 Poster: A snowHead
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Having never organised a ski trip before (we usually tag along with sister-in-law's school trip), my daughter is now approaching the age where I feel comfortable taking her skiing.
My issue is that all the holidays I've been looking at are pricing at around the £3000 mark.... Which feels rather expensive to me!
Am I doing something wrong or is this a typical price for a weeks skiing for 2 adults and a 6 year old?
PS I have skis and boots, but neither my wife or daughter do.
Thanks for any advice.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 23-10-13 17:40; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Where and when are you going. What accomodation are you looking at hotel or chalet ? Is anything included like ski hire and passes.
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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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I usually budget for around £1,000 for a week's skiing, but I travel alone (single room supplements) and never during school holidays. So I assume you are travelling during school holidays (more expensive) but sharing a family room (less expensive) which would probably give you a similar figure. You could probably do it cheaper by going to a smaller resort, self catering, or some families on here find it cheaper to drive rather than fly.
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This Feb our holiday for 5 (2 adults, 3 kids) cost £3632.11 (yes I worked it out) which covered travel via self-drive, shopping, meals out, ski hire for kids (we have own stuff, lift passes and 2 private lessons
If you're looking at all inclusive type deal with Tour Operator the price you quote is probably about right. As queen bodecia, points out there are ways you can cut the cost
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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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hi, we are also a family or 3, our little one is also 6, and on average we pay 3K per ski holiday, but we do have our own Skis/Boots etc. but if you want to keep the cost down, have a go at self catering, always a little cheaper.
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tomb, a ski holiday will never be cheap, but if you are going during the school holidays then it will mount up. Lift pass and ski hire can add to the costs. Depends of course which country you go to. Ski holidays are like buying a new kitchen - you can spend as little or as much as you like, but there is normally a base cost
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£1000 each has become our budget when we start to look for our ski holiday but we are limited to the Christmas week so I'd be surprised if you could not do it cheaper unless you are also constrained by dates.
This is for a TO one week holiday with all travel, hotel accommodation, tuition and all equipment. This has been for Passo Tonale for three years and then Les Deux Alpes this year (8 weeks and counting  ) , as I say all Christmas week. Being fairly early in the season has also meant we have been more restricted on our potential choices due to trying to select a resort more likely to have some snow
We have always managed to just beat it by a few hundred overall (there have been 5/6 of us) but that has only been by being fairly careful with selecting the resort and a lot of time of the internet. A major factor for us has often been the ski packages which can vary quite a lot from one resort to another.
Rob
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Just done the maths on our first week this season in Mayrhofen ..........so 2 adults going last week in jan
easy jet flights for 2 including 2 hold bags and 1 ski bag £280
Self catering appartment in town sleeps 4 £260
Transfers by Tirol Taxi £150
2 high season lift passes £400
Grand total not including food £1090 for 2
We have our own kit
We will book a private lesson
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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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January is always cheaper. 6 year old limited to holidays so £1000 per head is about right..
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A couple of hundred shy of 5K for a family of 4 to La Plagne over New Year. That's with Crystal, 3* half board, flights & Accom, Passes, childcare. An awful lot of money, but if you want to go skiing you have to be prepared to pay. Yes it could be done much cheaper than that, but hopefully will be worth it. The thing that annoys me mostly about pricing during school holidays is as well as increasing the costs of the holidays, there are rarely any special offers. For example the BOGOF lift passes are not available, the hotel credits not always available, the half price childcare not available. I understand the supply and demand issue, but it would be nice if they offered these deals during the school holidays as well as all other times.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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If you are going at School time your have three options-
Half Term
New Year
Xmas
All expensive but xmas is a couple of hundred cheaper per person.
Estimates using a tour operator are-
£900 to £1100 per adult
£750 to £900 per child
Lift pass £150 to £200 per person
Ski Hire £50 to £70 per person if you book online in advance
Of course if you can take children out of school then January will be a lot cheaper.
I have used Crystal once and Esprit twice. I am driven by the childcare options when choosing a service provider as my children last year were 2 and 4. This year the oldest is 5 and the bill just gets bigger as they are skiing this year.
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james75, We can only dream. Our total bill should be about the same as yours. I stayed in La Plagne 1800 3 years ago with Crystal. Hope you enjoy it. We stayed at Rose II.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
If you are going at School time your have three options-
Half Term
New Year
Xmas
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No, I always used to go skiing during the Easter school holidays for two weeks - nicer weather and depending on resort not high season (caveat: obviously re: snow - resorts for that time of year should be chosen carefully).
I used to ski either in Kuhtai (staying St. Sigmund the village just below down the Sellrain Tal cutting accommodation costs considerably, 10 minutes up by car but also a ski bus) or Gerlos which is part of the Zillertal area but not the in the main valley (connected in by lift to Zell am Ziller on the one side and Wald/Koenigsleiten on the other).
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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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| Quote: |
This year the oldest is 5 and the bill just gets bigger as they are skiing this year.
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Wait until you have to pay full-price for lift passes 
€904 for family of 5 last year
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Poster: A snowHead
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schneeflocke, Of course. I quite fancy an easter break but may book that when it falls early in the year.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Don't forget Easter, me and the 2 kids manage our week in L2A for under £2K
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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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4 x lift pass, 4 x ski hire, 4 x lessons/guiding, 2 x growing kids needing new gear most years. Ooooooouuuuuuccccchhhhh. Its going to really hurt the wallet.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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davkt, just out of curiosity how do you manage L2A for under 2k.... tour operator or DIY?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| enduroaid wrote: |
Just done the maths on our first week this season in Mayrhofen ..........so 2 adults going last week in jan
easy jet flights for 2 including 2 hold bags and 1 ski bag £280
Self catering appartment in town sleeps 4 £260
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Ohh can I have details of your apartment please? Sounds very good!
Cheers
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I would go along with the rough £1000 per adult either DIY or TO. You can make savings over the TO price by going DIY with children. Most charge pretty much the same for kids as for adults.
Our favourite hotel is approx £1000 / person with a TO. 4 flights this year cost £800ish (twice what it was last year), £2850 for the hotel booking direct, transfers about £50, so about £300 cheaper than the TO price, but we get an extra days skiing, and a suite instead of a broom cupboard.
It normally works out as a bigger saving, but the flights were extra expensive this year and we are going for 8 days not just the week. Last year the saving was over £1000 on a 7 day trip in January.
We did a last minute TO trip to Sauze last Easter for £1600 + 2 x ski school, 2 x ski hire (£260) & lift passes (can't remember exactly how much, I think it was only about £200 - junior was cheap and I think the mushette was free. Mrs M does't ski down hills) so about £2060 all in.
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| Filthyphil30k wrote: |
| 6 year old limited to holidays so £1000 per head is about right.. |
I'd beg to differ on that - one week out of school at 6 is no biggy - IMHO the experience is more valuable than a week in school.
Used to take my Son in term time up until about 8. First time I had to book an HT i couldn't believe how big the difference was. On the flip side, in holidays there will be other English speaking children there for them to play with and in their ski group, whereas they may feel a bit lonely in term - in fact that was my main reason for switching to holiday weeks.
For 3k we've done 3 of us in a decent spa resort in Austria, self drive with childcare and some lessons for my son - term time that is and was about 3 years back, so would be a bit more now.
Must say that with fuel prices up in recent years I'm not sure self drive is the money save it once was if you are only 3 people. DIY flights and SC works - hire car can be the cheapest transfer option for 3, depending on the area, with the added benefit for SC you can stop at a supermarket any buy food much cheaper than it is up the mountain.
Easter is definitely the most cost effective way of skiing in school hols. Lower prices, more sun AND emptier pistes! Yes, there's a bit more risk on conditions, but I've done many Easters and can't think of one time there wasn't enough snow - leave booking later so you have some idea where has the best conditions. Or to get best flight price, book flights early to somewhere with several snow sure options (eg. Geneva) and leave the resort/accom choice to later.
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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: |
Easter is definitely the most cost effective way of skiing in school hols
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+1 Most school holidays are starting early in April, even this year when Easter is late. f948lan, new rules imposed from Whitehall mean that schools are generally not allowing any holidays in term time now - you can choose to have it recorded as unauthorised absence and face the consequences, of course, but many parents don't like to fall out with their children's school.
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tomb, I would have thought you could get it down near the 2K mark with carefull planning.
Smaller resort, do you need a huge area ?
Self caterer or B&B.
Have a good time wherever you end up.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| james75 wrote: |
| I understand the supply and demand issue, but it would be nice if they offered these deals during the school holidays as well as all other times. |
Maybe not a perfect understanding of the supply and demand issue then.
i can understand why in a short season people want to maximise their revenue. It is not necessarily completely the fault of the various providers that the authorities have become so uncompromising about school holidays.
In our own tiny way I can share the operators dillema. We can lease our apartment out during half term, xmas and new year any number of times despite it being much more expensive than at other times. yet 2nd and 3rd week of January are very difficult to shift at a fraction of the cost. In the resort those weeks are wonderful because they are empty. Of course, the lift operators will run as many deals as they can to up the revenue in those dead weeks.
The lift operators will not need to run any deals during school holiday periods. Remember a large chunk of their income comes from maybe 5 weeks.
back to the original poster. I have always thought 1,000 per person for a Hotel package is pretty much the norm for a decent ski holiday in peakish season. You can pay a bit less and you can pay a lot more.
You can ski for a lot less, as others have said.
- self catering apartment.
- your own equipment
- driving down
- if you go often a season lift pass
I guess you could get it down to just a few hundred quid per person.
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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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tomb, DIY, go for the cheapest flights I can find, a half board hotel that means even the kids only ever need snacks on the mountain, we have all our own kit and even with luggage charges for a couple of huge wheelie snowboard bags that saves quite a bit over hiring, particularly as the kids are good enough not to want bottom of the range kit.
Done the same the last couple of years, 2012 skiing perfect once you got up from the valley, this year everything open and skiing well right down to the village. Both years massive dumps mid week followed by some bluebird powder days which they have the good sense not to piste!
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If the 3k is catered, including lift pass and some lessons, in school hols that's not bad value at all.
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You know it makes sense.
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| pam w wrote: |
new rules imposed from Whitehall mean that schools are generally not allowing any holidays in term time now - you can choose to have it recorded as unauthorised absence and face the consequences, of course, but many parents don't like to fall out with their children's school. |
True, but when we asked the (primary) school about that they told us that unless the absence was significant (and one week a year is not) then the reality is that the consequences are nothing.
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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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We've just booked for a week at Christmas for two adults and a six year old £1350 half board 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Lst 6 years , always with Esprit, usually in Jan, always works out at about 2.5K
Adults have skis/boots
No lessons for adults.
If going in Jan this year, need to add £60 fine payable to the Secretary of State for Education
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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gad, very impressed, where would that be?
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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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very impressed, where would that be?
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and what does it include?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Alpe d'huez, next to the dmc lift at the top of the resort, a quick search on here and trip advisor informs what to expect in terms of the hotel  but at that price I'm prepared to make some sacrifices, and as to what includes I'm not sure until I get there ! But if you mean lift passes ect, then no it doesn't include those !
http://www.rocketski.com/ski-resorts/france/alpedhuez/clubhotel-beausoleil
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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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Sounds ball park, in fact doing well with child as peak holidays.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
The lift operators will not need to run any deals during school holiday periods. Remember a large chunk of their income comes from maybe 5 weeks.
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IME the lift prices in France are the same throughout the season (except the very beginning and the last week, when smaller areas might be open). The BOGOF lift passes are often TO offers, all part of their price elasticities. It has always surprised me (pleasantly) that a week's lift pass at half term costs the same as it does in mid-January. The costs of driving are the same too. Accommodation costs are higher, true, but they are often not the major part of the cost of a ski holiday. If you avoid TOs then an apartment for 6 might cost £100 a week per head more in mid Feb than in mid Jan and ski lessons are a bit more expensive but other prices, including lift passes, driving costs and meals/food will be the same. The main objection to school holidays, for me, is the crowds.
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If you daughter is only 6, I would take her out of school and go off season. It is cheaper, less crowded and ski school also quieter. We used to take ours out for a ski holiday every year until my eldest was 10. The first week of January is usally quite good as often there is a bank holiday or inset ( or both) - so they only miss 3 days of school.
Taking children skiing for the first time can be hard work - so if your budget can stretch to it then a child friendly catered chalet or hotel is ideal. Try Ski Magic or Family Friendly sking in La Tania - they have some good deals for families in off peak weeks.
We are now stuck with school holidays but also now have our own apartment which helps!
If you decide to self cater then you relly do need to self cater properly as eating out anywhere in the French or Swiss Alps is expensive - as are the supermarkets.
For self catering I can highly recommend stocking up on Cook Frozen food and taking it out in the roof box. We managed 5 lovely meals this way and only had to do the carbs and veg to go with them  . Very easy...
Another option, is to look at Austria for the Feb half term but book directly with the Austrian owner in a resort that is not full of British tour operators. You tend to find that there is just a general price for February sking as opposed to a huge price hike for UK half term. Also, children under the age of 8 get a free lift pass in some resorts. In France they usually have to pay from age 5.
Hope you find something that works well. And, remember to take a least 2 pairs of gloves/ mittens for your 6 year old. They always manage to get them wet and good to have a dry pair to put on after lunch !
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We managed around £3.5K for two adults, three children (6, 4, 1) - half day ski school for the older two, full childcare for the youngest + half day for the 4 year old. It included all ski/boot etc hire at the upper end of their range, lift passes, flights, transfers - the lot. This was in the Easter holidays this year with Crystal in La Plagne 1800. Admittedly it was self catering, but with careful budgeting you don't have to spend the earth on food. Pasta in the evening goes a long way, as do ham sandwiches. There were no special offers either. Had a really great time and Crystal were excellent.
Having said that, next time we go (sadly not until the next season, although happily that's because I'm currently making our junior skier #4!) I think we're going to take them out of school and screw the consequences. They're all still young and have, a few sickness bugs here and there aside, excellent attendance and punctuality. With four children the difference in price in term time is going to be very significant.
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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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pam w, my apartment, admittedly through PnV - not a TO but selling to them - is 3x the price at half term than at low season. And no, that's not £100 more, it's more like £2000 more. (€1200 to €3340) Sleeps 6.
Why? because low season doesn't sell ( Well done Gove et al ). High season, could sell three times over, even at those prices. 28 weeks of the year to make money, and only 5 of them under pressure for occupancy... what's an investor to do?
I used to say " why go at half term when its twice the price, with twice the lift wait time, and twice the piste crowds? " The joke isn't as appropriate now it's three times...
But I do agree the fixed costs - passes, lessons, DIY travel don't move nearly as much, it at all. Which is comforting, but also strangely counter-intuitive. I'd be the last to suggest it to the lift companies, but why don't they put the price up with a captive audience?
(Answering own question... perceived service quality being poorer (longer queues) maybe the answer or... in a bizarre volte face, low week visitors subsidise high week visitors? A price determined by target visitor numbers across the season, reckoning those with the option to get more up-lifts per € due to fewer visitors, would be willing to pay for that privilege. I can live with that. PS I'm out in January - low season- and Easter, also low season weeks).
Easter is also a school holiday period , and a perfectly good time to ski. Even this year in Mid April. Why people think the season ends in March or earlier, I have no idea. Still, as long as it's empty, and there's low season weeks while my daughter is still of school age, who cares why?
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We work on a basis of self planned...£100.00 per ski day. TO.. £170-£180 per ski day. All self catering, but include catering costs.
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