Mid Term Break 2011

I am just back from a wonderful week in Flaine :P. We normally go to France for large ski areas and ski-in, ski-out accommodation, usually Crystal club hotels.

However, a number of people in my group are anxious not to take the kids out of school next year and so we will be under pressure to travel during the mid-term break. We know this will be (much) more expensive :evil: and also more crowded :evil:.

However, I wonder can any J2Skiers recommend any decent resorts in Europe, preferably France, Austria or Switzerland, that will have relatively short lift queues even during this week or have any other ideas for taking the pain, financial or otherwise, out of the experience :?:

Wanderer, what dates, specifically? It might be workable for your part to head to a smaller Swiss resort, but only if your holiday period does not coincide with Carnaval (usually super peak weeks)

Bandit

Not sure of dates yet but Irish schools normally close for the same week as the UK schools and this is usually at the peak of French school holidays as well. THe extra demand on the TOs enables them to load an average of about €300 onto each package for this particular week while child discounts, etc, are often reduced or not available. I reckon it could cost me up to an extra €2,000 for a family of 2 adults and 2 kids to travel that week compared with, say, 2 weeks earlier :evil:

Thats why I am anxious to be creative in looking at alternatives that might not be attractive in other weeks.

I will have a look at Switzerland - I get the impression that it is not as badly hit by the mid-term madness :wink:

Wanderer, get your dates nailed 1st. Then have a look at sites like this..

http://www.feiertagskalender.ch/index.php

which will give you more info on the dates to avoid!

Perhaps a resort such as Crans Montana would give you the mileage you desire, but without the price tag! It's 2 hours 30 from Geneva, or fly to Sion for a 30 min transfer.

Hi Wanderer

http://www.francealacarte.com/ski_france.htm

this is a french booking agency based in Toulouse and I've always had good deals with them at half-term as they charge the local resort price not load it for school hols like the UK tour operators! Sylvie and Simon are fab they book the accomodation, lift passes and car hire and you just have to book some cheap flights.

Luckily I no longer have that problem so off to Val Cenis this Sat and have booked Flaine for next Jan, yippee!

Shazzo

Wanderer,
Why go at Feb Half term?
We go every Easter, Never had bad snow, very few queues and weather better for the kids.
We're off to Samoens in just over 3 weeks...been seeing everyone else go and come back several times, but it's something to look forward to.

Incidentally, it's our 4th trip with the kids to Grand Massif, worst was Feb HT...the slopes were crowded, found the place far too busy. The snow was rubbish too, but that was the bad year of 07, everywhere was the same.

I've heard it said that Italy doesn't suffer as much from the crowds in Feb tho.

Dids1 wrote:Wanderer,
Why go at Feb Half term?
We go every Easter, Never had bad snow, very few queues and weather better for the kids.
We're off to Samoens in just over 3 weeks...been seeing everyone else go and come back several times, but it's something to look forward to.

Incidentally, it's our 4th trip with the kids to Grand Massif, worst was Feb HT...the slopes were crowded, found the place far too busy. The snow was rubbish too, but that was the bad year of 07, everywhere was the same.

I've heard it said that Italy doesn't suffer as much from the crowds in Feb tho.

Easter is late next year though.....late april!

Snapzzz wrote:

Dids1 wrote:Wanderer,
Why go at Feb Half term?
We go every Easter, Never had bad snow, very few queues and weather better for the kids.
We're off to Samoens in just over 3 weeks...been seeing everyone else go and come back several times, but it's something to look forward to.

Incidentally, it's our 4th trip with the kids to Grand Massif, worst was Feb HT...the slopes were crowded, found the place far too busy. The snow was rubbish too, but that was the bad year of 07, everywhere was the same.

I've heard it said that Italy doesn't suffer as much from the crowds in Feb tho.

Easter is late next year though.....late april!

Oh yeah, we've already discussed this....Yes Easter is really late next year....