Latest posts for the topic "Short break ski - who to book with?"

Short break ski - who to book with?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:56:54 GMT

We're looking at a Thursday to Sunday trip but having googled for options, it appears that there aren't very many operators. Those that do only tend to go to a handful of French resorts (Morzine, Les Gets, Chamonix) and the Austrian options are just stupid expensive.

Can anyone point me in a direction please!

Short break ski - who to book with?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:08:46 GMT

Coop wrote:We're looking at a Thursday to Sunday trip but having googled for options, it appears that there aren't very many operators. Those that do only tend to go to a handful of French resorts (Morzine, Les Gets, Chamonix) and the Austrian options are just stupid expensive.

Can anyone point me in a direction please!

Hello matey. We've done a short break, self drive to Serre Chevalier, booked accommodation online, and booked our ferry crossing separately. Seems to me thats the best way to do a short one.
Theres a weekend company that do coach trips quite cheap if you can handle the travel, and ski2 do breaks of any length to Champoluc but they're not cheap.
Other than that, I think you're right, the choice is quite limited.

Re:Short break ski - who to book with?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:55:21 GMT

do you need a ski company? why not just book some cheap flights and hire a car. there are loads of apartments available. i know of one in st gervais les bains which will take weekends if available, beautiful village and lots of skiing

Re:Short break ski - who to book with?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:45:54 GMT

http://www.igoski.co.uk/ weekend ski breaks another one which we have done independant flights to Geneva taxi through to Courmayeur Italy plenty of hotels very reasonable will do short breaks

Re:Short break ski - who to book with?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:34:50 GMT

Tried those guys but the earliest they go is 15th Jan. Due to work constraints, we can only do the first week in Jan.

I have a couple of options now, one in Les Gets and another in ADH.

Re:Short break ski - who to book with?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:30:29 GMT

I've done a few short breaks - to Samoens (France) and Foppolo (Italy) and both DIY and very successful, but the most memorable by far was to Alagna in Italy.
we stayed here - http://www.alagna.co.uk/10--lode-3.html
It was the most stunning place to stay, the atmosphere was amazing, we could watch the snow falling as we lay in our beds.

We flew to Milan, Malpensa (probably Easy Jet) and hired cars.

Restaurants in Alagna lovely and skiing great.

Dids

Re:Short break ski - who to book with?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:40:43 GMT

Hi Coop,
you could go for the Gatwick/Munich flight. Choose Wednesday night, 18.30, or an early Thursday flight. Late Sunday flight, so 4 days skiing, c/w 6 days when you book a package holiday.
Train to the Alps, choose fom skiwelt, kitzbuhel, Wildschonau, Alpbach. Closest the better, so probably the skiwelt, Scheffau or Soll. So train to Kufstein.
Then taxi, or pick-up.

Flght costs ~ GBP29+GBP52+ GBP23 baggage = GBP104
Train about 50 Eu return = GBP44
Taxi 40 Eu (check), divd by 2 = GBP18
B&B, 28 Eu pppn, 4 nghts, GBP100

Total GBP266

There are places that would do under 50 Eu HB pn, and also pick you up, offsetting the taxi costs.

I don't know what you consider a high cost in Austria, so maybe this is not a good solution.

Re:Short break ski - who to book with?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:59:38 GMT

Most agencies prefer to organise bookings Sat-Sat for simplicity's sake but as an owner, I would say that there are more apartments available weekday-to-weekday than you might think. The problem is persuading the agency to ask the owner whether they're prepared to do this. The big international agencies are pretty inflexible, but if you choose yourself a particular resort, you could try emailing or calling the smaller agencies - you might eventually be lucky. A lot of owners reserve off-peaks weeks in a block for personal use, but will travel weekdays, leaving 3-4 days at each end with the place empty.

Re:Short break ski - who to book with?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:22:49 GMT

I'd agree with the others who recommend going independent. Ideally you want a very early morning flight to a "ski" airport to enable you ski for a few hours on arrival day and a late night return to allow you ski most of departure day. Obviously, this works best with resorts close to the airport. Generally, its best to hire a car to maximise ski time but many resorts can be reached by train as well but this is less flexible.

Traditional resorts are more likely to have accommodation that will take you for a few days.

I've been doing it for a few years to Soll via Munich. If you are flexible on dates and accommodation it can work out quite inexpensive.

Good luck with your searches :wink:

Re:Short break ski - who to book with?

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:41:05 GMT

Good shout Wanderer.Car cost would be GBP104 (less Quidco 7%) + winter tyres, say GBP32, ttl GBP131, plus gas, GBP155. That is more than train/taxi of GBP124, but at the travel times would be quick, and offer more flexibility.

Re:Short break ski - who to book with?

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:28:51 GMT

Taken some good advice here and going independent.

Got a good deal on a chalet in Les Gets (GBP400 between 8 of us), flights to Geneva about GBP80 and then a couple of hundred for lift pass/ski hire.

Just need to speak with the bank manager in anticipation of the (supposedly) ridiculous French prices...

Re:Short break ski - who to book with?

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:06:34 GMT

It might be worth going independantly, hotels will not take bookings for short breaks until a few weeks before when they need to fill their beds.