 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi,
Any advice you can offer on a short January ski break? Only looking to take two days off either side of or around the last weekend in January. Father & son trip, 4th/5th trip for each of us but have previously been able to manage a week away.
Any resort or tour operator recommendations greatfully received.
TIA
Paul
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Book yourself and you'll probably find it cheaper. I often arrange trips (either wife and kids or mates) where we fly to Geneva (Easyjet or BA), hire a car and then find cheap accommodation (booking.com or AirBnB) in PDS or Chamonix area. Tends to be MUCH cheaper than tour operators
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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'd fly into GVA, probably hire a car (just a bit more flexible and no more expensive than transfers) and head to somewhere near. Given your experience level I'd say Les Carroz, St Gervais, Les Contamines would be good options. Also Morzine, Les Gets, Megeve (oribably more expensive but more lively at night). Not an exhaustive list but all would provide good intermediate skiing at a reasonable price at that time of year. I'd use booking.com / tripadvisor to find hotels but be aware that some hotels will not want to book out long weekends yet. The reason for this is that a long weekend booking can, in theory, block two full week bookings. Nearer the time you will find that hotels KNOW they have availability and are much more flexible. I would feel confident booking the flights and car hire now and booking hotel in December or even early Jan - can even see if any resorts have particularly good snow cover.
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Id find somewhere you can fly out early & fly back late with a short transfer to maximise slope time.
So may be worth seeing which airports you can fly from & where they fly to
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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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We did a lads weekend to Megeve (agree horribly expensive the food and drink cost as much as the whole weekend), but for convenience and a really good ski area its worth a look. Plenty of "cheap" accommodation options especially if you have a car and enough terrain to keep you occupied for 3 or 4 days easily. Also, its a really nice place.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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We often fly out around 5pm Friday and get into resort around 9pm as a result. Get a full days skiing on Saturday and Sunday and fly out from Geneva around 9pm - works really well and doesn't "really" require any time off work
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How about La Clusaz? Under-rated resort with a good ski area on a short transfer from GVA
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It would be easier to find accommodation if you took the Mon, Tues off and went Sat - Tues, as then the hotel is only giving up part of one week.
Milan is cheaper to fly to than Geneva.
igoski do short breaks if you want a TO organised trip.
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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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+1 on Geneva. Book the flights and car hire now and book accommodation in January with a week or two to go. This is normally a low week and there should be bargains aplenty on accommodation.
Hire a car on the Swiss side rather than the French side of the Airport as it has snow tires and will be quicker to get out of the airport.
And then the fun begins. Driving South from Geneva you have Morzine, Avoriaz , Samoens, Flaine on your left and Grand Bornard, Le Clusaz, Megeve and Les Contamines on your right leading to Chamonix. All well worth a few days depending on your preferences and the value/ of your accommodation. The only limiting factor on some resorts will be the snow cover but by booking accommodation close to the date you should be able to figure that out.
have fun
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Turin's worth a look too. Fair few areas within 1.5hrs drive. Car hire and food seems cheaper than France. I've done short breaks to Sestriere and Sauze and it's very straightforward.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Munich and into Austria works well for a long weekend. It really depends more on where you're starting from and flight times on offer.
As before, get the flights and car sorted and find accommodation the week you travel.
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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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I'd look for departure Wednesday evening and return late Sunday. In the past we have done: Milan then to Greseney, Geneva to Les Arcs, Aime, and Crolles (worth looking at since it is only 20 minutes drive to Les7Laux and cheep accomodation can be found easily). I have also done Zakopane in Poland, which though inexpensive and very suitable for novice skiers does need some experience of international travel to organise.
Personally I would start with trying to find accommodation then sort out the flight, car hire etc later, but check first where you can fly to. Some places, such as Krakow only have a few flight a week. Remember to search a few other airports within an hour or two drive from home. There may be that obscure airline flying at 8pm from Doncaster to Bratislava only on Wednesday and Sundays and hence to some small Slovak ski resort perfect for a weekend
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I've done this pretty much every season for the last 5-6 years and, in my experience, the following works best:
- Cheap flight to GVA as late as possible on Friday night (don't forget to check national airlines like BA/Swiss as sometimes just as cheap as SleazyJet/RyanAir etc)
- Hire a car - always found it to be cheaper and more flexible than transfers, plus you can pick up supplies on the way in to resort if needed. We use AutoEurope and have never had any issues whatsoever with any of the operators at GVA. AutoEurope allows you to cancel up to 48hrs before departure without charge so keep shopping around until a couple of days before you leave - we quite often just book something suitable with them, then a couple of week's later they will have a better deal so we cancel and reboojk without charge!
- Either get a Motel near GVA and drive early on Sat morning to resort (we've done Portes du Soleil but also as far away as La Plagne, which is better in poor snow years and also much easier to get ski-in-ski-out which is important for short trips) or drive straight to resort if your accommodation in resort allows a Friday night stay (See below).
- We generally leave it until around Christmas to start looking for accommodation then just get on the emails to all suitable listings on OwnersDirect/Homelidays etc asking if they will accept a part-week, Sat - Tues - we normally get a 'bite' around the first or second week of Jan when they give up hope of getting a full week booking - we normally pay around £50-£75 a night for a one-bed apartment depending on quality.
- So we normally get to ski Saturday (lovely and quiet), Sunday, Monday and half of Tuesday - take a shower in the apartment at lunchtime (apartment owners normally don't have anyone staying until the following Saturday so are usually flexible on check out time), then jump in the car and drive back to GVA for an evening flight around 7pm.
All in (inc lift passes, flights, ski hire, car hire and accommodation) for a group of 3-4 we normally pay around £450 per person - about as cheap as it gets for more than half a 'normal' week's skiing and only two days off work!
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You know it makes sense.
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We did a short week, DIY, in Westendorf this year so probably possible to book a hotel for a weekend trip. Fly Innsbruck or Salzburg and get the train or drive. We're also 5th week skiers and the resort suited us very well. We're also doing a long weekend in Trento in Dec - not a resort itself, but a small ski area near by and a ski bus to reach it. Hotels easily bookable and not expensive, and looks like an easy train from Verona. May be worth a look?
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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 have a twin room available 19-22 jan sat-tues for 350pp fully catered in chatel. Sat-weds is 400pp. Transfers are 50 return from GVA. www.snowsituations.co.uk
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Poster: A snowHead
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I do one or two weekends a year for years. Ones that have been successful, with airport) include: Champery (GVA), Villars (GVA), Verbier (GVA), Selva val Gardena (Innsbruck), Champoluc (and Gressony) (Turin or Milan), St Anton (Zurich or Innsbruck), Westendorf (Innsbruck), Chamonix (GVA), Les Contamines (GVA), Obergurgl (Innsbruck), Wagrain (Salzburg), Zell am See (Salzburg), amongst others. To get max time skiing out of short weekend, the key things are:
1. Flight times - arriving middle of day loses a day to travel. Either need to go out very early morning flight or go evening before (but then need to pay for an extra night). Leave on evening flight. Flight times are the major restricting factor these days - there are less suitable flights than there used to be.
2. Closeness resort to airport - see below re transfer.
The J2Ski site has a useful list of resorts that are close to airports, listed by transfer time: https://www.j2ski.com/ski_resorts/Airports/. Geneva is ususally the best combination of flight times (lots of flights) with many resorts within 2 hours, but as you can see above, there are plenty of other options.
I would disagree with the comment above about first finding accommodation. Flights are the key. First find flights that have suitable times and cost - there are hundreds of resorts suitable for a weekend near most airports.
One of the joys of a short weekend is that it gives you the opportunity to try smaller resorts that you would not go to for a whole week. It is often easiest to find accommodation in less well-known resorts. However, unless you choose peak weeks, there is ALWAYS available accommodation in any resort. Hotels may be reluctant to let rooms go on a split week basis much in advance, but you will always find something - don't panic - something will free up as the date gets closer. Most resorts have tourist offices that are useful (the Selva website is particularly helpful). Sites like Booking.com etc are also your friend.
Hire Car is far quicker, cheaper and more flexible than other options, unless you want to throw money at expensive taxis. Get one person in the hire car queue as soon as you get off plane, whilst others pick up bags. Do not use the hire car company recommended by the airline, otherwise you will be queuing with everyone else, whilst other companies have no queue. We have done train, but is always slower (train really comes into its own if you are transferring on days that the roads will be busy).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We booked a weekend for 3 in January in Pila with interski. For a smidgen over £400 we have booked our own easyJet flights to Geneva, 3 nights hb with wine in a piste side hotel.
Price from interski includes:
Transfer from Geneva and back (they also serve Turin)
2 days lift pass
Ski insurance
Clothing rental
Half board and wine
Lunch voucher on mountain
Indoor pool
Fitness centre
Equipment rental
Hotel Lion Noir in Pila, alternatives available in Aosta
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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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Hi Paul, what sort of short ski trip do you want roughly? lively bars and apres ski with a bit of leisurely skiing in a busy resort OR quiet pistes, no queuing, few bars/restaurants and all day on the piste few drinks/diner and retire early? Do you want to do loads of mileage and want a massive area? Weather is on your side that time of year so altitude isn't really necessary!
I can tell you a place that ticks all your boxes depending on what you want above?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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How old are father and probably more importantly son? If son is under 30, I can imagine him enjoying having a few people same age around when father goes to bed at 11  ucpa do weekend trips, great prices, several resorts close to airports but I'd suggest argentiere as one of closest with good feedback.
Action outdoors run it for UK clients, have a look at their site.
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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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Agree with everyone else, secure the flight/car hire first and then look at resorts within 1.5 - 2hrs dive max. You do not want to be driving long distances at the weekends, esp if you do a late Friday night flight, as you might always run into lots of that lovely white stuff that can make a short hop into a complete nightmare! GVA often has the best range of flight and I agree don't just look at Easyjet etc, as BA and Swiss have on occasions come in cheaper for us. Once you know the resort, look to reserve your skis etc, as you can often pick-up online discounts with SkiSet/Skimium - you print a voucher and it can be cheaper than the walk in rate. Good luck.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Agreed Geneva (Easyjet) have the latest flights (I'm currently booked on one at 21.40 for next season) which allows a full day skiing before you leave.
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