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Easily accessible resorts

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Hi,

Currently thinking about buying a place in the snow. We would want to use it during the school holidays with family, but would also want somewhere easily accessible for weekend breaks. The big question for me, is which ski resorts are easily accessible from airports using public transport.

Thanks
Simon
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
shughes, Alpe D'Huez and Les Deux Alpes from Grenoble or even Lyon. Done both myself several times. Loads more that others will be along to recommend I would expect.
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shughes, Oh and welcome to snowHead's
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Colin B, Thanks have been to Alpe D'Huez a couple of times and is my current favourite resort, just always been on package holidays and didnt realise it was easy to get to using public transport.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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shughes, welcome! I'm not big on public transport, but a friend recently did Avoriaz/Morzine without too much trouble. More recommendations will be along shortly I am sure.
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shughes,

There are many Austrian ski resorts close to either Salzburg (Skiamade) or Innsbruck.
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
shughes, Dead easy and cheap. Public bus from airport to Grenoble bus station then another up to resort, about 20 euros return. There's also a low cost transfer bus runs direct at weekends and some other times too, about £40 return this year I think. Same applies to Les Deux Alpes.


Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Mon 1-09-08 20:10; edited 1 time in total
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Quote:
which ski resorts are easily accessible from airports using public transport.

shughes, welcome to Snowheads. One problem with public transport from airports to resorts (in France at any rate) is that it tends to be very expensive - for a weekend, from Geneva, most resorts would be much more conveniently and more cheaply accessed with a small hired car. Buses can be pretty long-winded - not too frequent, except on Saturdays and possibly not stopping near your place. If you restricted yourself to properties within easy walking distance of a bus stop you'd be very hampered in your choice.

However, one obvious answer to your question is Chamonix - plenty of transport, plenty of skiing of all levels, a very lively place and very easily reached from Geneva (though you might need a taxi to get to your door). Having reached the town centre quite easily by public transport you'd find yourself having to bus around the valley to reach the various ski areas, though.

Is the "public transport" requirement an absolute essential for you?

And roughly what is your budget?

Stand back - suggestions will roll in.
snowHead
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Hi pam w, Thanks for all the info. I dont think the public transport is an absolute must, just trying to find somewhere where it will be easy to justify heading out for a weekend at relatively short notice. If a hire car is going to be the best way, then thats the way it will be, just wanted the snowheads collective wisdom on the subject. I haven't yet decided on a budget yet, currently just waiting to see what french property prices are going to do over the next 6 to 12 months before making any decisions. Although currently planning trips for christmas and feb half term, so thinking about which other resorts might be worth a visit.

Bring on all the rest of the suggestions.
Thanks
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Pretty much any Swiss resort will have good transport links from either Geneva and/or Zurich. Many Austrian resorts can be reached within an hour or two from Salzburg and/or Innsbruck. Munich isn't too bad for Austria either.
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shughes, welcome to snowHeads.

I've found Chamonix and Morzine quickly and easily accessible from Geneva, but would much prefer to have the flexibility of a car in both places, especially Chamonix. Verbier's not difficult to get to either, in fact if there were any properties available in Le Chable (an old-fashined village below Verbier) the train goes there and you could use the gondola from Le Chable up to Verbier itself, to get to the main ski area.

Zurich to Davos by train is also fairly quick.

But there are greater experts than me on the forum.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Elizabeth B,
Quote:

Munich isn't too bad for Austria either

And for the Italian resorts in the Alto Adige - nice train ride over the Brenner Pass.
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
shughes, it would help to have a bit more of a "feel" for the kind of place you like, e.g. "proper village" or "convenient access to fairly snow sure skiing". It's hard to have everything. What sort of skiing? We have a piste-side apartment in an obscure French resort with relatively unsophisticated amenities and we love it - but not everyone would. You might also like to search for some of the other threads about people buying apartments - there are plenty of them. Prices do seem to be weakening a bit and the euro is horribly strong against the pound; probably both good reasons to hang on. Good idea to do some research at Christmas and half term. There's plenty of discussion here about half term, too. The "big names", especially in France, are all going to be very expensive and very crowded. Very horrible, in fact. A good opportunity possibly to go somewhere off the beaten track.

Give us some more pointers about your family preferences and priorities.

One advantage of France is that it's all accessible to British buyers (unlike Switzerland, for example) and the process of buying is relatively predictable (unlike Italy for example). Also most Brits speak at least a smattering of French, which is a good start.

If you're flexible about hiring cars that's a big help - especially to make reasonable use of a short weekend break.

Would you reckon to rent out the place to help defray costs, or keep it just for yourselves? If the latter you'd need to spend a fair bit of time there to make it worthwhile. We spend about 4 months a year at our place;it's as lovely in the spring, summer and early autumn as it is in Winter. Early November to mid December are pretty grotty, as a rule, but otherwise it's a year round destination.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
pam w, The main reasoning behind the purchase is we really want to spend more time skiing/boarding. Ideally the resort would be high to ensure (as much as possible) that it would be snowsure whenever we want to use it. Not overly bothered about the resort, but would need to ensure close access to the slopes, and a good selection of restaurants for the evenings. The biggest consideration would be the amount of piste accessible as I dont want to end up in a resort where you can ski all the slopes in a couple of days. Currently I have only skied in Alpe D'Huez 5 times, and Tignes once.

My other half is a teacher, hence our ski trips always being in school holidays, so we are well used to skiing in the busiest times of the year. Having never skied at any other time of the year, I guess I dont know what I am missing!!

I am still unsure on the whole renting it out as I would be wanting to use it in the most expensive weeks of the year, and also weekends, which I guess would rule out most rental weeks over the winter. Really not concentrating on the costs of buying the place at the moment, but would be very interested on the annual running costs for a small place in france?
Thanks
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Quote:

I am still unsure on the whole renting it out as I would be wanting to use it in the most expensive weeks of the year, and also weekends, which I guess would rule out most rental weeks over the winter.

Yes, I guess it would, and would certainly rule out some of the more lucrative weeks. Letting during the summer is a bonus, if you can manage it, but most resorts are heavily over-supplied with accommodation in the summer.

If you could get lots of ski weekends in during the year it would be worth having a place, and far easier to have your skis, boots, gear, etc all ready so you can fly out with hand baggage only - ideal. But it's not easy if you have to leave after work Friday and be back for Monday. It's not easy to find appropriate flights - for example there are no suitable easyJet flights to Geneva or Grenoble from East Midlands or Birmingham. And Friday and Sunday nights are not the cheapest time to travel. easyJet Luton to Geneva on one of the cheapest weekends in January, booked months ahead, with a small car, comes out at £360 for two people. Assuming you could get to the airport by the time the last flight leaves on Friday (1740). Probably £450 by the time you've added airport parking in the UK, petrol and tolls. A bit eye watering for two days skiing, before adding in the cost of lift passes and food (though being able to buy season lift passes makes the daily cost a lot cheaper - in many resorts it costs not much more than two full weeks passes).

Depends how desperate you are to ski, I suppose. snowHead snowHead Having a teaching partner does make life far more difficult (I know the problem, my daughter and son in law are both teachers).
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
shughes, you asked about costs. I couldn't face adding them up last night Shocked but having done so this morning, this is the result:

The bills for water, property management and maintenance (including snow clearance and this year extra costs for repainting the building) came to E2500. Phone 348, tax and TV licence about 600, insurance 121.That makes about E3560 running costs (not counting electricity, as when we are in France we are not using it here in England). That’s over £3000 at the present awful exchange rate. The cost of debt servicing (or the opportunity cost of the capital if you have money in the bank) should also be added into the equation of course. This was only £4600 for us as our apartment cost £80,000 but today’s cost would be twice that.We are very happy with our investment, firstly because we spend so much time there and love it so much, secondly because prices have appreciated considerably and our apartment is worth (in euro terms) twice what we paid for it. More, in sterling. However we bought at an exchange rate of 1.62. It’s currently 1.17 and dropping, and price appreciation is unlikely to be anything like that of the last few years – prices seem likely to drop a bit, in fact.The figures don’t really add up as an investment at the moment. As a “lifestyle purchase” of course, compared to a new car which will depreciate a lot faster than the most pessimistic estimate of future French property prices, it could well be the best thing you ever do! Think of it like buying yourself a brand new flash car every year, but far more fun.
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Incidentally, we pay for our place largely by having converted a room in our house (vacated by grown up daughter) into a bed-sit and having a lodger. We still have a garage and attic half full of grown up daughter's tat though. Confused
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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shughes, we have a place in Les Arcs. It's about 2hr45m from Geneva or Lyon airports, and a bit closer to Chambery, but so far I've always hired a car at the airport because it's much more convenient than public transport even though it's more expensive if there is just me travelling out there (my partner is also a teacher). I do quite a few long weekends during the season and don't find the travelling time from airport to resort to be an issue at all. It's a pleasant drive and being able to avoid Saturday transfers means the traffic never gets busy. Les Arcs (and the nearby resorts such as La Rosiere, La Plagne, Tignes, Val d'Isere) are also easily accessible by train, including a direct Eurostar service to Bourg St Maurice which might give you some more travel possibilities for short breaks and family holidays.
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shughes, Find out which airport/s your are flying from. See where they fly to. Ignore Ryanair destinations, (they can and will pull them at a moments notice). Whichever gives you a good feeling, whether it be Italy, Austria, France, Switzerland.

Say for example flights go to GVA and that suits. Draw an arc or 1hr, 2hr, 3hr driving distance (whatever you feel comfortable with) and investigate the resorts in that arc firstly in the summer. I chose GVA and put in 1.5hrs travel. Went to a number of resorts, Chamonix, Megeve, Les Contamines, Flaine and Avoriaz. They all have different plus points going for them. You or at least your OH will get a great benefit out of the place during the summer! Be aware though that high snow sure resorts can suffer from fog in the summer IME. You will not have something that can tick all box's and you will have to make some sacrifices!

If going for weekends sod the expense and hire a car, after all you have invested a damn site more in your holiday property. If you need to rent the place find a resort estate agent and see what the return is. Eg, you may get the same rental for a 3 to 4 bed Swiss chalet as you would for a 2 piece French rabbit hutch!

We went for ski in ski out, large area, high (as I cant use it in the summer), smaller property higher up rather than larger place lower down! It suits us well but what we are looking for may not be what you or others want.

Check out destinations served by your local airport/s
How far do you want to drive once you got to your arrival airport
Small up the hill, big in the valley
ROI

Some things that may help point you in the right direction.

Good luck and you will enjoy the looking


Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Tue 2-09-08 10:16; edited 1 time in total
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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BTW shughes, welcome to snowHead 's
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shughes, If coming to either ADH or LDA there are regular buses from both Grenoble and Lyon airports into Grenoble bus station and thence a bus to resort. there are also things called 'Satobus' which works in high season and takes you direct to resort. In addition there's Ben's Bus which is a privately run transfer company who work on Sat & Sun, but if you were saving money by flying in the week that wouldn't work.

Check the airport websites for transport info. It's waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy cheaper than any other transfer. Very Happy
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Quote:

I do quite a few long weekends during the season

but teachers can't do long weekends. Public/airport transport to resorts on a Friday night when you can't leave home till after work, then lose an hour on the way out?......... I doubt it.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
pam w wrote:
Quote:

I do quite a few long weekends during the season

but teachers can't do long weekends. Public/airport transport to resorts on a Friday night when you can't leave home till after work, then lose an hour on the way out?......... I doubt it.


My partner stays at home (I'm not a teacher so can get away during term time), and I hire cars to it doesn't really matter what time flight I catch out. If you don't mind late arrivals in resort and very early starts it's perfectly possible to go for a long weekend's skiing and eek out holiday allowances Smile
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Hi,

I live permanently in Morzine now but at first just had an apartment here and worked in London so came out a lot for short breaks, I would hire a car for a couple of days from Geneva airport - not that expensive, there is a bus that goes from the airport as well but there are lots of transfer companies that will take you from as little as 30 euros per person each way - there will be other people in the bus.. (pretty much the same price as the public bus but a lot quicker and more comfortable), with a transfer time of 1hr 10 mins, I could leave work and be in Morzine 3 hours later.. if you wanted to use it for weekends you could start your rental weeks on a Sunday and then at least you could rent it out sometimes when you were not using it... most 2 bedroom apartments in the area will be able to fill most of the weeks in winter so you should not have any problems renting it out if you find the right area.
Be aware that French letting agents may sometimes try to charge up to 50% of the rental price! You'd be better off making friends in the area and finding someone to look after it for you, they would then probably take a small commission charge plus cleaning / laundry costs. There is an independant property consultant called Pastures Greener who are based in Morzine but cover a lot of the neighbouring ski areas, run by a Scottish Lady - google them, they are free and can give you some really good advice. We often have clients coming out looking to buy and they all agree that Pastures Greener are excellent.
Good Luck
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