Easter family holiday costs??

A snowHead

if people ever stopped to analyse how much they spent on sking.. they would never go Shocked

A snowHead

I used to book for easter as soon as the flights came out and usually ended up paying about a grand for all four of us, but noticed that round christmas time, especially boxing day, the prices sank alot.

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kitenski, looking at the 3rd and not really flexible on this. I think as I said at the beginning I really needed a sanity check, "is this about right or way over the odds".

Even though there has been some great suggestions here and I've researched them to see if they fit with our position it still feels as though the £3k mark is where it's at for a family of four, for that week, including hire and lift passes, staying at what I would call sensible/good standard accommodation.

I'm sure we could find a shoe box with questionable beds etc, but I am booking a holiday not some kind of challenge to see how little sleep we can survive on. And that still leaves us with flights which I'm not finding cheaply at all.

Funny thing is it's taking so long to make my mind up I'm almost talking myself out of going at all. I think I read too many "we've just booked a deal for £125 a head all in" articles/posts (not just here) and I end up thinking I'm mad for paying so much more. But I seriously cannot see how I can reduce the costs beyond a certain level without walking to the mountains.

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CANV CANVINGTON, yep, I'm beginning to think that too.

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johnnyh, Have you tried a site such as www.skyscanner.net to find your flights? it is a lot easier than using the airlines own websites.
If you are thinking of a DIY holiday why not look at flying out on a day other than Saturday to reduce the cost of flights. For instance you could fly from Bristol to Geneva on Friday night 26th March, hire a car from the French side of Geneva and stay in a family room at the Novotel near the airport, it is a 5-10 minute drive. You can return the following Sunday night to Bristol so you have the possibility of 9 days skiing for approximately £1500 for the Accommodation, flights, car hire, petrol, tolls and hotel.
Obviously you have the extra cost for ski hire, lift pass etc. but you don't have to ski every day. It would mean booking the accommodation for 8 nights but, our French teachers chalet is available for that week, and she would probably be happy to book it out for 8 nights. Alternatively you could book the saturday night in a hotel close to where you are staying.
I based my costs on £527 for the return flights (includes carriage of 2 bags), £234 for car hire (Citreon Berlingo), £590 for the 3 bedroom chalet for 8 nights, £80 for the Novotel family room (including a good buffet breakfast) and £70 for petrol, tolls, vignette etc.
It is possible to book something at a similar price the following 2 weeks, send me a pm or give me a call if you want any more details, you can find my contact details on our website which also includes details of the chalet.

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johnnyh, We've booked Aime La Plagne for 2nd week of Easter next year (10th-17th) and for a family of 5 we're paying £3800 s/c. A bit more than we coughed up this year but we've gone for a slightly larger apartment. Picked the resort because of the altitude and a glacier so guaranteed skiing.

Main expense is lift passes plus equipment and lessons for my wife and the kiddies.

We're seriously thinking of DIY and driving (or even trying the train) in the future to keep the cost down.

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Blunty, there are plenty of threads about the relative costs of driving or flying. Lots of variables, of course, but even with 4 in a car it isn't necessarily cheaper. Depends how canny you are about buying your flights. Whether you spend a night in a hotelen route. etc etc etc

The sad truth is there's no cheap way of taking a family on a ski holiday. And no painless way of getting there. Flights and transfers can get cancelled or held up. Driving can end up stuck for hours in traffic jams or sorting out snowchains in a blizzard.

After all it is free

johnnyh, Just noticed you are after something the week of the 3rd April, flights and hotel are available and still at the same price, car hire is a bit more expensive as is the accommodation for that week. Our 3 bedroom apartment is available and we would be happy to book you in for 8 nights if that helps.

pam w, agreed. Tactics so far have been book early (no chance to back out last minute as not enough money saved) and set up a direct debit to the savings account, then pray that there are no unexpected major expenses between then and final payment date (like a dead car or a hole in the roof!) wink

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Blunty, Would agree with ollski, about booking flights early if you are thinking of a DIY holiday for Easter.

You don't have to book the accommodation for Easter too far in advance, New Year week and February half term are the complete opposite. At the moment there is a load of privately owned accommodation still available for Easter whereas New Year and February half term has nearly all gone. You usually only have to pay a deposit to secure the accommodation and the balance is only due a few weeks before the start of your holiday.

Car hire prices don't tend to vary by much over the year so you can book that when finances pemit and you can pay for your lift passes when you are out in resort.

I find it helps spread the cost over the year and you don't feel you've spent as much as when you pay it all in one go.

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what about flying from Stansted to Friedrichshafen with Ryanair, a quick check got me to 132.22 GB PP excluding bags

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I did easyjet Liverpool geneva easter before last four of us flights were £1440. Admittedly these flights were not the cheapest times but most convenient for the kids.
Last year in Flaine (Montsoleil by any chance?) got a hire car for just over £100 and stopped at a supermarket in cluses to stock up to keep food costs down. Money can be saved but it is a balancing act between convenience and cost.

train is generally much more expensive pp than flying (from London, anyway)

brian

Getting flights as early as possible is definitely the way to go for diy. You can fill in the blanks later. We paid £300 for our xmas flights (x4 inc bags) on the day of release, same booking today would be £915.

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

how does one know when fligths are released? or is there a general 330 day rule?

brian

Ok, here's my amateur travel agent's effort:

3/4/10 to 10/4/10 to St Luc, Switzerland

Flights - flybe Exeter-Geneva - £1011, call it £1100 inc bags
Transfer - Swiss transfer ticket - £150
Accom - large appt in St Luc - £845
Lift pass - anniviers 6 days £400 inc family discount
Equipment hire - http://www.intersportrent.com/switzerland (1 adult ski + 2 junior skis + boots) £285

Total = £2780

brian

boardiac, it varies with carrier. I have a script running on a server at work that sends me a text when easyjet release new Edinburgh - Geneva flights, but I accept that's not a solution for everyone. Laughing

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boardiac,

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johnnyh,

You'll need to Register first of course.

pam w, Maybe they send them out to people on their mailing lists in alphabetical order. Is it Alan Aardvark who usually lists them on snowheads first?????

brian

I get lots of mails from easyjet about their sales starting, trying to get me to buy speedy boarding, etc. etc. but they never tell me when flights are released. Sad

After all it is free

johnnyh, Couple of if’s
If Morzine is Ok
If you can travel on the Sunday 4th.
We can offer you our two bedroom S/c Appt for £725.
Transfers for 4 Geneva return at 300 Euro’s.

I have not spotted the childrens ages so
PDS 6 day pass for 4 adults is 810 Euro’s
Cheaper for under 16’s
Cheaper if you only take a Morzine/Avoriaz or a Morzine/Les Gets pass.

Gear hire
http://www.allmountainrental.com/prices.htm have a simple pricing page. You can probably get cheaper on line, but we rate their service.
Where you intend to ski has a bearing on where to hire.

Your flights from Brizzle may be cheaper on Sundays.

Will leave you to do the maths. Hope it comes out cheaper than your initial amount Little Angel

brian, When I registered with them you had to indicate which destinations you were interested in. It was years ago and I don't know if that option is still available.

brian

skichampcouk, yep, I'm signed up for Edinburgh, Glasgow, Geneva and Malpensa. I did get release updates in the dim and distant but not recently.

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I've been looking around for family bargains at easter and found that swiss and austrian resorts tend to be a lot cheaper than france for lift passes.

for instance, Zermatt and Ishgl (both big ski areas with high altitide ski areas) are surprisingly good value for my family demographic for the week of 10/4.

Zermatt lets my 7 year old ski for free and my 11 and 14 year old ski at a significant discount to the full adult price.
Most French resorts will charge adult for the eldest and a child for the youngest. Might be worth matching your family ages with the various tarrif bands at a selection of resorts. (someone should start a thread for this !)

Have just booked apartment in fairly central Zermatt building which looks pretty reasonable for £1300 chf (about £750).

with switzerland, you can transfer the whole family from any airport in switzerland to your resort for £150 (2xtransfer ticket for adults, all kids under 16 free), so you can flexibly travel to the cheapest airport in switz and then enjoy a tour of the country to your chosen resort. It even includes post buses at the end if you need them.

If you've got an apartment for the week, you don't need to travel out on Saturday. You could save a stack of cash by going out on sunday or flying back on friday.

Can't think of a way of saving on the equipment though....

d

d

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pendodave, lots of French resorts do have family passes for under 18's though.

You know it makes sense.

pendodave, I agree, we got stung in Banff, as under 12's go free, and ours were 12 and 13. There were youth rates for the individual mountains, but only an adult rate for the BIg3. I ended up juggling multi day passes for each mountain, which saved us a considerable amount over the Big 3 pass (we had a hire car so didn't need the ski bus).

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

Just like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has commented here. We really appreciate the time and effort people have gone to cost out holidays in this post.

As a family we were amazed at how helpful everyone has been with their responses and how creative some of the solutions are for saving money - absolutely brilliant responses from you all. Thank you so much.

We are now in the process of working out which will suit us the best.

Thank you

J

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Easter family holiday costs??

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