Latest posts for the topic "Cheap Drive ski holiday"

Cheap Drive ski holiday

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:51:41 GMT

Now the credit crunch has come along I have been told that we need to be less extravagant on our next winter holiday. So I thought that we might drive to a resort. Can anyone suggest a resort with a reasonable snow record, for a family of intermidiate skiers. I would prefer to drive the least distance possible!!
I know tall order :shock:

Re:Cheap Drive ski holiday

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:31:34 GMT

Welcome to the forum :D Driving to resort does not generally represent big savings over cheap lo-co flights with coach/rail transfers. Drive to get the flexibility a car will give you, so consider basing your family at the base of several ski areas, for bargain accommodation. Most of the Northern French Alps will take you 8-9 hours driving from Calais (for example), so you may also need to budget for an overnight stop, if you are the only driver.

Cheap Drive ski holiday

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:56:27 GMT

Mark c wrote:Now the credit crunch has come along I have been told that we need to be less extravagant on our next winter holiday. So I thought that we might drive to a resort. Can anyone suggest a resort with a reasonable snow record, for a family of intermidiate skiers. I would prefer to drive the least distance possible!!
I know tall order :shock:

Bandit is spot on it does not normally work out any cheaper driving to the Alps unless the travel costs are spilt by the car passengers, the nearest resorts are the ones an hour or so from Geneva Morillon, La Clusaz, there are many more...We travel with kids so we always have an overnight stop ( More expense ) plus Channel tunnel, tolls, petrol, accommodation and lift passes the kids lessons for a weeks skiing we do not get much change out of 2500K. You could skim some money off that cost with cheaper accommodation as we do like a bit off space.
Have a look and see if the TO's can do it any cheaper, Good luck and let us know if you can beat 2500k 8)

Re:Cheap Drive ski holiday

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:33:04 GMT

must be pointed out GBP2500 is outside term holidays! that price would be excellent for 4 in feb half term!

Re:Cheap Drive ski holiday

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:41:04 GMT

That's a tricky one, but as we always go in school holidays we find it's cheaper to self drive and self cater.
We too area family of intermediates so appreciate your needs. If we didn't go in school holidays I would go with a tour operator on a late deal. But we can't as kids are in crucial years.

As you'll have a car you could stay a little out of the centre of a resort and drive to the slopes. We stayed in Praranger, a little out of Les Menuires in 2008, and it was much cheaper than staying in the centre.

The Grand Massif is not too bad a drive, especially Morillon & Samoens, which are very close to the motorway.

This year we went to Les Saisies and got a family lift pass which was reduced by 10%, this was because it was Easter though and not all runs were open. It was still good snow, so we were lucky. The drive there was good and took 10 hours from Calais.

We usually drive to resort without a stop, but stop overnight on the way home. Formule 1 this year was 80euros for 2 rooms, incl breakfast.
Shop around for ferry crossings, ours were a total of GBP60.00 return. Out with Sea France and back with Norfolk line.

Also, we've found if you can get a Sunday changeover the roads will be almost empty, at least they were at Easter this year. But, of course it will mean you will probably need to take Monday off so may not work for everyone.

I could give you some catering tips if you self catering, but I run the risk of being very boring!

Good luck,
Dids

Re:Cheap Drive ski holiday

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:08:28 GMT

swskier wrote:must be pointed out GBP2500 is outside term holidays! that price would be excellent for 4 in feb half term!

Right, I would never ski at half term, for obvious reasons :(

Re:Cheap Drive ski holiday

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:18:05 GMT

Hi,

I agree with the above, driving from the UK is fine but if you are the only driver a stop over night halfway or so is advisable ,on the cost side depending on where you are travelling from and to you could easily cover 1500 miles+ in a round trip and fuel in france is now around GBP1.30p - GBP1.45p per litre or there abouts :(, ferry crossings are around GBP50 - GBP80 i think and the tolls could be around GBP70 return (unless you use the toll free roads).

On the other hand return flights might come in between GBP40 - GBP65 per person (again this would depend on the week you choose in respect to the rip off of going during school holidays), and a weeks car hire from an airport for about GBP120 - GBP170 for a week (again much more during school holidays) + fuel.

I suppose its just a matter of weighing up which resort ,catered half board or full, or self catered
and how you choose to get there.

In these times I think holday companies and tour operators are missing out on potential business by hiking prices during school holidays in the misguided notion it will help their profits, offering slightly cheaper holidays would increase bookings and profits would remain the same or go up slightly.....

All the best

jon. :D

Re:Cheap Drive ski holiday

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 05:06:34 GMT

swskier wrote:must be pointed out GBP2500 is outside term holidays! that price would be excellent for 4 in feb half term!

By the way there is only three in my family... :shock:

Re:Cheap Drive ski holiday

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:31:40 GMT

If you look at flight prices NOW for geneva they're not that bad. Ditto car rentals. It all comes down to personal choice and so forth and some posters here are staunch advocates of the driving option but I would spend a few minutes thinking about the time/cost comparisons of getting somewhere like Portes de Soleil by plane/transfer or hire car compared with driving. Incidentally there are a few good websites that will give you an idea of toll and fuel costs for specific journeys - Mappy isn't bad.

The tyranny of higher prices in school hols/half terms is another matter... Good luck!

Re:Cheap Drive ski holiday

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:15:14 GMT

GBP2500 is a lot to spend for a family of 3 and I envy you Ian having that amount available.

What I would say is if you are thinking of going in school holidays (and I too would avoid Feb half term like the plague) then I think it would be cheaper to drive. The petrol, tolls etc are still the same, ferry prices very little more (if at all) and although the accommodation is more it would still be worth your while to drive.

Out of school holidays then there's probably not much in it. And self drive is hard going.
The cost is our reason for doing it for the last 5 years.

Re:Cheap Drive ski holiday

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:27:03 GMT

Dids1 wrote:GBP2500 is a lot to spend for a family of 3 and I envy you Ian having that amount available.

What I would say is if you are thinking of going in school holidays (and I too would avoid Feb half term like the plague) then I think it would be cheaper to drive. The petrol, tolls etc are still the same, ferry prices very little more (if at all) and although the accommodation is more it would still be worth your while to drive.

Out of school holidays then there's probably not much in it. And self drive is hard going.
The cost is our reason for doing it for the last 5 years.

I spend a tad more on accommodation as there are three under 10's in the party who need a touch more space, but as I have said before it is cheaper to travel with the TO's if you're not car sharing 8)

Re:Cheap Drive ski holiday

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:18:58 GMT

Tom Wontner wrote:If you're planning to drive, you could save yourself more money by staying just out of resort and using your car to get to the ski lifts. This is what many French people do and it saves them alot of money.

Good idea, but you can't beat ski in ski out.... :D :D

Re:Cheap Drive ski holiday

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:19:49 GMT

Thanks for all your replies.

Unfortunately we also have to go in school holiday time but there are only three of us, and two of us can drive. We are only 1 hour from Portsmouth so thought that may be a good place to hop over the channell otherwise it's a couple of hours + to Dover. I will try some of the web sites mentioned and look at the resorts.

We normally ski Switzerland, which I have found the lift passes etc slightly expensive!!

Thanks again

Mark

Re:Cheap Drive ski holiday

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:17:07 GMT

Mark c wrote:

We normally ski Switzerland, which I have found the lift passes etc slightly expensive!!

Mark

I guess that the prices all depend on where you choose to ski in Switzerland. For example a 13 day ticket covering 220km of slopes where I tend to go is around 400sfr = @ GBP220.

Verbier/Zermatt/Davos etc will be more expensive. A 13 day ticket for Zermatt only will cost 625sfr next winter. Bigger area, more facilities, smarter hotels etc.