 Poster: A snowHead
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February has a frightful reputation as half-term week. How does Easter compare. There are clearly two weeks; which is likely to be less crowded (/cheaper!)
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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James the Last, In my experience Easter is usually significantly quieter than Feb and the week after Easter is much quieter than the week before ( In less popular resorts you may feel you have most of the place to yourself) and usually significantly cheaper as well.
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I have no children, but I have some holiday remaining from last year that I shall have to take at the beginning of April. Easter is likely to suit well, and I am contemplating which of the two weeks would be best. (Now the weather is more spring-like, the joys of skiing are beginning to fade.)
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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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It all depends on the resort... German companies give at least 1 week, if not 2 off so you get a lot of people travelling... I've been stuck in traffic in Stutgart and from Munich to Austria for up to 3 hours because of people going skiing at Easter.... also flights are expensive over Easter due to all the "city-break" travellers
Also parts of Italy see Easter as the best time to go skiing.... Last year I was in St. Anton the week before (accomodation was available at beginning of week, but sold out mid-week due to good snow-fall) and drove to Cervinia to my mates hotel for Easter Weekend and ended up sleeping in the massage room, as they were completely booked out. Again traffic was mad on good-friday.
My advise is to look at accomodation early, and you run the risk of busy pistes if the snow conditions are good. France seems to be the quietest at Easter
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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James the Last, Likely to be quieter the week after easter, but it's not anything like feb as the french don't come in any large numbers! Plenty of snow this year, but high skiing is certainly an advantage at that time of year.
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Never been at half term so can't compare with that, but have been skiing for the last 4 Easters and going again this year. Previously always skied off peak in the middle of January and Easter is not much busier than January, certainly hardly any lift queues and the pistes have not been crowded.
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The 1st week will be busier, because at that time of year, people think that it is late and that they will get better snow the 1st week rather than the 2nd.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Going out to Val D'Isere this Easter. i'll tell ya how it is 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Samerberg Sue wrote: |
| ...There are numerous ways to by-pass the known bottlenecks when driving through Germany to the Alps. Anyone who needs a few alternative roads to by-pass notorious spots just give me a call. |
I'll be driving (via Eurotunnel) to Ischgl on Sat 4 April & returning Sun 12th. Planning to go A13/A61/A8 via (near) Antwerp, Aachen, Koblenz, Stuttgart, Bregenz. Where should I expect problems and how would you recommend avoiding them?
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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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The period between good friday and easter sunday tends to be manic-but either side the slopes shouldn't be too bad and you have to go anyway because of the amount of snow this year!
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petem77, I'll look out for you at the Eurotunnel then - we'll be the car with skis on - and SH stickers 
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You know it makes sense.
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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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James the Last, kind of eggy really....
....the French don't get full holidays over Easter in the way that we Brits do, but we found Les Menuires busy last year at peak ski school times at the bottom, but otherwise the 3v was very snowy and pretty quiet. Great time of year to ski provided you can leave the daffodils and greening hills at home. Shouldn't be much of a problem for a London dweller! Morning snow tends to be icy so later start, late lunch to make the most of the softening snow before it gets slushy, easy home is the formula for the ideal day. First lift after snow.
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Poster: A snowHead
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This will be my 3rd year running in LDA at Easter (last year I had 2 weeks with a week at ADH too) and I've never found Easter too busy.
Boris, petem77, I'm on the tunnel Friday night and staying over in Coquelles to get a bit of a start.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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>>provided you can leave the daffodils and greening hills at home.
Funny, the urge to ski diminishes as spring arrives.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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petem77, OK Pete this is the route I use coming from the channel - I always do it in one hop and alone so it is doable. I don't have a Ferrari by the way - I pootle along in my Toyota Yaris Verso van.
Northern Belgium and the area around Koblenz is a nightmare for roadworks and they are long term ones.
Calais down to Lille - free of charge or very little toll.
Lille to Tournai in Belgium - this section is toll-free
In Belgium Tournai - Mons - Charleroi - Namur. Avoids all the hang ups in and around Brussels.
Namur to Luxembourg - nice straight motorway leading to the cheapest petrol in Western Europe - I always fill up at any garage in or around Luxembourg City
Luxembourg to Metz and on towards Strasbourg - from Metz it is toll road but it is fast cheap and never clogged.
French motorways are free around all the cities by the way so you only pay for sections between cities so to speak. I think I paid about 30 euros in total the last time I used this route
At Strasbourg cross over the Rhine into Germany and continue south towards Basel. If the traffic is flowing join the Swiss motorway system there. The Vignette is not exorbitant and as you are heading east towards Zurich you should not hit big traffic as most of it is going the other way! It is valid for a year as well so you only pay once.
If the traffic is heavy then swing east before Lörrach and cross into Switzerland around to the east at Rheinfelden where you then follow the signs for Zurich, Winterthur, St Gallen and Bregenz. Then you pick up your original route.
Your problems could begin on the A5 as the day you are travelling is the first weekend of the Easter Holiday break for most of the German schools, so traffic in all directions southwards will be horrendous. It is illegal to take a child out of school during term time in all of the German States, hence all families with children of school age are on the move at the same time.
There is an excellent traffic monitoring system for Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany - I use it all the time - http://www.verkehrsinfo.de/ - tonight for example the route you described is a catastrophe with roadworks and jams. Even if you don't understand German you can see where the roadworks are (Baustellen) and where the jams are (Staus). They always give the information with the road number, the town from then to so A8 Stuttgart - Karlsruhe would mean that the problem is in the direction driving towards Karlsruhe
hope this helps - ask away if you need any more info
Sue 
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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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Colin B, yeah we normally make a head start Friday night, but can't get away this time. Mind you we're making an early start at around 3am 
petem77, I know that feeling - we're attempting to pack a bit lighter this time and avoid the roofbox - can sneak under the 2m CC toll lanes then. The Sharan and roofbox just won't get under the bars otherwise
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Sue How long would you expect your route to take you on a holiday Saturday such as 4th April?
How much is the Swiss Vignette & is it possible to buy one on the spur of the moment (for example, when entering Switzerland...?)
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petem77, That's like asking how long is a piece of string to be honest - the only headache I can possibly see is the A5 - it is the toll-free motorway and everyone and their grandfather and caravan tends to use it - particularly the - French. That said they don't have a long Easter holiday (they break up on the Wednesday before Easter and only have a long weekend). In Switzerland you will largely be going against the flow of traffic so all in all it should be OK.
The vignette costs about 23 Euros and you can buy it at the border, just like the Austrian ones. Unlike the Austrians though they only have one year ones and that is from January to January (the Austrian one gives you 13 months with the year one but they also do a 10 day one for 7.50€)
I think that this route will get you there faster as you will not be competing with all the Dutch/German traffic heading for the Adriatic and Italy.
Take a look at the road atlas and see what you think - do you have a Sat-Nav? If you do you can pre-programme it, and then see what it says.
Sue
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| Samerberg Sue wrote: |
| Your problems could begin on the A5 as the day you are travelling is the first weekend of the Easter Holiday break for most of the German schools, so traffic in all directions southwards will be horrendous. It is illegal to take a child out of school during term time in all of the German States, hence all families with children of school age are on the move at the same time. |
Are the German/Austrian Easter school holidays 2 weeks starting Sat 4th April? And is our Easter Monday 13th April a public holiday in Germany & Austria? If yes to both of these I'd guess that driving back through Germany on Sunday 12th April on my original proposed route (A8/A61/A13 via (near) Bregenz, Stuttgart, Koblenz, Aachen, Antwerp) should be fairly clear?
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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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petem77, those having 2 weeks match the UK exactly - Saturday 4th to Sunday 18th April. Easter Day should be relatively quiet - Easter Saturday will be a nightmare - sorry for anyone trying to get to or from the Alps through Germany that day! The Monday is a national holiday so you are travelling the right day. There may be some local hotspots but no big migrations north/south or vice versa. Austria has the same holidays unusually all provinces being on holiday from 4th to 14th April but people are mostly moving either to the mountains or points south through Italy or Slovenia and on south eastwards. You may have some trouble getting to Switzerland but after that things should be OK-ish. Hedging my forecasting bets there. A lot always depends on the weather, if it is nice warm and sunny then lots of people will take there cars out for a spring run. Beware of crazy motor cyclists - they get their machines registered and go crazy from 1st April. Usually loads of accidents to support this strange phenomena.
Sue
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Thanks Samerberg Sue, appreciate your help.
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