Me and a mate are going skiing/boarding next winter, sometime in Feb, probably the alps, but he can only do 4 nights and I want to go for a full week. We’re tempted to go to a travel agents for convenience and lately they seem to be closer in price to arrange it all yourself holidays but I’m worried they are going to spank us for supplements due to the different stay durations.

So what do the STW winter sports mob suggest?

In my experience you could struggle to book a 4 day trip with a travel conpany as and when you want with flights to suit.

I’ve done loads of DIY weekends and its a bit daunting at first but quite easy.

Flight – easy jet or jet 2 are good times/locations
Transfers – loads of low cost flexible mini bus services
Accom – depends where you go. For weekends we tend to aim for Chamonix as there’s loads of by the night accommodation.

If you need someone to help buy your lift pass or book lessons and gear then a package makes sense, if not you are paying for a rep/support you don’t need.

My advice is check your dates carefully to avoid the huge Feb half-term price boosts!

Start from the beginning and work through what’s needed and when. It’s not that hard to DIY.

Where are you flying from?

Errr, and yes. I’d DIY a short break.

Come to think of it, I’d DIY any break unless it was a super dealbon somewhere. And then I’d be asking why is it so cheap?

cheers Gravity-Slave, what sites do you use for accomodation/transfers or do you go direct to accom/transfer firms?

Don’t need lessons (arguable 🙂 ) will have to check out whats cheapest for my mate for his pass tho (4 per day vs full week)

I’ve not done a prebook TA holiday for ages, cheap last minute deals and flight only for >10years but my mate said he’d priced stuff up in the past few years and TA were competitive.

My advice is check your dates carefully to avoid the huge Feb half-term price boosts!

that’s a given, our kids is 15-19 so start or end of Feb should be ok I think

Taking our own kit so just need transport to resort from manchester and accomodation. Think we should be ok to purchase our lift pass either online beforehand or in resort.

Any resort recomendations? Couldn’t GAF about the apres, good pistes and lifts and not having to get a bus or a long walk to get to the slopes is all I’m after.

Id recommend St Anton. Great lifts and off piste comparable (I prefer it) to Chamonix. Can be a bit pricier though but we got a cracking deal last year which I suspect was a mistake on the crystal website. Tignes also good for offpiste.
As mentioned earlier, cham is probably a good bet though. Lots of flights to geneva, short/ easy transfer and plenty of accom

I’m a fan of DIY but the packages can work out ok. The budget airlines charge quite a premium for boards and skis, these are often included in packages, as are transfers. You could maybe book a package for yourself with a single room then your mate gets flights only. A polite word with the hotelier might get him in too.

Didnt used to do packages but started a few years ago after my mates were snowed in resort. As they were on package the tour company sorted flights etc which they would have missed. If they had been on a DIY one they prob wouldve been stung for new flights as there werent any snow issues at the airport

I really rather like Argentiere as the slopes are good and you can take the bus up to le tour of it really snows. The belvedere can be booked by the day, is basic but ok http://www.gitelebelvedere.co.uk/?page_id=173

You could maybe book a package for yourself with a single room then your mate gets flights only. A polite word with the hotelier might get him in too.

tempting but not sure my mate would risk it. undecided if it was the other way around whether I would TBH, a few years ago definitley, I’m getting older and more boring tho 🙁

If we were both going 7 days I’d be more inclined to take the convenience and security (see above) of package deal, but as others have said reckon the 4 night thing could be tricky/pricey

cheers for the suggestion steeble/leffe will check ’em out

Where are you flying from?

manchester.
to geneva looks reasonable price and times, belvedere is cheap too….

and basic as leffe says 🙂

My advice would be to target a resort with altitude. The only way to guarantee snow. IN the 20 years of ski holidays i’ve had, we’ve always targeted the first week in March or the week either side of that. The problem with earlier than that is you’re increasing your chances of having days of zero visibility or poor weather as it is still snowing or cloudy, and much later than that the conditions deteriorated due to rising temperatures. In the majority of my 20 years worth of holidays the two rules of choosing decent resorts and going early march/late feb has mostly stood me in good stead hitting that sweet spot of nice sunny conditions, great snow conditions and not too cold (i.e. low minus temperatures vs. -20).

Doing DIY vs. package deals, in my experience, only works out if you’re not actually staying on resort. If you’re not bothered about staying on resort and getting a bus into the report each morning or hiring a car, then you can save money. If you want to stay on resort, then unless you’re prepared to stay in some sort of hostel, then you’ll be struggling to save significant costs. Booking late in the season might be a good idea – i’ve never had the courage to do it, but with the benefit of hindsight those last minute deals are nearly always available.

Over tha past few years i’ve started to gravitate towards the Austrian resorts. I find France a rip off, especially in the evening (about £5 – £10 a beer and £20 for lunch on the slopes), but Austria offers equally as good skiing as France but reasonable prices on resort (usually equivalent to UK). It’s also worth looking at Italy.

I’ve always been tempted with Switzerland, but it always seems expensive. I’ve stayed on a few resorts on the boarder with Switzerland and the skiing is brilliant with infrastructure second to none, and actually not found it too pricy on the slopes, but the cost of the holiday’s seems pricy.

I tend to book with the same few companies – Crystal, Total, Inghams, Ski Miquel (small company but brilliant). Look out for deals that include ski passes.

just a summary of my experiences. There are a lot of skiers/boarders on here, so no doubt someone will be along soon to tell me i’ve been doing wrong all these years, but the group I go with like the convenience of the classic half board chalet holiday – it is a holiday afterall, so self catering and not staying on resort are not options. If you’re not constrained by the same requirements then there are big savings to be had.

Our holidays typically cost £700 – £800 plus about £180 for the ski pass. but it is proper half board chalet’s, often with ski in/ski out at decent locations in top resorts with only beer and lunch money on top of that.

For France, Pierre et Vaccences or Maeva are two big accommodation agencies with lots of options, websites will say by the day or not.

Chamonixallyear for, erm, Cham!
Cham Express for transfers

Alpy Bus too

Local tourist office websites often have links to all the accom.

Flaine/Les Carroz worth a look for a short break as it’s close to Geneva so you could get an extra half day on the piste.

Loads of options , I’d start with a country and narrow it down based on flight times and transfer times.

Consider Liverpool as well if Manchester is within reach. Easyjet used to do a flight 8:15 home Monday night. Full day on the slopes and home for midnight if you are lucky!

he can only do 4 nights and I want to go for a full week

If the package is cheap, just book the whole week for both of you and he can miss one of the flights, and get an easyjet flight instead. Just let the rep know that he won’t be on the bus.

Easier if you go somewhere near Geneva (or an airport with regular budget flights)

cheers for the input wobbli,

Our holidays typically cost £700 – £800 plus about £180 for the ski pass. but it is proper half board chalet’s, often with ski in/ski out at decent locations in top resorts

that’s a bit more than I’m looking for this time, but for future, can smaller groups/couples get similar deals or are they generally for filling the chalet type setups? (the world and his dog seem to go on ski hols in massive groups but I only know a couple skiers/boarders)

Re late deals, I’ve done them for years now, walk in with bags packed and a lift to the airport arranged, always make sure I have a 10 day time slot to fit a 7 night hol in, never needed it tho, usually get a same day hol cheap as the proverbial potato based snack. Only done it once for ski hol tho and not something we can realistically do this time due to constraints.

will look at that liverpool flight G-S good idea, already checked out chamexpress 🙂

noted Torso, will consider it.

We always DIY. We do a 4 night short break from Bristol every year – Austria, whilst ace, is tricky due to availability of flights, so our destination of choice at the moment is Morzine. 4 nights away usually gives us 4.5 days on the snow. Lots of flights to Geneva from Bristol every day, cheap and short transfers, flexible accommodation options and easy access to a massive ski area, giving options on different weather days. Grand Massif would also meet these requirements but I’ve not skied there.

Avoid France if you can. Not only is there a week which is British half term, but France also has half term in Feb. Different departments have half term on different weeks, so you could end up clashing at any point. No point spending the a short break in lift queues.

Fly in to Salzburg, go to the Ski Amade region which is only 45mins from the airport which is very important when you are going for a short break.