Krak-ing deal for 4 nights
For more great holiday ideas, see page 39
Pescasseroli, hiking along trails to mountain passes and refuges, with every chance of encountering wild animal life. A week, half-board, starts from £1,195 with flights. See e ramblersholidays.co.uk. .
Polar Nighting Svalbard
The Polar Night – when the sun never appears above the horizon – paints the landscape in an eerie blue twilight.
It is only found north of the Arctic Circle and best experienced in remote Svalbard, islands between Norway and the North Pole, where you DEALCHECKER has a four-night trip to Krakow and Prague, including flights, train travel and accommodation, from £149pp. Starting in Krakow, with its pretty
Main Square and delicious Polish food, , you will spend the first two o nights at 4H can ca see reindeer, Arctic foxes and polar bears. You can ca even catch the Northern Lights in the day time. Night GO: Best experience, Served Scandinavia staying GN in the Funken Lodge in
offers a four-day Polar Lo Longyearbyen, Svalbard’s only permanently in inhabited town. It includes a Northern Lights by Sn Snowcat excursion and a Northern Lights Evening at Camp Barentz with dinner and drinks. From £820 w with flights via Oslo. See best-served.co.uk.
GRail R sledding g Switzerland
The dinky red Rhatische Bahn trains from Chur to St Moritz via Bergun and Preda carry an unusual cargo – dozens of toboggans and their riders.
And every day from mid-december to mid-march, Sympozjum Hotel – ideal to explore the castle and Wieliczka Salt Mine.
Transfer by train to buzzing Prague for two nights at 4H Hotelangelis, near the Vltava river. Flights from London until January 31. See dealchecker.co.uk. the train back down again has to suffer the indignity of being overtaken by most of them, even the children.
Preda to Bergun in the Swiss Alps is one of Europe’s most celebrated toboggan runs. In the three short months of its operation it hosts more than 120,000 high-speed heroes.
They whizz down the stretch of converted roadway that links the two villages faster than it takes to do the same journey by train – even the famous Glacier Gla Express.
GO: The nearest airport is Zurich, with train conn connections via Chur up to Bergun, a han handsome village with several hotels inc including the Piz Ela. See pizela.ch.
A day ticket on the train, which grants un unlimited access to the toboggan run, co costs £31. Sledge hire is available from se several local shops in Bergun, from aro around £6. See berguen-filisur. grau graubuenden.ch.