first family ski holiday want it all at new year !!!

Hi Hugh,
I've been to both Obergurgl and Courchevel and I would think the hotels are about equally expensive, but Obergurgl is nowhere near as nice as Courchevel (in my opinion).

Couldn't you find a cheaper hotel in Courchevel, or go self-catering (if you agreed to do all the housework for the week)?

I think the problem is that you picked a top hotel in a top resort during one of the peak weeks of the year, so it was bound to be extremely expensive (over £1300 per head - I checked)

hugh4243 wrote:thinking obergugl again hotel madeliene looks good is it high enough ??

Obergurgl would be a good choice. High and snow sure, Austrian and not French (trust me, it generates a far better atmosphere), varied ski area albeit a little limited, good off piste, good quality hotels.

I'd put that well above Courch personally, but thats just my opinion.

Tony,
As far as I know you haven't been to either Courchevel or Obergurgl - whereas I have been to both :D

Ian Wickham wrote:Andorra is a very nice place to ski .... and don't be put off by some of the postings here always had good snow when I have been there and I don't consider the Pyrenees a poor relation to the Alps, one year we had far too much snow and they closed all the lifts all but one drag lift .... I wonder why that was :wink:

I think the point most were making Ian was that his choice of Andorran resort would be a far cry from the winter xmas wonderland he was hoping for.

Re-reading what I said above, it doesn't sound very polite. Sorry Tony :oops:

I should have qualified it by saying why I don't think Obergurgl would be suitable for Hugh and his family.

The main objection, I think, is that Obergurgl doesn't have any shops other than the basic functional ones - like for food and ski hire etc.

Courchevel has some of the best shops I've ever seen - selling fancy designer clothing, jewellery, and furniture etc. I don't know anything about that sort of clothing but I remember my teenage daughter raving about it. Unfortunately, as Bandit says, it's all too expensive to buy - but you can have a lot of fun just looking at it all and studying the very wealthy customers who are actually buying things.

Obergurgl village is just a long street lined with very expensive hotels and ski shops etc. The only bit of lively night life I ever heard about took place in the Nieder Hutte (a mountain restaurant) after ski-ing - where people danced on the tables etc.

My impression of the place was that it was a very 'comfy' place to be, mostly full of middle-class, middle-aged people with their young kids who wanted a relaxing holiday whilst knowing that their kids were safe. And my younger daughter, who was about 11 at the time, did have a nice time, and they did keep her 'safe' and happy during her lessons.

But Courchevel is a magical and exciting place to be, with fantastic ski-ing. I remember spending quite a while watching (from the piste) the millionaires flying in to the tiny airport (one of the most dangerous in the world) and trying to guess who they were (from the logos on their planes). It's a great place if you like trying to spot celebrities :D

There's enough to do in the 5 Courchevel villages without ski-ing at all. When I was on the train on the way there I was amazed to hear a dad talking to his daughter and her friend and discussing how many days they were actually going to ski for and how many days they were going to spend shopping and sight-seeing. It had never occurred to me before that someone might go on a ski holiday and deliberately NOT ski :shock:

Snapzzz wrote:

Ian Wickham wrote:Andorra is a very nice place to ski .... and don't be put off by some of the postings here always had good snow when I have been there and I don't consider the Pyrenees a poor relation to the Alps, one year we had far too much snow and they closed all the lifts all but one drag lift .... I wonder why that was :wink:

I think the point most were making Ian was that his choice of Andorran resort would be a far cry from the winter xmas wonderland he was hoping for.

And the point I was making is quoted above :shock:

Hugh,
Here are a couple of photos I took of Obergurgl. They're not very good photos because I took them with a disposable camera, but it does give you a general idea of the place. It is very open, high, and windswept and there is very little tree-lined ski-ing in Obergurgl itself, but I think there's a bit more in Hochgurgl next door (which is linked).

We were there the first week in January - generally the cheapest week, after the schools have gone back, and it was the year there was very little snow anywhere ('06/'07?).

This is the blue run down from the gondola. We took this route every morning on the way to ski school as our hotel was opposite the gondola. It is a very long blue run and quite difficult for a blue (the first morning I fell flat going down it).




This is the single man chairlift (which I think has now been replaced) going up the Hohe Mutt. Incredibly, apparently it was the same lift that was there when my Mum skied at Obergurgl in the '50's :shock:

many thanks so far for all your suggestions so far I am still pondering