Help for skiing virgins!-needed not offered!

shamac

We are looking to go skiing next winter with 2 kids who will be 8 and 10 by then. We have done the Lapland thing but never skiied (sp???) and don't want to spend a fortune or look like total idiots with all the gear but no idea! Want the kids to be in a good ski school so we can have some peace and lots of other stuff to do in case we (I !) hate it or just get bored.!

So (A) which countries should we look at -max 4 hour flight from UK.

(B) Any companies to recommend based on above info

(C) tips on keeping costs down-ie i've seen gear in Aldi and Matalan-are they going to be enough protection against the elements or a false economy?

(D) A VERY rough idea of how much in total it would cost for say 10 days for the four of us -all in with hire of kit etc etc -to the nearest K would do!!! Thinking about £2-3K is this realistic???

Sorry for so many questions and thanks in advance:T

stephb34

Neilsons are very good, in the back of their brochure is a chart which lists the answers to your questions, it rates everything from 1 to 4 ie suitability for beginners, child friendly, height of slopes, transfer times from airport to resort are very important as they can be 4 or 5 hours and thats on top of your flight. Get a brochure have a look and see what you fancy then go to thomas cook as neilsons are part of them and ask for a consultant that has been skiing or has lots of knowledge in that area and get their advice and a price.

fifeken

First time I went I bought salopettes (sp?) from Lidl in one of their offers and they were more than adequate. More recently I bought gloves there as well - again no problems - so I wouldn't hesitate in going this MSE route especially as some of them might never be used again!!
Not sure about packages and costs - we always build our own nowadays.

TravelGateSweden

Hello, I suggest you go skiing in Sweden, the currency is really cheap at the moment and the service for kids are excellent e.g in Sälen and Åre. Our family have been there several years. It is also easy accessible from Copenhagen or Stockholm.

Hotspur

shamac wrote: »

So (A) which countries should we look at -max 4 hour flight from UK.

(B) Any companies to recommend based on above info

(C) tips on keeping costs down-ie i've seen gear in Aldi and Matalan-are they going to be enough protection against the elements or a false economy?

(D) A VERY rough idea of how much in total it would cost for say 10 days for the four of us -all in with hire of kit etc etc -to the nearest K would do!!! Thinking about £2-3K is this realistic???

Sorry for so many questions and thanks in advance:T

I'd ensure that, whichever resort you choose, the hotel/chalet is close to the slopes or ski in/out to minimise walking to/from the piste with all the kit which can be a pain - particularly if you forget a glove etc.

I would look at specialist companies like Ski Esprit who cater for families (other ski companies are out ther). I've been with them and have found them excellent. Last minute/late deals can be cost effective but a gamble for half term. Should easily get something for £3k all in.

Mainstream tour op's. like Neilson can also be good but you need to choose the resort carefully. For the first time a smaller Austrian resort will provide all the charm and ambience and enough skiing for your first week. Niederau, and Westendorf would be good choices. In France La Rosiere is great for families and cheaper than its well known near neighbours of Les Arcs and La Plagne.

Driving and self catering can save money if you are prepared to cook. Friends have driven to La Clusaz for the last 2 years with their kids, booking everything themselves.

Branded gear in TK Maxx is great value and stocks filter in from August/September. A local tresspass store in Milton Keynes has good quality kids gear at low prices. M&S often have good quality kids ski gear as well. For some reason I got some cheap ski gloves from Tesco and found then awful and replaced them after 1 wear. Outer clothing from Asda and Tesco has received some reasonable reviews. Not tried them myself though.

Hotspur

You may find these threads useful as well

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=524901

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1390777

creased-leach

Have a look at Asda's ski stuff (if they're doing it this year) it's made by Trespass, and is more than adequate.

benjus

I recently got back from my first skiing trip in France. I hired the skiing equipment, but for the clothing I went to a local second hand shop (they call them "Troc" in France) and found an all-in-one ski suit in my size (pretty lucky, as I'm 6'2") for €20. It looked a bit 1980s but I didn't care...

BernadetteN

We got all our gear from www.mountainwarehouse.com (online with 25% off code on top of rpices showing) and www.decathlon.co.uk (from the shop itself).

If you really want to do it cheap, do not use a Uk package company as they tend to frequent only the bigger and more expensive resorts. I can only give advice about France, but a great "portal" website is www.skifrance.fr which lists so many smaller ski resorts. A tip is to look for a resort with "famille plus" status. If your children don't mind, using a French ski school is much cheaper than English speaking instruction and same goes for German or Italian speaking resorts.

You could also consider the option of taking the train to a ski resort, rather than flying, if travelling from the UK, via Lille is a cheaper and better option than via Paris. There are 2 valleys accessible by train, the one Bourg St Maurice as the terminus and the other is the Vanoise with Modane as the terminus station - in fact there could be more, that's jsut 2 I know about. We are booked from Lille at less than £80 return to Modane in April, to give you an example of how cheap it can be. www.sncf.fr.

We are off to Val Cenis the first week of April, with a total per head cost of around £270, includes travel from Brussels, apartment, ski hire, lift pass, 6 days * 2 1/2 lessons.

shamac

wow Bernadette thats an amazing price-was thinking the lessons alone would cost us that. Thanks for all the advice everyone it seems to be such a complicated holiday to book -(picking a nice beach is much easier-sand, sea ,umbrella, kids club-sorted!:rotfl:) recommendation is so much better!. Not sure about French/German speaking ski instruction for the kids-they are geordies so barely speak English as it is-if they ask them something and my son replies "a divent nah" think the langauage barrier may be a bit too vast !:rotfl:

BernadetteN

shamac wrote: »

wow Bernadette thats an amazing price-was thinking the lessons alone would cost us that. Thanks for all the advice everyone it seems to be such a complicated holiday to book -(picking a nice beach is much easier-sand, sea ,umbrella, kids club-sorted!:rotfl:) recommendation is so much better!. Not sure about French/German speaking ski instruction for the kids-they are geordies so barely speak English as it is-if they ask them something and my son replies "a divent nah" think the langauage barrier may be a bit too vast !:rotfl:

Whey aye man pet, even us Geordies can understand a bit of frog or sauerkraut! Nahh, don't be scared of the language barrier, the kids can just copy what the others are doing. Don't splash out on double price lessons just because some instructor claims to be able to give lessons in English. The biggest barrier is the perceived barrier that one can only learn to ski in English. I suppose it is a bit easier for our kids though as 3 of them now speak reasonable French after 5 months in French speaking school and understand it very well and the fourth one, he'll just have to copy the others in his group when he cannot understand.

You are right, it is far more complicated and time consuming arranging everything individually but worth it for the price saving. Being a Geordie of part Scottish heritage (ooh racist stereotype), I feel it is my duty to get the cheapest deal for everything I can and grandpa Jimmy Grant would be very proud of me for doing so. I just don't get it why so many Brits flock to those big French resorts, just to have to share the pistes with thousands and pay mega euros for doing so, when instead they can join the French and pay modest sums for far emptier and comparable slopes to the big resorts.