Swiss prices

I'm curious about Switzerland, never skiied there, but have never really considered it.

Is it more expensive / on a par with say, Val Disere/Courcheval or more so? I mean general costs, lunch, drinks etc.

I expect to pay less in Switzerland, but then I don't stay in mega resorts. Coffee 3fr.60(2.50), Hamburger 10fr. Lift ticket 49fr (£33) for a day for 220km of marked slopes and endless off piste.

Verbier last week was on a par with Val D'Isere in December. Food was slightly more in Verbier but beer was slightly less. Not a great deal in it.

Switzerland, yes its expensive. The chuff is not cheap to buy, hence high prices. However I would put a lot of France as more expensive than Switzerland.
I have found the country to be lovely, authentic and clean. Compared to France I'd choose Switzerland every time. However, for skiing you have to find the right resort at the right price, and so far I havent come across anything any good for Switzerland this season.
I'd love to ski Wengen and go back to Verbier as well. And Zermatt probably.
St Moritz was as good as it got as far as my skiing history goes.

Dont worry about the cost out there. If you like the look of something, go for it.

Even as a Swiss fan, I'd have to admit that you can get very good value for money in Italy, along with friendly and expert instruction.

But if you like Switzerland, then you can minimise the costs by self-catering and booking an apartment/chalet through a local agency. If you have a car and buy supplies in the valley, then prices aren't that different to the UK. And even up the mountain, supermarket prices aren't inflated any more than in the rest of the Alps. And if you do yourself a packed lunch most of the stations have indoor picnic rooms - during the school holidays, these can actually be a lot quieter than the restaurants.

But of course, self-catering (with a couple of meals out, perhaps) isn't everyone's holiday preference.

Where to Ski and Snowboard have their Resort Price Index (RPI) these days

In it they rate the resort on fcators like: lift pass, private lessons, food, drink etc (not actually getting there)

They average these out and say that an RPI of 100 is average and thus anything less than 100 is "cheap" to ski in and more than 100 is "expensive"

The supposedly horrendous expensive French resorts of VDI and VT both score a flat 100 - everything that's in Switzerland scores more and then Canada and US more still. Austria and Italy generally less than 100

Of course this is a guide and slightly subjective but at least they've done all of the research

I only ever ski in one French resort - Chamonix and I don't find it lot more cheaper than Verbier (which is considered "expensive"). Lunch money can be saved by making your own lunches (it also saves time as during holidays restaurants get packed).

It depends partly on the resort e.g. Saas-fee, Zermatt etc are very expensive, Morgins much less so. But it seems clear to me that *in general* Switzerland is more expensive than France for the ski passes, definitely for food, and marginally for accommodation, though the standard of accommodation is probably a little higher than in France and I think that many of the resorts are smaller and prettier and better run than the French ones.

There are, however, some good deals around at the moment to attract foreigners, especially given the strong Swiss Franc. Worth checking specific resorts like Crans-Montana, or for example, the Swiss trains operate a snow and rail deal with discounts on travel and ski passes (www.sbb.ch), and I have found very good deals on websites such as www.myswitzerland.com