Should I go to Switzerland?

If you have to ask the price........ If your based in the UK then you will most likely find Switzerland considerably more expensive than the rest of the Alps. One of reasons for this is that since 2007 the Pound has lost 40% of its value against the Swiss franc, whereas it has 'only' lost 23% of its value against the Euro. In spite of this I think that the prices here aren't much different to those in French resorts such as Courchevel and Val d'Isère. The large resorts are always packed at New Year, the locals like to celebrate New Year in a big way. Last year there was an announcement on local radio asking people not to go to Saas Fee as it was full to bursting point.

Should I go to Glenshee?

No!!!! Too expensive!!!!

Switzerland is more expensive than France and if price is your only criteria then I'd probably go for Italy. However, the price difference between France and CH can be minimised. As with anywhere, going to a 4* hotel in the New Year won't be cheap, and an on-piste chalet in a premier resort like Courcheval 1850 won't cost any less than one in central Verbier. Go in the school holidays anywhere and you'll be queuing.
You can mimimise cost by going self-catering in an apartment and in that case, Switzerland can be pretty price equal in terms of car hire, accommodation and catering costs. You will still pay more for a ski pass, however.
But why would you go to CH, rather than France? Well, in the last two years, resorts like the Swiss Four Valleys have seen more French skiers, as the Swiss have pegged the CHF to the Euro. What makes these French visitors expatriate is, I suspect, that all other thing being equal, Swiss resorts are less crowded than French and you simply spend more time skiing as a result. I rarely queue very much in Switzerland and I've become so accustomed to the relatively open slopes and lack of queues that I simply couldn't bear to go back to any of the French resorts I skied previously, where I've had to spend ages being elbowed in long queues just to connect or get home.
And to answer the comment about the Médran queue in Verbier - we did this on our first year there, before we realised it was quicker to use the Mayentzet or Savoleyres Sud first thing.

andyoneil wrote:

Tony_H wrote:I want to go back to Verbier, I really enjoyed it there.

Me too but it does fail on your criteria of lift queues Tony - worst waits I've had were the mornings in Verbier

That said it was New Year so I'd be willing to give it another go

I was there end of March and there were maybe 5 minute queues to get up the Medran but that was because we were up in the far reaches of resort and had to bus down to Medran, thus missing my usual first lift timing.

Up on the mountain, the only queues were waiting for a big cable car, usual anywhere in the world.

I wouldnt say I found any issue with queuing in Verbs.
However, I wouldnt go new year or any other main holiday week so thats got a lot to do with it.

I wouldn't normally go New Year either but the fates conspired against me that week

I'm sure that queues are not that bad generally but, speaking as I found, they were then which gave me pause.

Equally the home run down the Medran was scarily busy at close of play with the usual mix of beginners and idiots who should know better but that's a different topic. Choice of resort wont stop you getting idiots!

I've only skied Verbier, I'd return there like a shot. Fabulous ski area, it could do with a few lift upgrades but that's not a big enough negative to put me of.

Doesn't have to be too expensive. We are paying under £850 for flights, accommodation, guide, lift passes and meals over New Year (six day holiday, five days skiing). We had tom arrange flights and transfers and are staying in a scout hostel (double rooms) so a bit of work and pretty basic but we will have some great skiing. We spent the same to ski in Borovets last Christmas.