Finland ski… where else?

Just looked at booking Finland for feb half term again, went to yllas last year.

but the prices!!! Cost us just over £4k last year all in for a week but getting prices between £6-8k for this year.

we really like Finland with the kids, quiet wild environment with empty piste.

amazing xc skiing, we took the kids off touring between remote cabins last year.

we really prefer an adventurous holiday rather than a busy resort and love the arctic conditions.

however, Finland that always used to be a cheap option is now very expensive.

where else can we look that will give us wild locations, xc touring adventures and easy access to piste?

could go to Canada for less than Finland now it seems.

other option is just to drive to the alps and travel around a bit

cheers

We did Finland but last year we went to Trysil in Norway which was good. Same Scandi vibes as Finland but a bigger ski area but still fairly compact. When we went there weren’t really packages so we largely self booked, seeing it a bit more through the normal routes but self booking wasn’t that hard.

This year we’re going to Åre but that is fully self booked as no-one seems to go there on a package anymore. Getting there is more of a ball ache but the resort is larger again which suits our need.

Just across the border in Russia? https://kolatravel.com/downhill_ski_holidays.htm

Looked at self booking for Finland but no (sensibly priced) flights to kitila

I am keen to do Norway, had a Quick Look at packages for laziness but will start playing around with self booking options.

think I’ll give Russia a swerve for a few years at least?

Eastern Europe? I’ve a couple of Slovak and Slovenian colleagues into thier xc skiing….

Scandinavian Mountain Airport is really convenient for Trysil, there were flights from Gatwick last year, but the Norwegians all come up from Oslo so that isn’t likely to be too bad. Salen in Sweden is really close to SMA.

For Åre we are flying into Ostersund and will probably take the train from there but it does involve a flight change. There looks to be an option to fly to Trondheim without the change but the timings means you’re probably having to stop there overnight before transfer which cuts down time.

Thanks

thats a good start, I’ll get planning and see what I can work out

Well the Norwegian kroner is in the toilet right now, so your money will go a lot further here than it used to!

Lots of nice skiing, both alpine and XC, Hemsedal is probably the biggest “resort” but if you go to Lillehammer there are a few places within driving distance and Sjusjøen is beautiful for XC.

With Easter being so late everyone is jacking prices for half term. We ran into this a few weeks ago when I got a quote for our usual place in Austria that was 3x what we are used to paying.

I thought all the Scandinavian countries were expensive.

Not a skier but we went here last year for some introductory back country/XC.  There’s plenty in the area. Big with the Danes.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Meva5GYsvH6gAYT37

Telemark region in Norway. Some good history stuff there too.

There was some downhill stuff but I don’t think it was extensive. Lots of pisted XC but many were on touring skis going up into the hills off the main tracks or just where the tracks had been buried by snow fall.

Quite surprised how warm it was in February. Hovered around zero which wasn’t great. First couple of days were -10 and conditions were vastly better.

We considered eastern Europe but wanted guides and instruction which the trip to Norway had.

We used Trysil Expressen bus to get from Oslo Airport to Trysil and found it easy enough, and is direct.

3hr journey four departures each day.

Lots of nice skiing, both alpine and XC, Hemsedal is probably the biggest “resort” 

I had it as Trysil was bigger in terms of piste length, but Hemsedal closer to an alpine resort?

I really liked Trysil, but I’m disinterested in lively apres ski.

Yes, you may be right! Probably “busiest” would have been a better description, depending on how you like your ski/apres ski this can be good or a bad thing :-/

Lillehammer could be a good alternative, especially given the state of the Norwegian kroner.

You can fly to Oslo and take the train there direct from the airport. There are several good places to stay, and the Hammer does full board which can work out as a very good deal. You could then just take the local bus either up to the huge cross country area, or to Hafjell for downhill – it’s only small but it’s a great place for kids.

Alternatively there are plenty of places to stay in Hafjell itself which would make it much easier to get to the slopes. I don’t know if they still have the same deal but the Hafjell Hotel used to do an offer that was full board for the entire family with kids under 16 staying, and eating, free. Nothing fancy, but absolutely fine – our kids loved it

If you want to go all-out on cross country there’s always Pellestova, up on the plateau. I’ve never stayed there, but definitely will one day.

The great thing about cross country round there is that you’re up high, on the plateau, not down in the bottom of a dark valley as is all too often the case with XC in the alps. The ski area is huge, and connects across to Sjusjøen and other places.