expertise needed

Hi guys. I've never been skiing in europe before, and we're looking to book a self drive ski holiday in february. Which country/resort might be best for some relaxed skiing, less queing. Since being ill,i cant handle much apre-ski to be honest, so that is not much of an issue. One skier is pretty good and i'm intermediate i guess. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

fallscanbefun wrote:Hi guys. I've never been skiing in europe before, and we're looking to book a self drive ski holiday in february. Which country/resort might be best for some relaxed skiing, less queing. Since being ill,i cant handle much apre-ski to be honest, so that is not much of an issue. One skier is pretty good and i'm intermediate i guess. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to J2ski :D February can be a busy month for school holidays, so decide dates carefully. I would suggest avoiding any of the mega ski stations in the French Tarentaise around this time, as it will be very busy.
Gather some Tour Ops brochures, and see where they go, then avoid those places. You'll have a car,so it's easy to pick small ski areas that don't have need coach a park the size of Wembley at the entrance ) You'll also save money on skiing, and have a more authentic experience.

Thanks for the reply. Some good info there.

You dont say where you are starting from or whether you intend travelling around. If you are going from UK or Ireland and are happy to stick with one resort, it might be just as easy to fly.

As regards countries, Austria is probably the most authentic ski destination overall in Europe (possibly Switzerland is similar but tends to be quite a bit more expensive). France is great for skiing but a lot of the resorts can be grey concrete monstrosities and a bit soulless. Italy is very laid back with some lovely resorts but snow cover can be a bit of an issue. These are sweeping assumptions and all have lovely cute resorts if you can find them. Best approach is to do some more research and come back with more specific requests for info.

Haha, i did forget to say where I will be driving from. Must be the english way to assume everyone knows who we are, haha. I was looking at Austria today, and thanks for the heads up on Switzerland poss being more expensive. The missus doesn't ski so dont want her spending a fortune.

French half-term is from the 12th feb to 12th March so avoid France as the prices are sky high. British half-term is from 19th -26th feb so avoid popular resorts with the Brits.

You will get a genuine experience in Austria, and If you have a car can combine culture as well. For a change you can also cross into Northern Italy quite easily. Great food and quite possibly cheaper.

Volf