 Poster: A snowHead
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Back from a bloody marvellous week in Les Arcs last week, which was far from cheap (although I don't resent a penny of it)
The missus and I both fancy trying to fit in another jaunt before end of season, and I wondered if anyone would care to share tips & tricks for finding last minute cheap deals...? We've either bought Crystal-style packages; or stayed with some chalet-owning mates and just got the train down - both booked 6 months or so in advance before.
The important stuff to us is good snow, and ideally a decent size ski area. Ideally half board as otherwise she gets a bit less of a holiday than I do  . Nightlife etc is utterly unimportant.
Thanks!
CJ
(apologies if this should be in the "Resort" section - feels like "The Piste" is the general go-to area, so more appropriate)
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Two ways you can get “less expensive” trips.
DIY - organise all elements yourselves and pick good value flights and apartments.
Last minute packages - sunweb, Neilson, crystal etc all want to fill their hotel spots so you can get great last minute late season deals, but you need to hold your nerve and book late! These deals seem to have dwindled this season, I wonder if operators booked up less hotels to limit their losses if covid kicked off again?!?! I personally loathe these types of ski holiday with a passion, so you’d almost have to pay me to go, but if you don’t mind them, then it could work!
Resort wise, Milky Way is always cheap and cheerful with good skiing, but snow has been crap this year in places from what I gather, may be getting better though!
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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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lift pass prices really bump up a holiday.
Sunweb & Snowtrex can do some good accommodation & pass deals, but make sure you have enough days & not nights booked (8 days = 7 nights)
Lots of resorts (I see it more often in Austria) have certain weeks for certain types of people, so you can get good packages.
So arm yourself with those dates & find cheap flights.
Austria can look more expensive, but transfers are cheaper & mountain prices tend to be lower as well.
Look at linked villages rather than the main attraction resort. eg Kirchberg & not Kitzbuhel.
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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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snowhead organised trip/bash are hard to beat for value.
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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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| Mr.Egg wrote: |
lift pass prices really bump up a holiday.
Sunweb & Snowtrex can do some good accommodation & pass deals, but make sure you have enough days & not nights booked (8 days = 7 nights)
Lots of resorts (I see it more often in Austria) have certain weeks for certain types of people, so you can get good packages.
So arm yourself with those dates & find cheap flights.
Austria can look more expensive, but transfers are cheaper & mountain prices tend to be lower as well.
Look at linked villages rather than the main attraction resort. eg Kirchberg & not Kitzbuhel. |
This is excellent advice, lift pass costs make up a massive portion of a cheap trip. Examples for a 6 day lift pass late season.
Milky Way - 205eur
Cervinia/zermatt 340eur
L2A - 270eur
Soelden - 285eur
All are resorts that have access to fairly high runs, the cost varies tremendously so check before you go!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Self cater and share the cooking
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I resent being called a "certain type of people"
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| countryman wrote: |
| I resent being called a "certain type of people" |
well, they have family weeks where free lift pass is extended to older children, womens weekends (especially Spa Hotels), couples week, etc. for different demographs.
Last edited by After all it is free  on Thu 10-02-22 17:24; edited 1 time in total
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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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| LDP816 wrote: |
L2A - 270eur
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sunweb has 10 choices of liftpass + accommodation for under £350
So £700 for 2x, £450 swallowed up in lift passes & £250 for accomodation.
Fly to Lyon or Grenoble. Ben's bus for transfer £50.
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DIY and fly mid week to mid week.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Sunweb also very good for non sat-sat trips, so start with the cheapest flight you can find via Skyscanner.com then search those dates. Most Austrian resorts can be reached cheaply by train from Munich/Innsbruck and Salzburg.
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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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| WASHOUT wrote: |
| snowhead organised trip/bash are hard to beat for value. |
THiS!!!!!!!!!
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If you are driving, Tesco points for the Channel Tunnel, saves you a lot.
Look at resort tourist info or local estate agents and book through them if you self cater.
For us driving works every time as we are 90 min from the tunnel, may not work if you are further away.
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You know it makes sense.
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EOSB sounds like a reasonable fit. At least you get to share the self catering ( or eat out). Problem is having to share with other reprobates and n'er do wells.
Also technically "full" at the moment but no way with injuries/ covid/life issues that more places won't free up before Easter if you show serious commitment.
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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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got 3 trips booked this year and will post the breakdowns for each. I do not know if these work out as deals to you
1 week to Borovets with 6 day lift pass half board in 4* end of Feb.
£501 pp with flights transfers and ski carriage
£60 ski only hire for partner
£110 2x 2 hours of private lessons for me
£140 3 hours private lesson for both of us
Total cost = £1312
4 days skiing in Flaine end of March
£410 for self catered apartment 5 nights with 4 day grande massif lift pass for 2
£210 tunnel crossing
£150 tolls
£170 fuel
Total cost = £940
5 days skiing Chamonix between Christmas and new year
£300 self catered apartment
£230 5 day lift pass each
£210 tunnel crossing
£150 tolls
£170 fuel
Total Cost = £1290
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Ghostlybadge, I assume that these prices are for two of you so the pp prices are half of the numbers you supply.
ie
£656
£470
£645
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Yes prices are total and your pp prices are correct
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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've just been costing out our trip to La Rosiere a week ago. The total cost was a bit worryingly high.
For 3 of us the totals are:
Flights, Car hire, fuel, tolls and apartment rental £1490
6 day lift passes to include La Thuile £560
Eating out every night with aperatifs, wines and digestives, lunches on the mountain, and all drinks £930
Total £3000 roughly, or £1000 each.
It's clear that the big cost is my son's insistance on having a good meal every night!
One thing that really suprised me was that with the exception of the lift pass was how much more expensive La Rosiere was than Les Arcs. Restaurants in La Rosiere were charging 25€ for plat du jour. We called into Les Arcs on our way back to drop some stuff off at our apartment and bought a Panini for lunch - 9€. Burgers were 12€ and small chips 3€.
ps if you are in La Rosiere I reccomend the red and black pistes down to Ecudets or if you are in La Thuile the black pistes down into town. They are steep but the snow when we were there was firm, grippy, smooth and deserted. We were doing circuits of them. Excellent stuff.
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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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| johnE wrote: |
I've just been costing out our trip to La Rosiere a week ago. The total cost was a bit worryingly high.
For 3 of us the totals are:
Flights, Car hire, fuel, tolls and apartment rental £1490
6 day lift passes to include La Thuile £560
Eating out every night with aperatifs, wines and digestives, lunches on the mountain, and all drinks £930
Total £3000 roughly, or £1000 each.
It's clear that the big cost is my son's insistance on having a good meal every night!
One thing that really suprised me was that with the exception of the lift pass was how much more expensive La Rosiere was than Les Arcs. Restaurants in La Rosiere were charging 25€ for plat du jour. We called into Les Arcs on our way back to drop some stuff off at our apartment and bought a Panini for lunch - 9€. Burgers were 12€ and small chips 3€.
ps if you are in La Rosiere I reccomend the red and black pistes down to Ecudets or if you are in La Thuile the black pistes down into town. They are steep but the snow when we were there was firm, grippy, smooth and deserted. We were doing circuits of them. Excellent stuff. |
Looked at flights and car hire and they are just through the roof.
Even if we could get a cheap flight the time you add on checked bag and ski carriage was taking it up to over £200pp and then adding either transfers or car hire and everything on top just ended up a joke.
I live in Kent so getting to Dover is only 45mins away.
Both apartments we booked for March and Dec sleep 4 so still undecided if others are coming which brings the cost per person down drastically with 3 it brings the costs down to 373pp for flaine and £500pp for chamonix and with 4 people (sleeping will be a bit tight and not ideal with people on bunks) £325 and £437
Food and drink we will pick up from supermarket on the way so limit costs to 1 meal out a day and a few drinks.
Food and drink we will pick up in france.
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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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@Ghostlybadge, I agree that if you live in Kent driving makes a lot of sense. For us we got easyjet flight from Luton to Geneva and took 2 22 kg bags between us and no luggage rack caryons.
We hired a car from the Swiss side of the airport which with unused chains came to £276. For the record I find the Swiss side less convenient than the French side with the shuttle bus to the terminal and getting lost yet again trying to find the motorway to France. However in this case it was cheaper. Fuel and tolls added an extra £87.
I cannot recall the exact price of the flights but I think they came to £400 between us.
It would be cheeper to drive all the way but in this case I just didn't fancy the drive to the tunnel.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@CoticJon, No such thing as a cheap skiing holiday, i've been looking for them for 30 years and it's eluded me so far.
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With package deals it is really a case of being in the right place at the right time, it is a question of keeping looking.
We were fortunate to snag a trip to Sauze for £700 including lift pass with Crystal which I assume was a cancellation. At that price i am prepared to take chance on the snow.
The way we found this was by deciding on a date and country then sorting results into price order
Good luck!
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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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Definitely travel midweek to midweek. And book accommodation on one of the hotel booking sites with free cancellation. And then monitor price fluctuations. Often the price comes down for the same week - cancel and rebook!
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| Markymark29 wrote: |
| @CoticJon, No such thing as a cheap skiing holiday, i've been looking for them for 30 years and it's eluded me so far. |
Go for the season - it works out reasonably cheap per day.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Follow lots of private catered chalets on Facebook. Last week, a catered chalet I’ve stayed at just outside of BSM, was £329 for the full week. This included 6 evening meals, alcohol, all the usual chalet stuff too. They were also offering a free collection from Geneva airport in the deal.
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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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We’ve just returned from st Johann - the snow is awesome at the moment, fresh load yesterday too. The buses and trains are really easy so you’ll have a fab time.
I looked at Crystal on Friday night and saw half board for tomorrow (half term!) for £500 each for a family of 3 in Italy, a £900 per person discount! So very last minute bargains are available.
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You know it makes sense.
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When looking for DIY accommodation is there something I'm missing? Largely just look on booking.com or Airbnb but looking at some places (mainly Morzine/Avoriaz) this season it seems like there's not a lot of choice and all super expensive.
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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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@BenW_86, the resort's own websites are the best place to start.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Thanks Pam will take a look 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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FAQ
