 Poster: A snowHead
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So, potentially my short trip to Garmisch early February is off unless things change by mid January when I need to cancel my booking for to avoid costing a fortune. I suspect that things will stay as they are until the end of January. So im considering transferring flights (BA) to somewhere else that will potentially let me into the country without a lot of hassle! Sure a lot of people are in a similar situation, current thinking is potentially fly to Salzburg and train too Ski Amade region or Schladming, (although after today this option may be out of the window potentially if Austria shuts up to UK travellers) also a big if to get cheap accommodation for solo traveller in this region at short notice. The other option im currently looking at which I quite like the look of is flying to Oslo, train to Lillehammer and spending 3 days skiing Hafjell. Was wondering if anyone has done this before as a solo traveller? On the face of it seems a simple journey and seems to be pretty well geared up for British travellers. Anyone have experience of this? Also looks potentially a better bet to get accommodation at short notice. Also considering flying to Bergen and going to Geilo, although on the face of it I prefer the longer runs or Hafjell. Anyone been to both?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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a lot can happen between now & early february.
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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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Any reason why you're not considering Switzerland via Geneva Airport? At the moment, CH seem to have the least strict and simplest visitor rules. The advantage of GVA is that it's also the gateway to France, so if France loosened restrictions but Switzerland tightened them in the meantime, you'd have an alternative without changing flights. There's a whole thread on Swiss resorts near to GVA.
If you do swap to GVA make the flight arrival time reasonable early (say, before mid-day) so there's plenty of time to take public transport to your destination. If you choose one of the many Swiss resorts readily accessible by train-télépherique-PostBus then you don't have to book car hire, leaving you with the minimum of risk if things change.
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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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@laforet Thanks for the suggestion. I ruled it out purely for cost basis, however you are correct, should be viable from Geneva for a 4 day trip. I will look into it.
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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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How does the Swiss franc work out for value for money? I know the exchange rate is about 81p to 1 franc but is my baseless assumption that Switzerland will be horrifically expensive compared to other alpine countries wrong?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@DHosking, I'm a big fan of skiing in Norway (and elsewhere in Scandinavia) but I'm not sure I would suggest it for a short trip if Switzerland may be too expensive for you. It's perfectly possible to do a scandi trip on a budget, but ideally you need to bring food, drink etc with you which is probably not that easy as a solo flying and travelling by train.
Also, bear in mind that "long" runs at Hafjell are short compared to the Alps. I've not been to Geilo so can't comment specifically there.
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@DHosking Generally, you can't get away from the ski pass being relatively more expensive in Switzerland. However, it's also generally a lot less busy. But I'm of the view that if you self-cater all the other costs are roughly comparable to the same holiday in any major resort. You can however get caught out in CH rather like you can, for example, in Vail if you walk into somewhere for dinner, and don't check the prices. On the mountain, the mass catering cafés range from comparable, to a bit more (excluding the mountain luxury restaurants that are in a different league). I'm not saying that there aren't cheaper places in the Alps, but not for a similar sort of ski area.
However, I have to declare a bias, as you may have suspected: our apartment is in a Satellite of Verbier (La Tzoumaz), so we know our way around, so to speak, and our baseline for costs is thus at a slightly lower level than for Verbier. If you look at the main site for somewhere like Verbier, you'll quickly see what the lift pass prices are and see links to accomodation. Our 68m² 2 bedroom apartment would rent out at CHF 1470 a peak week, including an underground parking space and unlimited electricity, hot water and heating, and 10 mins walk to lifts, bars and shops: I'm not trying to push it to you - just giving an example of a Satellite price, as we rent through an agent, not directly.
For an example of the accommodation prices in our satellite resort, here's our rental agent's website: Carron Immobilier.
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@DHosking, If you can get to Salzburg there are many options easily reached by train. Ski Amade is one (St Johann probably easiest train location), Bad Gastein and Zell am See are two others (Schladming often means changing trains when coming from Salzburg). All of these options would be easier to get to than Garmisch is from Munich airport.
I doubt accommodation will be an issue at all this season, there are so many cancellations hotels etc will be happy for any business even part weeks which are often not so easy. I have regularly got a single room at short notice in Austrian resorts, your friend is the tourist office website which invariably has an accommodation service for the local hotels and guest houses.
Foolish trying to suggest what might be happening in a weeks time let alone 6 weeks, but even after today's announcement in Austria, for fully vaccinated adults there is not that much of an issue. Tests are required for most places, Austria no different. Nightlife is minimal but there is plenty of skiing. I also think that the German "ban" will be short lived, the number of cases here is growing too and once it reaches a certain level no point in "banning" people from the UK especially as there are no specific restrictions on Denmark & Holland.
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FAQ
