 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm looking for a cheap holiday next year preferably ski in ski out. At the moment I'm between puy st Vincent with snowbizz or Claviere with Crystal.
Plus for Puy is it is really cheap to dine on the mountain and the ski school is great. The downside it there's not much skiing for me. Self catering is basic with terrible beds.
Claviere is a budget hotel but all inclusive. I have no idea what the skiing is like but looks like a lot more.
We don't necessarily need too much child care as the kids can now ski with us.
Any advice appreciated. We will be avoiding the French holidays at the beginning of March.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Flexon,
I'm assuming you've been to PSV before based on your comment on the beds. I can't offer advice on Claviere but we went to PSV in January this year for the first time and really enjoyed it .
I was worried about the amount of skiing available and posted a request for info - http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=2930131&highlight=first+family+holiday+snowbizz#2930131
Mostly recieved good advice on skiing with kids to be fair but the last few replies are related, in a positive light, to the skiing.
I hardly did any skiing compared to most years but had a great time with the kids all the same. I'd say for family skiing it's a good spot that caters to all levels although mostly intermediate. But there's still two short but challenging blacks and a couple of particularly nice wide, fast reds to sink your teeth into. There's some really good between the trees stuff there as well.
If you stay in the apartments at 1600 you literally have everything on your doorstep too - Shops, laundry, Ski hire, (Quiet) bars and Restaurants, Ski school and of course Pistes!
A big downside for us was getting there. We're in Newcastle but couldn't fly from there to Turin so had to go from Manchester - £20 supplement per person. Which meant driving down the night before to stay in a premier inn then getting up at daft o'clock the following morning. Driving to the jet parks car park, parking up and lugging an obscene amount of luggage onto a bus to the airport. Which with the fuel cost another £120, So when I say downside I mean utter ball-ache. 
I don't know if you'd have similar problems travelling from Glasgow?
I think if you weren't bothered about childcare or lessons, You can stay really cheaply there if you book independently. But then of course you'd forego the benefits of being with Snowbizz ie you then have the hassle of dealing with the company that runs the apartments and I believe they can be a pain.
Also the lift passes are really cheap and if you've been before they're even cheaper to recharge on-line.
I hope this helps in some way.
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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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@Graham Warren, it may not work out for you next time, but travelling to Turin from Newcastle via either Paris or Amsterdam has worked much better for us than driving to Manchester. Luggage on at NCL, off at Turin, and neither had a long connection time. It may not be an option with a snowbizz package of course.
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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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@Hells Bells,
Ahhh. I'll take a look at that option. Ta!
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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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Yes I've been to puy before. Manchester was a pain at that time for us. We fly from Manchester quite a lot but the early start means we did the premier inn.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Went to claviere 2007 and stayed in the crystal run hotel. Hotel was fine but was not impressed with claviere I'm sad to say. Lift system etc improved as soon as you crossed into France.
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We love puy and went several years until we were forced to go in school holidays when i believe it is hell. I think that although there aren't a huge amount of slopes, there aren't any traverses or cat tracks really, and the blacks are good and the off-piste is excellent - i would recommend adult classes to get more out of the place than just the pistes. last year we went to Sauze d'oulx which was really lovely, cheap mountain restaurants (with italian food) and lots of skiing. we rented a flat and self catered. you might look at sestriere as well, or montgenevre, but i don't know how ski-in-ski out you want.
we have also used a company called peak retreats to book self catering accommodation (you then have to book your own flights/car and i can see you like packages) in france and find they are excellent (we went EXTREMLRY CHEAPLY to La Norma which is probably too small for your tastes but they do other resorts).
Or (and this may be controversial) we booked an appartment in le Chable which is in the valley below Verbier. it was a 5 minute walk to the gondola, (we left our skis at the hire shop at the top of the gonldola so the walk wasn't too bad) and the kids got half price lift passes till quite old (unlike sauze). plus you get fantastic skiing (the restaurants weren't cheap but there was a family picnic room).
so all in, for your original question i would choose puy - maybe stay at 1800 and see if the beds are better up there?
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In the end I booked the crystal Langley hotel in Les 2 Alpes. I've been before years ago and decided I could live with the walk to the lift to have the glacier.
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