3 Families - Beginners and Improvers : Where should we go?

A snowHead

Hi,

This is my first post and hopefully it is in the right place etc.

In summary;

1. 5 Adults 7 kids(from 8 to 16)

2. Flying from Dublin

3. Flying mid March 2014 probably for a long weekend - 5 days.

4. Require EASY slopes, greens, blues maybe reds - No blacks or tough stuff!

5. We want to be in a hotel, near slopes (no long walks).

Note especially point 4 above.
Anywhere in Europe.
Any suggestions?

(I appreciate that this is a very "open" question but would value any responses).

A snowHead

Les Gets worked for us last year being particularly good for families. Close to Geneva so transfer easy and cheap. Where will you fly into? Will you get hire cars?

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Hi,
Thanks for quick response.
We could hire cars but would prefer not to.

I am now going to google "Les Gets".

Can you suggest any hotels?

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We could fly to Geneva.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

dewsbury, there are plenty of places within reach of Geneva which would be good for you BUT anything but Sat/Sat (or sometimes Sun/Sun) accommodation will be much harder to find, especially in central places, and reduce your choice. The first two weeks in March are peak French holidays, so to have any chance of long weekend accommodation you'd probably have to look at the 3rd weekend in March. But the 3rd week would be much better.

French resorts tend not to have a lot of hotels - so not a huge choice, though there are some good hotels in Les Gets. Would you consider a catered chalet - that would widen your choice a fair bit.

Les Gets also has the advantage of having some excellent ski schools - though some of the best ones are (inevitably) quite expensive.

You won't find a resort without any difficult red or black runs (because they'd have far too few customers) but provided you can "travel round" an area without hitting any unexpected difficulties, you should be fine. Instructors are, of course, very good at picking out just the right slopes for you and perhaps advising good places for you to ski on your own after lessons.

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Thanks Pam,

...interesting about the french school holidays.
We are likely to fly about March 13th .....

Is there much of a danger of lack of snow?
Is March 13-18 very late in the season?

We also like to be in a "village" if possible. I.e. a hotel in a village is far preferable to a chalet.

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

The French school holidays end on Saturday 15th. Very unlikely to get any decent accommodation for that long weekend. Weekend accommodation is difficult in French resorts, even in low season. There have been recent reports here about similar difficulties with Austria, too. If you are very determined to do a long weekend - especially that one - you might have to compromise quite a bit on location of accommodation.

There's always a risk of problems with snow, there are no guarantees at any time of the season but generally you would be fine then - no, it's not very late in the season.

Lots of catered chalets are in villages. It's always important - whether hotel (some can be a bit distant) or chalet, to be very sure you have understood exactly how far the lifts are.

For beginners, distance to ski school meeting place tends to be more important - no use having a "ski in/ski out" place if you ski out onto a piste they can't manage, some distance from the meeting place.

After all it is free

Pam,

Unfortunately, our dates our not flexible!
Actually, we are hoping that we would benefit from going in mid-March.

At this point, I am thinking that this rules France out!

Any other countries/resorts spring to mind?
(Emphasis on easy skiing!)

Thanks again.

Corvara ( Italy) for easy skiing- not sure bout the rest esp ski school for kids.
Need to fly to Venice or Innsbruck and then quite a long transfer or self-drive.

Also second Les Gets or its bigger neighbour Morzine . Morzine bigger and more hotels but some are def not easy walking from the slopes.

Seefeld in Austria for easy ( but limited ) skiing and good choice of hotels

Louis

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

dewsbury, There are some hotels very convenient for the skiing in austria but "ski in ski out" is more of a French thing, as many of the best known resorts are purpose built at high altitude, not traditional villages as they often are in Austria. But in Austria too you might struggle to book long weekend accommodation. There have been several recommendations for Corvara for easy skiing, recently, why not try a few of the hotels there? You could also have a look at flexiski.com - they claim to be able to fix up ski trips of any duration.

There have been some conflicting reports recently on the easyness of the skiing in Seefeld. And also some suggestions that by mid March the low nursery slopes could be a bit slushy.

Alpbach has some easy skiing and is a very pretty village but the village itself is a little way from the skiing. There is a limited nursery slope in the village (though it was slush when we went, in January) but the rest of the area is accessed by a regular and reliable ski bus service. That is true of much of the skiing in Austria - but personally I would prefer to have a ski bus stop right outside my accommodation than a ten minute walk in ski boots!

Generally for non-standard periods of accommodation people stay in places like Innsbruck, within easy reach by bus of a variety of ski areas. In France, you could stay in a hotel somewhere like Sallanches, which is within a very easy drive of a number of resorts.

Depending on your budget you could, of course, rent a roomy apartment for your whole party for the week before and the week after your long weekend, and then sample a range of local restaurants for your evening meal. The 13th and 14th will be very busy in French resorts but from Saturday 15th onward, far quieter.

There are a number of snowheads with very detailed local knowledge of some of the Austrian ski areas who might be able to help.

Your dates are doubly awkward for France as in addition to spanning 2 "accommodation weeks" they include one of the very busy winter school holiday weeks. Sad

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Ski Amade may be worth looking into

snow reports

Two conclusions!

1. France is out - too busy.
2. I need to focus on FLIGHTS from DUBLIN and this means, Oslo, Zurich, Geneva, Milan Bergamo

Meanwhile, I had some lovely browsing of ALpback, Les Gets etc.
First priority = FLIGHT

You know it makes sense.

One thing you might want to consider if you are planning on ski school for some or all of your party, in most resorts group lessons typically run for a full week starting on a Sunday or a Monday and finishing on a Friday. If you want to book private lessons then it won't be an issue, but might well be more expensive. But if your plan is to sign up to group lessons you might want to enquire about ski school optiuons before you finally commit to dates and a resort.

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

dewsbury, if you do come back to thinking about Les Gets then you could look at the Marmotte, Alpina, Crychar, Belle Vue which are all very close to the lifts, slopes etc.

A snowHead

Okay Pam,

.... amidst all my confusion (endless browsing!) I will re-visit "Les Gets"..

Watch this space!

A snowHead

dewsbury,
I think that outside France you may have quite a decent chance of getting what you want. Swiss hotels are often good for non standard weeks in all but the busiest of weeks, particularly resorts with a lot of weekend business.
The problem is that Swiss hotels are not renown for being cheap. Friends of mine have booked in hotels in Italy for non standard weeks as well.
With twelve people trying to find a single place near the slopes may not be the easiest and you may have to compromise.
Local Tourist offices in Switzerland and Austria are very good in my experience at forwarding requests to all the local accommodation providers who in turn forward you with offers.
I haven't been to many of the below but I would look at places like
Switzerland
Grachen
Leysin
Leukerbad
Villars
Disentis

Austria
Gargellen
Galtur
Vent
Heligenblut
Just noticed not too many flights for getting to Austria though you can get to Gargellen and Galtur from Zurich.

I might add in places like Pila La Thuile and Claviere in Italy.

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Thanks Alastair,

Very useful information.
I will investigate.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

another vote for Les Gets. LOTS of blues around that are easy for sure, with reds in the same area should one or two of you feel the need to explore.

1hr from Geneva and mid March wont be that busy as all but one zone of the schools have gone back. Personally we are going the 16th

FRANCE
Winter holiday
All Zones 21.12 - 06.01.2014
Zone A 01.03 - 17.03.2014
Zone B 22.02 - 10.03.2014
Zone C 15.02 - 03.03.2014

Zone A:
Caen, Clermont-Ferrand, Grenoble, Lyon, Montpellier, Nancy-Metz, Nantes, Pays de Gex, Rennes, Toulouse.

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Okay folks, Les Gets is under review.

I have read lots and it seems good for beginners (altho we have all skied a bit).

However, how easy is it?
I have been pointed towards easy skiing before .... only to discover it was a little more difficult than expected.
Is there green runs (other the equivalent)?
We have some nervous skiers in out party.

THanks again.

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

After all it is free

dewsbury, it's got lots of easy blues, and in the bowl easy links to the piste. Ideal early resort , you can also get over to morzine with plenty of easy runs. As you improve some fun reds, often near the blues so you can ski as a group. I had excellent lessons there with BASS, and lessons make hard slopes easier.

Easy central locati

dewsbury, it's got lots of easy blues, and in the bowl easy links to the piste. Ideal early resort , you can also get over to morzine with plenty of easy runs. As you improve some fun reds, often near the blues so you can ski as a group. I had excellent lessons there with BASS, and lessons make hard slopes easier.

Easy central location and a nice level bit at the top of the first lifts for beginners.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Some good deals here if you can stretch to a week
http://www.directski.com/go/hotelsearch?logSearch=true&data_destination=any&data_checkin_date=15/3/2014&data_checkout_date=22/3/2014&data_infant_travcount=0&data_adult_travcount=5&data_child_travcount=7&data_flexible_stay=1&data_accomtype=H&data_currency=GBP&data_airport=X

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

If you are flying from Dublin Dont forget Munich, with Aer Lingus, we always fly to Munich and have a two hour journey along to Autobahn and over the border to Austria. You can also fly Ryanair to Salzburg, which we have used once and you can be in your resort in half an hour.

We find Lofer brillant for beginners, great Ski School and gentle slopes for learning. Also great for improvers.

snow reports

here is a link to Lofer

http://www.skialm-lofer.com/en/home

You could go into a travel agent? it might save you some trouble...

You know it makes sense.

Hire a car & then it's less than 2 hours drive to Passo Tonale. This is a great resort for cautious intermediates with loads of greens, blues & easy reds and some easy blacks too. It's pretty high so snow-sure in March and much, much cheaper than France. In fact it's on the cheap side even for Italy. Lots of hotels who will do long weekends.

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

What about Courchevel 1850?

A snowHead

As mentioned above at that time of year it can be difficult to get accom in the French resorts for less than a week. Switzerland can be easier. Davos specialises in long weekends. You could try Ski Solutions specialist travel agent.

A snowHead

We did something similar a couple of years ago, you can make a long weekend work by booking independent. Try Westendorf, Pension Christoph http://www.pensionchristoph.at

It is run by a British couple. Very welcoming and comfortable for families. They have a bit influx from Netherlands in SkiWelt just before your dates, if dutch week is over (I think it is) then Westendorf is pretty quiet and you might be able to do a short break. Fly to Munich and the hotel can do a shuttle transfer. The Pension is right next to the nursery slopes in the village and handy for ski schools etc. the ski area has plenty of blue and red runs (Austria doesn't have green) and nice modern lifts.

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

Corvara is a great shout. Took my little brother there on his first ski trip!
He was definitely a natural, but he felt comfortable with the surroundings and made good friends with 2 other boys who came with their family!

Help!!

3 Families - Beginners and Improvers : Where should we go?

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