Ski breaks en route

Demand for winter skiing has seen two airlines that pitch at opposite ends of the market launch new flights to Geneva.

Skiing the 1,230 metre high La Dole in the Vaud region is only one hour by car from the cheap hotels in Geneva. Transfers to other Swiss resorts, such as Valais, Les Portes du Soleil and Oberland Bernois are no more than three hours away.

Fliers can even go over the border to France to take advantage of neighbouring piste, such as 850-metre Saint Gervais in the Mont Blanc range, no more than an hour in total from Geneva.

To meet increasing demand for winter breaks, British Airways will start winter ski flights between London City Airport and Geneva on December 15th. BA will also start a service to Lyon for the same price, £65 one-way.

Meanwhile, low-cost airline Jet2 launches flights to Geneva from burgeoning Blackpool Airport on December 13th. It enhances a raft of new routes going all over the world between airports outside London to countries like Spain, Greece, Italy and Cyprus. The price of flights between Blackpool and Geneva starts from £35.99, according to the Jet2 website.

British Airways subsidiary BACityFlyer commercial manager Luke Hayhoe said: "We are responding directly to a growing demand from our customers for winter only ski flights from London City and are delighted to offer two of the most popular destinations."

Prices are a lick

Meanwhile, bmibaby plans to tour the country in an ice-cream van to chime in new sunshine destinations for next summer's holidays. It is accepting bookings for new routes between East Midlands and Almeria, Manchester and Toulouse or Amsterdam and Cardiff to Lisbon.

Nine other European routes are now on sale to tourist destinations Malaga, Alicante, Bordeaux, Faro, Murcia, Palma, Nice, Perpignan and Rome Fiumicino.

Managing director of bmibaby Crawford Rix said: "Customers have been contacting us asking when they can book next year's flights, this shows that the appetite for travel is still very much alive and kicking!"

Cabin crew will be helping customers celebrate the new routes, including twice daily flights to Amsterdam, by handing out ice-creams all over the flight paths.

Dam good additions

Budget airline bmibaby is not the only airline to be expanding in the Netherlands soon, the country's own transavia.com is opening a new route to Rotterdam from London Luton Airport on October 27th. It anticipates more than 130,000 passengers will take advantage of its morning and evening runs that allow for a full business day.

Transavia.com business development manager Arian van der Werff said: "With our low fares and modern fleet of B737 aircraft we are very confident that this new Rotterdam service will be a great success."

Rotterdam is a great city by a world-renowned port and only a 20-minute drive from The Hague and tourist hotspot Delft.

Airline wizzes past UK

UK airports have been snubbed by budget airline Wizz Air this December as the traffic on flights to Poland took a downturn. However, Wizz Air claimed demand had picked up in other routes in Europe and announced plans to start new flights from Poland to Italian destinations in the following months.

The airline flies between Gdansk and Rome Fiumicino from October 28th, as well as between Katowice or Warsaw and Bologna from October 27th.

Routes from fifth largest Polish city of Poznan in the north-west will start to open up from December 16th to Milan Bergam, followed by an entry to Ireland with Cork on the 19th, then additional expansion in Italy to Milan Bergamo from January 17th next year.

© Copyright

Do not miss the opportunity to sample some of Switzerland's specialities at a series of harvest festivals this autumn.

The Republic and Canton of Geneva holds the rights to label Geneve Region – Terre Avenir, which assures quality produce.

It aims to preserve Geneva's agriculture and promote local farming while remaining respectful of the environment.

The label also assures consumers that food is produced in environmentally-friendly conditions, which are fair for farm workers - who are paid 24 per cent more than the rest of the country, according to the Opage website.

Visitors to Russin near affordable accommodation in Geneva will be able to sample some of the delights of this region.

The must-see attraction is a fruit juice made from the first grape-pressing, which may be something for those with a stronger stomach.

On offer are local specialities: fruit tarts, breads, cheese, cured meats as well as the wine.

Particular favourites are the longeole sausage, tome cheese and piore a rissole cookies.

Geneva is the biggest wine-producing region in Switzerland.

More than 15,000 people come to Russin for this festival, which will run this year between September 15th and 16th, in addition to its 400 inhabitants.

The next festival is the Foire de Geneve, which runs from October 14th to 23rd in the city.

An international charity is inviting people to walk around Lake Geneva to raise funds for children in developing countries in the Walk of Hope.

This is an annual event, which takes participants past Switzerland's spectacular glaciers and many aspects of the lake, is on October 12th.

Geneva is home to several different headquarters of the United Nations and the Red Cross.

Swiss charity Terre des Hommes is very active here.

It will use the money from the walk to help underprivileged children in India and Nepal.

Terre des Hommes is a network of 11 national organisations working for the rights of children and promotes equal development without racial, religious, political, cultural or gender divides.

It focuses on child trafficking and exploitation.

More than 6,000 people take part in the Walk of Hope every year alongside many athletes.

Mary Shelley holidayed with Byron by the lake, which she wrote about in Frankenstein.

Geneva has more than 40 public and private museums as well as numerous art galleries.

Sights not to miss include the jet d'eau, St Peter's Cathedral, the Flower Clock, Reformation Wall, Place Neuve and the Place due Bourg-de-Four.

Reserve affordable accommodation in Geneva, but make sure it has a view.