Advice on resorts for ski trip Europe 2022

A snowHead

Please help me! I’m driving myself mad looking for the best resort/ hotel for a family ski trip next year. I have a lot to consider and reviews seem to contradict each other. We are going for my OH’s 50th and my sons 18th.
My son is a snowboarder, my 20 year old stepson skis, my partner both skis and snowboards. My partner and his son have both been before but my son and I haven’t. I learned to ski at school many years ago and can only do the basics. I’m quite nervous as my balance isn’t great. So we need somewhere good for beginners and intermediates and hopefully not too crowded. We are thinking middle of March but could be pursuaded to change this.

My biggest issue is my health. I suffer from chronic fatigue and run out of energy quickly. I’ve read another post which recommends ski in ski out and a hotel with half board to save my energy for the skiing. I’m not convinced I am going to manage very well and plan on (if Covid permits) getting in some practice at the snow dome but can’t do this before I think we need to book. In case I end up struggling to ski I would prefer somewhere with a spa so I can pamper myself and not feel like I’m missing out. I would love somewhere that I could go tobogganing as I can do that sat down

A snowHead

Oops looks like my post was too long and was cut short. Here’s the rest .......

We don’t have a huge budget and my OH is a bit of a Scrooge. I am struggling to work out whether certain resorts/ hotels are within our budget as not all places are selling holidays/ rooms for next year yet. I can’t really use this years prices to get an idea of cost as I think they are heavily discounted to encourage bookings. I have no idea when next years will be on sale and worry if I wait too long the good value holidays available now will have sold out.

Any ideas/ advice would be gratefully received

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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I was hoping I could toboggan after using a lift to get to the top. Hadn’t thought about having to climb back up

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Why are my replies missing half of my comment???
My son learnt to snowboard at the local dry slope. We have been to the not so local snow dome a few times and he’s desperate to get on the slopes.

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@Padders14, stick with mid March, great time to go. Don't worry about booking just yet. Wait until more accommodation / packages are released. You should be able to find somewhere with tobogganing served by a lift.

Does your group have any preferences for a particular country? Are there places you've been to before you've enjoyed? Are you thinking of a package or independent travel (what sort)?

You'll inevitably get differing views and recommendations on a forum like this. Some people are very fond of certain places. Some might have a commercial interest. You'll get good ideas overall.
Enjoy the planning and anticipation. snowHead

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Not too fussy about country. I like the idea of Austria/ Italy but the ski areas look smaller and runs spread out needing buses or walking to get to other areas which due to the fatigue isn’t ideal. France seems to have bigger ski areas which is better but seems more expensive and busy. I’m happy to do packages or independent. My summer hols tend to be independent so I can reduce cost/ have more choice.
My OH has been to Italy with the school skiing and Andorra with the lads. He enjoyed Italy but can’t remember where he went and thought Andorra was too far for the transfer. His son went to Italy but they ended up using the coach to go to other ski areas which i’m not too keen on as I may want to head back to the hotel early.
I usually love holiday planning but trying to organise this trip is doing my head in as I’m not experienced with skiing and Covid is making it harder to plan. I will stop worrying about waiting to book though and wait for more choice. Thanks for your advice.

After all it is free

@Padders14, if you go to Ortise/St. Ulrich in the Val Gardena valley in the Italian Dolomites then there is a dedicated lift for tobogganers, the Rasciesca funicular, which takes you to the top of a 6km toboggan run that goes back down to the town. Ortisei is a lovely town, with a pedestrianised main street, some excellent restaurants, and easy access on one side to the Alpe di Suisi/SeiserAlm which has extensive easy blue runs, and on the other side the gondola that takes you up to the Seceda area with a great 11km long red run back to Ortisei.From the Seceda area you can also ski down to the adjacent town of St. Christina which is at the bottom of the famous SassLong World Cup Downhill course with its famous "camel bumps" and from there you can ski onto Selva/Wolkenstein which is on the Sella Ronda circuit.

Kirchberg, brixen, westerndorf, nierderau prob worth looking at.

I would not worry about ski domain size.

Kirchberg is not far from kitzbuhel, so if you end up in kitz knackered, its a cheap taxi ride & even cheaper train!
It also has toboggan and night skiing.
Also, transfers from airport can be expensive. A few of the above have train stations and fares are cheap!

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@Alastair Pink, I will have a look, thank you.

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@Mr.Egg, thanks for the suggestions. What makes you say not to worry about the size of the ski area?

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@Mr.Egg, that’s a good point. I guess I was worried that they would get bored if the area was too small. It’s hard to tell just looking at the piste maps how big the areas actually are.

You know it makes sense.

Sounds to me as if you need an area with a decent beginner area close to your accommodation for yourself and your son. And not too many button lifts which don't suite beginner snowboarders. But at the same time links in to a much larger area for your partner and his son.

Towards of the week you and your son may be ready to venture further, but your partner will have worked out good routes for you and you will have a fair idea of feasible range. You wouldn't be the first who prefers to ski in short chunks but after a leisurely coffee stop* will do a bit more!

Quite a lot of the big resorts served by tour operators would suit, and if your investigation comes up with suggestions there will surely be people here who know the area to advise further. The main issue at the moment is knowing quite what will be available next year, and for you whether those all-important coffee stops are available. And prices, no one knows whether anything advertised at this range will be a good deal. These are strange times to plan skiiing, but good times for armchair dreaming.

[*Other beverages are available].

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I think that Rohrmoos near Schladming could be a good fit for your requirements.

A snowHead

Austria v Italy v France v Switzerland. Each have their fans. My own personal preference is for the Dolomites. So North East Italy. And I have been in March with no problems but if mid to late March then in some areas you might find the snow getting soft in the afternoon. It hasn’t been a problem for us. And it is the flip side of long sunny days. Val Gardena / Ortisei / etc would be good.
Overall I would suggest a catered chalet though and that tends to mean France / Austria (but not exclusively so).
Austria / Südtirol (North East Italy) do the Spa / Wellness very well.
Maybe Ellmau or Westendorf or somewhere on the Ski Welt but maybe second week of March. Ellmau has the Kaiserbad leisure centre.
Or a DIY trip to self catering accommodation in the Südtirol (with the aim of eating out a lot. We like San Vigilio / Kronplatz and the quality of accommodation is generally high there. Many of the hotels with a “Wellness Centre” will allow non residents on payment of a small fee. San Vigilio is a pain to get to (we hire a car) and again I would suggest the first half of March.
Be aware that the sauna areas may be mixed nude saunas (with many having a “ladies only” session).
Take your time.
Look for the first half of March.
Try a catered chalet.
Don’t dismiss self catered DIY trips

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Alastair Pink, Ortisei/ St Ulrich certainly looks interesting especially with the toboggan run. I hadn’t realised there were places that you could hire a toboggan like that. I was looking at places with a proper run where you pay per go. This looks much more fun! Will have to do a bit more research. Thanks for the suggestion.

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@j b, these certainly are strange times to plan a ski holiday especially a first trip! Interesting that you list St Gervais as your occasional location. A colleague who skis every year suggested St Gervais or La Tania as cheaper options with access to larger ski areas but they seem to be mainly apartments. Any hotels are not letting rooms yet for next year to see if the prices are realistic for my budget.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Padders14, I'd also recommend Austria and somewhere with a short transfer. The Ski Amade area is only 50 mins from Salzburg Airport. Plus I'd suggest that you find a base in a town with other things to do if you don't want to ski that day. Ski in Ski out is great but not if you're stuck on the Mountain and don't want to ski. Flachau, Altenmarkt/Radstadt, Schladming or Zell am Zee would all be good bets. I agree you don't need a massive ski area, not with two of you as beginners. Nearly forgot, but if you go mid-March, check out if your chosen ski area does special lift pass deals. The Ski Amade does "Kids" ski free after mid-March if with adults buying lift passes.

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Obergurgl, Austria fits your requirement perfectly apart from the price as it’s a little on the expensive side.
High, snow sure, ski in/ski out. Rarely any lift queues. Uncrowned slopes. Quality hotels with spa’s. And of course the Nederhut for Apres. Only one and a half hours from Insbrook.
Better to pay a little extra and have a perfect holiday.
It’s an intermediate paradise. Not so great for expert/advanced skiers unless you are an experienced skier. The lift pass also covers Solden which is a bigger ski area and only 15 minutes in the free bus.
Give it a look before dismissing it.
We are there 19th March and soooo looking forward to it.
Hope you find what you are looking for.

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@Padders14,
To help in your search use a combination of utube and Tripadviser. Use trip advisor to look up both the ski area and the hotel/accommodation.
To start with use one of the big tour operators website and look for resorts that you like the look of. Then use trip advisor to check out info on the ski area. If that fits have a good look on utube so you have a good visual idea of the area. If it’s still looking good start looking at accommodation and use Trip Advisor again to look at hotel/accommodation reviews. There are also often accommodation reviews on utube.
There really is a lot of help online to assist you in your decision. It’s really a process of elimination.
The ski area reviews on tripadviser will tell you if the resort is good for beginners/intermediates/Advanced standards and resort facilities.
For next season I personally would only go through a big tour operator. I know from having five trips cancelled over the last two seasons that it’s a lot less stress when things go wrong and you can just move the trip or get a refund. Inghams have been particularly good with this.
Be warned. The prices for next season have risen dramatically. One of our trips is over £300 more expensive for the same trip at the same time as this season. It’s a combination of increased hotel prices, increased lift pass costs, limited discounting by the T/O’s, and flight surcharges. There is also limited availability as lots of people are carrying over trips that were cancelled this season and/or having an extra trip next season.
You will get a better deal organising everything yourself. But good luck if it all goes wonky again.
We have decided to bite the bullet and pay the extra for next season.

After all it is free

I'd agree with Eggfried that you can be doing a lot of research now, as indicated. All I'd add is that national tourist websites like MySwitzerland.com are also good sources of information. There will usually also be a regional tourism website worth looking at, once you narrow-down your locations.

I'm with you on the preference for some spa facilities, tobogganing or snowshoeing as well as whatever the others want. So perhaps it's worth flipping the search to be for a spa-type location primarily, with access to diverse skiing. THis could be sold to the others as a chance to explore a diversity of ski areas from a central location, rather than be stuck in one resort.

And perhaps it's worth subcontracting some of the effort to those in your party that are going, rather than doing it all yourself?

I'd not be so dismissive of self-drive, self-catering however. I'd keep this as an option and see which solution, Tour Operator vs DIY comes up best once you've done the research.

@downhillalltheway, thanks for the suggestion. I will have a look.

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@JohnHSmith, thanks for the info. I will get researching!

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@Alastair Pink, hotel hell actually looks quite good Toofy Grin

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@RedandWhiteFlachau, good point about being stuck if opting for ski in ski out if I’m having a day off skiing. I did look at Zell am zee but was put off a bit by a review saying there were long queues for lifts. Any idea how bad it would be for maybe the week of 12th March?

@Eggfried100, obergurgl definitely deserves some more reasearch. Thanks for the search ideas. I was wondering if demand and therefore prices would be higher next year for the reasons you give. I may have given it a miss until the year after but with 2 big birthdays next year would like to have a go.

You know it makes sense.

@LaForet, would be great if I could subcontract the research out but my OH would spend 10 minutes looking before choosing something because he was bored. I will keep my options open though until I’ve finished researching.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I'd recommend Mountain Spa in St Anton.Its located in the quieter area of Nasserein which has beginner area for you and your son. It is a wonderful spa appartment hotel...with amazing pool and sauna area for you to relax when you are not skiing. They do evening tobogganing from the Rodelalm twice a week - you can take the gondola up, or daily when conditions are good. The end of the toboggan run is just above the hotel. The only downside may be price...it is also self catering but there are plenty of restaurants to suit every budget and you can order takeouts if you do not want to cook. the supermarkets also have lots of ready meals! Kaluma also offer catered chalets in St Anton. St Anton generally is not a beginner resort but the Nasserein area is great for learning.

A snowHead

I wonder if Saalbach Hinterglemm might suit? It's got good beginner areas and lots of blues in both villages, plenty for the more experienced skier, loads of activities - tobogganing and snow tubes etc - and good hotels with (naked) saunas and wellness facilities. Not a long transfer from salzburg. It would feel special enough for a birthday treat as well, it's fun and pretty.

Not hugely cheap, but probably deals to be had mid- march. Lots of reasonable cafes and restaurants if you choose to self cater and then can't be bothered - or are just plain too damn tired.

If cost really becomes a game stopper, you could do something left field like go to Krakow and Zakopane, and get a local company in Zakopane to ferry you round the little ski areas and arrange activities. We stayed in a great hotel where you could hire the wellness area by the hour, so peaceful and private. Food, atmosphere and fun top of the list, skiing is not the alps but also fun (and there are some challenges when conditions are right). Krakow is possibly the most beautiful city in Europe and fascinating, a treat in itself. You could absolutely have a fantastic time on a budget but it wouldn't be a pure ski hol. snowHead

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Padders14, for what it is worth, St Gervais (where we bought a small place) would give you some options. Plenty of approachable slopes near to base for beginners (and little or no need for snowboarders to use drag lifts) and a lot more terrain for the experienced skiers to explore. But it is not on the radar of the UK tour operators - assuming some survive to next season - so you would have to self-organise. There are a few hotels, otherwise it is self-catering. Not sure what you would be looking for in terms of travel, assuming everything works again next year there is public transport or shared minibuses from Geneva airport, trains to nearby, and if driving it is only about 4 miles from the motorway.

La Tania has the advantage that tour operators go there, and the Three Valleys area you can access has a huge range of skiing for the expert. We've been there in the past and agree it should be on your list But in terms of being a nice place to stay they are chalk and cheese (with St Gervais being the cheese, by which I mean a real town with character and places to buy food or eat out that are not too over-priced). Anyway, ask if you have any questions.

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Padders14, I don’t know, but there might be, say, 1000 ski areas in Europe. Probably a lot more but that’s not my point. The sooner you can narrow down your research and focus on maybe 10 or so ‘probables’ that stand the best chance of meeting your needs, the better. How to do that?

You might benefit from investing a few quid in some books. There’s a set which IMO is well researched, independent, packed with useful information and in an easy to use format.

I think that would help you narrow down what is a fairly long list of possibles into a manageable number of probables.

Then you could focus on the details of a shortlist, comparing and contrasting the pros and cons of each.

With the quite different needs of individuals in your group you’re doing the right thing by putting the hours in now to research it.

Along with the useful tips on research above from @Eggfried100, you’ve got the basis for making a good choice. Also of course the experiences and detailed local knowledge of snowHeads, applied to your shortlist, when you have that.

You mentioned in your OP that you don’t have a huge budget. If you know, give or take a bit, what your budget is, that will very likely narrow down your long list into a shorter one of affordable places.

Some of the places mentioned so far in this thread are relatively expensive, others more affordable. Some are more likely to have lots of good snow; some more likely to go through the icy/slushy process each day in mid March. Some are easy on the eye towns and others just functional. And so it goes on.

Keep going and your research should pay off snowHead

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@j b, not sure if there are hotels with spas in La Tania??

decent spa hotels seem to be more prevalent in Austria, there is a great place in Stuben but the beginner skiing isn't great there so wouldn't recommend it to the OP.

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@kitenski, I hadn't noticed the spa requirement. Don't know about La Tania, when we were there we were in a chalet (daughter was a beginner, and the chalet organised childcare activity outside ski lesson time which was an important factor).

In fact I don't know about St Gervais either. We have stayed in several hotels there, but they were all quite small and with modest facilities; none of the others look that big either. However there is the actual spa with natural thermal water (with a sulphurous whiff believed health-enhancing in the Victorian era) but it is away from the town centre at the bottom of the gorge. Not ideal for @Padders14 with low energy levels unless she has her own transport.

After all it is free

@pam w, really good point about slippery pavements - carrying anything including skis! - being physically challenging. To the OP, whatever else you do, get some good footwear for wandering around resort. I have some boots that have little spiked crampons attached to the bottom, they flip in and out as needed. Been a game changer for me as I get a bit panicked on slippery surfaces, it used to be hugely tiring.

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Advice on resorts for ski trip Europe 2022

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