We went as group last year so we did it ourselves, booked our own flights,etc.
Did anybody book with a company, if so how much and with who?
We're thinking Jan 9th for approx 10 days.
We went to Whistler in Feb with Crystal. They were fine as always.
Graham, how many nights, approx how much?
Worth giving Frontier Ski a shout if you want a semi-package, and Trailfinders always worth a go.
Also looking into renting a condo in the village - there's various owner direct websites such as resortquest, resortac, allura(?) and a studio or 1 bed condo could well work out a cheaper option (and they're pretty consistently nice!)
Flights have been horrible expensive this year (even well away from February and the olympics) but good old trailfinders let us know that air cananda have special prices where you book as part of a "package" (i.e. either 3 nights hotel or 3 days car rental in addition to the flight - so we ended up with 3 nights 5-star hotel in vancouver to start/end the trip, which cost less than flights alone!) Of course, all that should be wrapped up within a package price from frontier etc (if the deals are still available).
Cheers Rod, we used Allura last year, very good. As you say i don't think Whistler does crap accom..
Will give frontier and trailfinders a shout.
We went for 10 nights in mid-Feb, but I honestly can't remember the price. Around £1200 sounds about right for flights and accommodation: we were staying full board in this chalet:
http://www.crystalski.co.uk/destinations/canada/whistler/023693/023693.html
http://www.whistlerchalets.co.uk/chalet_details.asp?cid=956
Also might be worth your while joining [url= http://www.snowboardclub.co.uk/ ]Snowboard Club UK[/url]. £15 to join and you get discounts off several holiday companies that do Whistler:
6% from alpservice.com
10% off www.skiholidayscanada.co.uk
10% off www.whistlercondo.co.uk
But remember Whistler will be VERY busy this year, especially in Feb, as the 2010 Winter Olympics are in Vancouver and Whistler is a venue for some of the events.
Yeh, i intend to be outta there before the shennanigans begin..
Thanks for the info
We're off to Whistler Jan 8th for about 10 days, oddly enough.
It's costing us about £1,200 each including flights, transfers and 9 days lift pass - self catering staying in the Hilton with $300 included towards food...
Booked it through Trailfinders..
There are apparently a lot of deals about at the moment as they're a bit scared people will stay away because of the Olympics..
..self catering staying in the Hilton..
I don't know how folk can be bothered with self-catering. Do you actually cook or do you just eat out?
Catered chalets are the business. Get up, breakfast is waiting for you, ride all day, come back, relax with some cake and tea, grab a couple of beers from the fridge, sit in the hot tub drinking beer, get out to a three-course dinner with as much wine as you can drink, get pished, then go to bed, sit up and watch tv talk crap, or go to the pub.
Ideal. 😀
We'd usually do catered chalets if there's a big group but as it's only the two of us, a hotel was a better option... We've got a suite with kitchen area so I imagine we'll sort our own breakfast out then eat out during the day / evening...
As for the tea and cake, we usually just head straight to the bar but each to their own...
Self-catering in Whistler was bloody expensive. Eating out there is not cheap, well it can be if you're happy with burgers and chips every night. A lot of the restaurants are pretty high dollar though. Actually, everything is high dollar there. Brilliant mountains though. If I could have that kind of service everywhere I went...
Cheers Meesterbond that sounds like a decent price with the lift passes included.
Cater Chalet? Never ever again. Done it once and won't do a repeat unless it's completely occupied with the group I'm traveling with. The thought of being forced to spend time with the most insufferable bores who are in love with the sound of their own voices and have the definitive opinion on every single subject known to man. I'll take the high restaurant prices thanks all the same.
LOL. There is usually around 10 of us so we occupy a good proportion of most chalets.
It's entirely possible that we're the crashing bores though 😀
We always self cater with a meal or two out.
I thought the prices on and off the mountain in Whistler were reasonable.
No night was right without one of each real ale in The Brewhouse.
By the way if you want the name of a good ski or snowboard instructor/guide then let me know