Skiing at Christmas

mustmakealist

This might be a bit of a strange request as most people are thinking of their summer holidays - but here goes anyway

My daughter has suggested that we go skiing at Christmas as her boyfriend has to take some of his holidays then. There would be 4 of us going Me, DD and her bf and DS. I know that it might be expensive and neither I nor DS have been before.

Can I ask you folks where I should look for a reasonable deal (if there is one to be found) what else I need to think about as far as costs go and what I can do to keep the costs down as much as possible

Any advice gratefully received

poe.tuesday

You will either need to look at resorts that are high in altitude or Northern Europe as snow on the lower resorts in dec can be hit and miss

We have been to Lapland several times in dec and the snow is great, the skinning however is limited if you are experienced, however the learn to ski packages are good value, you will pay something in the region of 2500 for four of you to stay in a log cabin and flights etc then the learn to ski packages are about 170 each for 6 days

If you want to do other resorts then you can do these much cheaper if you are willing to drive, we now only do driving for our ski holiday as it is much cheaper, we are tied to feb half term so the price is the same if not more than Christmas

We hire chalets privately from places like owners direct or homildays and have a max limit of 1000 for the week, the cost of the driving with the tolls, petrels and hotels en route is about 700 then on top of that you have your food and lift passes, we have been going to Switzerland recently and love it there but the food is really expensive, but we can usually do the week with all food, travel and accommodation for 2000 excluding ski passes and that's for 5 of us

I suggest you look at package deals with ski companies like inghams and then see about DIY, if you fancy Switzerland I know a great apartment in a great resort if you are interested, pm me for more info

mustmakealist

Thank you Poe. There is plenty to think about before I decide whether or not it is on. Some of it will depend on how much I am expected to cough up for DD and DS.
How easy is it to drive in Europe in the winter? I have a semi automatic now rather then the 4x4 I used to drive. It sounds as though this might really keep the cost down. I'll look into it some more

silverwhistle

If you drive you could also consider just over the border into Italy where prices for good food and drink, lifts and hire are lower than in France and Switzerland.

Basing yourself in/near a valley town like Aosta would give you valley prices and variety as well as roman ruins and medieval castles to visit if you wanted to take a day off from skiing or if the weather was bad. Eighteen minutes in the bubble from town to the slopes at Pila which has some good skiing, as well as other resorts within an hour's drive, including the high level resort of Cervinia (my earliest day's skiing there last season was early November..).

Driving conditions aren't really an issue most of the time and having a car does give you flexibility, including when you leave: package charter flights can be a bit restrictive.

poe.tuesday

driving is easy, you will need snowchains even if you dont use them as they are compulsory in some places

we looked into italy and it just tipped us over the edge for a days drive, mind you saying that, we are going to austria in feb and its 750 miles from calais and we are about 200 miles from dover, so we are starting off on friday late afternoon, getting the 8pm tunnel and then driving about 200 miles (staying over on the german boarder) and then the next day we have 550 miles to drive, we know we can do that in a day, any more and it gets a real drag and you end up getting to your chalet after midnight and dont want to ski the next day

I think that you are best looking at your budget and taking it from there, just dont be lured into cheap places like andorra or bulgaria as the snow could be bad, you need to be looking at resorts of 2500 m and higher I would say ones that have snowmaking just in case

Mr.Monty

If you're willing to consider Germany, Garmisch-Partenkirchen is surprisingly cheap! I went in January this year, fab snow cover, easy access to the Zugspitze Glacier which guaranteed snow.

The beer was priced around 3euros which is a lot cheaper than the likes of France and Germany. The only thing I'd say is it's not very touristy so I don't know what the openings of restaurants etc. would be like over the Christmas period but it's worth a look! Easily accessible from Munich via train too and I know EasyJet do cheap flights to Munich!

Hope this helps!

2nd_Time_Lucky

I would look at Norway or Sweden as although the alcohol was pricey, we got a superb all inclusive chalet deal. Everyone spoke excellent english and wsd so friendly.We much prefer it in North Europe as France is always overcrowded and we find there isn't much of a welcome either

mustmakealist

Thank you for all the advice. There's plenty there to consider.

pandora205

silverwhistle wrote: »

If you drive you could also consider just over the border into Italy where prices for good food and drink, lifts and hire are lower than in France and Switzerland.

Basing yourself in/near a valley town like Aosta would give you valley prices and variety as well as roman ruins and medieval castles to visit if you wanted to take a day off from skiing or if the weather was bad. Eighteen minutes in the bubble from town to the slopes at Pila which has some good skiing, as well as other resorts within an hour's drive, including the high level resort of Cervinia (my earliest day's skiing there last season was early November..).

Driving conditions aren't really an issue most of the time and having a car does give you flexibility, including when you leave: package charter flights can be a bit restrictive.

We went to Aosta/Pila a couple of years ago (myself, DD and DS) as my elder daughter was working out there. There is British ski instruction if you go with Interski. We got a reasonably priced package which includes lunches and wine. This would be good for beginners and was fine for more experienced skiers too.