 Poster: A snowHead
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So due to school holiday restrictions, it looks like we may need to fork out the ludicrous amount to ski in Feb half term. I won't start on my opinion of the over inflated costs...!
However, looking at the Thursday prior to schools breaking up - so the 11th, it seems a fair bit cheaper if you 'self-plan'.
The question is: where is best to go with respect to transfer costs. Somewhere with plenty of beginner and intermediate slopes and lots of other things to do after skiing, which doesn't involve a bar. (One 12 year old)?
I was looking at Chamonix. Not too far from Geneva, and I have been there before and remember it been a fairly large town? This was about 8 years ago now though.
Other than this, does anyone else have any 'half-term' advice?
Thank you Snowheads!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Go to italy
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Or, if France is your preferred destination, go at easter
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@JanieS, yes go to Italy, it will be cheaper
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@JanieS,
You may find it difficult to book accommodation for non standard weeks at that time in France, it is getting towards high season. My own experience is that Switzerland is often better in hotels or B&B's. You can get to many Swiss resorts relatively easily from Geneva by Train and Post bus or hire car.
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@JanieS, Mürren for example has an ice rink, pool, sledgng is car free and rather pretty. Switzerland all in not necessarily so expensive...
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If you are doing a DIY trip then look for a resort which is "off the radar" for mainstream British. If you can find somewhere that is less popular you have a chance of avoiding the price inflation. Of course you then compromise on things like "how easy is it to reach resort" and "it's only small" and "they don't speak much English".
Everything is in degrees though and some of these places are on the radar for the British but not as much as better known places. I haven't been to all of these (but have been to most, and the others are on my list of places to visit) and someone who has real on the ground knowledge may come along and explain why some of these won't suit you. But have a look
Valloire
Valmeinier
Saint-Lary
Isola
Zugspitze
Bad Gastein
Ski Amade generally, preferably one of the smaller resorts with links to others
Maria Alm
Nassfeld
Kronplatz (Olang or San Vigilio)
Zakopane
Jasna
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Fri 9-10-15 15:39; edited 2 times in total
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We were hit with this dilemma last Feb half term after a last minute change of plans after the festive season which meant we travelled with just our 12 year old(The 15 year old went on a language trip to Spain) and booked late.
We plonked for Les Carroz.
The peak Saturday transfer from Geneva to resort only took us 90 mins with Go Massif. Decent eating places ( but we did book ahead for the week when we arrived) Ice skating, swimming if you wanted something to do early evening. Entertainment on in the village. I would say the area was good for beginners and intermediates. We normally ski Val d'sere/Tignes/3V and the odd trip to Colorado and take 3 trips a year and do still prefer those area's but we enjoyed the trip. The short transfer was a bonus, we liked the wide pistes and we didn't find the lift queues a problem, we've seen worse at Easter.
I was expecting a nightmare of a week but was pleasantly surprised.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Wow thanks for the replies. Murren and Les Carroz look nice and that's a good idea @JohnHSmith about the less well known resorts. Your list is really helpful and I'm going to have a proper look through them later.
Is there anything else I should be taking into consideration?
I have looked at Italy - Passo Tonale looks nice, but I couldn't fathom the airport / transfers. Will have another go later!
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Just don't understand this Lemming-like obsession with France when Italy is cheaper, has less Brits, better food & skiing that's just as good. I booked BA flights from Heathrow to Milan going out on Friday before half-term (which is an Inset day in many places) & returning on the Sunday of half term for £570 return for 4 of us, car hire for medium sized car was £140 for 9 days. Have booked an Airbnb stopover on the way to the resort & on the Sat night close to Milan airport where we've booked a hotel for 70 euros pppn half-board for 7 nights & 8 days of guaranteed skiing! This year we're going to Sauze D'oulz but last year it was Courmayeur & the year before that Gressoney.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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ps Passo Tonale great for beginners & intermediates but very little off-piste. Best to hire a car and drive up yourself which is 2 hours from Milan (Bergamo/Ryanair is the nearest airport)
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I've not been but from other reports on snowheads Passo Tonale is one of the less attractive Italian resorts and can be bleak. Don't assume that French resorts unknown to most Brits will be quiet. I have an apartment in one but never stay for the four French school holiday weeks. The Paris weeks are particularly manic.
If you fly to turin and rent a car you can transfer yourselves easily to quite a few good places.
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Parts of Austria and Italy have more mixed visitors (locals, German Dutch etc) not a huge UK presence. If you can miss their holidays you may be better off than a majority Brit resort. For example Westendorf is very Dutch, miss their holidays and it is quieter. It is probably a bit small for you for non ski activities. The best approach might be to look at places which are NOT in the main UK TO brochures.
Tirol resorts are in easy reach from Munich or (if you can get flights) Innsbruck or Salzburg. Train is a viable option for many Tirol resorts, at least to miss the motorway madness out of Munich on changeover days. You might find a less known village within a ski area (Brixen in the Skiwelt for example rather than Soll where the TOs all go)
Italy is harder to sort transfers and a hire car might be the answer, but flights to Turin/ Verona etc are not "ski flights" so may be cheaper. You can come down from the North (Innsbruck) or up from Italy (Verona, Turin even Venice). there are some shared shuttle companies around but I haven't used any.
+1 for "not France" Big name french resorts are great in early Jan and Easter/ late season when the altitude really counts, in Feb the snow should be good everywhere so it pays to do something different.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Rather than choosing resorts you may need to go with what you can get at this stage. Start with finding a flight that's not too crazy expensive, you may not have much choice here. Look at slightly outer airports like Lyon, Milan and munich then see if you can match it up with an apartment or hotel. Very few apartments will do a Thursday to Thursday. Last year we found an air bnb in sauze for a Friday. You could stay near the airport on the Thursday night and head up to resort on a Friday? Car hire doesn't go up in half term so transfers aren't the biggest issue. Last year we paid £90 from Turin.
Good luck
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Poster: A snowHead
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@SlipnSlide, why are you outraged? It's supply and demand. Free market economics. And it's now far too late to look for cheap Saturday flights at half term.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Another vote for Italy. Flights to Milan are often cheaper than other ski destinations. Drive from there to Sauze/Claviere/Montgenevre or Champoluc/Gressoney is easy enough. Hotels, lift passes (and most other things) are cheaper in Italy.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I don't think Italian hotels are cheaper than French ones. Not convinced about lift passes, either. But a coffee or a plate of pasta and sauce, yes. But even if prices were a bit higher I'd pay to avoid lift queues of ten minutes and more.
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Don't know where you're flying from but it's worth checking out the prices for flights to Munich. I've just got a good deal on flying there the Friday before half term. Got a nice hotel in a small resort (Nauders) and now I just need to sort out my hire car.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Last minute half-term weeks (and now is last niute to be looking) are probably best done by car.
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OP
I would really consider Austria this year. I think your half term dates are the same as mine and there are few countries which are on holiday that week. The french are, but they tend to stay in France.
Only one small region of Germany and two of Austria will be off.
I'm hoping to have the place to myself!
If you would consider driving, you can really cut costs. Our family holiday will cost £2100 in half term. That's two adults and two children, including kids lessons (5 full days), equipment hire, lift passes (6 days), insurance, aa cover, self catering accommodation, two over night stops, Eurotunnel and petrol.
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@Hells Bells, +1. Driving is now the most cost-effective way of getting to resorts for half term. But might be some affordable flights if you can be creative about avoiding Saturday flights.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Or go at Christmas or easter. So many people have a half term fixation that high prices are inevitable. And in many places, busy slopes and lift queues too. Not to mention silly traffic, especially if there are a few flakes of snow falling.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Thank goodness my kids are way beyond school age.
I feel so sorry for parents of young kids today. Either condemned to pay a huge premium for all holidays or risk the displeasure of our nanny state.
Ridiculous.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@emwmarine, I don't disagree. One solution would be to have regional half-terms, not unlike the French (and others). That way the holiday business does not have to make almost all of its annual profit in a single week which could leave to slightly lower prices but a longer peak pricing season.
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@Snowsartre, have you looked at the actual procedures for your LEA? they have to publish details and the small print is actually reassuring in most cases.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Snowsartre wrote: |
| @emwmarine, I don't disagree. One solution would be to have regional half-terms, not unlike the French (and others). That way the holiday business does not have to make almost all of its annual profit in a single week which could leave to slightly lower prices but a longer peak pricing season. |
That does sound like a very good idea.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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February half term is only a problem for the small minority of affluent families who consider it the prime time for a ski holiday. Taking children with an otherwise good attendance record out of school for ten sessions (a week) is rarely going to result in a fine let alone prison but there's nothing like a good old scare story, is there?
Driving at half term is no more expensive than driving any other time and accommodation prices vary. In France they are high because of the (staggered) French holidays. There are probably Austrian and Italian places with much lower prices. It just needs some thought and forward planning.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@pam w, True enough - we seem to get plenty of bookings during term time from families with school-age children. I suppose it's a question, not only of how law-abiding you want to be, but how well you get on with the head of your school.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
Taking children with an otherwise good attendance record out of school for ten sessions (a week) is rarely going to result in a fine let alone prison but there's nothing like a good old scare story, is there?
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Pam,
I agree with the point as far as children are concerned, if fact my eldest brought home a letter from her school which IMV was pretty much designed to scare parents into ensuring they dont take their children out in term time and I am awaiting a response to my email back to the Head.
However one point that isnt discussed is those who have no choice but to take the school holidays for other reasons, in my case the OH is a teacher. Yes her (our) choice of profession, but that doesn't take away that a weeks half term skiing can cost £2k plus per person.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
Where do you go that costs £2000 per person? The does seem too much.
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Somewhere very nice.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| pam w wrote: |
| @SlipnSlide, why are you outraged? It's supply and demand. Free market economics. And it's now far too late to look for cheap Saturday flights at half term. |
I'm aware of the law of supply and demand but still find the flight only prices shocking. Here's what I don't get -
If you go on to Iglu and look for say apartment package holidays to France over half term there are a number of holidays available in decent resorts priced under £800. The same holidays a week earlier or a week later are priced around £530. And in January or March they're cheaper still, around £450. (these are just typical examples but you get the idea)
So the half term price is more expensive as you might expect, but its no more than double the price of other weeks.
So before checking flight prices I'd expected a similar pattern. i.e. the half term flights to be maybe double the cost of other weeks. They aren't double though or even triple. In some cases the cost of flights at half term is up to TEN TIMES the price of other weeks! Why is the price of flights so drastically increased for half term compared with full holidays when presumably both would be subject to similar supply and demand factors?
It also begs the question who in their right minds would pay over £700 for just a return easyjet flight when they can get a full half term package including flights, transfer and accommodation for a similar price? 
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@ansta1, Although we're never in a rush and prefer to take a couple of days over it, we have a number of friends, who are in a similar position to you and own apartments in Saalbach. They seem to be accepting (I was going to say 'happy', but perhaps not the best choice of word, and 'resigned' is too negative) of a day's journey by car, at the start and the end of the holiday. If you get an early start and share the driving, it needn't be too much of an ordeal, especially if you allow time for a couple of stops. It's about 700 miles from the Channel ports and practically all motorway. An apartment at half term will not cost much more (if at all) than at any other time of the high season, and all the other incidental costs will be the same, so it should be doable for around £700 each.
Obviously anyone who insists on flying, and who cannot or will not flout the law regarding school holidays, needs to think laterally - check Skyscanner for flights as far in advance as possible, consider flying to less popular airports (e.g. for Austrian resorts Linz, Graz, Memmingen) and then hiring a car, and also consider Christmas and Easter, when flights can be very reasonably priced (we know a family who have just arranged flights for the w/c 19/03/16, the first week of the Easter school holidays, for around £110 return each, B'ham to Salzburg.
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| Quote: |
| > we know a family who have just arranged flights for the w/c 19/03/16, the first week of the Easter school holidays, for around £110 return each, B'ham to Salzburg. |
That might have something to do with the fact that most holidays start the week afterwards, luckily for them!!
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| torquil wrote: |
| Quote: |
| > we know a family who have just arranged flights for the w/c 19/03/16, the first week of the Easter school holidays, for around £110 return each, B'ham to Salzburg. |
That might have something to do with the fact that most holidays start the week afterwards, luckily for them!! |
My son's Easter holidays don't start until 2nd April, 2 weeks later, (a week after Easter itself). By which time most of the snow in the Alps will probably have melted! 
Odd that Easter school holidays seem to be staggered between different areas like this (even though Easter itself is on the same date for everyone!) but half term is always the same week for everyone.
Surely it would make sense for those schools which have an early Easter holiday to have February half term a week earlier and those with a later Easter to have half term a week later which would then hopefully give more reasonable half term ski prices.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Norway works out well at half term too, prices don't seem to change there. I think last year we did it for around £700pp inc passes/food everything. Not super-cheap for term time prices but pretty good for half term. Flights need to be booked early though. I'll be there again this year for half term - no lift queues, quiet pistes, good snow, very family friendly small resorts.
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FAQ
Same for other airports like Geneva etc.
