 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi All,
Already booked the usual all inclusive family week skiing for Feb 1/2 term at eye-watering cost.
Having noticed that Easter is in March next year, I'm in the process of trying to convince SWMBO that we could actually do the first week of the Easter hols as well because it would be a relatively cheap family ski holiday. The 1/2 term week is full childcare - sprogs in ski school all day & looked after in the evening, us out skiing with friends with long lunches etc - so I'm pitching the Easter week as a relaxed, self-catering, family-ski-together, picnic on the mountain type affair. Sprogs will be 8 & 6 and will be doing their respective 6th and 4th weeks of ski school in the preceding 1/2 term so we can cruise around with them all day, no problem.
Anyway, the Mrs is starting to buy into this vision of low-cost family perfection but, in making this elaborate pitch, I've made a whole load of assumptions which I need to start either backing up or backing away from so I call on the wider community here to either shoot them down in flames or confirm for me:
1. We can drive to and from the alps (most likely PdS or Cham Valley) from South London for about £5-600 (including tunnel)
2. Schools break up on the Thursday, therefore we have 2 days to get there for a rental starting on the Sat and can have a leisurely journey without the usual chaos and traffic jams as the transfer period is spread over 2-3 days and we could overnight en-route very cheaply as well.
3. Accommodation will be readily available, even last-minute, and fairly cheap given that the French don't break up for another 2 weeks (I'm expecting (much) less than €1k - nothing fancy required)
4. Even fairly low resorts will still have snow late March so we have a wide choice of resorts (e.g. St. Gervais/Megeve a poss destination as have friends there)
5. Possibly the most challenging: We can do the whole thing (inc. lift passes, food and overnights on both legs) for <£2.5k with no need to commit until we know there's money available...
Any info/opinions gratefully received!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Looks like most of the assumptions are goodish....
1) Return tunnel is £150, I believe tolls are around £110 return so just fuel and any stop off to be costed in
2) yep - certainly for my little un hols start end of Thursday
3......pass
4) who knows. Only a week earlier than the last 2 years for Easter hols, and can be pretty slushy down at 1600 certainly by Les Arcs history if it gets warm
5) pass
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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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Not the specifics but I've skied in France (Les Deux Alpes) every Easter (or school holidays around then) since 2007. Never very busy, never much traffic, I had the same apartment mostly and it was a reasonable price.
Conditions vary enormously. Late in March should be OK though although last winter snow was poor and was already deteriorating then.
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Your assumptions are not far off.
1. It will cost you around £500-£600 for tolls fuel and hotel x 2 (difference in price depending on whether F1 or Novotel). You then need to add on the cost of the tunnel.
2. If you are used to half term the journey will be easier (but you still need to be aware of bank holiday traffic in England and Easter Saturday traffic near the resorts.)
3. yes if you are not fussed where you stay.
4. Not guaranteed. If you book in advance you have to look at snow history, altitude/orientation of slopes but there are still plenty of options.
5. Yes you would be able to do it for this budget if you stay in basic accommodation in one of the cheaper resorts. If the budget includes ski hire and ski lessons x 2 you will not have a huge amount for 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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Hi,
Here are some actual costs for our trip to Les Gets last march at an exchange rate of E1.30=£1, door to door, we're 200 miles from Dover
Ferry £64.00
Fuel £180.00
Tolls £120.00
Flat £320 ( booked direct with a local agent over the internet)
Our normal plan is for us to cross the channel in the early morning of the Friday and a hotel on the Friday night reasonably close to the mountains, we stayed in Annemasse this year.
Reasonably early rise and breakfast on the Saturday and drive up to the resort in Ski clothes. We then ski until about 3:30 pm and then go and check in for our accommodation.
On the departure Saturday, we load the car, check out of the accommodation and then go skiing until mid afternoon and then drive to a hotel 3-4 hours away and then complete the drive home on the Sunday.
This plan gives us up to 8 full days skiing instead of the standard 6.
A lot of the tourist office accommodation services do start to discount and come up other offers sometimes including lift passes as a package.
Hotel chains like Accor also discount and include breakfast closer to the date of travel, just need to register with them and they will bombard you with offers. If you start to do this regularly there are loyalty programs which build towards free nights.
If you're hiring skis and boots Skimium among others will discount by up to 40% online, having a Decathlon card used to give another 10%.
As for snow conditions this year our mid/late March trip had much better conditions than our January trip, you can never tell.
Hope this helps
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@jma, Fairly good assumptions.
My costs were for last Easter
1/ Driving cost - £400 from the midlands so it should be cheaper from London, but then again it depends on what vehicle you drive
2/ We left Maunday Thursday in the evening and got to the resort good Friday morning. Similarly left after skiing on the Saturday - 9 days skiing, but expect 50% more for lift passes ski hire child care etc
3/ Lots of accommodation available in Les Arcs. a 2 room apartment would cost about 800 euro for 7 nights. Phone up for the Friday night - it will almost certainly be available but not on the web sites.
4/ Some low resorts will have snow but I would aim high for reliability or have a link to higher slopes
5/ Lift passes are the real problem. Since it is still high season they will be expensive. I think we paid close on 400 euro each at Easter. Food should not really be much more than you are paying at home. Accommodation and travel about £1000 (depending on the exchange rate). I cannot comment on the cost of overnights since I can never be bothered with them.
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1-2 have pretty much been answered so:
3 - Check out the Premiere Classe Motels, really really cheap if you just want a place to rest your head on the motorway (about £30 a night for a triple room).
4 - I know it was a bit of an odd year, but I was in Chamonix the first week of Easter this year, so only up the road from St Gervais / Megeve, and although the runs down to 1000m were complete, it was a slither of white snaking down a green field anywhere below about 1600m. I know it's not for everyone but high altitude is key for me at that time of year as it feels a bit of a safer proposition.
5 - To get that sort of price I would consider looking at AirBnB to get some cheap rental properties, or maybe look outside France. Italy and Andorra are a bit cheaper than France on the whole. I know there are places in Grandvalira in Andorra where a room for four, half board, is about £800, lift passes include free lunch on the hill if you buy them from the right place - £180 for an adult, and lessons and hire are generally a bit cheaper, so your £2,500 could be doable.
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@jma, I forgot to mention that it is a very nice time of the year to go 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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@jma, the French have changed their Spring Holiday dates, and they now start a week earlier than previously published, i.e. now on 2nd April for zone B.
http://cache.media.education.gouv.fr/file/Services/17/1/calendrierscolaire20152016_296171.pdf
I think you are proposing to go the last week in March, so would still be unaffected. If you thinking of the first week in April, you would overlap with zone B, though I'm not sure how much impact that would have. I'd agree with all your other assumptions.
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@johnE, I'm intrigued how you can get from the midlands to les arcs and back for £400 including the channel crossing. Do you use Tesco vouchers for the tunnel or do you have the most fuel efficient car on the planet?!
Your lift pass estimate sounds on the high side though. There are sometimes good family deals at Easter (eg one child skis free or all family ski at the child price) depending on the resort.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I agree with all the above. Late March is, IMO, a much nicer time to ski. Possibly the best time of the year. I'd also agree with those who say 'don't go too low'.
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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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Thanks all for help and confirmation and especially for costings and stopover info, really helpful
Les Arcs, and other suggestions (esp Italy/Andorra!) quite a bit further so Cham is most likely destination, was just wondering about lower resorts. AirBnB a great suggestion, will look into. We only really need a 2 bed apt but sounds like we should find something for well under €1k
Only need to hire skis/boots etc for the kids. As for passes, if we go to Cham, we'll probably just buy day passes. I've got a rapidcard so get some discounts from time 2 time and it would give us the flexibility of not skiing for a day if the weather's bad or nipping round to St. Gervais to see friends etc (and I know all the areas fairly well)
@johnE, If you don't overnight anywhere, do you do your driving during the day or through the night? It's something I'd consider for sure but doubt would be well received by rest of clan!
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@snowymum, The costs are :
Tunnel: £150 (when I checked the price charged was actually more than I remembered, so sadly I didn't actually make the £400 at Easter. I had got used to £100 crossings)
Fuel: 1600 miles @45 mpg (skoda superb) deisel cost 1:08 euro at hypermarket in France, so full up in Calais there and back £175
Tolls: £116
Total £441 A bit more than I thought.
The lift passes were for 9 days Parardiski passes.
@jma, Usiually we just drive overnight, but next month we are driving down during the day and back overnight.
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You know it makes sense.
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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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You can ski in other countries apart from France, drive down thru belgium, Germany and avoid tolls 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Chamonix wouldn't be my choice of resort with small kids. Could make logistics complicated with ski areas strung out along the valley. I think your budget is a bit tight, especially if you were looking at skiing 8 days. Even very minimal snacks and drinks on the mountain in chamonix would strain your budget.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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To keep costs down look for an apartment you could go back to for lunch or if kids are tired or cold
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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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Don't quote me on this but I have a feeling that this season for Easter there was a way to buy a Family Pass for Chamonix where the kids were free perhaps?
I don't know if this is for all of Cham or just for Le Tour (I seem to think I saw it advertised at the bottom of the Chamillon lift at Le Tour) but worth looking in to.
EDIT - just looked on the Chamonix website and it looks like, if you pay for 2 adults and one child, any extra kids then go free. So that should knock £200 or so off your costings...
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FAQ
