 Poster: A snowHead
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We've not long been back from our 7th ski trip to Lapland. Guaranteed snow and easy skiing - brilliant for families and beginners. Have trawled the net over the years and Inghams have always come out top - visit their website for fab last minute deals. We have skiied Levi, Yllas and Ruka and all are great  Stay in quaint log cabins or hotels. Quite expensive out there to eat and drink but if you self cater you can take the majority of food with you!!!!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Swansea Jack wrote: |
| I cannot think of anything much else there to keep you occupied |
hookers?
| Peter Ross wrote: |
Has anyone been to Sofia, is it an interesting place.  |
yes very interesting. plenty of bars, clubs and restaurants. Food is pretty good but you need to know where to go or its awful. You can walk around freely and go to markets, museums and see communist exhibitions. Vitosha is the mountain that dominates the skyline in Sofia and is were most Sofians go for a quick ski trip. Quick being the key word. The ones who can afford it prefer to go to Bansko. Vitosha blv is the main shopping drag where most things are walking distance.
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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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| Smokin Joe wrote: |
| I always laugh at the Andorra cheap brigade ? How is it cheap ? I'm paying £750 for a four star hotel in Feb. In march I'm off to a four star hotel in Wengen - £500 inc lift pass ! I put it to you that its all b0ll0ck$ |
The hotel in Wengen will probably be about twice as nice, if the rating is the same. Andorra is cheap, but I don't consider it good value.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I'd recommend Andorra, but go for Pas de la Casa or Soldeu, much larger ski area and the villages are at 2000m+ so good high skiing means a later season. It used to be tax free, but I believe they have now got a 4% tax, so it is still a lot cheaper than the rest of Europe. Arinsal is even cheaper (in Andorra) but has a much more limited ski area, great for beginners though.
I spent over 5 years in Australia as a Ski Instructor, small resort for beginners at Mt Selwyn, NSW.
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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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| Monium wrote: |
| Smokin Joe wrote: |
| I always laugh at the Andorra cheap brigade ? How is it cheap ? I'm paying £750 for a four star hotel in Feb. In march I'm off to a four star hotel in Wengen - £500 inc lift pass ! I put it to you that its all b0ll0ck$ |
The hotel in Wengen will probably be about twice as nice, if the rating is the same. Andorra is cheap, but I don't consider it good value. |
Wrong....the sport Village in soldeu was much nicer than the swiss hotel. When were you last in andorra ?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| gobalot wrote: |
| I'd recommend Andorra, but go for Pas de la Casa or Soldeu, much larger ski area and the villages are at 2000m+ so good high skiing means a later season. It used to be tax free, but I believe they have now got a 4% tax, so it is still a lot cheaper than the rest of Europe. |
I spent a lot less in Sestriere last week than I did last time I was in Andorra.
This thread is equivalent to the go high in France and avoid low resorts in Austria brigade 
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France - Bonneval Sur Arc and Valloire are both much cheaper than the mega resorts, have a lot of skiing over 2000m, and will be snow sure in march....you can also get a large beer for less than 5 euro which is rare elsewhere in france! But Bonneval is really queit...
Thinking outside the box if you want cheap and good, you could do a lot worse than Jasna in Slovakia, or Kolasin in Montenegro. Both of these have pretty good snow records for march, enough skiing for begginers, some modern lifts and nice scenery + lift passes, beer and food at prices you would have to use a tardis to get in France or Switzerland.
If you want to go to Austria, i would go for Nassfeld, as it has had a good snow this year, has plenty of cheap accomodation and is cheap for nightlife....
Enjoy!
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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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If you are going after 12th March, I'd suggest waiting for the bargains to come in.
You might find a real cheap deal to Andorra.
Otherwise, the French Pyrenees have a couple of great resorts and the hotels and chambres'd'hote all become available at much lower prices. Really French, with quite a few Sopanish who come thru the Bielsa tunnel and the off Irish and English accent. Nice bars and restaurants in town and on slopes and not charging Alpine prices (except on Saint-Lary 1700, outrageous prices there).
Saint-Lary-Soulan has about 100km of pistes and if you buy a myaltiski card www.altiservice.com on line for 5 euros, you get a discount everyday. Minimum 5% but midweek in March, possibly 50%, so you'd be paying 16 euros some days, amd probably 20 on the others. They advertise there discounts every week. They only deduct for each day you ski and it's much cheaper than buying a pass. If you are driving, it could be combined with a visit to Tourmalet (also 100 km of pistes) which is on the N'Py system www.n-py.com and a bit more expensive.
If you do hire a car, you must spend one day skiing up the road at Piau Engely (on the N'py system) and drive a bit further up and into Spain (about 20km). If you smoke, a must!
Flights can be really cheap - Gatwick to Toulouse with Easyjet and Ryanair fly Stansted to Pau and Lourdes (I believe with a connecting resort bus on Saturdays).
We've booked slightly earlier already, got tickets Gatwick-Toulouse for 120 2 persons 2 bags return!
Good luck whereever you go
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I think it boils down to two paths.
1. Choose a resort that you've heard of and your friends have heard of so when you go back to Oz you can can say "i went to X' and they can say 'yeah great place, I was at X in whichever year they did their euo stint'
or
2. Choose a smaller resort suited to your ability that your friends may not have heard of but which will offer you the best learning environment for the best value for money.
Trawl through the ski brochures if you don't want to organise it yourself and look for beginner resorts that may include equipment, lift pass and instruction deals.
Then check the snow conditions on the interweb. And book the one that suits.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I will recommend Lofer in Austria. We find it excellent value for families.
We were there for a week in January. 2 adults, 1 teen & 3 kids. 6 day ski pass for the 6 of us, sum total of 435e. We find eating out very reasonable. The night we watch things, 60e or if we push the boat out 80e.
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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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It's strange how a 4 year old thread got resurrected. Think the Aussie OP might have been and gone as he only made two posts in Jan 2007.
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mattyb, all depends on what sort of accomadation you are prepared to take.
Hotel, Chalet - catered, Self catering, Hostel- shared rooms/dorms.
And how last minute you are prepared to go.
Are you intrepid world traveling 20 something Aussies- prepared to sleep anywhere and ski anything? Or are you 30 something Aussie's who now need at least some comforts.
If you have 3 friends and don't mind sharing a room then Chamonix - the best ski resort on the planet can give you a bed for 16.50 euros a night (and an extra euro to use the kitchen), add a flight by easy jet and a cheapish transfer and this might be about the cheapest ski holiday you can find and prebook http://www.gitelebelvedere.eu/ . (I last stayed there 24 years ago but I don't think it has changed much). Or just go and share and make some friends.
Or wait it out and get a last minute deal of travel/transfer/ chqalet- but I doubt you will end up somehwere as good/ beautiful/ cheap.
I don't know if Top Deck still operate but they used to do great holidays for budget concious folk.
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You know it makes sense.
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WayneC, Perhaps the OP has since won the Aussie lottery, bought a place in Korskival and doesn't care about budgets anymore?
If he does still care then a different angle on this is considering FUAJ - the French Youth Hostels? I've only styaed in La Clusaz and Morzzine (now closed I believe) but others in Tignes and Val Cenis? Much cheaper beer, lift passes and ski hire. Some have en suite showers with twin or x4 rooms - to avoid sharing with drunken skibums and their biohazard socks.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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kewhoward, what's wrong witth drunken ski bums?
Actually when I did last stay at le Belvedere there were complaints about the stench of our feet.
There is a youth hostel in Zermatt- right next to the Klein Matterhorn lift.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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MattyB
it depends on what the make-up of your group is, if singletons or a family.
We ski in France, go self catering, that costs never more than 100 euro per head per week, ski pass never costs more than 100 euro per head either, ski hier never costs more than 75 euro per week per adult. There are loads and loads of French alpine resorts where you can ski low cost, mainly places where UK travel operators do not operate!!! Try French apartment companies if going in a group. Try UCPA if single persons. Fly to Geneva or Grenoble for less than 100 euro return. You should be able to put together a week of skiing from the UK for less than 500 euro each no problem in March, possibly much cheaper.
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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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Cheapest place to ski? Probably Eastern Europe.
Best value for money? Probably Austria.
If I was an Aussie? Go to Canada, within a year or two you'll probably been in the majority.
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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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The cheapest ski and snowboard is in Ukraine.
The service hass been improved during the last 2 years.
You can have a rest for 200 Euros per week!
I can coordinate you a personal ski vacation (according to your demands)!
just write me!
e-mail - bulasv@gmail.com
or facebook - https://www.facebook.com/bulalala
I am very familiar with all that!
Best regards, Victoria Bula
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