Activities for winter in a holiday home
8 cosy activities to make your winter break in a holiday home memorable
The calendar tells us it’s that time of year when the days are short, dark, and often a little grey. But something quite special happens to time when you spend your winter holiday in a summer house. The pace naturally slows down, and cosiness and togetherness are allowed to fill everything.
It’s the season for long mornings, hot drinks, games around the dining table, and walks out into the winter landscape, without plans and without stress. A winter holiday can therefore be one of the very best choices if you dream of being together in a more relaxed and present way.
Read on and get inspiration for 8 cosy activities that make your winter holiday memorable, whether the weather calls for outdoor adventures or pure indoor hygge.
Long brunch
Slow mornings with no hard stop
The four walls of the holiday home form a kind of no man’s land. Here, everyday routines don’t apply, and the alarm clock is a dirty word. Mornings rhyme with warm home baking, calm, and pyjamas well into late morning – that’s pure holiday etiquette.
Enjoy the feeling that time is endless, and indulge in:
Brunch with everything from scrambled eggs to pain au chocolat
Reading aloud or folded paper drawings
Planning a treasure hunt around the holiday area
Recipes that require more time than everyday life allows
If you’re anything like us, you’ve saved more recipes on Instagram than you’ll ever get around to in daily life. Beautiful photos, long ingredient lists, and notes about “plenty of time” – all the things that usually make them unrealistic.
A winter holiday is the week when those recipes finally get their chance. There are no deadlines, the kitchen is often the heart of the house, and there are plenty of scribes and sous-chefs.
Spend the hours on:
Recipes that take a little more than half an hour
Dough that rises while something else takes over straight from the pot
Setting the table so it’s worthy of your edible achievements
Meaningful chats front of the crackling fire
There’s something about fire that changes the pace. By the wood-burning stove, time seems to blur a little, and conversations unfold differently. They become less efficient and more honest.
When the flames crackle and the cold is kept at bay, a kind of togetherness emerges that doesn’t need to be talked about. It simply finds its own form.
This is where:
You read the book you otherwise never get around to
Conversations take the wildest detours
You pretend you’re not just resting your eyes a little longer
Editor’s tip: Turn off the main lights and let only the fireplace or a few candles illuminate the room. It does something to both the atmosphere and the conversations.
Board games where the rules are negotiable
You can hardly say winter holiday without also saying board games. This is where there’s time and peace for the games that take more than half an hour – and where the rules are both read carefully and forgotten again along the way.
Some win, others lose track, and it all repeats the next day. Just a little differently.
Fill the table with:
Card games that come back out after dinner
Rules that are bent slightly (...or creatively interpreted)
Small victories that are remembered longer than the points
And a clear agreement on whether granddad or grandma is allowed to help when things get tense
Creative projects that spread out
When winter weather keeps you indoors, something happens to the dining table. It quickly becomes the holiday’s gathering point – a place where paper, colours, and ideas spread as time is allowed to slow down.
Here there’s room for creative projects without ambitions or deadlines. Small watercolours of the landscape outside the window. Fantasy creatures in papier-mâché that emerge along the way. Projects that don’t necessarily need to be finished.
The dining table is only cleared when it’s needed for dinner – and even then, traces of the day’s creative escapades often remain.
Winter walks with no real destination
Here, in the middle of winter’s embrace, walks don’t have to lead anywhere. They start because you needed some fresh air anyway and end when the cold has bitten enough into your cheeks.
Make the walk a bit more fun by:
Collecting stones, pinecones, or branches to take home as small winter trophies
Playing “who spots it first” when you see animal tracks, smoke from chimneys, or the sea between the trees
Taking spontaneous pauses just because the view or the silence asks for it
Editor’s tip: Pack a little snack in your pocket and find a viewpoint along the way. Or make a pit stop at a shelter, light a small fire, and warm yourselves with twist bread or s’mores – it doesn’t take much, but it feels like a full experience.
Small excursions on a whim
The winter holiday leaves room for decisions that require nothing more than a glance and a “shall we?”. A drive without a fixed destination, a spontaneous stop in a town you usually just pass by, or a cup of coffee somewhere you didn’t know existed.
They’re experiences without pressure or expectations – and for that very reason, often the ones that linger.
Drop by:
Small towns that are quiet in a good way, where the streets almost feel private
Harbours and viewpoints without queues – just you, the view, and time
Editor’s tip: Keep an eye out for handwritten signs, small cafés, and open doors. The best winter stops are rarely the ones listed first in a guide.
A series marathon with no pause button
There are days during the winter holiday when the sofa takes over. When one series is put on – and just keeps going and going. Episodes blur together, snacks change along the way, and time becomes a little hard to keep track of.
No one stops to ask which episode you’re on. No one suggests that “maybe it’s time for something else.” Not today.
Settle in with:
Snacks that can be eaten with one hand while the other holds the remote
Duvets, blankets, and pillows enough that no one needs to get up
The quiet agreement that one more episode is always an option
Editor’s tip: Choose a series with many seasons. There are few things better than that kind of digital lifeline on a lazy holiday day.
What’s special about a winter holiday in a summer house isn’t what you manage to do. It’s everything you make room for. The days that stretch out, and the moments that simply arise. And the feeling of going home with more calm than when you arrived.
What’s special about a winter holiday in a summer house isn’t what you manage to do. It’s everything you make room for. The days that stretch out, and the moments that simply arise. And the feeling of going home with more calm than when you arrived.
View all holiday homes for winter holidays
About NOVASOL holiday homes
NOVASOL is one of Europe’s leading providers of holiday accommodation, offering thousands of individual holiday homes and apartments in the most beautiful destinations across the continent.
Since 1968, we’ve been making unforgettable holidays possible, with great deals and a home away from home for every guest.