My wife and I have 23DEC-08JAN off, thinking we might take advantage of this to go and learn to snowboard (finally!), but our budget is kind of tight... seeing as we don't need silly big mountains etc, we don't need the 'proper' Alps do we? So where should we be looking, I'm thinking Bulgaria or somewhere like that? Would ideally like something that includes all gear hire and tuition...
Andorra. Cheap and chearful.
Action-outdoors.
I've never been to Bulgaria so can't comment but I reckon Andorra is worth considering.
Learn in the UK. No point in going to somewhere nice to fall over a lot. You'll get far more from the holiday if you lean before you go.
Christmas/New Year are the most expensive weeks in the winter sports calender but they are on the weekend this year so its a bit tricky. The first full week in jan should be cheaper. You might be better off waiting for a last minute package and just going where ever the deal is. If you are learning you don't need to be at the best resorts. Outside the Euro-zone would be a good start.
EDIT: just to add... an all in deal might not be the best. Pre-book lessons and kit hire from the UK directly with a shop and you should get a better deal.
Learn in the UK. No point in going to somewhere nice to fall over a lot. You'll get far more from the holiday if you lean before you go.
Bollocks. Dry slopes are shite, indoor slopes are too expensive to spend any decent time on them.
Action outdoors (excluding flights) is £500 a week all in, hire, pass, tuition, food and accommodation. Two weeks of that and you'll be boarding really well.
i'd learn before you go...
say £150 at snozone / xscape would get you four 2 hour sessions. spread them over a month and you'll be in a much better position to go abroad.
quite hard to do 6 days straight on holiday as a total beginner
I'd personally spend that £150 on lessons when you get there - split a couple of private lessons between you. Couple of hours will get you on the way (and before you all jump in I used to teach in Whistler).
Are there others who want to join you? - you might find as the 2 weeks progress one of you may well progress much quicker than the other and then be counter productive for each other...
Finally if you can go for 2 weeks after xmas/NY and it'll cost you a fraction of the price regardless of where you go or where/how you stay, also the slopes over the festive period will be rammed so not ideal for nervous beginners (or anyone else for that matter...)
Personally, I'd get lessons here and then enjoy the holiday boarding, rather than dropping a wodge of cash to spend the entire time falling over.
Also means you can find out before you go whether you can do it; you might be a dreadful snowboarder but a natural skiier.
From my experience I would definitely get lessons 'over there'. I had 5 or 6 lessons in the UK on a dry slope and can honestly say it was a waste of time. 1/2 an hour on a blue run with an instructor will gave you the same level of progress and it won't hurt quite as much.
As far as location, if you are prepared to risk it, wait for a last minute deal and check the snow conditions. The only other consideration as a learner would be to avoid resorts with lots of drag lifts. Austria would be a good choice as many of the smaller resorts are great and 'serious' boarders/skiers avoid them due to the limitations of a smaller area but as a beginner they will provide enough fun for a couple of weeks and you can always have days out to check out neighbouring mountains.
Im thinking of selling a board/bindings and bag package cheap if anyone fancies it for learning on. Mail in profile. Its just not getting enough use and baby on the way.
It was around £86 to "board in a Day" at x-scape. Didn't mean you were at a level where you could enjoy the mountain properly, but you were safe enough to go out and progress on your own. Depending on how quickll you pick it up, a few days of lessons, then some practise, followed by a bit of guiding around the resort should be fun. Shame you've hit Chirstmas though
Neilson are well worth a look, as they do really good packages overall.