Help Please - Family Skiing Holiday

Never_Enough_Money

Hi

I was hoping for some advice on skiing holidays. We are a family of 4 ( 2 adults and 2 children, one 13 and one 12) we would like to go skiing for a week this winter. We are complete beginners, having only done a beginners course at a dry ski slope. Ideally we would like to go for a week somewhere in Europe that would be suitable for beginners. Although we are pretty openminded about where to go, looking for the best price really. The best week for us would be starting 15th Dec, although we could go pretty much anytime from October onwards. We do not have a massive budget as we have already had a holiday this year. We live in Hamshire.

Can anyone suggest anywhere? or any travel companies to search, or is it easy enough to book yourself, if so any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

lynzpower

As none of you have skiied before, maybe Bulgaria might not be a bad idea. theres some cvvery good prices. i went as a child to bulgaria with my parents they said they wouldnt go back there as dad is intermediate - expert, and there wasnt enough for him. But for kids its fine.

Your best bet is to get a brochure from somewhere and then go through the resorts. Some wont appeal as they will be too expensive, or posh, or slopes will appeal to more intermediate skiiers.

josie

Never_Enough_Money wrote: »

Hi

I was hoping for some advice on skiing holidays. We are a family of 4 ( 2 adults and 2 children, one 13 and one 12) we would like to go skiing for a week this winter. We are complete beginners, having only done a beginners course at a dry ski slope. Ideally we would like to go for a week somewhere in Europe that would be suitable for beginners. Although we are pretty openminded about where to go, looking for the best price really. The best week for us would be starting 15th Dec, although we could go pretty much anytime from October onwards. We do not have a massive budget as we have already had a holiday this year. We live in Hamshire.

Can anyone suggest anywhere? or any travel companies to search, or is it easy enough to book yourself, if so any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

I agree with previous poster Bulgaria is good for beginners and cheap when you're there too, compared to the rest of Europe. You're not going to get anything before Xmas in Europe as there wouldn't be enough snow. Peak conditions are usually about mid Jan to mid Feb, but a bit like the weather here it's not that reliable even then!

If you dare, leave it late and book dependent on conditions - although as you're all beginners it won't matter hugely as long as there's sufficient cover.

you might be as well to go for beginners' packages as they do deals incl lift pass (usually about £80 - £100 for a reduced, beginner's area), ski school (too long ago to remember how much that is, but you'll need it) and usually includes boots and ski hire too.

Treading_Water

Hiya
We have 3 girls - now aged 10, 11, 13 and have gone every year for the past few years. The best bargains depend on what you are prepared to do:-
If you are happy to drive - you can independantly book an apartment at a very good price. I can recommend some nice but not exciting (if you are looking for nightlife) resorts if you wish. Only in france I am afraid. :rotfl:
The benefit of apartments being that if you wish you can sort your own food (or at least breakfast) without being tied to the menu, and apart from ski school can arrange your own schedule.
Even if you wish to fly this can still be achievable, and many resorts have a bus link from the nearest airport, or you can arrange a private taxi.
We have always found that the week immediately after new year is exceptionally good value, and apart from last year we have always had great weather.
Ski hire can be booked online from home, along with ski school and passes. Although if you give yourself enough time it is easy enough to organise things when you get there at the local ski school and tourist information office - it is after all what they are there for! :T
Good luck in your search and I hope you have a great holiday - it really is good family fun.
If you wish for details of apartments in france let me know - indicating whether you will be self drive or flying.:beer:

unsure

We took the family to Pamporovo in Bulgaria this Feb for our first skiing holiday. We went with Thomson (gave the best price and were cheaper in store than online! £3000 all in for five, inc ski school and gear hire). It worked very well as beginners. The ski school was excellent, the area was quite pretty and the hotel was fine for our needs-- hearty food, free pool, gym, sauna on premises. It would have been dull for an intermediate and we were told we were lucky with the snow which had been absent until a fortnight earlier!!!
If you haven't been before it's probably worth getitng an inclusive package with a big operator so that you've got all your gear hire, ski school, passes etc sorted out and someone on hand to help and advise if there are problems.

I've heard Andorra mentioned as another good starting place and friends of ours are going this year.

The crucial thing to enjoying any ski holiday is that you have snow to ski on which may seem obvious but can't be taken for granted these days. Basically the higher you go the more chance you've got of good snow. so Austria Switzerland, France are best (my first ever trip was to Tignes in france which was good for beginners) in that repect but more expensive. It didn't seem us that there was any great saving by committing very early (providing you were preparedtoshop around)you might do better to hold off and see how the season is shaping up in different places and waht's on offer. Christmas/New Year and school holidays are much the most expensive time. I we'd taken the kids out of school for the following week we'd have saved £1000!!!

Sobraon

One of the main issues for first time skiers is that at the end of the day you will be very (very) tired and so self catering quickly turns into a quick bite at a nearby restaurant and this can cause costs to mount quickly. [FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]Although both Andorra and Bulgaria are not as low cost as they once were, reasonable standard (4*) half board can still be found in both. For an idea of costs try Direct Ski [FONT=&quot]http://www.directski.com/go/home [/FONT](I’m only a customer no other relationship).[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]December 15th is a bit early, as most ski areas are not open this early in the season. The lowest cost weeks are generally around mid January. For the 12 Jan Direct Ski shows Hotel Pamporovo (5*) at £1,112.40 for 4, flights from Gatwick, HB and Hotel Euro Ski in El Tarter in Soldeu, Andorra at 1,328.40 HB for 4 from Gatwick 13th Jan( I have stayed at this hotel several times and IMHO it is very good), As always check out the hotels on Trip Advisor! Remember you have got to add ski hire, lift passes and instruction tho these prices.
In Andorra the instructors are often young Commonwealth people (including Brits) this is great for the children.

barginunter

Dec 15th is a good time to go as far as price is concerned. If you look at a site like www.igluski.com you will see that there are some good prices then. Just make sure you go to a high resort. Austria is probably not an option except for St Anton or Obergurgl(expensive). Tignes is good and high. Alpes D'Huez we really like and has a good snow record. The brochure companies will probably do good deals for that week.
If you want to fly, I would not book until 2 or 3 weeks before you go. Then you can check the snow conditions and be sure the prices will be plummeting.
Self-drive is the cheapest option and cheap apartments can be had - look at this: http://www.franceloc.com/Commons/Recherche/index.php?Page=1&Destination=Montagne&Prix=%3E0&Date=2007-12-15&Submit=Search+%21

Have booked with this site a couple of times - notice the prices are in euros so divide by 1.4 to get the £s.
There are many online ski hire places - google them.
Of course use your Tesco deals for your channel crossing!
Have a great time!

susan1

poina brasov in romania is worth looking at we had three great skiing holidays here. the beginners slopes are long and easy, the hotels arn't bad. night life limited but we were all tired and by the time we had eaten were quite happy to have a drink or hot chocolate and then sit in the room with the children and play cards etc. there are a couple of dracula excursions available if you want to get out and about, we really enjoyed the skiing here!

Dazzieboo

Do you have a dry ski slope near you ? if so, they may well run their own holiday at a very competetive price, I have Snow Sun near me and last year they did a trip to Italy (can't remember where) for an all inclusive price of £450 adults £350 children. If you are interested in going independantly, have a look on Ebay, a friend of mine got a 10 person villa in Valloire, France (excellent for beginners / novices) for only £500 for the week, the owner got them a good deal for lift pass's etc etc and the whole holiday cost just £250 each.. Maybe this would be too adverturous for a first time holiday, who knows. What ever you do, have fun.

barginunter

Another inexpensive option of course is going by coach. This might seem gruelling but IMHO it beats the ordeal of airport checkins, delays, luggage probs, extra for ski carriage etc. There are quite a few ski companies who use coaches - they usually depart on a Friday.

poe.tuesday

what about lapland?

inghams do some good last minute deals after xmas (well they did this year), you're sort of assured of snow too which is a bonus ;-)