Ski holiday costs family of 5

A snowHead

Long time since I've worked out the costs

Does this sound right so far for a Family of five easter school hols

Plane to GVA return £3k
Private Transfer GVA La Plagne return £900
(or drive £700?)
Lift Passes £1340
Lunches on mountain £500
Kit hire £750
Accom?
Lessons?

What do you budget / spend?

A snowHead

I try not to think about it!

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

For similar scope for 2 adults and 2 kids, I budget £1,500 to £2,000 per head late March.

This is all up, flights to GVA, passes, kit, hotel accommodation, private ski lessons for the kids, food etc etc

I could probably shave off £250 per head by exploring shared chalet options and a further £500 in total by having group lessons for the kids.

I’m too old to be able to ski all day with the kids; else I would knock ski lessons on the head altogether. Same when they’re old enough to ski alone.

I would love to get everyone up the mountain for a week for £5k. Then I’d be tempted to do it twice.

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I'd definitely drive if that is what flights are coming in at. I got flights for the 4 of us to Zurich 26th Dec and 2nd Jan return for £960 and again to Geneva 20th Feb and 24th return £460, both with Swiss. I'm driving 1st April so they must have been expensive. Family prefer driving anyway so if flights in school holidays stay at these prices that will be the end of flying for us.

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I spent £3,900 pre-Xmas week in St-Foy for family of 5 driving and self-catering. That figure includes accommodation (next to slopes with pool), Flexiplus, 2 hotel rooms for drive down, ski passes, and lessons for 3 kids.

We all have our own skis and eat lunches in the apartment, so don't have those costs.

Must say £750 sounds steep for ski hire... Also drive is more than £700.

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We are family of 4 and average of last 5 trips (La Clusaz, Les Contamines, Flaine and 2 x Val Thorens, all in school hols) is £1k a head - driving with hotels each way, but not flexiplus, self catering, lunches on the mountain, lift passes and one evening out. We do have all our own kit though so no hire costs and boys don't always have lessons though as they've had loads of weeks skiing so not really needed.

@HilbertSpace, that's good value, clearly not eating out on the mountain saves money!

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After all it is free

@Timmycb5, Laughing

Thats what we did when the kids came with us

£3k for family of five to Geneva at Easter? Are you going business class?

In the good old days I would hope to get flights for four for maybe £500 if lucky, now more like £1k +/- a bit.

Are you booking late so got go with the higher priced ones?

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They have been high for a while I think because I recall considering not bothering with half term before Christmas until I checked the cost of moving flights to Easter. It was over 2k back then.

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Family of 4. We have our own kit. Used to get it all in for £4K pre Covid but normally around £5000, probably another £k more in Feb half term. Splashed out this year on flexi plus as it’s hard to switch trains now as it is so busy.

Costs

Eurotunnel £300-700 (could use Tesco’s to save money)
Hotels on way and back £180 max often cheaper
Tolls £125
Diesel £200 increased it this year
Meals there and back £80 but often less as I make sandwiches
Car park in resort - free this year but normally £80
Lessons £800 for two but normally private and could do cheaper
Ski lift pass £1000 depends where though
Accommodation £1800
Tesco shop before £150 might be more this year??
Shop in resort £100
Night out dinner £50
Lunches on the slopes £400

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You know it makes sense.

Food and drink isn't cost neutral if you pay for 5 lunches on the slopes every day - unless you have an uncommonly elevated way of eating at home! Having an apartment near slopes to eat at lunchtime (especially useful for fussy kids) is one of the few ways to save significant money on a ski holiday.

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

Of course it's much cheaper if you go for 2 weeks. We actually did this on our first ever family holiday, with three kids and grandma. We had an apartment and cooked just about entirely for ourselves - grandma did lunches, I did suppers. We did have one meal out but were very aware of the cost and with two competent cooks we did much better food for ourselves. We took a LOT of carefully-planned food with us (with 5 luggage allowances there is plenty of room to take food and bits) and even rented skis in Ayr because it was cheaper than Austria. The second week cost very little extra really, the ski passes were the main thing. We all had lessons the first week, but not the second. The youngest was 4 and very wary of skiing. Spent the first week in a nursery at the apartments and with grandma helping to get lunch ready. She had lessons the second week and got on fine but throwing her straight in wouldn't have worked - she needed to watch and take it all in and was very taken with the end of week ski school presentation, with medals for everybody (Austria). We all had a wonderful holiday and the kids were completely hooked, so in the end the financial implications were considerable......

A snowHead

A snowHead

Well my OH and I went for four months a year in the end. Broke even, overall........

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

Jeepers, some insane cost being quoted here. We always reckoned on £2.4->£2.8k *all in* for 4 at Feb half term. But that was 4 years ago and costs seem to have gone insane now.

But still wouldn't expect to pay more than £3.5 k at Easter Shirley..

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xmas/new year for 4 of us, 10 nights half board hotel in kirchberg, euro tunnel hotel one night on journey out. lunches on mountain, kids in ski club for 6 days, all got own kit, got season lift passes so split that cost between days we're there. circa £5k

Feb half term 7 nights half board in Fügen, flying in to Germany nuremberg, staying 1 night with family in ingolstadt, car hire, 3 days ski club for kids, lunches on mountain. season passes, own kit circa £3.8k

Easter 2 weeks half board (ischgl 1st week/2nd week serfaus fiss ladis) ski club 6 days euro tunnel, 1 over night on way out. lunch on mountain, season passes own kit circa £6.7k

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

‘New kit costs’ - theres always a few 100€ needed to be spent for new gloves, missing thermals etc.

For us when we drive we also have to factor in paid parking and the car train through the swiss alps- about 200€

We also usually have childcare costs BUT NOT THIS YEAR - hello ski school Eh oh!

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We drive and self cater and have done for years going either half term Feb or Easter school hols (cheaper but then we go higher so increase lift pass costs tend to rule savings out!).

Someone mentioned £1000 a head which is a good rule of thumb. We do use Tesco vouchers on Eurotunnel (shaves off £50 or so) but cross Thurs night and 'ring kids in absent' Friday to avoid peak travel crowds.

We also book in 3 X accommodations for way down and back to make life easier and avoid traffic.

Do a massive food shop before resort. Eat out 2-3 evenings in resort (which we prefer to big lunches) but only snack more at lunchtimes.

Kit hire for 3 out of 4 of us but no lessons needed anymore.

Try to be very canny when renting appt - rent direct off the French. 950 Euros for 2 bed appt in Val Claret 50m from door to slope in Easter hols 2022 (one week).

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After all it is free

I've recently priced up some tour operator options, and half board DIY, and was astonished at the prices. Not very spectacular Crystal holidays not far off £1000 a head for a week, half board including flights and transfers. Or twice that for a singleton. Comparing a (spacious) apartment in Aosta and half board (lift passes included) in Pila my daughter and I are saving £500 a head by self catering in Aosta, even allowing for food and lunches out. gives us more flexibility too, with other resorts within easy reach.

And I don't even like half board - and the hotel reviews weren't sparkling by any means. And in our apartment my daughter and I will have separate sleeping areas so she won't have to cope with my snoring.

I looked at airBnB self catering prices in Sauze d'Oulx, Cervinia, Aosta, Bardonecchi and one or two others and found them expensive - some of them VERY. . Just as I did an airBnB in Barry (South Wales) in October. It used to be a low cost option but not any more. Owners seem to see it as a licence to print money with all kinds of insescapable extra "cleaning" and "admin" fees. The apartment we're renting in Aosta, direct from Italian proprietor, is a lot cheaper (recommended by a Snowhead who has stayed there several times, so I have no concerns) and the price includes cleaning!

I’ve used AirBnB a bit in the past and had mixed but generally positive experiences until one year the host cancelled on me a week before the date.

I subsequently learnt this can happen a lot as local hosts rent out apartments and then withdraw the booking in advance of weekends that are predicted to have great conditions to use for themselves / friends.

I’m not sure if there’s a way of mitigating this issue?

Insurance doesn’t help really as you’re still left with the challenge of finding alternative accommodation.

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@Sasha320320, Since COVID I've used Abritel (it's in French but not hard to navigate!). You can cancel up to a month before you go and get your money back.

Also VRBO. I've also had luck just Googling '2 chambre appartment' and resort name. Tourist info website of the resort you're going to normally provides contact lists of rental providers.

We tend to change resort each year but initially, when we didn't, once we got communications directly from the French people we were renting off I would then email them directly about the following year avoiding any agency fees. Deposit etc all done by bank transfer.

Takes a fair bit of research but has always paid off! And I quite like doing it.....

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We're a family of 4. We usually budget approximately £1000-£1,500 per person, depending on quality of accommodation.

Christmas just gone:
Flights to Vienna - £450 rtn
Parking at LHR - approx. £85
Trains from Vienna to resort via Salzburg - £150 rtn
Transfer from train station to resort - £40 rtn
Accommodation (plush aparthotel, ski in, ski out next to lift and ski schools) - £2,400
Equipment hire for husband and I (skis/poles for me, skis/poles/boots him) - £150
Ski school/equipment hire package for two children - £400
Spending money, including lunches on the mountain, beers in the evening - approx £100 per day
Lift passes (bought prior to arrival and utilising their advance booking 20% reduction) - £600
Insurance - £60ish (I think)
Total: £4,995

This doesn't include food shopping we did at the supermarket over the course of the week. However, as we would do that at home anyway, we never count that as 'holiday spending money'. We had two evening meals out which blew the the £100 a day spending budget. Christmas Eve alone cost about £200 and we had dinner at a pizzeria on Christmas Day, which was another £100, both including drinks. But some days we came in under £100.

In the end we spent about £5,500 in total.

The majority of this was the accommodation. We could have saved about £1000 if we'd been willing to stay further out and ski bus or walk in.

We booked it all independently and used Booking for the accommodation. On our previous trip, we stayed in an apartment that we found on VRBO that was a great option. However, when we went to rebook it for Christmas, all of the owners had put their prices up. It was then only about £500 cheaper than the plush new aparthotel right on the slope. For us, if we were spending that amount of money, we'd rather throw a little bit more at it and have the luxury and convenience. We saved money by flying into an airport further away. Our travel costs were £600. Direct flights to Salzburg were over £1000, and that's before transfers or trains to get from the airport to resort.

We're considering La Plagne for Easter next year and will drive. We hope to bring it in closer to the £3,500 mark doing this. Nosing at Sunweb at the moment for this coming Easter, it looks doable. The compromise will be not having a spa in the accommodation.

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@Owlette, could name / link to the accommodation?

Very interesting to see candid information from other snowHead

inclusive of what they wanted and got for their money.

An observation that may affect some, the topic of cancellation when often quoted by the buying as being an attribute, can also have consequences in the market with vendors being treated as though they're not affected.

Knowing some that are individual/family owned and not part of a chain (that's not always apparent) and the impact a significant cancellation can have on their business, it may just change some opinions if this is appreciated.

The buyer cancelling can/has/will often have more open choice of accommodation for their demands. The vendor being fixed in location etc may have significant difficulty in replacing that booking, likey having to discount to attract a buyer etc.

Effectively saying it's possibly easy for buyer to want flexibility, but doesn't see that as so attractive on the other side of the equation. I know that doesn't take account of the unscrupulous, but there is impact there.

We've been in the beneficial position of renting at very very late booking with private owners in voids they have, either at half capacity, with them maybe having some fixed cost to cover (laundry, cleaning contract etc that they've committed to for season) open discussion of what it would take to get their place for a week with quick and dirty payment helps us both out.

You know it makes sense.

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

Our costs and comments from Les Coches, La Plagne trip last HT:

Tunnel Crossing: £245 (mostly paid in Tesco's vouchers)
Apartment: £791.87
Lift Pass 6.5 days: £989.66
Lift Pass second Saturday: £92.74
Fuel: £228.48
Tolls: £144.29
Food: £189.64 + £75 for meal on way home
Ski hire (due to ski breakage): £55 (3 days)
Insurance: £75 (50% of annual policy)

TOTAL: £2886.68

Per Person: £721.67

Per Person Per skiing day (7 excluding bit of Saturday): £103.10

Costs were a fair bit more than we normally pay at Christmas or Easter because of the extra cost of accommodation at HT and adding C19 insurance on it and paying a bit more for wifi.

Also extra cost of ski hire because of broken ski.

A snowHead

A snowHead

Quick butchers on Sunweb, and you can get accom (7 nights) + lift pass (6 days) + ski/boot hire (6 days) for a grand total of £205pp - based on 5 sharing in Superdevoluy.

Granted that's leaving next Saturday, and not much use to anyone with kids, and you still need to add the costs of getting there. But it gives you an idea of how cheap a skiing holiday can be.

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I definitely could cut my costs down if - we stay in an apartment that we need to walk or bus in, but with two kids and the fact I hate walking in ski boots we tend to find places close to the piste. I also think we could cut down the costs by putting the kids into group ski lessons but unfortunately they don’t get on with them and the Eurotunnel - at one point I was paying for our entire Eurotunnel out of vouchers but after three waits at Calais with significant queues for hours we decided to splash out. One year we also took sandwiches for the kids to eat on the slope as it was easier - so all that could save us £1000 or so…

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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

@Owlette, yea I totally get the need for an extra bedroom.

Did you look for a larger apartment? Would surely not have added too much more to the overall cost of the holiday?

If you're self catering, then i'd personally ignore the food costs. It's not like you wouldn't eat at home for a week if you didn't go away.

After all it is free

We've usually booked a 2 bed but have got us all in one bedroom this Feb half term to keep costs down (rentals have gone up!).

It's a double and bunk with curtain partitioning (in a bedroom) so more like bedroom camping! Kids are young teens.

I really don't mind as we'll be out all day, in the lounge at night and then dropping into bed when tired.

I compromised this year bedroom wise as we have never done anything other than a 50m walk to the piste with the kids and that's the way we all like it.

If you're on a budget you need a pecking order!

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@boredsurfin, that's a lot more than you need to!
We've gone to Val Thorens every Easter (usually first week) for the last 7 years. The general model is Easyjet to Geneva, car hire, 2 adults +2 children (now 15/16), two bed ski in/out apartment. We've always got everything in for £3000 with ski lessons on top of this when the girls needed them. Now we spend some of the lesson money on a larger apartment-twin beds in the second bedroom rather than bunks.
Last year's general budget was around £700 for flights (£3k!!???), £300 for car hire, £800-900 for apartment-all booked as early as possible, around £800 for lift passes, £100 for car parking, £250-300 for ski hire. Self cater but the odd fast-food style lunch on the slopes.

Help!!

Ski holiday costs family of 5

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