 Poster: A snowHead
|
Hey
I think the title probably says it all, but here goes:
OH and I are thinking of renting an apartment somewhere in the Alps for a month next season - either Jan or March. The plan would be to fly out, say, every Thursday/Friday (we live in S. London so Gatwick reachable in +/- 1 hour) and return to London on the Sunday/Monday evening, and take maybe a full week's vacation as well.
By my reckoning, that gives us:
(a) if we take a full week immediately after one of the weekends, 3x3 days + 1x 6 or 7 days = 15 or 16 days' skiing for the price of 8 days off work (SVDER - or Ski/Vacation Day Effeciciency Ratio - of almost 2:1); or
(b) if we only do weekends, 4x3 days = 12 days skiing for the price of 4 days off work (SDVER of 3:1)
(b) has a much better SVDER but (i) means 4 fewer days on the slopes and (ii) costs an extra flight x 3 people (me+OH+1.5yo)
How much would I expect to pay for a monthly rental - in a resort rather than an outlying village? (Would I save a lot by staying in a smaller village, given that I would probably rent a car at airport anyway?)
Has anyone done it? How did it work out? any tips? Would we be better of just doing separate short trips? (part of the allure is not having to lug all our stuff with us every time - instead we could leave clothing, snowboard/skis, food, etc there for the month)
another part of it, i guess, is that it "simulates" doing a season/owning our own place without us acutally having to give up our jobs (mortgage, etc...).
Cheers
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
boardiac, sounds a good idea. The cost of rental depends what you want, I suppose, and January (bar the first few days which would be in the new year week) would be cheaper than March. You should be able to negotiate a month for less than a weekly rate. Depends on the resort, too. For a small apartment away from one of the super-expensive resorts I reckon you should be able to get something quite nice for £1500 for January - French owners, who would be used to empty periods during January should be open to offers. Don't forget transfers - that could become an expensive part of the equation. Depending on the area, a season lift pass could work out quite economical. In our area, if you buy before end November, it costs the same as around two weeks normal pass.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
RogerC is doing a season let this year on a similar basis IIRC. Outlying village and deal direct would make it quite affordable I would guess e.g. somewhere like Allemont for Oz/Vaujany/AdH. Season pass considerations also might mean you're tempted to rent for longer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
I've had a couple of month-long rentals of my apartment. Seemed to work out OK for the people who rented it. Don't underestimate cost of transfers though. Car rental this season has been very expensive compared to the last couple of years.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
rayscoops, I was thinking about that - logistics could become interesting but it has to be do-able...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
so I guess for general costs (per trip):
getting to and from UK airport £30
flights +/- £270
car rental/transfers and fuel +/- £150
Lift passes +/- £180 (unless it's a season pass - good idea, thanks pam w,
Food and drinks = similar to when in UK (we would have eaten anyway), maybe £50 extra
So in addition to rental, that looks like about £700 (total) per trip. so if rental is £1500 for the month, and we do 4 trips, that's £2800+£1500 = £4300 for 12 days skiing. crikey.
looks a bit better if the "stay for a week" option is taken (and then maybe drive down in own car - round trip cost about £400 - I gather from the numerous "Drive to the Alps" posts?):
drive to Alps and back - £400
parking at airport - 4 days x 2 - £160
flights +/- £270 x2 = £540
fuel between airport and resort x2 and in resort - £100
Lift passes +/- £800
Food and drinks = similar to when in UK (we would have eaten anyway), maybe £100 extra
So that's around £2100 excl renting the apartment, + £1500 = £3600 for +/- 15 days skiing.
hmmm. cant decide if it's back to drawing board or not??? subletting/sharing would help of course...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
boardiac, short breaks are always going to cost more per day than week-long or longer, so there is a big price premium for trying to eek out your annual holiday allowance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
on another thread Stewart Woodward mentioned that you can rent a studio in Tignes for a full year for under £4k. I'm seriously tempted by that - biking and glacier skiing in summer, alpine skiing in winter
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
you can rent plenty in plenty of resorts for €4k pa.
If looking for just a month you can get central in several resorts within budget (£1500) provided it's not February.
Looking at transfers have a hunt around as they're a very competitive market to some resorts (Morzine, Chamonix, Grand Massif) so might not c ost as much as assumed.
As for lift pass, yes if planning on skiing more than 13 days it usually pays to get an annual pass.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
| Quote: |
As for lift pass, yes if planning on skiing more than 13 days it usually pays to get an annual pass.
|
definitely check this though e.g. here you need to ski for a month to break even while other resorts it might be 2 weeks. Also see if you can get a discount for buying the season pass early e.g. October/November many places offer better prices for buying then.
IMO if you're only going to be using the place for half the time it's probably not worth renting for a month: while you'll get a decent discount over the price of 4 individual weeks I doubt it'll be 50%. In fact low season you could probably find B&B for less than €70 per room per night in many resorts.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Hi boardiac as Fatbob says we have rented somewhere for this winter to use for weekends and the occasional week
I'm currently looking at options for next winter and perhaps sharing somewhere could work as we'd leave it empty for a lot of the time
Pm me if this is of interest
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We've got a couple of people who have booked multiple breaks with us this season as we have storage for kit, suitcases, food and parking space. We've given them a good rate (outside of school holidays) because of the amount of bookings they've made with us, and they've got in a good amount of skiing because we're a short transfer to Geneva so it's possible to get a full day skiing in and then get home in time for work the next day. The people who have booked with us have done so because of the choice of ski areas here (we have very easy access to the Evasion Mont Blanc, Espace Diamant and the Massif des Aravis, and are less than an hour away from Chamonix) so each trip's skiing can be a bit different. It works out well because we guarantee there'll be a lovely apartment with freshly made beds, clean towels and their stuff waiting for them, but they are flexible about which of our apartments that will be so we don't have to block off any particular one from other guests. I don't know what country you're thinking of going to or what kind of area (obviously if you were interested in our place, please PM me!) but looking for an arrangement like the one we have might work out well for you because you don't have to keep lugging your stuff about, but it also means you're not obliged to do all of your trips in one month and could spread them out over the season - I think weekly visits to the airport might take a bit of the fun out of it all after a while...
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
hmm will give all of this a bit of thought over the next few days, and maybe check out a few things when we are in 3V in a couple of weeks....Roger C, will try to remember to get back to you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
miranda, that sounds a great arrangement. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
boardiac, to give you an idea of prices. I've booked a 1 bed apartment in Tignes (Val Claret) for 4 weeks from March 6th, for £1800. I'll be out there for the duration of it, so getting my full ski's worth! I did have offers of studios for a bit cheaper than this (£1500-£1600) but went for this one as I may have friends come out to visit, and the extra room space for another £200 seemed well worth it to me.
Flights out were available for £100 from the London airports, though as I'm travelling on my own I decided to pay a bit extra and fly from closer to home (Southampton). Transfers from Chambery to resort with altibus are 50 euros return.
I'm still researching prices for lift passes so can't say this for certain, but so far it looks as if its not quite worth gettign a season pass; though there looks to be some form of deal where you can get up to 21 days for a bit of discount.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
Cheers, Dav, that's helpful.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
boardiac, your OP included an assessment of SVDER (which I like) not just price per day skiing so surely you have to place some value on that ratio in your assessment of value for money? It is hurting my brain to think how you would do that but I'm sure someone will be able to suggest a suitable formula.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
This year you could have had 19 Dec - 3 Jan so 16 days' skiing for 5/6/7 days' holiday (depending on how generous your employer is with Christmas and New Year's Eve).
Catch an early evening flight out of London City and an early Monday morning one back.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
James the Last, yes, but you would have been skiing at one of the most expensive and crowded times of year. From that point of view, January is good. Thing is, basic self-catering accommodation is about the least expensive aspect of a ski holiday. Weekends, however you cut it, are going to be expensive but if the scarce resource is time off, make sense (especially as Saturdays are usually quiet on the slopes).
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
James the Last , I had all of that time off work with just 5.5 days annual leave. I only skied from 19-26th (boo hoo) but even if I had managed the full 16 days it would have still only been a SVDER of 2.9:1. Thus leaving on a Thursday evening and returning on Sunday night is still a better SVDER of 3:1.
The best possible SVDER would be to fly out on the evening of Thursday 1st April (the day before Good Friday) and return on the evening of Monday 5th April (Bank Holiday Monday) giving you a SVDER ratio of 4:0 (however you express such a thing!)
Getting a hotel might be tricky and the pistes might be a little crowded but hey, we are merely trying to make best use of limited time off work.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
boardiac, Tiger2, www.skiweekends.com are doing that SVDER for Easter getaways
Flight weekend from £499 ski 4 days.
In fact you could book regular trips with them from London by a variety of transports to lessen the tedium of regular week-end flights.
I've done the coach w/e route twice: London Victoria Thursday pm, arr 3V Friday am, ski 3 days, bus back Sunday pm to arr London Monday am and back at work by 10am... Hard work but cheap SVDER3:1 3V skiing...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Have I missed something or am I thick?
WTF is this SVDER you are refering too?
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
northantsred It was coined by boardiac in the OP:
| Quote: |
By my reckoning, that gives us:
(a) if we take a full week immediately after one of the weekends, 3x3 days + 1x 6 or 7 days = 15 or 16 days' skiing for the price of 8 days off work (SVDER - or Ski/Vacation Day Effeciciency Ratio - of almost 2:1); or
(b) if we only do weekends, 4x3 days = 12 days skiing for the price of 4 days off work (SDVER of 3:1)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dav, how did you go about acquiring the 4 week accommodation? A 4 week trip is something that we would like to try in the future (if we don't end up doing a season instead), but finding suitable accommodation seems to be a little challenging (we need reasonably quick internet access), so please share your tips if you have any.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
We've rented the chalet so much this winter that we're doing something similar. Essentially the more you do it the cheaper it gets of course but for us:
Room in a shared house with friends - EUR 400/ month inc bills
We keep a car near the airport but if this isn't practical, transfers are 100 EUR for 2 people return
Year pass with resident's discount (you can get this with a rental agreement I think) 500 EUR each
Flights work out about £160 each, usually, either from City (no real cost getting there but more expensive flights) or elsewhere (cheaper flights but expensive to get to airport)
It's working out really well for us but of course a lot depends on your housemates.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Scarlet, I first of all decided on the resort. I've been to Tignes before but only when learning to ski, and there's so much of the Espace Killy that I missed out on last time so it was an obvious choice for me. With that in mind I had a look at Tignes official website and just went through Google to find a few other sites that had links to various accommodation. I sent off emails to them all explaining what I was looking for and when, and then sifted through the ones that I got details back from until I made the decision on the one I wanted. Then it was just get in contact, pay up and there we go! Quite easy really; I guess the big decision is in deciding where to go. If it's one of the larger resorts like Tignes then, as long as you book in advance you should be ok (I booked up mid-Jan and there wasn't a huge amount of choice for 4 weeks, but plenty for 3 weeks).
Even though I was only due to be going for 4 weeks I found Bertie Bassett's thread on here about his season in Les Arcs to be a great read and full of good tips. You'd have to search for it, I had a quick look but can't find it, it was called something like "Hello from Les Arcs (from a 30 something seasonaire)". If nothing else it a really good read about doing a ski season, but it may well give you a few ideas about where and what you're looking for, travel etc.
Feel free to send me a PM if you need more details about it all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
the big plus about appartments is the cost with food... its so much cheaper to make at least breakfast and dinner by urself and depending on how near it is by the sloap maybe aso lunch...
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
Dav, Thanks for replying - that was pretty much what I thought, but I was just hoping you might say you found a fabulous website full of 4-week ads and didn't have to send a hundred emails... Narrowing down the location seems like a good plan - we have some thinking to do (and some more money to make!) before this becomes a reality.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
