 Poster: A snowHead
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I've only ever done one short trip - Easyjet to Geneva, Hotel transfer to Cham - and flying would be my first thought even though for our week trips we drive. But when we drive we drive overnight and it's worth it because of the extra days skiing and the recovery is manageable. I sought of feel it would be tougher for a mini trip - though I wouldn't discount it. When I did the one mentioned it was evening flights both ways which seems ideal to me.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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There's simply no easy way of getting from home to your ski accommodation, especially if you're carrying a lot of gear. It's two (or more) expensive and tiring days and always with the possibility of disruption. Whether it's worth it for three days skiing is an individual decision. Probably best not to work out the cost of each run!
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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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there isnt sadly, and much depends on wallet......these cheap flights soon not become so when you add in baggage, seat selection, car hire/transfer, parking, getting to and from, ski hire...when compared to driving.
driving is a bit of a war of attrition.......the way there not so bad as its excitement of knowing whats to come....the return journey not so fun........especially that last stretch from reims to calais.....goes on forever...lol
but for 4 days in the mountains.....small price to pay
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If I am reading this correctly, you are going from London to the Alps...
Set off early (06.00) & you will be in the pub before it closes that night. no more than £700 door to door & like you say with 4 up, that is £175 per head, you ain't going to get cheaper than that door to door.
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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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| Jonny996 wrote: |
If I am reading this correctly, you are going from London to the Alps...
Set off early (06.00) & you will be in the pub before it closes that night. no more than £700 door to door & like you say with 4 up, that is £175 per head, you ain't going to get cheaper than that door to door. |
Or set off at 06:00, get to airport 07:00 for a 09:00 flight, land ~12:00, should be out of the airport by 13:00 with a 90min drive to say Morzine so arrive just 'car hire queue time' after 14:30.
Better set off at 04:00 and you can catch a 07:00 flight, land ~09:30 so get to Morzine ~13:00/13:30, grab some sandwiches for the S-M gondola and you could be on the snow for a couple of hours the same day...
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| Quote: |
Better set off at 04:00 and you can catch a 07:00 flight, land ~09:30 so get to Morzine ~13:00/13:30, grab some sandwiches for the S-M gondola and you could be on the snow for a couple of hours the same day...
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This.
I've done several long weekends from Edinburgh. Friday morning flight to Geneva at 06:30, land 09:45 local time, private transfer to one of Morzine/Chatel/St Gervais/Flaine, skiing by 13:00. Ski Saturday, Sunday and Monday morning, finishing about 12-12:30. Quick pack up at the hotel, transfer back to Geneva for return flight at about 17:00. 2 days off work for 2 full days and 2 half days skiing. Seems like a good deal to me. Flights are pretty cheap in the quiet January weeks. With the right ski bags, 1 per 2 people is fine, which keeps the baggage cost down.
There must be plenty of options to do similar trips from Gatwick, Heathrow, etc.
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@Mjit, now put realistic £ cost to that for the party concerned....including transport to and from UK airport, plus carrying their own gear etc, suitable hire car to carry gear and peeps, very quickly it swings into significant cost.
Example of Nendaz is only 177 miles per person to drive with three drivers, UK section to folkestone adds approximately 50 miles in this OP consideration.
From closing your own door, flight time from south London is near the same as driving to ski areas within practical reach of Geneva. Theres not much time advantage in it.
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@Mjit, or, as I typed above, leave the office sharpish of an evening, fly and you can still be in the pub in e.g. Morzine before it closes. Then you get a full ski day the next day for the cost of one hotel night.
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For a short trip, if you're London based, morning departure and/or daytime travel seems really inefficient to me. Leave Thursday evening (I fly, but if driving/swapping driver works for you, it's an option), and return Monday night (or even first thing Tuesday morning; 4 days skiing, 2 days off work.
I do a weekend trip each year with a mate who can't get any weekdays off work; we get the 7pm out on a Friday, arrive for last orders, ski flat out 2 days and get the 9pm home on Sunday. Booked far enough in advance it's a very cheap trip.
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Loving this thread, makes me realise I'm simply not putting in enough effort to get more skiing in!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@snowdave, and where do you go, what transfers?
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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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@Layne, in my case usually Argentiere by rental car - if you rent from Avis 3x a year, you get a free weekend which is great for short ski trips as you can use it even at peak times. In fact, it might even be worth doing 3x cheapo 1 day rentals in the UK if that's enough to trigger the voucher.
I've also used minibus, taxi, bus, train and tried Verbier and Megeve a few times.
Like UANN, my wife used to reverse-commute between Argentiere and the UK, spending the weekend and first half of the week in the alps, then working Thurs/Fri in the UK, so we were pretty used to the evening flights out/back.
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All these options are OK when they go well, and can be awful when they don't. It helps if you can treat the journey as part of the holiday (some self-delusion needed here.....). I don't find driving stressful and particularly if I have a good audiobook to listen to, and some agreeable music, quite enjoy it, in a slightly masochistic sort of way. On the other hand I have twice flown Gatwick-Geneva for short trips in the last year (spring and autumn, not skiing) and both times found the amount of queuing and standing round in Gva very annoying. And they were not peak times, not weekends. Gatwick was absolutely fine both times, actually. In April I did a huge drive, from home to Genoa to pick up grandson, drive him up to the Alps for a week's family holiday, deliver him back to Genoa and drive home. Blessed with good weather, some lovely Alpine transits (three different tunnels!), a new route through the Jura, lots of good music, mostly driving solo. It was a breeze. But it could have been very different. 
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You know it makes sense.
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I seem to remember reading on here about some geezer driving from down south to Scotland overnight for a weekends skiing.
And also somebody training it for a one dayer in Les Arcs iirc.
Definitely not for me those two but just shows you what some people will do for a slide.
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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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| snowdave wrote: |
For a short trip, if you're London based, morning departure and/or daytime travel seems really inefficient to me. Leave Thursday evening (I fly, but if driving/swapping driver works for you, it's an option), and return Monday night (or even first thing Tuesday morning; 4 days skiing, 2 days off work.
I do a weekend trip each year with a mate who can't get any weekdays off work; we get the 7pm out on a Friday, arrive for last orders, ski flat out 2 days and get the 9pm home on Sunday. Booked far enough in advance it's a very cheap trip. |
We do this many times a season and works
Well and have even done Friday departure to Sunday. The big issue is the majority of our BA flights have been cancelled and they try to consolidate everyone onto one flight. Causes problems if it’s a group booking of 4. We have now switched to Swiss Air this year. I have a theory that BA sells tickets on these evening flights they has no intention of flying, but do so in order to retain their slots on this premium route.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I agree flying is the way to go but was there not an "at a budget" side to this question?
In a car with 4 passengers, you can get from door to door for £125 - £175 per head, flights are going to cost way more than that when you add in luggage & transfers.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Jonny996 wrote: |
I agree flying is the way to go but was there not an "at a budget" side to this question?
In a car with 4 passengers, you can get from door to door for £125 - £175 per head, flights are going to cost way more than that when you add in luggage & transfers. |
It’s more expensive to fly but not necessarily ‘way’ more. Earlier this year we had a group of six of us and went from LGW to Turin; flights were £140 with BA so included luggage/skis, return minibus transfer was £60 each. Granted there’s parking costs at the airport to consider too; maybe offset with if you have to pay for parking in resort?
Driving is definitely cheaper but the cost of flying doesn’t necessarily have to be excluded.
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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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| Jonny996 wrote: |
I agree flying is the way to go but was there not an "at a budget" side to this question?
In a car with 4 passengers, you can get from door to door for £125 - £175 per head, flights are going to cost way more than that when you add in luggage & transfers. |
I see it as a bit of a price vs value debate. Most of the driving suggestions get you 2-3hrs the first afternoon if you're lucky, and similar the last morning. 3 full-day-equivalent days skiing for c. £150 transport costs.
For c. £200 you could fly, and get 4 full-day-equivalents skiing. £/day it's the same.
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Lots of focus here on Geneva as the hub, and that probably ties in with Brits being more France skiing focussed. That was the case for me also, probably 75% of my trips have been to France.
But I can't emphasis enough how much better flying to Innsbruck is (as long as the weather is playing ball, but that's completely out of our hands anyway).
We came to Austria in January for a holiday, we landed, went through passport control, picked up luggage including skis, picked up a hire car, and was driving out the car park within 1hr of landing. That could have been even quicker if one had collected luggage whilst the other got the hire car. It's a small airport, so if you're not flying in on the weekend it's dead.
And as mentioned earlier in the thread, you can be at a ski lift in under 30 mins.
Plus food and beer is cheaper on the mountains here than France as well!
Win win!
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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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| Jonny996 wrote: |
I agree flying is the way to go but was there not an "at a budget" side to this question?
In a car with 4 passengers, you can get from door to door for £125 - £175 per head, flights are going to cost way more than that when you add in luggage & transfers. |
My example on page 1 with real time costs was £175 including car hire.....
I didn't include fuel, but at less than €10 each, I think that's hardly worth quibbling about.
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@swskier, For sure Innsbruck a very handy destination but Skyscanner not showing (as example) any direct flights from London in January (this could be a Skyscanner issue??).
For sneaky weekends, direct flights - at least on outbound - pretty key to efficient evening arrival, IME. (And last orders).
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@snowdave, In the past we have set off from home, driven overnight and been on the slopes in Les Arcs first thing next morning. It's a tad harder coming back and going straight into work (I've never done that). It is, however, possible to get a flight the night before and then get a 21:00 or so flight back from Geneva which is going to be less tiring and allow a bigger choice of resort.
Back to the original question. May I suggest tryng one of the resorts in the Vosges, Gérardmer, perhaps. It is only a 6 hour drive from Calais.
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| Quote: |
May I suggest tryng one of the resorts in the Vosges, Gérardmer, perhaps. It is only a 6 hour drive from Calais.
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Would that not have to be a VERY last minute decision, depending on snow cover?
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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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@swskier, how very odd as they certainly do pick up on U2 flights most of the time? and 12.1-15.1 were my target dates (albeit on an all-January search).  Well caught however, and that Friday 7h15, Monday 18h10 combination just about fits the requirements nicely doesn't it? (Unless there's an ~19hxx on the Thursday).
[EDIT (again)] and I've just run it again and, sure enough, up popped your Easyjet flights. Weird. And on detail a handful of BA ones too. Sweet.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@under a new name, odd it didn't appear. No direct flights with anyone in to Innsbruck after 6pm on the Thursday evening, but you could do it via Frankfurt with an 18.15 Lufthansa flight.
Alternatively, you could do in to Munich on a Thursday evening, and out of Innsbruck on the Monday. 19.50 with BA or 20.15 with Lufthansa.
If you were hiring a car you'd need to collect in Munich and return in Innsbruck, which is doable, or get a transfer/train. For the Zillertal though, you could train from Munich airport to Jenbach, and then get a taxi/transfer from there as the Zillertalbahn and buses will have stopped by then.
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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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@swskier, definitely no directs from Geneva as that could have been quite fun. Never skied in Austria.
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@B., If you are London based then it couldn't be easier, fly EJ Gatwick/ Eurostar via Paris or kit in car and bash on through the tunnel overnight, all easy from where you live. Location - avoid Austria (very busy holiday week). I'd suggest France Porte de Soleil, Avoriaz or Cham, but whether you'll find accommodation is more of an issue i'd think.
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You know it makes sense.
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@under a new name, back in April I did Verbier-GVA Airport-Jenbach, 1hr meeting with my new manager and HR, then up to Hintertux. Slept in the van in the car park, skied the next day in Hintertux, then drove back to Verbier that evening.
That was a tiring 2 days 
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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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@swskier, admirable dedication!!
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Poster: A snowHead
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So. Many. Options.
Cheapest one I found (now I've been triggered) was a super cheap flight at good times to Malpensa, a cheap car hire and 2 hours or so to sauze d'oulx. Would be the same cost as driving to a resort like Flaine but we'd get Italian food. Never been there but it sounds big enough for 3 days or we could do another resort in Italy. Goes from stanstead which is a bit of a pain so we'd need to add car parking but still a decent price for 3 days skiing. Plus one of us is Italian so we can make him deal with all the comms.
Innsbruck was a bit expensive when we added bags, close to 300 each, but that was the following weekend I'd been looking at.
Now need to see what the rest of them are more into.
Thanks for all the replies. Maybe it's tempted a few others to escape for a few days?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Italy sounds a great idea - especially if you've not skied there before. From here Stansted is such a total pain that it would rule it out for me, even for a week's trip!
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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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@B., same flight times but a week later.....
£147.44 vs £83.47 so £64 more expensive that the previous week, you must be adding a hell of a lot of bags to be coming in at nearly £300 per person....
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But you've got 80 quid on top if you take skis. The other issue is car hire is a lot more, it was like 300 euros + for something we'd get skis in. Was 100 quid for the same hire from Malpensa.
It starts to make my head hurt when it gets to all the variables. It would really need to be about the same price as driving if we're going to keep it cheap. I'm still not convinced driving is so bad with 3 or 4 of us sharing. Even 2 sharing and some decent music.
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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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@B., £74 per ski bag, but 2 pairs of skis in there easily so only only £37 each.
Car hire much cheaper than £300
Anyway, i'm not trying to force you down the Austria route, Italy will be great too, it's just longer drives to the resort that's all, which means less ski time.
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| Layne wrote: |
I seem to remember reading on here about some geezer driving from down south to Scotland overnight for a weekends skiing.
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A climber, Mick Fowler, used to work for HMRC in London. He used to drive to Fort William after work on a Friday, climb two days (in winter) on the Ben and drive home Sunday night.
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I've done Gatwick - Geneva - Chamonix - Geneva - Gatwick in the space of 16 hours for the sake of about 5 hours skiing.
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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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| Quote: |
I seem to remember reading on here about some geezer driving from down south to Scotland overnight for a weekends skiing.
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I did this at least a couple of times in the mid 90s, when I lived in Oxfordshire. A friend lived in Birmingham and we set aside 4 or 5 weekends as possible ski weekends. We've then make a call on Thursday whether it was worth travelling, and we went up to or 3 times in the season. From what I remember, we'd drive up on Friday night, maybe kip in the car for a few hours if we had time, then ski Saturday and Sunday, and drive back Sunday evening
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| andy from embsay wrote: |
| Layne wrote: |
I seem to remember reading on here about some geezer driving from down south to Scotland overnight for a weekends skiing.
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A climber, Mick Fowler, used to work for HMRC in London. He used to drive to Fort William after work on a Friday, climb two days (in winter) on the Ben and drive home Sunday night. |
I am that " Geezer " . Done it loads of times but not done in last few years, and had great times, especially if snow and low wind gods were smiling (not very often!!) I got free fuel for company car, drive up from west London or Milton Keynes were i also lived for a while on a Friday night - aimed to get to Fort William about 4am - few hours kip in car and Mc D's brekkie then ski all day at Nevis. B&B on the Saturday night in F William then drive to Glencoe to ski (as closer to home) till 3 pm ish and drive home Sunday night - home by midnight.
Not for everyone it was Knackering but cheap skiing and great fun.
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