where to go for 4 nights?

well we have just come back from les saisies and had a great time and have got the bug.

we have decided to leave the kids at home and go skiing late march for a few nights.

I have found flights to geneva for the 2 of us from 15th March returning on the 19th march to geneva which will give us 3 days of kid free skiing. it will be our 4th week skiing and we prefer a resort where we can just "pootle" about so somewhere cruisy that will have accomodation that doesnt require having to book the full week out. dont like small resorts and prefer resorts that are linked. so far we have been to niderau, valmorel and les saisies. how much do you think I should budget for? not been skiing without the kids so not really sure what I should be aiming for? what do you reckon it will cost for accomodation for 4 nights, lift passes for 3 days and transfers? is there any company that specialises in it?


PS hurry up before hubby changes his mind! :wink:

Do a search for short breaks/weekends to find the companies that specialise in that.
Owners Abroad have a few SC apartments that the owners will let for less than a week.
In my experience (France) it tends to be the more upmarket hotels that let by the night rather than sat to sat.
I'm sure you'll find something suitable, maybe the accomodation will choose the resort for you?

I would think with such limited time and Geneva as chosen airport Chamonix should be a good choice. 25E/PP each way from airport, 1 1/2 transfer and many smaller hotels that can be booked for long weekend (Crete Blanche would be my choice if they have rooms available).

Not exactly a linked cruising resort but in 3 days you can do Le Tour/Brevant/Argentiere and be more than happy with choice of piste available despite what some reviews might suggest.

Plan B

If you can go into Zurich then Engelberg would be great for you and nice train journey from airport will take you straight into resort.

Courmayeur?
Just under the tunnel from Chamonix.
Not a huge ski area but enough for a long weekend and, if last year was anything to go by, damn near empty, we had some of the pistes virtually to ourselves.

For flexible accommodation and easy transfers by rail, it has to be a Swiss resort. How about Villars if you're fixed on Geneva?

I'm planning a four or five-dayer in late March and April - and Engelberg via Zurich airport and Lucerne on the train is my choice.

You can check hotel "Alpina" in Chamonix. Last March we paid for a double room 99 euros per night with breakfast. It's a modern three-star hotel in the very centre of Chamonix, very close (walking distance actually) to Brevent area. It's not exactly "cruisy" skiing, but they have a fairly long and wide blue run over there and you can cross over to Flegere where more intermediate runs are available. And the view is absolutely spectacular from there - you'll be skiing down facing Mont-Blanc and Mer de Glace galcier on the other side of the valley. It's truly beautiful and very motivating. Or if you are on a budget you may stay in a youth hostel near Les Pelerins. http://www.hihostels.com/dba/hostels-Chamonix-Mont-Blanc-020011.en.htm. Won't remember the price but it wasn't much, something like 30 euros pp/pn and it included breakfast and dinner. and it's France we are talking about so even in hostels dinner is very good;)
They have double rooms but you need to book in advance. And of course there would be inconveniences involved, like showers and toilets on the floor, and it's not exactly central, so you'll be taking a bus to go skiing. But you get what you pay for and overall you don't get too little for the price. You can google and there are many companies specialising on transfers from the aiport. You don't even have to book. When we go to Chamonix and are late to get the bus from town, we just go to the aiport and there will always be drivers looking for passengers to take to Chamonix. Standard price is 25 euros pp. one way. Lift passes I think are around 50 euros per day.

Or go to Courmayeur in Italy on the other side of Mont-Blanc. For some reason snow is typically better there and it's not a very difficult terrain to ski. But it's better to fly to Turin or Milan, not Geneva, to get there. From Geneva the shortest way is via France and Mont-Blanc tunnel and the French charge for it, so your transfer will be more expensive.

It is the accommodation you might have problems with as they like a full week booking , I have always managed to book you just have to keep trying and eventually the hotels realise that four days is better than no days.

If you get some ideas of resort and go to www.booking.com (NOT bookings.com with an "s") type in your dates and play around with resorts you will find availability for your length of stay.
Just played with Avoriaz and there are several hotels in the area (Morzine, Avoriaz, Chatel) offering four day stays.
HINT - once you have chosen contact the hotel directly for availability. My reason is that, although I have used booking.com several times for non-skiing hols. I have heard that their bookings have been known to go wrong in ski resorts, presumably the perenial seven night, sat to sat booking getting in the way.