Cheap Drive ski holiday

Now the credit crunch has come along I have been told that we need to be less extravagant on our next winter holiday. So I thought that we might drive to a resort. Can anyone suggest a resort with a reasonable snow record, for a family of intermidiate skiers. I would prefer to drive the least distance possible!!
I know tall order :shock:

Welcome to the forum :D Driving to resort does not generally represent big savings over cheap lo-co flights with coach/rail transfers. Drive to get the flexibility a car will give you, so consider basing your family at the base of several ski areas, for bargain accommodation. Most of the Northern French Alps will take you 8-9 hours driving from Calais (for example), so you may also need to budget for an overnight stop, if you are the only driver.

Mark c wrote:Now the credit crunch has come along I have been told that we need to be less extravagant on our next winter holiday. So I thought that we might drive to a resort. Can anyone suggest a resort with a reasonable snow record, for a family of intermidiate skiers. I would prefer to drive the least distance possible!!
I know tall order :shock:

Bandit is spot on it does not normally work out any cheaper driving to the Alps unless the travel costs are spilt by the car passengers, the nearest resorts are the ones an hour or so from Geneva Morillon, La Clusaz, there are many more...We travel with kids so we always have an overnight stop ( More expense ) plus Channel tunnel, tolls, petrol, accommodation and lift passes the kids lessons for a weeks skiing we do not get much change out of 2500K. You could skim some money off that cost with cheaper accommodation as we do like a bit off space.
Have a look and see if the TO's can do it any cheaper, Good luck and let us know if you can beat 2500k 8)

must be pointed out £2500 is outside term holidays! that price would be excellent for 4 in feb half term!

That's a tricky one, but as we always go in school holidays we find it's cheaper to self drive and self cater.
We too area family of intermediates so appreciate your needs. If we didn't go in school holidays I would go with a tour operator on a late deal. But we can't as kids are in crucial years.

As you'll have a car you could stay a little out of the centre of a resort and drive to the slopes. We stayed in Praranger, a little out of Les Menuires in 2008, and it was much cheaper than staying in the centre.

The Grand Massif is not too bad a drive, especially Morillon & Samoens, which are very close to the motorway.

This year we went to Les Saisies and got a family lift pass which was reduced by 10%, this was because it was Easter though and not all runs were open. It was still good snow, so we were lucky. The drive there was good and took 10 hours from Calais.

We usually drive to resort without a stop, but stop overnight on the way home. Formule 1 this year was 80euros for 2 rooms, incl breakfast.
Shop around for ferry crossings, ours were a total of £60.00 return. Out with Sea France and back with Norfolk line.

Also, we've found if you can get a Sunday changeover the roads will be almost empty, at least they were at Easter this year. But, of course it will mean you will probably need to take Monday off so may not work for everyone.

I could give you some catering tips if you self catering, but I run the risk of being very boring!


Good luck,
Dids

swskier wrote:must be pointed out £2500 is outside term holidays! that price would be excellent for 4 in feb half term!

Right, I would never ski at half term, for obvious reasons :(

Hi,

I agree with the above, driving from the UK is fine but if you are the only driver a stop over night halfway or so is advisable ,on the cost side depending on where you are travelling from and to you could easily cover 1500 miles+ in a round trip and fuel in france is now around £1.30p - £1.45p per litre or there abouts :(, ferry crossings are around £50 - £80 i think and the tolls could be around £70 return (unless you use the toll free roads).

On the other hand return flights might come in between £40 - £65 per person (again this would depend on the week you choose in respect to the rip off of going during school holidays), and a weeks car hire from an airport for about £120 - £170 for a week (again much more during school holidays) + fuel.

I suppose its just a matter of weighing up which resort ,catered half board or full, or self catered
and how you choose to get there.

In these times I think holday companies and tour operators are missing out on potential business by hiking prices during school holidays in the misguided notion it will help their profits, offering slightly cheaper holidays would increase bookings and profits would remain the same or go up slightly.....

All the best

jon. :D

swskier wrote:must be pointed out £2500 is outside term holidays! that price would be excellent for 4 in feb half term!

By the way there is only three in my family... :shock: