Scotland for a cheeky weekend or short break?

A snowHead

I posted this in response to some comments in another thread, but it's really going way of topic so will start a new one!

Even from the SE (perhaps more so than other parts of the South) don't rule Scotland out for a cheeky weekend or short mid-week trip, esp if it's a drop of a hat I need to slide itch and the weather gods are smiling situation! The ScotRail Caledonian Sleeper is a largely untapped resource for this purpose, but it's possibilities are not lost on the climbing world (from experience in the lounge bar at any rate... Laughing

).

Obviously it's only October so this is a short notice price comparison that isn't a fully fledged winter one, as EasyJet aren't flying to several winter destinations atm, so I choose Vienna airport for the example. The dates used were of this week to get short term prices and based on setting off from Central London:

The mission was a 2 day short break at the destination on Wed & Thursday, travelling Tuesday afternoon or evening and back on Friday.

Pricing up this using Vienna as an example. Outward flight was at noon on Tuesday, return on Friday was in to Gatwick at 5.10pm.

Full cost of flights including taxes, booking fee and 1 set of skis (assuming you can stuff everything in the ski bag/hand luggage) was £404.74.

The cheapest hotel that came up on the EasyJet site for Vienna was £72.38 per night single room, so used that to price accommodation at £217.13 for 3 nights.

Priced car hire at £126.73 for an economy model (suggested model was a fiat 500, will your skis fit?).

Finally chuck in £20 for two advance singles for the Gatwick Express.

All told for travel and accommodation (excluding ski pass and spending cash) the total is £768.60, requiring you give up Tuesday and Friday for travel, so 4 days off work for 2 skiing.

However, the Snowgods and Weather gods are smiling on the Central Highlands, so what about the ScotRail Caledonian Sleeper?

A basic super off-peak anglo-Scottish return is £131. Based on this ticket with appropriate supplements the ticket price would be as follows:

Seated Sleeper Return: £131 return
Berth in Shared Cabin: £207 return
Solo Cabin Return: £239 return
Seat out / Solo Back: £185

Let's base this on the solo cabin both ways, push the boat out a bit! Departing at 21.15hrs on the Tuesday, should be possible for a large number without time of work on Tuesday. Arrives back in London at 7.47am on Friday (or 6.40 if you use an Inverness Edinburgh train to connect with the lowland sleeper from Edinburgh).

Travelling overnight means you only require 1 nights accommodation. A single room with full breakfast at the Cairngorm Hotel across the road from Aviemore Station is £85 on Wed night this week. There is a bus to the mountain from outside the station, 2 days of return tickets would be £8.

Total Cost with solo berth on the Sleeper and 1nights accommodation + transport to CairnGorm Mountain £332.

Or if you go with the seated up and solo berth back down option £279.

How cheap can it be done, well a private room in the Aviemore Youth Hostel is £16 a night, plus the seated sleeper both ways: £156. At that price that's just shy of five trips for the price of the one on EasyJet.

A snowHead

Does the cost of the rail fare increase if you book at the last minute? Is it easy to find B&B accommodation at short notice which is reasonably close to public transport options which serve the ski areas?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

rob@rar, the cost does increase nearer the time, although many rail tickets are refundable so you can book well in advance and get your money back if you don't go

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IMHO the best, cheapest & easiest way to ski Scotland is for a bunch of mates to jump in a car. Keep an eye on the web cams, snow report and weather - then head north on a Friday night when conditions look good. Obviously from London or the far south taking train probably makes most sense... But for anyone north of Manchester driving to Scotland is a very realistic option (and not expensive if split 3 or 4 ways).

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I live just outside Hitchin in hertfordshire, I drive a Nissan pathfinder, I also know it takes 9ish hours to drive and I can do it on less than a tank full of diesel each way(approx £100 per fill). The Hilton up there is a good place to stay with loads of stuff on site, if you buy when they have their "sale" on it can be reasonable value.
Just looked back a last Easters trip, 4 mid week nights DB&B for 3 of us was just over £300. They have on site ski hire, discounted for residents, the cycling straight out of the door is fantastic.
That's where we will be heading for again next Easter.
Just hope there's a little more snow left, this year there was just a Brazilian shaped mogul field left, brilliant fun though.

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Haggis_Trap, further to your comments on B&Bs etc, There is reliable talk that Glencoe is putting in lodges, showers and 11 caravan/motor home hook ups.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Due to the expected arrival of Jnr C No2 in January our usual New Year week in the Alps is not a goer this year.

So I'm planning on watching the weather and driving up for a couple of days of Scottish skiing between Christmas and New Year if conditions look ok.

Have company car and fuel card so travel cost is zero Toofy Grin

Other than the 9hr drive I'm looking forward to it as never ventured north of the border with skis before.....

After all it is free

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Bode Swiller, Easyjet are not currently flying to Salzburg and Innsbruck or at least not during the week and was wanting a short notice price example,

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Winterhighland, Geneva would be the default example.

snow reports

Out Tuesday evening, back Thursday evening from Munich currently £287 (with skis), would suspect though that short notice prices to Munich in winter will tend to be significantly higher if available at all? Current evening timings could save a nights accommodation with 2 instead of 3 needed, but evening departure is not as late as the Sleeper North, plus check in times for the airport. Total cost with options I outlined above £490ish.

It's October School holidays in various parts of Scotland this week, so I suspect in winter mid-week away from the obvious holiday periods you could get the Cairngorm Hotel cheaper. As with almost every ski area on earth, Scottish Ski Areas are busier at weekends, but if you have days off mid-week you could get exceptional value, practically have the mountain to yourselves and 2 days on the snow with no time off work. It's definitely worth consideration and keeping an eye on weather.

I used CairnGorm as it's the easiest option without a car, esp if you get into the Cairngorm Hotel which is just across the street from the station and morning bus stop. The Sleeper of course also goes to Fort William (also stops at Crianlarich and Bridge of Orchy, worth keeping an eye on these hotels to see if there's any offers going). Certainly there's already a few hotels got some cracking offers up on the Glencoe website (www.glencoemountain.com).

You know it makes sense.

Winterhighland, indeed it would but, on this forum, more are likely to think Geneva and some carbuncle of a purpose-built resort - that's the competition for Scotland. Munich is the other popular choice because the BA / Lufthansa / easy flight times are friendly and there's a huge amount of capacity. More often than not I find the BA price to Munich beats easyJet.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

Think half the problem is that people that would never even consider trying it out are so keen to disprove that it can be good value or decent on any level. Can just imagine one of waynos' mates dare suggest going to ski in Scotland for a few days.

A snowHead

Alans deep bath, tried it, drove and flown from london to scotland for ski trips.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I've just booked our February half-term long-weekend trip to Scotland.

Like this year, we'll drive up on the Friday, leaving the midlands around 3pm, and get to hotel in Perth about 10pm. Up relatively early on the Saturday with the intention of skiing Glenshee or Cairngorm, but could head west to Glen Coe or Nevis. Saturday night we've got a hotel in Inverness, so Sunday we intend to ski Cairngorm (but we did end up in Lecht last Feb as Cairngorm was closed). Sunday and Monday nights we're in Fort William so plan on skiing Nevis and Glencoe - but could always head east again.

I know booking this far in advance is a risk if conditions are poor, but I'm sure we can find something else to amuse ourselves for a few days. And if the worst comes to the worst, the total cost of four nights accommodation is only £110, so it's not exactly a disaster if we end up not going.

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waynos, fair. I enjoy Europe to ski but there's something special about a good day in Scotland that makes any hassle worthwhile.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Scotland is in Europe, isn't it?

Can probably get a hotel booking with arrival day cancellation policy, but just secure the rooms on credit card. Then just decide by the Thursday whether to go straight from work on the Friday, or cancel in case there's a heatwave.

When I lived in Bristol it seemed a right faff to get to somewhere in Scotland, but it was only when sorting out MTB trip this year that I realised there's an IC service direct from central London to Aviemore, and accommodation literally within paces (may be 1 change on Penzance to Scotland?)

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Alans deep bath, I'm all for different ski experiences and would love to try some ski touring in scotland one day and england for that matter. I did some New Zealand club fields years back, rope tows and no piste bashers, limited electricity in the evenings, no bar on the mountain, one bus a week to the hill. Very rustic but a great experience. Back on topic my point was to say that cheap flights have made some of the alps very easy to get to at a reasonable cost. That's what scotland is up against for attracting southerners.

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Scotland for a cheeky weekend or short break?

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