UNITED ARAB EMIRATES AND OMAN:
cross-country; boasting 279km of trails to explore, Seefeld will host the 2019 Nordic World Ski Championships from February 19, and has previously hosted numerous Winter Olympic Games.
There’s a hire shop, Norz, right next to the start point, where I meet the private instructor I’ve booked via Cross Country Academy (£108 for two hours) and get kitted out.
Cross-country is very physical and a totally different technique to downhill skiing, but with gravity and the faff of ski lifts out of the picture, you can make pretty good progress and have fun.
Afterwards, I traipse into Seefeld and warm up with some steaming glühwein.
Small enough to explore in an afternoon, there are a few streets of shops, a casino – the nightlife highlight – a handful of bars and a pretty square.
The best bit, though, requires a 10-minute hike up the country lane tucked just to the left of the church. Leading onto an open meadow, a smattering of fir trees scattering shadows and sun-rays across the snow, this is where I find Seefeld’s most beautiful views.
But drinking in those Tyrolean peaks from a bubbling Jacuzzi back at Astoria, knowing there’s a big glass of wine waiting to be enjoyed later, curled up by that fire, is pretty hard to beat. ■
Planet Cruise (planetcruise. co.uk; 0808 278 8504) offers an eight-night fly cruise onboard MSC Cruises’ MSC Splendida from £799pp (full-board on cruise), flying from UK (regional supplements available, no supplement from Manchester) on February 26. The cruise includes flights, and stop-offs in Sir Bani Yas Island, Muscat, Khasab and Abu Dhabi.