Totally New to Skiing. Want to book a Holiday at Xmas. Advice please

lancslass2008

Hi all


We've done some things in life, some of them pretty cool, some pretty crazy but we've never been on a Skiing Holiday before and we would really like to try it now. However, searching the internet for advice returns a lot of sponsored links etc so it's hard to make out what is genuine advice and what is sponsored. Therefore, we would like some advice on where to start. NONE of our family
(Mum 39 Years old, Dad 45 years old, Daughter 13 Years old, Son 12 years old) have ever even been in a Ski shop, let alone a Ski Slope. So, it is clear we are looking for the most basic/beginner of Skiing holidays. Basically, the easier the better to start off with.


So... We had a scout on some Ski sites and beside the loads of options for different countries (France, Bulgaria, Italy, Japan etc...) there were resorts we have never heard of. We wouldn't have a clue which country to visit, let alone which resort. So, asking friends didn't really help. Some said 'make sure you're accommodation is near to the resort' others said 'Don't buy your passes until you arrive'...Very confusing as we stupidly assumed passes etc would be in with the price.


So, by now you get the drift that we have no idea about skiing. Can anyone offer some basic advice please?


Thanks in advance...

richardw

If you can go 12th or 19th Dec you will save more than going 26th.

Don't assume anything is included, check if it isn't.

You could do a package ski holiday through Neilson or a DIY holiday booking your own flights etc schedule airlines have many ski flights inc easyJet and Ryanair.

Where in the UK are you? Picking a ski flight from your local airport is a good start to narrow down resort possibilities. Many ski flights are the first of the day, most on Saturday and Sunday.

You want a good chance of early season snow for the nursery slopes.

Is there an indoor ski school near home?

Your children are a great age to learn and you could have many good skiing holidays over the next few years. The ski season is quite long and some go twice a year.

lancslass2008

Thank you for some great starting advice Richard.


We are based near the Trafford Centre in Manchester, which incidentally has an indoor Ski Slope.


To keep the cost down we would be prepared to fly from any UK Airport.


The only thing is...We would have to go in School Holidays...

zagfles

Obvious first step is to book a few lessons at Chill Factore to see if you all like it and want to do more!

Might be worth considering the Feb half term, likely to be cheaper than over xmas/ny and for a first ski holiday I doubt you'd want more than a week...

richardw

easyJet fly to Geneva and Lyons from Manchester on the 19th Dec is that doable?

EasyJet also has Geneva, Grenoble and Salzburg from Liverpool.

Easter is early next year, so consider going the second week of the school holidays.

814man

As a regular skier for the last 20 years or so I can assure you that you are about to get hooked on the best adventure sport there is. We've also raised our kids to ski always taking them with us and a ski holiday is just about the best family time you can spend, particularly as you are all starting at the same level.
To be honest I think that the best advice may be to go for a package initially, Neilson (http://www.neilson.co.uk/ski) are pretty good, and almost all resorts can cater for beginners, although my personal preference would be for Austria this can be a bit more expensive and Italy is just as good. Again personally I'm not too keen on the French ski school system but they have lots of options.
It can of course be lots of fun to organise you own trip and I've previously done this researching accommodation, getting lo cost flights, then car hire and driving to resort. Great fun, not always cheapest option but if you get the accommodation right and include a stop off at a local supermarket to buy weeks supplies it can be done for a reasonable price and you have a bit of an adventure as well. (Think digging car out of snow drift on final day and driving on snow chains down mountain and through blizzard 3 hours to airport).
I've not skied in Bulgaria so cant comment but I understand that runs are not too steep and with cheaper prices may be a good option to start.
Finally I'd suggest looking at a decent ski forum and asking advice there:
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/
is one of the better ones.

Blue264

As above, I'd head to Austria.

My personal fave is Ellmau in the Wilder Kaiser region of the Tyrol. It's got lots of beginner slopes and a floodlit toboggan run for later in the day. It's a relatively quiet place, but only a bus ride away from Sol, Kitzbuhl, Kufstein and Salzburg...though the latter is more of a full day out.

richardw

Good website about Ellmau http://www.ultimate-ski.com/ski-resorts/austria/tirol/ellmau.aspx

lancslass2008

Thank you all for some brilliant advice. You have taken the time to help us which we are grateful for.


I will now spend some days, weeks doing some research.