cheap ski deals for a beginner?

timster123

I've always wanted to try skiing but never got round to it, but i'm determined to finally do it this year. I've never set foot on a ski before, i have no idea about the equipment and the different resorts etc.
So could someone reccomend some cheap last minute ski bargains for 2 adults sharing, flying from a london airport to a resort that's suitable for a beginner, is not too far from the destinations airport (E.G. Geneva) and has cheap ski rental equipment?
Appreciate any help and other advice you might have for a ski newbie.

virgo149

The best thing to do for a cheap deal is to check out the individual company websites - we almost exclusively use Crystal or Thompson. We just came back from a week in Cervinia, Italy staying at a Crystal club hotel for £250 plus lift pass.

Cervinia would actually be a good place for you to go to learn. It has long, wide open blue runs of a decent length. But if you are looking for a cheap deal you probably won't be able to pin it down too closely to resort - you may have to get whatever you can.

If you are absolute beginners then you can go almost anywhere as unless an absolute genius on ski's immediately you will stay fairly local for your first week. A must is ski school to get you going. They teach you from the basics of how to put your skis on and by the end of the first week you should hopefully be beginning to parallel ski.

Before we bought our own equipment we always rented. It might be a hassle but we always managed to 'haggle' the price down slightly on what the tour companies do it for. Even if it's a few euros it's worth it.

As far as transfers go, we've had from an hour (Austria) to 5 hours (France). The average is normally around 2 hours. If you get decent flights and don't mind a really early start (most ski flights seem to be at the crack of dawn) you will be in resort in time to sort your equipment out ready for your first day.

I think what I would say in conclusion is skiing on the whole isn't terribly cheap when you begin. If you do get into it, it's worth investing in your own equipment (I would consider this for your boots anyway). But always remember to add your lift pass plus all those apres ski drinks onto your budget.

Enjoy!

Little_Miss_Penny_Less

Hi Timster123,

You sound exactly like me and my partner! A pair of novices with absolutely no clue but have been meaning to give it a go for years!

We have booked an offer through thomson that they had on their email newsletter - a 3 night ski package including guesthouse accomodation (double en suite room) with transfers from airport, all ski equipment hire, 2 days beginners ski school and lift pass thrown in... we then booked flights through thomsonfly separately (bournemouth to salzburg) - all together this came to £235 each (approximate breakdown per person: 2 night deal £94, extra nights accomodation £19, transfer £54pp, flights £68 return).

the link for the ski package is: http://www.alps-cities.at/thomsonfly/ (See the middle offer, three rows down - Ramsau learn to ski)

I would imagine you could get a cheap flight through another airline from london to salzburg quite easily... you could also cut costs by going for a 2 night package (the offer is for a two night but we added an extra night as our flight out is awkward timing...) or removing the transfers (although it has been suggested that a taxi/car hire for 2 people would work out more expensive than the transfer offered with the package)

On top of the cost of the trip away we now need to buy suitable clothing etc(ski jackets, salopettes, thermal undies!) so probably looking at a couple of hundred extra there too... although having searched on here recommendations for budget ski gear include tchibo, aldi/lidl, tkmaxx and asda... so will be looking there first!

Hope this helps!

interactiveresorts

If you are wanting to search mainly by price, check out one of our sites https://www.last-minute-ski-deals.co.uk - we work with all operators, and you can see the cheapest ski deals in all main resorts for the next four weeks.

That will give you an idea of what prices are out there, and if you want any advice on good beginners resorts (with good snow) just give us a call.

Personally, La Plagne is a great resort and where I learnt to ski - I went to Val d'Isere last year, which was really good location but not too suited to beginners as there are no easy runs back into the resort centre.

Meribel would be another one to look at.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,

Jonathan