Winter Ski Holidays - Tips

[StonehamPark]

Looking at organizing a winter/ski holiday for 6-8 people.
Any of the usual destinations; France, Austria, Switzerland etc.

Any tips on best/cheapest places to book etc?

Looking at going the week before Xmas.

Cheers.

 

[RandyWanger]

Depends what you want out of the holiday and your ability level.

Are you more for the apres or all about the ski? First lift, last call doing laps of the park, cursing the groomers or hitting the back country?

Switzerland and cheap don't really mix. Andorra and Bulgaria for the cheap, more apres than ski, Austria if you all smoke, don't care about food and like your girls/boys on the younger side or France for the big mountains, decent food and wine and a good atmosphere (just got to put up with the rude French)

 

[StonehamPark]

Depends what you want out of the holiday and your ability level.

Are you more for the apres or all about the ski? First lift, last call doing laps of the park, cursing the groomers or hitting the back country?

Switzerland and cheap don't really mix. Andorra and Bulgaria for the cheap, more apres than ski, Austria if you all smoke, don't care about food and like your girls/boys on the younger side or France for the big mountains, decent food and wine and a good atmosphere (just got to put up with the rude French)

Thanks for the info.
There will be 4 adults and 2 kids (11 & 15), mostly beginners.
Not really interested in the bars etc, just a bit of skiing and a log fire in the cabin leading up to Xmas.
Happy to go anywhere with a decent ski resort, be it Bulgaria, Austria, Norway etc.

 

[RandyWanger]

Package deal, remove the brain, jump on a plane at Gatwick and be in the Chalet for lunch with you hire skis and lift pass already waiting?

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Thanks for the info.
There will be 4 adults and 2 kids (11 & 15), mostly beginners.
Not really interested in the bars etc, just a bit of skiing and a log fire in the cabin leading up to Xmas.
Happy to go anywhere with a decent ski resort, be it Bulgaria, Austria, Norway etc.

Andorra is a good place for beginners just as long as you don't go too late in the season as it gets a bit icy come March. The Sport Hotel has ski to the door and is usually good value for money.

No log cabins I'm afraid - if you want that then try a catered cabin in Blackcombe Canada - best place I've ever skied.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Package deal, remove the brain, jump on a plane at Gatwick and be in the Chalet for lunch with you hire skis and lift pass already waiting?

I actually think it's better to book yourself. Prices are often comparable when booking for a group and you have control over flight times and my biggest gripe with package trips which is the transfer. I'd much rather have a private transfer waiting for me and which takes me direct to the hotel as opposed to a coach which sometimes waits for other flights and always does numerous drop offs before it reaches your accommodation. And the return transfer is always obscenely early.

 

[RandyWanger]

I actually think it's better to book yourself. Prices are often comparable when booking for a group and you have control over flight times and my biggest gripe with package trips which is the transfer. I'd much rather have a private transfer waiting for me and which takes me direct to the hotel as opposed to a coach which sometimes waits for other flights and always does numerous drop offs before it reaches your accommodation. And the return transfer is always obscenely early.

I agree, I was asking if Mr Park wanted a package deal. Not suggesting one, some people prefer them. Sorry if I didn't make my point clear.

I personally walk out my apartment door and get on the gondola at the end of my road, saves the flights and transfer hassle ;-) I do meet a lot of unhappy holiday makers who are a bit annoyed about a 4am wake up call for a flight at lunch time.

 

[tip top]

I would recommend having a chat with Paul who runs travel action in Brighton, local lad who knows his stuff and is really helpful.

travelaction.co.uk

0844 811 8489

 

[StonehamPark]

Package deal, remove the brain, jump on a plane at Gatwick and be in the Chalet for lunch with you hire skis and lift pass already waiting?

Package deals seem the easiest route but only if I can get decent flight/pick-up times.

Andorra is a good place for beginners.
The Sport Hotel has ski to the door and is usually good value for money.
No log cabins I'm afraid.

I've stayed at a Ski-to-the-door place before and it was great. I'd definitely prefer that.
Not too fussed about the cabins/accom, as long as it's clean and big enough for the group.
I'll have a look at Andorra as I hadn't considered it.

I actually think it's better to book yourself.
I'd much rather have a private transfer waiting for me and which takes me direct to the hotel as opposed to a coach which sometimes waits for other flights and always does numerous drop offs before it reaches your accommodation. And the return transfer is always obscenely early.

Good shout. Once I've found a few good locations I'll look at the cost of booking each part myself.

Thanks for help so far.

 

[nwgull]

Livigno (Italy) is very good for beginners-intermediate and is great for the lash due to some bizarre history of the place (and probably some corruption) meaning that stuff is all duty free.

Are you tied to that week? The week following the new year week (first week back at school) is usually great value.

 

[Munkfish]

Looking at organizing a winter/ski holiday for 6-8 people.
Any of the usual destinations; France, Austria, Switzerland etc.

Any tips on best/cheapest places to book etc?

Looking at going the week before Xmas.


Cheers.

www.rudechalets.com you dont need to take the full chalet either.

 

[peterward]

Looking at organizing a winter/ski holiday for 6-8 people.
Any of the usual destinations; France, Austria, Switzerland etc.

Any tips on best/cheapest places to book etc?

Looking at going the week before Xmas.

Cheers.

Ive skied France (5), Switzerland (4),Italy (4) ,Austria (7) ,Andorra (3), once to Bulgaria and US (2), Austria imho is the most idyllic, charming, however if you plan on going the week before christmas and to book in advance, the single most important factor is to go for somewhere that is snow sure and high alt, unless you like a gamble and then it may be good or it may be crap.

Austria has many low alt resorts that suffer early/late season and low snow seasons, I booked in advance to go the week before christmas to Andorra in 2003, it never really snowed heavily until early Jan and we spent the week on limited runs of artificial snow.

There's nothing worse than booking in advance and the snow being crap, if you can, i'd always recommend booking the time off and then booking the holiday as close to departure as you can (last minute) and follow the snow, if you want to book in advance to go early in season go for something that is snow sure (high altitude), no snow = crapier holiday. And next pick resorts that suit the grades of the skiers/boarders (if you're beginners, intermediates, advanced) if intermediate or advanced you may want a resort that has lifts that link to other resorts runs in a larger area that give you loads of km's of varied ski options ( paradiski, le port du soleil, ski welt etc), third resort that suits nightlife/peace balance and finally pick accommodation.

here's a few snow sure options

http://www.igluski.com/snowsure-resorts

http://www.sno.co.uk/ski-resort/snow-sure-ski-resorts/

 

[mwrpoole]

Looking at organizing a winter/ski holiday for 6-8 people.
Any of the usual destinations; France, Austria, Switzerland etc.

Any tips on best/cheapest places to book etc?

Looking at going the week before Xmas.

Cheers.

I can highly recommend Obertauern in Austria. You can organise it yourself, its only 45 minutes from Salzburg airport, and BA fly there daily from Gatwick. I think Ryanair & Easyjet also fly there. Its a fairly high resort and it opens end of November. The ski area is fairly large although its not that challenging for black run experts, unless of course the weather closes in. There are some very nice hotels there and no-one does service like the Austrians do. I've been there twice before and going again this year. The resort organises transfers to/from the airport and they cost 53Euro return pp, although you can do your own thing as well. It has about 6 or 7 different chair lifts in the resort so any hotel will always be close to one of them. It also does night skiing twice weekly which the kids love as one of the runs in the centre of town has floodlights.

Take a look at their website http://www.obertauern.com/en where all the hotels/apartments are listed.

 

[Lethargic]

If you are going before Xmas the higher the better otherwise you could end up with poor snow or long treks to the only snow covered slopes and as you have stated you are not over bothered about Apre Ski then I would go France. Also for the children if using ski school make sure you only use full English speaking ski lessons otherwise they will feel left out and it will ruin the holiday.

Norway and Scandanavia in general will be dark almost all day at that time of the year, otherwise a high altitude resort in Switzerland or to a lesser extent Austria will meet your criteria but might cost.

 

[StonehamPark]

All great advice so far. Austria looking good!
Thanks again.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Don't eat the yellow snow.

 

[StonehamPark]

Don't eat the yellow snow.

I prefer to melt and drink it.
Much nicer.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I prefer to melt and drink it.
Much nicer.

 

[paul wickens]

Looking at organizing a winter/ski holiday for 6-8 people.
Any of the usual destinations; France, Austria, Switzerland etc.

Any tips on best/cheapest places to book etc?

Looking at going the week before Xmas.

Cheers.

Have been to Italy for the past 3 years and thoroughly recommend it. Very small lift queues, lots of well kept runs and friendly locals. Try the Dolomites in general and Kronplatz / Alta Badia in particular.

 

[wallington seagull]

Livigno (Italy) is very good for beginners-intermediate and is great for the lash due to some bizarre history of the place (and probably some corruption) meaning that stuff is all duty free.

Are you tied to that week? The week following the new year week (first week back at school) is usually great value.

Agreed Livigno is great, early snow and plenty to do off piste. A friend of mine has his own ski company and does trips to Livigno and Folgarida.
www.maxski.net