 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi, first time posting but have been looking at lots of past threads, you are clearly a very helpful and knowledgeable bunch so hopefully you can assist...! We are a party of 8, mostly first timers (including 4 kids) though 2 of us have skied a reasonable amount (red/easy black standard). I've never skied at Easter before. (Half of us will fly from London, half from Manchester). I'm looking for a resort which is cheap and will have decent snow the first week of the Easter holidays (from 4 April). I've discounted France as the flights to Geneva, Lyon etc are extortionate. Flights to Turin are similarly expensive, but Milan and Verona look OK - c.£200pp - so I was considering either Passo Tonale or Cervinia. The big appeal of PT is it seems much cheaper than Cervinia. I'd be happy to have less variety, interest, picturesqueness, apres, etc, to save the money. I mostly just want it to be fun for the kids. However, the helpful people on the forum have mentioned that due to being south facing, the snow in PT may be slushy. How big a problem is this? As a child I remember being terrified of ice, but can't recall having encountered slush particularly. Do you think the difference in snow quality would make Cervinia worth paying the extra for?
Finally (risking making this the longest post in the history of Snowheads...) I was also looking at Trysil, which has super-cheap flights. Everything about this looks great, except for the dominance of drag lifts...are these as awful as I remember??
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Welcome to SHs, @licoriceallsort1. Have you thought of driving, to save costs? With 8 of you, two cars would be cheaper than a minimum of £200 p/p and it would give you a much bigger choice of resorts - you really do have to aim for somewhere with high altitude skiing where you can find accommodation very near the ski school meeting place. It's difficult hauling kids and their gear around, especially for people not used to it. And self-catering accommodation near the ski school also facilitates cheap DIY lunches, and giving the kids a rest. Driving would also enable you to take lots of pre-prepared food and ingredients to reduce the cost of catering for the week.
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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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You should think about driving and going to Val Thorens. We go at easter every year with our young children. Accommodation right on the nursery slopes (residence village montana) we use but loads of other options so very easy to just ski out the 20m to ski school. Snow conditions will be superb first week of april and we've always had a great time
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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As you are probably discovering flights to many of the main ski destination airports are being discontinued at the start of April and those that remain are more expensive. Though i haven't checked recently I believe many tour operators such as crystal are not offer easter holidays.
@pam w, idea of driving and renting large self catering apartments is actually pretty sensible. In mid April the days are longer and the weather better. It's actually a straightforward drive. Though i am not keen on the concept of buying food in the UK and taking it with you. I prefer doing my shopping in bourg st maurice.
Come easter many of the smaller french resorts will be closed and much of the dolomites in Italy. Cervina may be a good choice. However, the big french resorts such as les arcs, tignes and val thoren will be exceedingly good value.
Expect firm snow or even ice in the morning getting softer as the day progresses. Choose your slope and time and you will be rewarded with the holy grail of spring skiing - a couple cm of soft snow over a strong base.
And take pretty of factor 50 sun block
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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 would also suggest driving as that will open up a better choice of resorts and work out cheaper than flying even allowing for an overnight stop en route.
We have skied most Easter holidays in the past 10 years. I would suggest looking at resorts with a decent number of north facing slopes over 2000m. Flaine, Montgenevre and Les Arcs are my favourites. Val Cenis is a more budget option (whilst the lowest slopes are 1400 the ski area goes up to 2800m so there are enough runs higher up for skiing to usually be ok in the first week of April).
We use Peak Retreats or their subsidiary Ski Collection for their self drive package incl Eurotunnel flexi plus.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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If you can go the following week, 11th April, then you should have a look at the Family Bash.
The link is to last season's bash, but there is a solid plan for April 2020.
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@licoriceallsort1, welcome to snowHeads. Tricky to find reasonably snowsure resorts, early April, at a reasonable cost during a main school holiday. Accommodation should be relatively easy to find.
The travel is the main constraint, especially Saturday to Saturday; the most popular, therefore most expensive, traffic jammed days to get about.
How about travelling Sunday to Sunday? Flights from both Manchester and London available to Lyon at around the £200pp return mark. Much less congested airports and roads.
What about near Orelle, in the Maurienne Valley? The backdoor into the 3 valleys. with a gondola and chairlift to one of the highest points in the Alps, above Val Thorens.
Also, if you rented cars over there, you'd have access to many smaller relatively cheap resorts in that valley. For example, Les Karellis tends to hold snow quite well late season.
Not a scenic, atmospheric place to stay but gives good value access to some of the best snow conditions in Europe that time of year. Depends on your priorities.
Also if Friday travel is an option for you, that opens up other possibilities, including Geneva returns around the £200 mark. Probably more difficult if there are kids at school.
I expect they're wanted for egg hunts and singing a few Easter songs on that last day of term, assuming it's not an INSET day 
Otherwise, Cervinia, Les 2 Alpes and Bourg St Maurice (funicular access to Les Arcs) would be other places I'd consider. You may have to stretch your budget though.
Good luck, and any specific questions, snowHeads will help I'm sure.
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@licoriceallsort1, don't discount Trysil - it would be a great resort for beginners, and for absolute beginners, kids especially, they are unlikely to get onto chair lifts straight away anyway. You can ski pretty much all of Trysil without much if any use of drags, if you want, and the button lifts are generally easy. There's one steep-ish T-bar but that's in the Høgegga sector which is the steepest part of the mountain and there are alternative ways to get past it.
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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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Wow, this is all incredibly helpful. Thank you!
Driving isn't an option due to back pain issues, but we can do Sunday to Sunday or Monday to Monday flights. I was struggling to find any accommodation for 8, but I'll keep looking.
I'm excited to hear you can travel around Trysil without going on the drag lifts (much) as I love the idea of Norway - have never been.
Peaky B, unfortunately one of my kids is super conscientious and won't miss any school! Annoying.
I will also look at the other places suggested. Does anyone have a view on Passo Tonale? Do the south facing slopes make it a no-no for Easter?
Thanks again!
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@licoriceallsort1, there are apartments and chalets available for 8 and more people. We have used chalet planton in tignes for 10 in the past. We found it on the tignes tourist Web site.
Though not cheep the train runs every day of the year and is a useful option for those living in the south of the UK. Actually they are very hard work with children
As others have mentioned you don't have to do Saturday to Saturday. For example you could go the week before easter the return on the bank holiday. Any renter will happily take the extra days rather than have their property empty.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I've only ever been to Passo Tonale in January, when it was cold and bleak. I'm sure others will have been in April. Maybe start a thread with Passo Tonale in the title if you specifically want to know about it.
Other options to consider would be to fly into Munich or Salzburg. Both have flights from Manchester at sensible prices and there are plenty of resorts within a couple of hours transfer open then. For example, it looks like Alpbach is open or the Skiwelt, either of which are an easy transfer from Munich. Others will be able to advise on the snow in early April.
How are you planning to get from the airport to resort?
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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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Neither Alpbach or Skiwelt are likely to be good places in April, most years there will only be very limited skiing available if at all. Those places that are likely to have reasonable conditions such as Ischgl, Arlberg, Sölden / Obergurgl etc dont really fall into the "cheap" category. Personally I would suggest that the various French resorts would offer the best options here.
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Thank you - great tips.
I’d been assuming that Italy is cheaper than all French resorts but sounds like that’s not the case?
I will start a PT thread separately as you suggest.
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You know it makes sense.
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I’d been assuming that Italy is cheaper than all French resorts but sounds like that’s not the case?
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Ski pass costs will be around the same. Food on the mountain is cheaper (and sometimes better) in Italy BUT what makes the biggest difference, especially with kids, is being able to feed yourselves in a self-catering apartment and (even more so) drink wine, beer, coca cola etc etc from a supermarket rather than a restaurant. There is far more choice of self-catering accommodation in ski in/out positions in France than there is in Italy. In suggesting taking food from the UK I was thinking about pre-prepared meals and ingredients such as curry powder, tea bags, which can save you buying big packs in expensive resort shops. Same applies to dishwasher tablets and much else. It's well worth using up some of your air baggage allowance to take stuff like that - and if you will be two families, you can each plan and provide for a couple of meals.
This sort of saving, and the difference in cost between beer in a supermarket and beer in a bar (expensive in both Italy and France) is huge. The savings on kids drinks are even more spectacular, and shopping in a purpose built French resort like Val Thorens is generally likely to be more convenient than in an Italian resort (big generalisation, but I think a reasonable one).
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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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What @pam w says. Taking a few bits for self catering can really cut costs
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Poster: A snowHead
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@licoriceallsort1, we have booked La Thuile for first week of Easter. We are flying to Turin and hiring a car as doesn’t sound like we have much in way of supermarkets in resort. I haven’t checked but may be easily reachable from Milan?
Also have you looked at say Munich for flights? We did Mayrhofen last Easter (though had flights to Salzburg) again we rented car and drove over. Booked a lovely self catering apartment via Sunweb. Decent sized (for ski resort!) supermarket in town for supplies.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@licoriceallsort1, some very reasonably priced flights from BA in their current sale.
Especially good for Sun 5 Apr departures to Geneva, including from London City Airport.
Their generous luggage allowances also make them favourable compared with overall cost for some of the popular ‘low cost’ airlines.
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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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Be careful about Sunday flights. Good idea if you can match accommodation but a lot of French places will only rent Sat/Sat even when it would seem logical for them to be more flexible.
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FAQ
