Active Holidays

A multitude of summer activities in the beautiful French or Italian Alps, even the Greek Islands.

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The increasing popularity of Active Holidays

The trend, in recent years, away from the lie-on-the-beach-like-a-barbecue-sausage type of summer holiday, towards more active holidays, seems to be gathering even more pace. With the increasing number of different, varied, and exciting activities on offer this is hardly surprising.

Great for Families & Groups

For families and groups an active holiday is all about choice. It is rare that every person in a group wants to do the same thing, which is why the wide range of activities on offer at these specialist resorts is so good, and almost guarantees that everyone will be happy!

So many activities

Ski lift systems are adapted and used extensively during the summer season; the Portes du Soleil opens twenty five especially for active holidays. Rivers are used for white water rafting, kayaking, hydrospeed and many others. Lakes are sailed, canoed, and windsurfed on, or swam in. Gorges are navigated by those trying Canyoning. Now uncovered trails and tracks are mountain biked over. Alpine meadows are walked, ridden through, and picniced in, flora and fauna admired.The now bare rock faces are used by climbers of all skill levels. The skies above are filled with hang gliders, parapentes and sightseeing flights. Being synonymous with winter sports, there is also summer skiing and snowboarding available at some of those alpine resorts with glaciers. In short, it seems that more of the Alps is used in the summer than during the winter season!

Which resorts?

The main French summer resorts that specialise in active holidays include Morzine - Les Gets, Tignes, Chamonix, Les 2 Alpes. For a splash of style and chic there is the Italian resort of Lake Garda, and for those wanting to combine the beach lifestyle there are destinations such as Vassiliki on the Greek Island of Lefkas.

Specialist active holiday resorts

Some resorts specialise more in some activities than others. If it is mountain biking which interests you then Morzine - Les Gets, or Tignes may be the ones to look at first, although Chamonix, Les 2 Alpes and Lake Garda all offer some superb riding options. For water sports, Vassiliki and Lake Garda stand out, both of which are renowned for the quality of their active holidays. Chamonix has such strong roots in mountaineering, climbing, hill walking and other mountain activities that it is the choice for many. Les 2 Alpes and Tignes both open their glaciers in the summer for skiing and snowboarding.

However, all of these resorts run a huge programme of activities, some of which are free with your active holiday package. You will always find the likes of swimming, tennis, hill walking, and climbing. You may also try ice skating, pedalos, white water rafting, archery, golf, sailing, the list often seems endless!