the picture I wanted due to the crowd of people already in position. We could have been organised and looked at the train timetable, but that's just not us. I didn’t fancy walking back up the path we came down so instead we skipped along the railway sleepers back to Ella station which is about 3.5km from the bridge. Once in town we flagged down a tuk tuk to take us to Rawana Falls which according to the map in town you can swim in. However, a tourist fell from the rocks and died recently you’re no longer aloud in or around the water. We did try, but the waterfall is policed and he quickly blew his whistle once we got close to waters edge.

On the last day in Ella we visited the Uva Halpewatte Tea factory. Disappointingly production had finished for the day (we arrived around 9am), we later found out this was because November is low yielding month for tea. We decided to go ahead with the tour anyway which we found really interesting, you don’t realise how much hard work goes in to making a nice cuppa. After visiting the factory, we arranged a taxi with our guesthouse to take us to Tissa.

ELEPHANTS AND ANCIENT RUINS

The Cultural Triangle is the the heart of Sri Lanka. A five-hour train ride from Colombo (although it took us eight) and you are in Habarana. We used Dambulla as our base for what we had originally intended to be two nights but extended to three.If you're planning a trip Sri Lanka be prepared to spend more money in the Central Province due to higher rate hotel and entry to sights.

GOLDEN TEMPLE OF DAMBULLA

I’d originally allowed half a day for the Golden Temple, but upon check-in to our hotel we were told we’d be able to do it in a couple of hours. After settling in to our room we headed off down the road to check out the temple around 4pm (it closes at 6pm). This turned out to be the perfect time to visit as the tourist buses had long gone and temperature had cooled. The temple itself is the largest cave temple in Sri Lanka. Made up of five separate caves each containing stunning Buddhist statues and paintings which are believed to have first been created over 2,000 years ago. I would recommend visiting the caves in reverse order starting at 5 as the last two caves are in my opinion the most magnificent.

LIONS ROCK, SIGIRIYA

ions rock was the most expensive sight we visited in Sri Lanka, costing around 30 USD for foreigners. We arrived at the rock around 9am just as the tour busses were starting to arrive. Surpassingly I was actually quite glad to join the end of the winding queue up the rock side, it gave me the opportunity to have regular rest stops. At the top of the rock lay the ruins of an ancient palace complex, built during the reign of King Kasyapa (477AD – 495 AD) and surrounding rock is the Royal Garden. I overheard a tour guide say that rope and bamboo would have been used to move/ lift the materials used to build the palace. 

THE ACIENT CITY OF POLONNARUWA

Sorry for the poor quality photo - battery on the camera ran out

After spending the morning in Sigiriya we visited Polonnaruwa. The Ancient City is a lot bigger than I had expected and spread out over several sites. History buffs could easily spend a whole day here. For us, just knowing the main facts and absorbing the surrounding was enough, so half a day was fine. Polonnaruwa was first declared the capital city by King Vijayabahu, who defeated the Chola invaders in 1070 to reunite the country once more under a local leader.

At the heart of the city lies the royal palace complex, to the north are the city’s most important cluster of religious buildings, the so-called Quadrangle, containing the finest group of remains in the city. The largest monuments are found in the northern part of the city, comprising the buildings of the Rankot Vihara, Menik Vihara, Alahana Pirivena and Jetavana monasteries, including the famous Buddha statues of the Gal Vihara and the Lankatilaka shrine. To the west of the city lies the great artificial lake, the Parakrama Samudra.

KAUDULLA NATIONAL PARK

We’d never intended to do Safari in Kaudulla National Park, but after hearing November was a great time to visit for elephants we quickly booked a jeep with the hotel. It wasn’t long in to the safari before we spotted a lone bull elephant trampling through some bushes. I assumed the whole trip would just be spotting the occasional elephant, and I was more than happy with that. Once the lake came in to view, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Hundreds of elephants, big and small, grazing together and playing in the water. All the jeeps were very respectful and kept their distance. However, the ground was very wet and the number of jeeps that must go out daily have sadly turned areas of the park in to a quagmire.

What are your travel plans for 2017?