Where to go and who’s used what companies to go through? Pregnant wife insists she’ll murder me due to jealousy if I go for a full week, so looking for 3/4 days on the slopes

Glenshee?

Fly to Geneva, pick up a hire car and head here: http://www.rivendellranch.net/#

I went at Christmas and it was outstanding. Place is run by a Geordie who takes you to the slopes and guides you all day, as part of the €50 you’ll pay for a bed, breakfast and three course dinner.

The ski-ing is here: http://www.espacediamant.com/fr/domaine-ski-espace-diamant-2.html

I thought the ski-ing was great because it was varied, and because the packages don’t go there it was cheap and also really, really quiet.

It’s just over the hour’s drive from the Geneva and is lovely – Kev would probably even pick you up from the airport.

Cheaper, better, more fun than ski-ing in Scotland. Why would you?

Done a couple, book cheap flights with some mates to GVA.
2 days before flying see where the snow is best and grab what you can within a 3hr drive.
Costs are nearly the same as a chalet deal 🙁

Failing that book high resorts.

Are you looking for a package? DIY is an option if you are up for it…

EasyJet to Geneva
Shuttle to Chamonix – ChamExpress or Alpybus. Short transfer so relatively easy.
Plenty of short break accommodation to choose from. Chamonixallyear website has property by night, amongst others.
Lift pass available by the day.

Or hire a car and stay somewhere like the Ibis on Sallanches – easy to hit Flaine, Megeve or one of the Chamonix areas in a short depending on where you fancy that day. La Clusaz and through the tunnel to Italy also options.

I often use EasyJet to Liverpool as there is a 9pm ish flight home on a Monday night so you can fly Friday afternoon, 3 full days on the slopes for one day off work.

If you get lucky on flight prices it can work out as affordable as a package week in terms of cost per day on the hill.

As Mike says, I think short breaks look like a rip off.

Me and a few mates book a full weeks accommodation then fly out for 4-5 days. Works out cheaper plus you can pick your own flights. We flew out early Sunday to GVA, on the slopes by the afternoon and skiied until 4pm on the Friday. Home by about 10:30.
A longer trip than normal but we probably skiied as much as other people who arrived Saturday and went home Saturday.

We’ve done a few to Italy. Cheap flight to Milan then it’s a couple of hours to the Alps or Dolomites. Innsbruck is another option.

Webwonk thanks for the link Ive bookmarked it!!

Salzburg is a good destination as there are loads of ski resorts very close to the airport

I’ve done long weekends in Argentiere (chamonix valley) before. I think there is a hotel called the Belvedere there that is cheap and very basic so tends to fill up with long termers and short breaks rather than week long holidays

Have done:

3 days france, driving there and back. REALLY hard work. Wouldn’t do it again.

4 days italy, hotel owner picks us up from airport and ferries us the whole time. no need for hire car. Did do bristol-italy flight, but that is now closed and is now gatwick-italy.

4 days austria, fly to munich, downside – 4hr drive to resort. Stayed in smaller resort because of cost/availability. Once place was Pfunds.

Not quite the same, but I’ve done several “short breaks” XC skiing on the cheap – however the same principle could apply to downhill. My theory is that you need to maximise the time on the snow, hence I catch the earliest possible flight – I’ve flown to Innsbruck, Oslo and Zurich, then train to the resort. Generally manage to get out on the slopes by lunchtime then ski until lunchtime (or even sometimes mid-afternoon) on the last day before catching a late night flight back. For downhill the most obvious places to go doing that would be Seefeld or Kitzbühel (went through there on the train on the way to St Johann). Do remember to check out flights from BA as well as EJ etc. as they’re often no more expensive – IIRC last time I went to Innsbruck I did BA one way EJ the other because of the flight times.

We do a long weekend lads’ trip most years.

Cheap flight to Munich.
Hire car.
Book a hotel for B&B through local tourist office in resort of your choice (plenty of Austrian resorts within a few hours’ drive)

Innsbruck: bus to neustift. Bus up to stubaier Gletscher each day to ski

I’ve been with http://www.skiweekends.com before, to La Tania, which was good.

Coach seats have lots of recline and loads of footroom, so just sat there drinking beers and reading/watching movies.

Brides les Bains is a bit low down though so you have to take a long lift to get into the 3 valleys.