 Poster: A snowHead
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Just back from a week in Geilo with my wife and 8 year old son. Have been to Austria, France, Italy and Andorra previously but chose Geilo as this was my sons first proper ski holiday and wanted a beginner friendly, winter wonderland type resort for him to learn in. Booked the trip independently but did speak to Ski Safari who were super helpful so those without the time or inclination to do it themselves could go to them.
Flights. Used Norwegian from Dublin, Friday 13th Feb, returning Friday 20th Feb. Paid about £250 all in as booked them far in advance. One downside was return flight was at 6.45am so that meant an overnight in Oslo on way back. Also meant a 4.30 am start from Belfast on way out for the 8.45am flight.
Transfer to resort. Got train from Oslo airport to Oslo Central, couple of hours in Oslo where we had a nice lunch and stroll about town before getting train to Geilo at 3.15pm. It’s the Oslo to Bergen line and takes about 3 hours 15 mins to get to Geilo. Beautiful views of forests, rivers and frozen lakes, very relaxing. Travelled back to Oslo on the Thursday, again getting train at 3.15pm. We finished skiing at 2pm so got most of the day, once into Oslo we got train to the airport and stayed in Park Inn by Radisson, 5 mins from terminal. Everything on time and very easy. Trains cost about £250 all in. Park Inn was £140 for a family room.
Accommodation. We stayed in the Vestlia resort, half board. Family room with bunk beds. Spacious room with fabulous views out into the slopes. Breakfast was buffet with huge choice, evening meals were 3 nights buffet, 3 nights it was a 3 course set menu, was always a kids buffet. Didn’t have a bad meal there, all gorgeous. It’s a big hotel with loads of facilities, spa, pool with water slide, 10 pin bowling alley, kids play area. We loved it. Ski rental, ski school and lifts 1 min walk out the back door, super convenient.
The skiing. Ideal for my son. Slopes right beside hotel. Learner slope with magic carpet travelator and Poma lift separate from the rest of the slopes so no fast skiers coming through. After 2 days there he progressed to a longer poma on a bigger slope and then on day 4 onto the chairlift where he could ski a green run all the way down the mountain. By day 5 he was able to travel across the mountain on greens and blues.
My wife and I were happy as well. We are intermediate on piste skiers and were content on all the green, blue and red slopes on the Vestlia side of the mountain, we didn’t get the ski bus over to the other side of the valley where there was some tougher slopes as we wanted to ski with him. Would do that next time though.
Ski school. Booked through Ski Geilo website, English speaking instructors, very friendly and my son loved it. By the end of the week he was loved the smaller terrain parks scaring the life out of his parents. Lots of nationalities mixing well but British and Irish the main nationalities there probably due to half term holidays.
Overall we loved our first visit to skiing in Norway and plan to return next year. My son is now totally hooked on skiing! My wife wants to go back to Geilo, I’d like to try another resort, looking at Trysil but keen to get advice from others.
Happy to answer any questions. If someone can tell me how to post pictures I’ll put a few of the trip up.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@jaggycolin, great report, and it sounds like Geilo delivered exactly what you were looking for.
Pictures would be good - if you have them hosted already somewhere on the internet, then just put the URL between "img" tags, like this:
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[img]http://modeles7.meteociel.fr/modeles/gens/runs/2020020512/graphe3_1000___13_61.17_.gif[/img]
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If you haven't got the images online, then you can upload them to SnowMediaZone - I'll let others with more expertise explain that process.
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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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View from hotel room night we arrived.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@jaggycolin, lovely report and pics. 
We went to trysil a few years ago and loved it, Geilo sounds like a very similar vibe. Really keen to ski again in Norway, maybe we'll look at Geilo next time!
One question - how did you find eating out costs? Any current costs for dinners/lunches welcomed.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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That’s very helpful, my 7 year old is happy now but I wanted to take her somewhere different with lots of blue/green and a few reds to let her get some miles in. Sounds ideal !
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If you can avoid week 9 (Stockholm schools winter break), then Åre, Sweden is nice. I’d recommend to stay in björnen area. Though from Dublin you’d need to connect to Östersund airport via Stockholm (or there are some flights from Gatwick). Skistar website to have a look.
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Sounds like Trysil would be an ideal next destination for you.
Looks about twice as big as Geilo and you can get around most of it on easy runs. Instruction is good and its pretty relaxed.
Heres a trip report from about 3 years ago I did
https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=3052217#3052217
Only thing is you’d need to drive but from memory there might be a bus from Oslo airport.
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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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@ElzP, We were about £30-£35 for lunch at the restaurants on the mountain when we chose to do so. That was for 3 of us and covered 3 soft drinks, 2 main courses (they were big portions so my son didn’t need his own) and a couple of pastry’s/muffins. Some days we didn’t need lunch as we had such a big breakfast at the hotel and got by on the snacks we had taken away from breakfast!
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@jaggycolin, cheers, doesn't sound far from what we found in trysil. We also often went a whole day on the massive hotel breakfast!
As @ster says, there is a bus to trysil from Oslo, from memory it dropped off at the main hotels. Very easy.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@jaggycolin, We did a very similar trip 15 years ago and enjoyed both Vestlia & Geilo going back 3 times.
The train is very handy but the times are a pain. We had 6 in our group so hired a taxi/van back to the airport for same money and time.
We did hire car trip once too from the Ryanair "Oslo" airport that is no where near Oslo - though just as close to Geilo.
Just don't order a bottle of wine !
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