Some of my favorite holidays have been spent waking up to sparkling snowflakes gently falling from the sky. If you dream of waking up on Christmas morning to a winter wonderland where everything is blanketed with fresh powdery snow, here are three ideal destinations to rent a cabin for your Christmas holiday.
Bear Valley, California
When I was a child, our family spent a lot of time in Bear Valley, and I still love to return whenever I can. Christmas is the most beautiful time to visit Bear Valley, where often you’ll find snow piled as high as ten feet or even more.
There are numerous vacation cabins available to rent here, from the basic to the most luxurious. Most include a fireplace, and there is nothing better than enjoying a day of snow and coming back to a warm cabin and a crackling fire.
Bear Valley offers some of the best skiing and snowboarding in northern California, but my favorite place to visit in the area is the tubing hill. For $15 a day you can glide down the hill in a big snow tube (included in the price). It’s always a lot of fun, and a great value for the entire family.
If you like to snow shoe, or go cross-country skiing, there are miles of trails in beautiful Big Trees State Park. The park features two spectacular groves of ancient sequoias, and in the winter time, it will feel as if you’ve entered a picture perfect postcard setting.
The historic, and charming, town of Murphys is located in the Sierra foothills about 40 minutes before Bear Valley. Here you can spend time shopping, visit art galleries, museums, go wine tasting, and much more. Murphys is even more magical at Christmas time. It reminds me of a Norman Rockwell painting come to life.
Durango, Colorado
In the southwest corner of Colorado, you’ll find the town of Durango at the edge of the San Juan National Forest, and in one of the most beautiful areas of the country. Durango was even named one of the ten best Christmas towns in the U.S. by HGTV in 2009.
If you want a western style Christmas, Durango is ideal. Here, you’ll also find the true life, Polar Express. Kids can wear their pajamas on board the train on a 30-minute ride to the “North Pole” where Santa awaits.
There are numerous vacation cabin options in the area, whether you’d like to rent a beautiful home in town, or in a more remote location closer to the famous Colorado ski resort, Purgatory, located just a short drive away. The resort offers skiing, snowboarding, a tubing hill, and even snow-biking, and it’s a lot more affordable than some of the other well known ski areas of Colorado, such as Aspen.
Leavenworth, Washington
Leavenworth, Washington is just over the Cascade mountains, about an hour and a half east of Seattle. Here, you may feel as if you’re inside one of those little snow globes, in a magical Christmas town come to life. You can’t get much closer to it than this Bavarian Village in the winter. With blankets of snow, twinkling lights, horse drawn carriages and sleigh rides, it just doesn’t get much better than this.
I feel lucky to say that I’ve spent holidays in each of these three towns, and though they are all wonderful, there is nothing that can top a Christmas in Leavenworth. You’ll find special events taking place during the entire month of December, from the Christmas Lighting Ceremony to live music, theater, parades and more.
Cabin rentals are plentiful, from cottage wilderness retreats to luxurious chalets. If you’re looking for the perfect winter wonderland getaway, you won’t be disappointed with Leavenworth.
K.C. Dermody is a freelance writer and a Featured Contributor for Yahoo!Travel. She has traveled to nearly all 50 states, and many countries worldwide, and has a passion for imparting what she has learned from her experiences to others.
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