 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello all,
Some of you might have spotted my question about skiing in Scotland with my friend who is a teacher, but I now have a broader question.
I am looking for a weekend skiing break – and when I say weekend, I mean a weekend, not these weekend breaks that turn out to be 4 nights starting on a Thursday. My friend is a teacher, so can’t take any term time days off and can’t afford school holiday prices!
I have looked at a couple of options to help him experience the thrill of real mountains, as opposed to the Tamworth fridge he is used to. These are the ideas I have had:
Fly to Glasgow, Friday night, hire a car and drive up to the Nevis range, stay somewhere Friday, Saturday nights and back to Glasgow on the Sunday for flight home
Or
Fly to Chambery, hire a car, stay in the F1 in Albertville on Friday and Saturday nights and drive to various resorts to ski on the Saturday and Sunday and then back to Chambery for flight home on Sunday – this one actually doesn’t work very well because the flights to Chambery are all at rubbish times.
Does anyone have any ideas for other places we could go? I suppose the most important things are a ski area within 90 mins of an airport with regular flights from Luton / Stansted / Birmingham and places to stay which are not too expensive.
Thanks
K
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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kosciosco, Ryanair Stansted to Turin? How late does the flight need to be on Friday evening? There's also an early Sat am flight which could have you on the slopes in Bardonecchia or Claviere by lunchtime, and the flight leaves Turin late on Sunday night.
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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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kosciosco, Geneva, Salzburg, Innsbruck. Think you can actually stay in Innsbruck and hop on a ski lift to the slopes (or is that Salzburg  ). For Geneva, hire a care and be in any number fo resorts in 1-1.5hrs - Chamonix, Morzine to name but 2.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Ryanair to Salzburg is pretty well served for a Sat morn/Sun night weekend away (but flights won't be cheap now). Loads of resorts within an hour and a bit from Salzburg.
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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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Portes Du Soleil - late flight from Luton to Geneva on Friday, hire a car, drive to Morzine or Les Gets or (my favourite but I'm biased) one of the small Swiss resorts like Les Crosets or Champoussin (90 mins), straight to bed, up early, ski Saturday and Sunday, leave Sunday at 5ish, flight back around 8.30 or 9.
I've done this lots of times, so I know it works, although we usually go on a Thursday.
Your problem is finding accommodation; hotels like to let weeks from Saturday to Saturday. In the "off" season, you should look for an apartment. A lot of these only rent well in February and at Christmas/New Year/Easter (ask me how I know!) and in January you may find someone willing to rent you one for a weekend. Try local agencies "Immobiliers" in your resort of choice.
PM me if you want more advice on how to do this!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Fly to Grenoble. Do Les Deux Alpes and Alpe D'Huez. Stay in either or Bourg D'Oisans. I've no idea how the flight times work out.
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Kosciosco, you may be better heading East to Cairngorm/Lecht or Glenshee this weekend if heading North of the Border. Keep an eye on winterhighland.info for an idea of what's happening this weekend. With a bit of luck, Glencoe or Nevis will open, but Eastern areas seem to be getting most of the snow today.
Scotia will be along soon to tell you the A93 to Glenshee was closed today, although from the Braemar side for a change.
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kosciosco - 7am Saturday snowjet Stanstead to Sion, ski 2 day in Nendaz/ Verbier (taxi from airport and travel in ski gear), plenty of cheap b&b hotels there, better still throw a sicky Friday, too much travel for a 2 day trip to the Alps IMO.
OR if absolutely no-sicky possible, share drive via Eurotunnel, leave 4pm Friday arrive 6am Saturday in Tignes, ski all day and park for free at Tignes Le Breviere stay overnight in Ste Foy at Le Monal, ski Sunday until 3pm and drive back Sunday overnight catching 3am tunnel.
Sleep Monday at school desk, and send kids home early 
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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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Koscisco - forgot to mention, IMO avoid Scotland skiing, it woult put me off for life if I had to drive 9 hours to queue up on a windy desolate hill with poor snow and facilities and bad access, been there an have vowed never again...........and I live only 5.5-6 hours away! France is favourite IMO if you are based in Bedford and the drive option is certainly viable - would be key to get some sleep on route for c-pilot (ear plugs, pillow, lay out etc) certainly aim to be there for 5-6am and have 2-3 hours sleep in the car before hitting the slopes via Tignes Le Brev. Eat in bar at Le Monal (not in restaurant) great bar meals. Ski on the Sunday at Sainte Foy, quicker depart down the valley.
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Fly to Zurich, drive to Laax, stay in riders palace?
BMI/Swiss do good flight times from Birmingham, and being Swiss you get free ski/board carriage too 
Drive to Laax is about 1h45, maybe less on way there, but allow more on way back as swiss roads into Zurich are a bit like ours into london on a Sunday evening.
If you're only skiing two days you don't want to stay miles from resorts and waste valuable time every day driving. Riders palace are normally happy to book short stays, and won't break the bank.
I didn't catch where you were coming from, but if you can get to luton is Heathrow out of the question? Regular flights from there to Zurich and Geneva.
Edit: Just noticed the Birmingham flight is operated by Helvetic for Swiss, so probably won't get free ski carriage.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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FYI, Heathrow is fine for me, but my mate, the school teacher, lives in Lichfield, so Birmingham is good for him and me, but Heathrow is a trek for him.
Sickie on a Friday does sound good though 
Sounds like the problem is less about flights and more about accommodation for the short period near to the slopes.
I like the sound of Portes du Soleil but it doesn't sound like accommodation options are easy. Are there any F1's near there?
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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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This handy i have been thinking the same thing as the wife works on a Thursday so Friday flight are a must for me.
I'm up in the north west so Liverpool and Manchester both an hour drive from the house.
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Easyjet Friday 6:10pm to Munich. Stay in a hotel in Munich. Saturday and Sunday day trips to somewhere like Garmisch, Lenggries, Kössen (Austria) or Söll (Ski Welt Austria) which are 90 minutes away. Sunday night there is a flight back to Stansted at 9:30pm. That gives you two full days skiing.
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You know it makes sense.
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I'm sure I've seen an F1/Ibis/Campanile along the autoroute blanche from Geneva to Cham or Morzine. Quick Google showns an Ibis in Sallanches which if you've a car is not too far from the Chamonix Valley or Megeve
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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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| Quote: |
windy desolate hill with poor snow and facilities and bad access, been there an have vowed never again
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It's reviews like this that keep the excellent skiing in Scotland a lot quieter for the rest of us.
Like Markymark29, says keep away! Forget about Scotland and go elsewhere 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Bergmeister - enjoy, you are very welcome to it. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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kosciosco, weekend skiing is very expensive (and tiring). How about the Easter hols? should have loads of snow in places like Tignes.
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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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As Mrs B is a teacher we do 2 or 3 one night dashes to the Alps each season so know that your proposal is sensible and entirely workable!
If you can go on a Friday night (which we can't as there are no flights that we can catch after work) even better!
Our 1 nighters are usually very early on a Saturday to Munich or Geneva, from where we have the pick of the Alps.
If you fly to Munich there would be no need to book accommodation in advance as B & B's are plentiful and easy to come by in the dozens of Austrian resorts which are within 1.5 to 2 hours drive. Or you could ski in Germany - eg in Garmisch, which is only an hour from Munich.
If you go to Geneva you could stay at Sallanches (Ibis hotel on the Accor website), which is a nice enough little town within 20 minutes drive of Megeve, Combloux, St Gervais, Les Contamines, and half an hour from Les Houches (and a bit further to Chamonix). I'd recommend booking digs in advance for France, however, as they don't seem to have much of a B & B culture.
Finally, you could head for any number of Swiss Resorts..... Choosing somewhere to go is a nice headache to have really!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Bergmeister, which airport do you fly from for Munich?
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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A spot of training... I've got mates in London who come to visit us for the weekend (the Pyrenees). After work on friday night (London area), they get the Eurostar to Paris, have a nice meal in the Latin quarter, then take the sleeper down to Lourdes station from Austerlitz (the Lunea service). Hop on the SNCF connecting bus service (it is nice to have a workign transport system - well when they are not striking that is), and are with us for 9am for breakfast. Two days bombing the pistes and the Pic du Midi (2877m all off-piste), then home again over Sunday afternoon/night. A bit frazzled Monday morning but seems to work really well!
There are other ski resorts very accessible by the train too - check out the snowcarbon website, you can even be green at the same time 
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| pam w wrote: |
| kosciosco, weekend skiing is very expensive (and tiring). How about the Easter hols? should have loads of snow in places like Tignes. |
pam w, Nice idea about the Easter hols, unfortunately I don't get enough holiday to add a third week of skiing to my itinerary!
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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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| kosciosco wrote: |
Hello all,
Some of you might have spotted my question about skiing in Scotland with my friend who is a teacher, but I now have a broader question.
I am looking for a weekend skiing break – and when I say weekend, I mean a weekend, not these weekend breaks that turn out to be 4 nights starting on a Thursday. My friend is a teacher, so can’t take any term time days off and can’t afford school holiday prices!
I have looked at a couple of options to help him experience the thrill of real mountains, as opposed to the Tamworth fridge he is used to. These are the ideas I have had:
Fly to Glasgow, Friday night, hire a car and drive up to the Nevis range, stay somewhere Friday, Saturday nights and back to Glasgow on the Sunday for flight home
Or
Fly to Chambery, hire a car, stay in the F1 in Albertville on Friday and Saturday nights and drive to various resorts to ski on the Saturday and Sunday and then back to Chambery for flight home on Sunday – this one actually doesn’t work very well because the flights to Chambery are all at rubbish times.
Does anyone have any ideas for other places we could go? I suppose the most important things are a ski area within 90 mins of an airport with regular flights from Luton / Stansted / Birmingham and places to stay which are not too expensive.
Thanks
K |
I strongly recommend the early evening Stansted Easyjet flight to Munich, hire a car, drive for 1.5 hours to Niederau, stay at The Staffler Hotel - ring or email direct to book rooms there with Nick and Yana - about 35 euros a night pp to include 3 course sups and breakfast. From there, within a 10 minute drive you have miles and miles of skiing available to you in the Ski Welt area. Ski all day Sunday and catch the flight home from Munich at about 9pm.[/b]
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kosciosco, Fly to Turin get Pilaski.co.uk to organise the rest and the ski to travel ratio will be quite good as all accommodation on the slopes. We use a B&B when we are out there and it is brilliant and right in the centre next to the slopes. You do need to get out on the Friday night though to make it worth it. You seem to have a load of airport choices so should not be too much problem.
Alternative is Morzine/Avoriaz from Geneva that I have done before as it is only 1.5 hrs from Geneva. We stayed at the Ridge hotel and the do short trips and airport transfers - even have their own ski hire shop. It is a little out of the main village though so a walk for a night out, they do have a great bar in the hotel so for such a short break you could just stay in the hotel. There is the ski bus stop out side and it is not too far to walk to the super Morzine gondola.
Snow conditions seem to be much better in Italy than France according to info published in the many threads.
Hope you get sorted.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| kosciosco wrote: |
| pam w wrote: |
| kosciosco, weekend skiing is very expensive (and tiring). How about the Easter hols? should have loads of snow in places like Tignes. |
pam w, Nice idea about the Easter hols, unfortunately I don't get enough holiday to add a third week of skiing to my itinerary! |
don't forget that extra "Easter" 4 day week end holiday we get the week after. This will be getting very late in the season so you will have to go very high to ensure snow... and that is another thread entirely.
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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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Hi,
Have you looked at BA from London City for the Chambery option?
Train from Birmingham to London city on Friday night, one night in London. London City - Chambery flight at 7am on Saturday, hire a car and have Saturday on the slopes. Have Sunday on the slopes and then leave in time for the return flight 6pm. With the hour change you arrive back at 6.30pm, which would give you time to get the train back to Birmingham.
Accomodation wise, I'd suggest somewhere ski-in ski-out otherwise that's an awful lot of travelling! If you're looking at off peak dates, I'd recommend leaving it till the Monday and then putting a post on Chalets Direct. Any chalet which isn't fully booked that does a Sunday changeover would be able to help . . .
Good luck!
Heather
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FAQ
I'm sure we're not the only ones out there who welcome weekenders and there are lots of other nice places to stay too 