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Ski Weekend

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Hi Clever Snowheads,
In previous years my son & I have done a week's holiday at Easter but next season the budget is going be tighter and so to avoid no snow at all I'm considering a 4 day trip. Despite traveling to a number of resorts in different countries I've no experience of a long weekend's skiing and I'm hoping for advice.

i'm considering the week after half term, probably book flights to Munich (i live in manchester so that limits my thursday-sunday options) and then nearer the time book accommodation in Ski Welt/Kitzbuhel area if the snow is good or travel to say Solden if the snow isn't so good. Does anyone have experience of late ish booking outside of ski weeks, do Austrian hotels take short bookings? Do Airbnb/Interhome take bookings for three nights? I know that area quite well and I'm happy to stay outside of resorts to keep the cost down.

Geneva is my other option with maybe a few days in PDS, in my experience i'd guess Austria to be a bit cheaper than PDS, is that fair? Are there places you can stay for less cash than say Morzine and still drive into the PDS of a morning?

Thanks very much in advance!
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@grumpygargoyle, the weekend after half term is probably still French holidays.

AirBnB take bookings for whatever the property owner wants to take.

Aosta e.g. Champoluc pretty easy from Geneva and many of the costs e.g. on mountain better vfm than say PDS.

Samoens or other GM villages might also be an option.
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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?
@under a new name, Thanks very much, I'll look at the resorts you mention. I'd forgotten about the French holidays being longer, i'll consider that too.
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I know Munich is good for flights but it is not always great for short transfers, if you only have a few days then you dont want to waste too many of them travelling. Assuming you get a hire car SkiWelt/Kitzbühel is not too far (Sölden is a fair drive). Fieberbrunn (for Saalbach Hinterglemm) is not much further. Accommodation should be reasonably easy to find, either use the tourist office websites (most act as an agency for local hotels & pensions) or try a German website www.hrs.de (it is in English too). If you are happy staying in a non skiing town eg Kufstein that should be easier and cheaper. Clearly the hotels and pensions will prefer full weeks if they can get them but especially nearer the time you should be able to get three or four nights. Can you get flights to Salzburg? The SkiAmade resorts have very short transfers from Salzburg, potentially you can be skiing 2 hours after landing
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Brilliant advice, I'll look into Saltburn too, thank you!
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I think there are only direct flights from Manchester to Salzburg at the weekends.
skyscanner.com is pretty helpful showing some transfer flights, and they are about £180 return which ain't too bad!

Let me know if I can help at all as I am based near Salzburg in Ski Amadé! wink
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
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@grumpygargoyle, Le Chable for Verbier? Try Airbnb for accommodation prices. Lift ticket not cheap but self-cater and it could be done surprisingly cheaply. It’s high so consider going later when there’s will be more free accommodation - places further down the valley will be even cheaper and if you have a car the Parking is free and access to the mountains is quick - 830m to 2200m in 18 mins.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
grumpygargoyle wrote:
Hi Clever Snowheads,
In previous years my son & I have done a week's holiday at Easter but next season the budget is going be tighter and so to avoid no snow at all I'm considering a 4 day trip.

As your not planning going during school holidays costs are likely to be lower, in my experience long weekends workout just about as expensive as a week (apart from lift pass and food). Of course if your son is still at school then fewer days off may be easier, otherwise short breaks mid week also tend to work out a bit cheaper then Thurs -Sunday.
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I had a great trip a couple of years ago at half-term to Nauders in Austria. It's in the West of Austria on the Italian border, so worked out about a 3hr drive from Munich. That was fine with me as with the flight times I had I wasn't going to be able to ski on the flying days anyway. Got a good hotel through Booking.com and it was a lovely little resort for a few days of skiing. Note that while you can find and book hotels via Booking.com or any of those types of websites the hotels usually prefer you to book direct with them. You pay the same but they get a few extra Euros.

Book a cheap hire car when you book your flights - it'll give you lots of flexibility about which resort you're going to and will probably be as cheap as a transfer to many resorts.

I think most Austrian hotels only take whole week bookings up until a few weeks ahead, at which point they'll take whatever they can get. There will be rooms available, certainly in the smaller resorts like Nauders, so don't book until you're sure about the snow conditions. Solden is my least favourite Austrian resort, so if you want high altitude in that part of Austria I'd go to Obergurgl instead. I know it's not a glacier but the snow conditions there are usually pretty similar to those in Solden.
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@grumpygargoyle, may I suggest flying to krakow in Poland and skiing in the tatras. We went at the end of February/early March this year and had a great time. We got a late Wednesday flight from Birmingham and a late one back on Sunday night.

Incidentally there are lots of flights from Manchester to the normal ski airports such as Geneva and Milan is an easy drive to gressoney and champoluc.
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https://www.hotel-desalpes.it this place is in Presolana and advertises on eBay, strangely, for flexible trips inc transfer, food, lift pass and ski hire. 45 minutes from Milan. I have always considered the area too small for me but not sure how it sits for a short break and your requirements (maybe similarly too small for you given some of the resorts you suggest or know). Reviews seem decent though.
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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.
We run a trip to Morgins in the Portes du Soleil in March..
http://www.insideoutskiing.com/holidays/morgins.html
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Thanks very much for all the suggestions, I'm gonna do some resort research and see what works from Manchester. Ta
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Don’t know if this helps hit when I was toying with the idea of trying to do the same found some decent looking options via Sunweb.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Fly to milan. Hire car and drive to cervinia.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@scotspikey, thanks for the suggestion. Sadly you can't get midweek flights from Manchester to Turin. It's a shame as Cervinia's food is great isn't it.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@grumpygargoyle, @scotspikey, suggested Milan not Turin and you can add Gressoney and Champoluc to your list. Easyjet flies every day.
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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?
Apologies, misread because I went via Turin. I'll check Milan options, thanks @scotspikey, @johnE,
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The cheapest I could get was 4 days in Chamonix, being 3.5 skiing days. Everything for £400. Fly early on Friday and return late on Monday. Accommodation was massively cheap, 20 euros/day for a bed in a shared room, few meters from Brevent. I’m considering doing more this 4 days long trip than a whole week, since can make most of my holidays.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Car hire from Milan ususally much cheaper than the alternatives.
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I tend to do my cheap midweekers with MountainSun Limited. Pick up from Geneva then chalet board and Espace Killy lift pass included. Also to les Arcs, La Plagne & La Rosiere. Using the Amex gives me enough Avios for cheap BA flights too. Okay not from Manchester but...

Stay in Saalfelden and access Zell am See, Maria Alm & Saalbach if you rent a car.

You might find a cheapie company for a week as good value as a weekender. Sunweb etc.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
+1 for mountain sun. I've stayed with them on a couple of occasions on short breaks. Good value/perfectly adequate accom for a short break and everything sorted (transfers/Lift pass/ski hire etc).
*disclaimer I worked for them for a couple of months one autumn up in Tignes
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
how about innsbruck?
there are free shuttle routes from major hotels (Ibis can be cheap!) to the bus station & more free shuttles to various resorts all within an hour.
The glacier will be open + you the option of getting on a train to Kitbuhel/Kirchberg, worgl, ellmau, etc.
Lots of hotel seem to do night packages with lift passes.
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@grumpygargoyle, how old is your son? For the budget conscious check Action Outdoors (UCPA). All inclusive - accommodation, food, equipment, instruction, (and transfers usually), in a hostel type environment.

If he’s under age 18, see family weeks, which are already available to book (but I’d be quick) https://www.action-outdoors.co.uk/winter/find-your-holiday/holiday-types/family-weeks/dates-and-prices

If he is over 18, you can wait until next years prices are published. They do great value full weeks as well as some short weeks.
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Try Hotel Rent in Megeve. It is cheap and cheerful and the resort that time of year Is fantastic. At an hour 15 Fromm geneva it really is a fabulous little resort for a weekend.

Alternatively stay in St. Gervais les Bains. Same access to ski fields, possibly cheaper.
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