 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all
I'm looking for a cheap trip anywhere in March, probably towards the end leaving ideally 24/25th.
I went to Solden this time last year and it was fantastic but looking to keep the budget down a bit this time.
The obvious options are Andora and Bulgaria - but am I missing any others?
Does anyone have experience of heading anywhere cheapish at this time of year and can recommend it for decent snow?
I'm an able skier and my girlfriend is about an intermediate.
Arinsal? Borovets? Bansko? Sauze?
The main concern is decent snow at cheap price - I don't ask for much! Thanks in advance.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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How much do you define as cheap?
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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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mrfish, welcome to  s
What is your budget?
Do you want a package trip or are you looking to go independent.
Given that the week in question is not a peak week, you might want to try a "late availability" waiting to see where the good snow is before deciding.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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look at snowtrex some mega cheap options on there
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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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Budget wise under £1,000 ideally. Yeah was thinking of leaving it late but also quite want to get something sorted.
I was wondering about whether an "all-in" deal or piecing bits together yourself works out cheaper.
There's all in packs for Sauze from around £950. If I was booking everything individually to say Bansko, would it work out cheaper? I've had a look myself and the transfers seem the hardest thing to sort, and add about £100 to the cost for two return.
Would people recommend an all in or splitting and booking individual bits myself?
Cheers
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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You don't need to be looking at crappy bulgaria and places for < £1k pp!
Check out the TO website - pleanty of catered chalet deals going for £500 to £600 including flights and transfers to decent resorts e.g. Val T. Plus £200 for liftpass leaves you with £200 spends for lunches and the chalet night off. Simples.
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Oh I've just realised you meant £500 each so £1k in total not pp. Ok I've never had a ski trip that cheap so I'll bow out of this one!
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Yes £1,000 total.
What's wrong with Bulgaria?
What are people's experience of Andora?
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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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I've just sorted a trip for two people from 18-25 March staying in a 3 bed studio cabine right in the centre of in Val d'Isere, including ski passes, flights, ski carriage, and transfers for around £550 pp - no reason why Tignes wouldn't be bit cheaper still. Those weeks Val D'Isere is doing discounted ski passes as it is low season (no school holidays!) - Tignes may be doing the same - book via tourist office websites to get the accommodations and ski pass options.
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igluski is showing a week in Montgenevre in the ski from the door Hammeau apts from Manchester 23rd March at £206 at present
now that must be a bargain
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Scampi Dellahanti, End of March - low season in Val d'Isere? I thought low season was end of April.
My experience of Borovets is that the snow would be very poor at that time of the year. I suspect Bansko will be no better.
The real killer to your budget is the lift pass, so you need somewhere high, north facing yet quite small. A tricky combination. Les Menuires (limit area pass) or st Foy might be good choices. Just for comarison a 7 day Les Arcs lift pass will cost you 250 euro each, about half your budget, where as St Foy would be 150 and restricting to Vallandry alone would be 170.
The Austrian experts here may be able to come up with better deals.
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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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What's wrong with Bulgaria?
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From other threads on here, Bulgaria reportadly has poor snow cover, poor grooming, long lift queues and dodgy toilets  But I've never actually been bthats ust based on what other people have said.
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johnE, 'low season' because there are no school hols - to be fair, it is probably mid-season, but I'm not complaining as we get cheap accommodation and ski pass deals, plus there's no kids on the slopes and clogging up the buses 
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You know it makes sense.
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Thanks for the suggestions. Got a few friends in Bulgaria at the moment so will see what they say when they get back. I'm not bothered if the toilets are shitty, I can get over that, even basic accomodation - I don't need anything flash.
What about Andora? Arinsal? Pas? Are these better than Bulgaria as an option?
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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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I went to Borovets,Bulgaria(Family) and Pas,Andorra(lads) last year.I'm only a low intermidiate so both places were ok for me.
Bulgaria was just under £1000 for family of 4 inc,flight,transfer,4* hotel(rila) halfboard (4 nights),Ski hire + instructor +passes (3 days) ,Pas was £500+ just for me...But Pas/soldeu is a much larger ski area.
By the way Borovets has had the best snow fall in 10 years this season but who knows by march??
If you do fancy Bulgaria lots of info here
http://www.bulgariaski.com/
check the webcams here
http://www.borovets-bg.com/en
nyck
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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If you need to book in advance, then somewhere with a decent snow record and reasonable range of skiing is La Rosiere, which links with La Thuile. More reasonably priced than the mega ski circuits. Even in this cold and snowy winter (so far) booking late March for places like Andorra and Bulgaria is risky. Personally, with just two people, I'd wait until no more than 3 days before departure and book the best deal I could afford then. As long as you're flexible on departure airport there'll be plenty of availability for the week you mention. By booking just 2 days ahead last year I got a single room in a luxury Val D'Isere chalet, food included, with well timed local airport flights, for under £400 (ski pass extra though). I'm not convinced generally that apartments work out cheaper overall than a late booking all-in deal.
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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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intermediate, Really? Le Ros is predominantly south facing so can suffer from thaws, and icy patches if there's a long-ish period without snow. I do like the area though (prefer La Thuille side) it's just not somewhere I'd rush late March or early April unless as you say you can hang on.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Sorry to hijack your post! Myself and the wife are looking at similar budget for the 3rd March week. Love Austria due to the apres but are a little concerned at the altitude of many of the cheaper resorts. We also have the problem this year of needing to fly from Ireland (North or South). We have always booked very last minute from London and always got really really good deals (mainly 4 star catered chalets). We know that we are not going to get as good deals from Ireland but can anyone help with how last minute we should go from over here? Should we book something now or wait? Anyone got any good websites for last min Irish deals??
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Peter Griffin, Igluski had loads of cheap deals from Belfast for that week when I looked earlier today
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I'm really struggling to find cheap deals flying from the south west in early March! Seems that Neilson Ski have withdrawn package hols from Bristol and Exeter so little competition to Thomson and its subsidiaries. Last few years we have booked late (ish) for early March and not paid more than £270 for flights, transfer and 7 nights B&B in Austria and Italy. This year seems £320 is the going rate for same places and same time.
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