‘You don’t have to hurtle down slopes or dance like crazy at après parties’: readers’ favourite winter mountain holidays in Europe

The Alps, Spain’s Sierra Nevada and the national parks of Sweden and Albania feature among our readers’ treasured winter mountain breaks

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Innsbruck offers lots of options for a winter holiday. I found it’s a place where you don’t have to hurtle down ski slopes or dance like crazy at après-ski parties. In fact I was amazed when I took the 20-minute cable car from the city centre up 2,000 metres to an area where locals were sitting in deckchairs on the snow reading books and sipping hot chocolate in the strong Tirolean sunshine. You can ski to your heart’s content on slopes just half an hour from the famous Imperial Palace in the city centre. The city authorities provide some guided free walks and winter activities, including a cross-country skiing taster if you have a Welcome Card provided by your hotel. Then again, you can just sit and sample strong Austrian coffee or Gerschtnsuppe (soup with barley, smoked meat and vegetables) at riverside cafes and pubs.
Gina