2nd Trip of year, Mid/Late March - Reccomendations Please

Hi All,

Off to VDI in less than two weeks (hurrah!) so naturally am thinking of next trip!

It will be mid to late March - flexible on dates but have the 20th in mind as a starting point

This trip will be only the wife and I so we don't want to go self catering as the under occupancy will likely kill us. We've been chaleting the last few times and really like it - especially the cost certainty on food and wine given the pound v euro issue (though I'm not wedded to a chalet if better value can be proved elsewhere)

We're keen intermediates who can ski most things on piste but have never done any off piste (may try in Val depending on conditions and how we're feeling). We'd ideally like an area with lots of differing runs as we've turned into mileage hogs over our last few trips to Val Thorens/Verbier/Killington and now the Espace Killy.

Resorts that I have considered are ADH, Flaine, Les Arcs/Le Plagne, Serre Che, Courchevel - but happy to go other places than France!!! :-) as we really enjoyed Kitzbuhel for instance but found it too low to ski back to on good snow in January so March would be a real problem. Sauze d'Oulx was good too but a bit isolated and Sestriere seems impossible to do from Newcastle.

Biggest issue is that we want to fly from Newcastle as the trip to Manchester (which is always an early morning flight) adds over £100 each with hotel/parking/diesel costs, not to mention the faff factor coming home.

I'd like reccomendations on resorts/accomodation from you good people - have trawled the web of most of the usual suspects and look to be paying around £750-£800 for flights/chalet/lift pass etc so this is an idea on where we are; not low budget (though obviously cheaper would be great) but dont want to spend a fortune either!

Dunno if snow will be an issue at that time but assume we need something high (VT would be fine again but not many chalets)

Let the suggestions commence.....

Thanks in Advance!

Andy

Andy,

If you flew from Newcastle to Geneva on 20th March, with Easy Jet, it would cost you £144.96 return (excluding skis).
From there you have so many options.

Chamonix, Grand Massif, Portes de Soleil, La Clusaz and Grand Bornand - to name a few.
I would think all those resorts would still be fine in March. We drove through La Clusaz/Grand Bornand on 12th April last year and they were still skiing to the village - just about. The others should be fine.

If there's only 2 of you could you risk waiting and trying to fill the last couple of spaces in a chalet?


Dids

Thanks Dids

Hadn't thought of flying SqueazyJet - have always just booked a package (except for the time we got snowed in in Pas de La Casa, missed the flight by 24 hours and paid for it again to get home!!)

But that's a really good shout! - Most of the package people fly to Geneva from Toon so we're used to some long transfers to 3 Valleys etc

Late Booking should be fine - as long as we can get some kind of transfer included with the chalet (I'm on holiday so don't really want to self drive and have hassle with snow chains etc)

I'll have a look!

Thanks

Andy

Sounds like you have spent most of your time in France, why not try something different?

Zermatt is worth a look at and not as expensive as the reputation would suggest.

Hi Pablo

Have done a lot of skiing in various places: Folgaria,Sause,Pas de la Casa (x2),VDI,Kitz,Livigno,VT,Verbier and Killington so not stuck on France, just speak the language (a little) , know you can get Geneva flights from Newcastle etc

That said I had looked at Zermatt (they say you have to before you die don't they) and had mentally shortlisted it as the swiss franc is better value (comparative to the Euro) that it has been.

I've skied at Zermatt and we found it pretty expensive. Great Skiing though, we stayed at a hotel that was a bit of a Trek to the Ski lift (wish we'd stayed at the Best Western)

I can heartily recommend St Anton though ) Awesome skiing!

Thanks T1berious

Bloke in our chalet in Verbier reccomended St Anton to me last year but we wanted to go back to VDI so the missus could ski the Espace Killy after only being a beginner last time we went and not being able to get very far.

I'll put St Anton back on the list too!

Andy

Crans Montana, Saas-Fee, Chamonix, Flaine, and La Clusaz are all within easy reach of Geneva. Chamonix is only an hour away, and can be as budget or pricey as you want. Grand Montets normally closes in May. Most resorts in Switzerland can be reached by train and Postbus, so no hire car is needed. For Chamonix, there are lots of transfer companies shuttling clients to/from the airport.