 Poster: A snowHead
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My 6 year son and I are already sorted for February (Val d'Isere with Esprit) but I'm now considering getting another week in during the Easter school holidays. The difference with this trip is that my wife will be coming along and may consider breaking her vow never to ski again.  As I siad in this thread - http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=2236406 - she had skied a couple of times and hated it but our sons total love with the sport has left her feeling a bit isolated so she is considering giving it a go again.
I've priced up a few TO options but they are coming out quite expensive so we are contemplating driving instead. We are no strangers to European jaunts having driven to France in summer on a number of occasions. Last year we even did the 977 miles from le Buge in the Dordoyne to East Lothian in a single day. However, it was a bit tough and while I'm relatively easy about doing it my wife and son would not be so keen.
We have the option of taking the overnight ferry from Newcastle to Ijmuiden to cut down on the UK driving and give us a jump-off point in to Europe. Places in France would be c.740 miles away so that would not be desireable but some of the Austrian resorts are closer at around 600 miles.
Distance is not the only criteria as I'd like somewhere high to ensure that snowcover is still good in early April but also somewhere that my wife would feel comfortable both trying skiing again and having something to do when she isn't or decides it is not for her. Finally we don't wnat to spend a fortune so somewhere not too expensive would be good.
I've considered Obergurgl as it seems to tick a few of the boxes although it does seem to be quite expensive. Any other suggestions would be welcome. As we are driving midweek to midweek is an option.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Blimey, you are fond. That's a drive and a half from Edinburgh. I thought newcastle to the alps was a bad enough drive 
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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 would probably drive to Edinburgh Airport.  Good luck. That's a big journey.
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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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Gaza, are you sure that's not North Shields........ You clearly know where all the speed cameras are 
The autobahn trip sounds gooooood....
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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you could driver to hull and get the ferry to rotterdam then pretty much a stright driver down to somewhere like le deux alps or even a swiss resort?
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Agree with Mike-H, I would be tempted to take a flight North to Oslo, especially with midweek flights £35 ish in April. Cut costs by just going for a few days - would be long enough for wife.
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Thu 9-01-14 12:16; edited 2 times in total
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I've always called it a nice round 4 hour drive to Glasgow from North Shields, although tbf that is also out the other side a bit.
Must be 13hour drive from IJmuiden to somewhere sensible in Austria? Obergurgl would have been one of my suggestions.
I believe the ferry is actually not that extortionate in winter (it's scarily pricey in summer).
Probably not much to gain/lose going via Hull-Rotterdam/Zeebrugge either, cheaper but 2 more hours on the road.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| andy wrote: |
I've always called it a nice round 4 hour drive to Glasgow from North Shields, although tbf that is also out the other side a bit.
Must be 13hour drive from IJmuiden to somewhere sensible in Austria? Obergurgl would have been one of my suggestions.
I believe the ferry is actually not that extortionate in winter (it's scarily pricey in summer).
Probably not much to gain/lose going via Hull-Rotterdam/Zeebrugge either, cheaper but 2 more hours on the road. |
The ferry is around £400 round trip for a 3 berth Commodore Cabin each way. It would be cheaper for an economy cabin but for a long crossing we like to have a nice cabin.
I'd forgotten about the Hull routes so I'll plug those in to Google Maps.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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We're near manchester anf doing the hull/rotterdam route to Sestriere in Feb.
The european leg will be about 10 hours driving so I've kitted the car out with a tablet and table for the kids.
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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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Gaza, nice price. £700 in august for a single outside cabin. Used to be more like £400. £16 for a plate of fish and chips is a bit of a mickey take too.
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You know it makes sense.
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Obergurgl is great, and lots of nice blues for your wife to enjoy.
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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 take ferry from Hull to Rotterdam and drive to our place in Zell am See regularly, driver is around 11 - 12 hours with a couple of stops depending on traffic etc. Zell would give you the option of guaranteed skiing on the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier and plenty for your wife to do if she decides not to ski. If you are interested in self catering our place is free in April at the moment, drop me a pm if you want more info.
Cheers
Mark
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Poster: A snowHead
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I have driven to Austria from Ijmuiden and from Rotterdam and Zeebrugge to the French Alps. I am not going to comment on possible resorts beyond saying that I have been to Val d'Isere (staying reasonably economically in the Pierre et Vacances properties at La Daille) and also at Val Thorens in late April - higher will be better at that time so Obergurgl should be OK. What about the 'End of Season Bash'? That's at Val Thorens.
The main suggestion that I make (based on experience) is to split the journey. If you have enough days available, have an overnight stop in Ypres or Bruges or somewhere in the Black Forest or Jura depending on which resort you are driving to. Find something in advance to do or see there. Make the journey a part of the holiday. If Mrs Gaza enjoys it, all the more chance of a repeat trip next 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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| JohnHSmith wrote: |
| The main suggestion that I make (based on experience) is to split the journey. If you have enough days available, have an overnight stop in Ypres or Bruges or somewhere in the Black Forest or Jura depending on which resort you are driving to. Find something in advance to do or see there. Make the journey a part of the holiday. If Mrs Gaza enjoys it, all the more chance of a repeat trip next year. |
A stop-off had certainly crossed my mind. Depending on the exact date we leave it may co-incide with our 10th wedding anniversary so a stopover at a nice hotel would almost certainly be on the cards.
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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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Gaza, We did pretty much this last year, but to Avoriaz, from Blairgowrie. We're actually thinking of using one of the Hull routes instead of Newcastle next time because our past experience of those has been better; the Hull routes are a bit cheaper when I've priced them up and the extra driving is not great (last year our thinking was that the extra cost on the Newcastle route might outweigh the extra drive to Hull). Also, I think the Hull Routes may dock slightly earlier, giving a bit more daylight driving.
Going there, we drove to a hotel in Schallstadt (near Freiburg) and then on to Avoriaz in the morning; coming back we did Avoriaz to Amsterdam in one go, then spent 3 nights there before coming home.
The autobahn sounds great, but we found that a lot of our route was on two lane unrestricted sections and we found we seemed to end up in the outside lane at, say, 90mph passing a line of lorries, when someone would come up behind at 100mph+ and sit on our tail until we moved out of the way; the result was a new found liking for speed-restricted sections where the speed differential between the fastest and slowest vehicles is much less.
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Guessing that must be A61 via Venlo and Koblenz? Cos the A12/A3/A5 is 3+lane almost the entire way, at least in Germany (and is the way I'd go).
If heading to French Alps then Zeebrugge prolly makes more sense.
If heading towards Austria, then IJmuiden/Amsterdam, Rotterdam to Zeebrugge are all much the same, within maybe half an hour or so over a 12hour journey.
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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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I'll also echo the North Sea sailing, I always go Hull-Rotterdam when driving out to the Arlberg. Roll out the port about 9am after a good night's sleep and breakfast on the ship , quick toilet/food/petrol stop en route and I'm in the Arlberg by 8pm latest ( tho as I'm here for the season, all journeys are just out of ski season so traffic nearing destination may not be as bad).
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NE1, we drive from Durham to the Alps at least 4 times a year if not more. Never use the North Sea crossing, it doesn't save us much time at all, and we'd have to take a full day off to make the 5pm crossing time, even though we live less than half and hour away.
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Gaza, Fly to Geneva, hire a car, drive to high level French resort.Lots of SC deals out there.
Flights on the 12th are about £500, 1100 miles of driving would cost more , about £650, assuming 40MPG including tolls and tunnel, obviously you would need to hire a car, which will be £300 or so.
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If going via a North Sea route then Europoort (Rotterdam) gives you an extra couple of hours in bed on your return journey as it departs later then Ijmuiden and Zeebrugge.
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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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my boyfriend has driven over to visit me in Munich a few times from Edinburgh with a camper van. I think he does it in around 24hrs including around a 4 hr stop but he goes via the channel tunnel as he didn't fancy 15 hrs on a ferry, from me you can be at plenty of Austrian resorts in 2.5 hrs.
How about the Zugspitze Arena, I've only ever skied Garmisch but the Zugspitze is high enough to guarantee snow and Garmisch is a lovely little town, it should be a bit cheaper than some of the other high Austrian resorts. Zugspitze has closed on may 1st the last 2 years I have been here.
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Ultimately depends where you're driving from/to, and how many drivers. My trips are usually Frankfurt-Largs or Frankfurt-Aviemore.
Have seriously considered Dover-Calais/Dover-Dunkerque with the flexibility they provide, and indeed at summer prices on the Newcastle-IJmuiden route, there would even be a cost saving when paying the maxed out eurotunnel flexi plus price.
But 10 hours plus overnight ferry in the middle or 16 hours plus dover-calais plus an overnight B+B somewhere, with one driver, is pretty much a no brainer.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Do hull to Rotterdam then eight hours down to Garmisch in Germany. Just back from there and was excellent. Best feature was a beer and bowl of goulasche was €6!!
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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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blahblahblah, Something wrong with that calculation I think.
1100 miles @ 40mpg is 27.5 gallons (or 125 litres) so around £160 in fuel
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DJL, got to get back, but yes £160 was the figure I used.
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You know it makes sense.
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blahblahblah, Sorry - I'm being dopey.
1100 miles each way so £320 fuel, tunnel say £150, tolls say £140 and we're close to your figure.
For some reason I thought you meant fuel only and only one way. Time I woke up!
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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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DJL, No sweat, the cost of flights from Scotland are no more than the south, which I thought swung it. I have driven and flown, but driving from Scotland would fill me with dread.
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Poster: A snowHead
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blahblahblah, OP said he could travel midweek so flights can be obtained for a lot less. Also said during Easter hols, so not necessarily the peak weekend either. And, only three people travelling. Definitely a non-brainer to fly IMV - unless there is snow closer to home.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Thu 9-01-14 15:43; 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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beequin, some times tricky getting accommodation midweek, hence my weekend flight rate.
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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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blahblahblah, True - always wise to look at worst case scenario, but should be possible early April.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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mid-week to mid-week definitely possible in Austria, probably more so than France.
Close to Easter may potentially make it easier, since it's April, and all the Germans will go away for a 4 day long weekend, not Sat-Sat.
Every trip I've done to Austria or Slovenia since about 1998 has been part week or weekend or long weekend. The last Sat-Sat trip would have been an UK Tour-op one.
Means dealing with hotel directly, or using a service such as Tiscover to find accommodation.
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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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Drive to the Zillertal and stay in one of the villages between Mayerhofen and The Hintertux ..
Then You can be certain of snow up on the Glacier but you should be lucky enough to find the other resorts working fine.
I don't think your 6 year will need the high octane buzz of a major resort, and you dear wife will be tempted to go again by the shear cuteness of the place.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Yellow Pyranha wrote: |
| Gaza, We did pretty much this last year, but to Avoriaz, from Blairgowrie. We're actually thinking of using one of the Hull routes instead of Newcastle next time because our past experience of those has been better; the Hull routes are a bit cheaper when I've priced them up and the extra driving is not great (last year our thinking was that the extra cost on the Newcastle route might outweigh the extra drive to Hull).. |
Just checked P&O and for comparable journeys it is coming out more expensive than Newcastle. I've looked st easyjet and got a reasonable price for flights out to Geneva and back from Grenoble so that may be an option.
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From Edinburgh I would drive to Cairngorm. Or take the easyJet flight to Munich and then you have all of the Tyrol and Salzburgerland to choose from. Even with car hire I cannot imagine that working out more expensive than driving the whole way (I gave up driving to Scotland once the easyJet flight was available - and the Rosyth-Zeebrugge ferry wasn't).
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Flights on the Saturday of Feb half-term cost approx. £500 pp return. Car hire from £130 but double that from a major company.
Driving with 4 people in the car Calais to Tirol, £550. Saving over £1500.
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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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Last June we drove from Edinburgh to Jungfrau, St Anton, Mayrhofen, Hintertux, Kaprun and Zell am See. We did it for the joy of the drive in Kim's birthday car and the various destinations, however the cost of the insurance, breakdown cover, ferry and fuel were crazy.
If you are on a budget, the fly easyjet to Munich and hire a car and it will be half the cost.
From now on it's day trips to Glenshee
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gaza as a fellow east Lothian resident I cannot even contemplate driving to the alps not to mention what could be a rough ferry crossing. I would look at flights from down south if there are more options. I hate the drive cairngorm from tranent never mind the three valleys. good luck hope you find something. thankfully we are four strong skiing family and no persuasion needed. I am sure mrs gaza will get the bug
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FAQ
yes, I meant North Shields.
