Airport Transfers

Hi all,
I'm hoping some of you can offer some info.
I have always booked a package through one of the larger package tour operators. Main reason for this is because I live in NE England and Newcastle is the closest airport. The problem is there are not many scheduled flights from Newcastle to the various ski areas (there are some, but not many and destinations are limited). So I was considering making up my own trips by booking flights/hotel etc myself. The problem is always transfers from airport to resort. I could always fly from Leeds/Bradford, Manchester, Edinburgh or Glasgow if need be, although this does involve additional travel costs.
Anyway, what I'm looking for is some tips on transfers that don't add a fortune onto the costs. There would normally just be myself and my better half traveling and ideally we don't want long transfer times (up to 2 hours is fine). We are both intermediate skiers (Reds/Blacks) and prefer resorts with large ski areas so we have plenty of variation. Also we take our own skis, the package tour company currently charge £35 for ski carriage (total for both ways), I have heard that some scheduled flights charge £50 each way.
So, over to you guys, any tips on good resorts that can be reached at a reasonable cost would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I would go for Geneva. bags of airlines go there and there are lots of places open to you from there. Aosta Valley, Chamonix, 3V, Morzine, La Clusaz, as well as some Swiss resorts. The list is almost endless. There are lots of transfer co at the airport all geared for the ski trade. For instance the Aostaexpess/morzine express co ( there are bags of others too) do MorZine for 30 Euros each way door to door, 48 Euros to La Thuile. Pick non school hols if poss and you can get great deals. I tend to use Trip advisor and or the TO's to get a feel/cost of the Hotels and book independantly. Savings can be high but do your homework because the TO are on such small margins they may be able to do better than you as they bulk buy
Good Luck...or come with the J2Ski mob to where ever we go! -)

Cant really too much more to what Baldy has said :thumbup:

Munich and Zurich have fairly easy train links to resorts in Austria or Switzerland. For example you can get to Soll from Munich by train in less than 2 hours. St Anton from Zurich takes a little longer but a great resort.

I have just finished planning a diy ski trip to Sauze D,Oulx. Which worked out to be a good price until you put transfers into the equation. In the end it was cheaper to book via a tour operator.
However next year I'm going to to travel by train which only takes an hour longer than flying but no extra for taking skiing equipment and no expensive transfer . The train goes to Oulx which is only ten min from sauze. So although the train is more expensive once you consider transfer and extra travel costs for skis it's about the same

Hi DougR,
If you want to come with us on the J2Ski group holiday to Sauze on 11th January 2015, Crystal are doing flights from Newcastle for a total price of £429 including flights, transfers, and half board accommodation in the hotel Sauze. There's one room left.

http://www.crystalski.co.uk/search/ac.18

But other than that, if you still want to go DIY you could look at chalets and hotels that have airport transfers as an optional extra.

For example, I was looking at this hotel in Chamonix the other day when someone was looking for a venue for a Ski Stag weekend, and they do transfers from Geneva for 32-50 euros each way, right to the hotel door.

http://www.verthotel.com/airport-transfers

And when we stayed in the Bonjour chalet in Tignes and went DIY they did an optional airport transfer from Geneva for £66 return.

I have bought my return train tickets St Pancras to Oulx for the group holiday in Sauze for £117 and the bus from Oulx to Sauze only costs 10 euros because it's only about 10 minutes away. However, I can see that going by train wouldn't be a great option for you because you live near Newcastle!

Best of luck with finding somewhere, and I hope you have a great holiday :)

Another option from Zurich is the Arlberg Express coach to St. Anton or Lech.