 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi, I live in London and I am planning to go on a weekend for a month from my work in this winter. Can anyone of you help me in deciding a decent skiing resort nearest to UK. I am a novice in skiing so I might not be able to handle too much rocky/rough mountains. I am looking for some place that can be managed in a budget and also provides good service. Thank you 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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Do ski resorts in the UK count? If so, Scotland might be worth a thought. Once you're going to the Alps though, pretty much everywhere is equally inconvenient, so you may as well choose based on price rather than distance.
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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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Alpe D'Huez has good nursery slopes, is not as expensive as the 3-Valleys or other mega-resorts and is an easy transfer from Grenoble
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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raddy46, I presume you mean go for a weekend each month?
IMV, Scotland generally only works if you can leave at the drop of a hat and can easily bin the idea if the snow or weather are crap. And economically there's little automatic advantage.
You want an airport with lots of flights From all London airports as you don't specify your nearest to office and home - eg Geneva.
You want possible short transfers - e.g. Geneva.
From there you have loads of possibilities. PDS, GM, Chamonix valley, Aravis range, Mont Blanc Pays; in all of which you can find budget accomodation.
All of which typically between 1-1.5 hours drive.
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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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Hi raddy46,
It might be worth taking a look at the British airways flights from London to Chambery.
They depart from Heathrow and London City which makes them easy to access from most London departure points. Chambery is 1 hour from the three valleys, 1.5hr from Paradiski or 2 hours from Espace Killy allowing for traffic etc and is their closest airport.
Hope that helps - happy planning!
Heather
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Try flights into Turin for very short transfers to the milky way (approx 80 mins by coach).
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| jellemr wrote: |
| Try flights into Turin for very short transfers to the milky way (approx 80 mins by coach). |
Also has quick transfer time to Champoluc/Gressony
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Night train to Aviemore? (no idea how you get the £19 tickets, but I guess there'll be none for the Fri/Sun trains anyway).
Geneva - plenty of big chain hotels between there and a resort for the 1-2-3 night bookings and late arrival, plus rental car for convenience.
Innsbruck - plenty of hotels within walking distance of station (and indeed, at the station), and bus/funicular from there to resorts direct from the city (but flights there probably won't be budget).
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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'd add, Geneva has the advantage of lots flights from all the London airports, and on all of at least BA, Swiss and Easyjet. It also has a well developed transfer infrastructure (e.g. transfer companies, public buses, et al.).
Milan/Turin is not as well provided for transfer wise, necessitating car hire in pretty much any case I would imagine.
Chambery has nothing like the supply of flights (e.g. BA haven't even worked out a schedule for the winter whereas IIRC Easyjet has 13 return flights daily from Geneva into London with "London" Southend "International" coming on stream this winter).
Also, having done more weekend trips than I could count or remember, if you are minimising time off and so leaving at 17h00 say on departure day and being into the office day day after return, you really want to get everything optimised.
=> Super short transfer, know where everything is and best/quickest ways to get everything (i.e. luggage, lift passes (ideally online in advance), ski hire (weekends are not enhanced by lugging skis across Europe), car hire (frequent rental membership e.g. Hertz #1 Gold often pre-store all your details and have priorty queueing so you turn up, jump the frequently lengthy zoo of a queue, hand over your membership card and ID and get handed a set of keys, often upgraded).
Which implies deciding on one resort and possibly accommodation and using that for every trip. May mean you can leave kit there, you establish relationships with the ski shops (maybe) and everything becomes easy. Ideal is being able to do the trip hand luggage only, with skis and lift pass already on arrival with zero waiting time between each leg of the journey. Does mean you aren't trying lots of places but if the idea is maximising time on snow, you don't want to be spending time working everything out afresh each time.
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For a weekend trip, surely the only answer is:
London>Geneva
Geneva > PDS or Grand Massif or Cham which all have quick, plentiful and cheap transfers.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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| kat.ryb wrote: |
For a weekend trip, surely the only answer is:
London>Geneva
Geneva > PDS or Grand Massif or Cham which all have quick, plentiful and cheap transfers. |
Nope, not the only answer. Can't get a quicker or cheaper transfer than Innsbruck to a city centre hotel or one of the nearby resorts. Just grab a taxi from the rank or your hotel will probably pick you up.
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You know it makes sense.
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Bode Swiller, but only Easyjet fly LON-INN direct daily (BA only M.W.F.Sa.Su), and for a 10/1/13 Thursday departure - 14/1/13 Monday return you have outbounds at 07h15 (that might work for some, not for me) and 12h20 (use a whole leave day travelling? I think not). Return flights 10h55 (U2) and 12h50 (BA) are equally useless.
To my mind the key to weekend skiing is being able to minimise time off (we skied 56 days one winter from London and only used 15 days annual leave of which were 5 carried from the prior year that we had to use by end of March or something). [By the following winter we had relocated to Geneva as it was all getting rather silly].
That means leaving the office at the normal time and tipping up on the day "back" at the normal time.
It also goes back to optimising the whole thing. Tipping up at Geneva (or wherever) off the last flight to discover that your car hire desk is closed, for example, is not a good start to the weekend.
Queueing for a lift pass and ski hire can easily eat up most of a morning. That's 1/6th of a well organised 3 day trip wasted. Estimate £120 per ski day as not unreasonable then that's £60 burned up in poor planning.
Worse, spending the weekend on the populous, well marked, obvious pistes only to discover that all the good locals skiing is on the badly mapped "other" side of the mountain can be particularly galling. A bit of familiarity can go a long way.
The whole idea is not difficult, it just requires a wee bit of thought.
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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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Another option (via Geneva) is stay in Geneva itself, and join the locals on the daily ski-bus or ski-train outings.
All transfers and passes are sorted out for you, you get dropped off in front of hire stores at the resorts if needed, and you can ski a different resort each day.
Fri evening flight after work to Geneva, and late Sunday evening flight back gives you 2 full days skiing with no time off work. And you can choose the resort based on current snow conditions – you only need to commit a day or two in advance.
It’s likely cost a bit more though, as Geneva hotels aren’t cheap, and neither is food in Geneva itself! And no first tracks as you won’t hit the slopes until 10am-ish.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
Queueing for a lift pass and ski hire can easily eat up most of a morning
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Depends when, where, and what the weather is doing. My last 2 weekend trips (Zell am Ziller and Kaltenbach), saw me turning up at 9am-ish on a Saturday, and maybe having to wait for 1 person in the queue in front of me to buy tickets. And then maybe waiting for the 2nd gondola cabin to come around (didn't want to invade someone else's when the queue was essentially non-existent). Changeover day, so all the Brits and Dutch are in the traffic jam heading out of the valley, or yet to arrive.
But Avoriaz, when Les Gets/Morzine was shut meant a 1.5hr queue.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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under a new name, EJ works just fine in/out Innsbruck. The 07:15 out of Gatwick arrives 10:15 local time. That easily has you on the slopes at Igls, Axams, Nordpark etc all afternoon. Flight back on the return day leaves at 16:05 which means you have a whole morning and a bit before needing to head off. No worries about car hire being closed (because you don't need one) and no worries about transfer being weather affected. Being a business city it also means getting week-end accommodation in decent hotels for knock down prices is easy.
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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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Of course you could get the overnight train to Bourg st Maurice, out on a Friday night and back on Sunday night. You only need one nights accommodation in a hotel
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Bode Swiller, but then you use a full day of annual leave, and get one afternoon, one full day and one half day skiing. Fly to Genova late on a Friday night and return late on a Sunday night = 2 full days skiing and no annual leave.
Weekend destination really depends if you are able or want to take any annual leave.
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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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Innsbruck to, er, Innsbruck.
Geneva to the Jura.
Geneva to any of Les Gets, outlying parts of the Grand Massif, or La Clusaz.
Train to Hemel 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Bode Swiller, I'm not trying to be difficult and I have no dog in the game, but I have often done 2 full days skiing in the PDS (or, indeed Champoluc) as follows.
Dep office, Friday 17h00 ish
Arr Gatwick 18h00 ish
LGW-GVA flight 19h00 ish
Dep GVA 22h00ish
Arrive Morzine, Bar Boudda in time for last orders
Depart Morzine, Sunday, when lifts close
Dep GVA 20h00 ish
Arr LGW 21h00 ish
Home 22h30ish
I get two full days skiing for your one day and 2 little bits. Thus nearly doubling the cost of the skiing (all else being equal).
Plus, if the flights have any issues, your knock on effect is going to be problematic. In and out of GVA and even bumped off last flight, variously snowed in at LGW, GVA, and LTN on several occasions still managed to get first flight next morning losing not so much skiing (or being in office at usual time if on return).
To me, one other key is having options. Worst case (i.e. volcanic ash) I could theoretically get train back from GVA via Paris to London. Innsbruck to London without flights is rather a lengthier affair.
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WOW!!!! Thank you everone! I never expected to get so many useful and informative replies, and all that in only one day. You really made it a lot easier for me to decide.
under a new name, I am sorry for the misconception. I meant i get one month in the whole year. I can choose the month i want to take off though. So i decided to take off in the winters and enjoy some quality time skiing.
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| kat.ryb wrote: |
| Bode Swiller, but then you use a full day of annual leave... |
 not in my case but I know what you mean.
Anyway, the OP is now going for a whole month so all bets are off.
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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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under a new name, I sometimes do same routine to Kitzbuhel via Munich. Can get a bit stressy - often see people running for the check-in still in their gear. You pays yer money...
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Bode Swiller, ha ha yes indeed. We did have a friend who got mixed his check in and departure times up. I believe he managed from a restaurant on the wrong side of Avoriaz to Geneva check in (car at Ardent on Morzine side) sub 60 minutes.
So I now see re OP, how very jolly is that?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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raddy46, sorry, that's a slightly different question!! Are you planning to spend the whole month in the alps? In which case I'm going to suggest that you probably want to base yourself where you can do some exploring.
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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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and you also might get a season pass at a special low price if you can buy early (before end October for the best discounts).
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I bought I Les Arcs for the single purpose of weekend skiing (didn't work out for other reasons but the theory is sound). Snow Train from Kings Cross Friday night and back Monday morning. Leave from the office Friday - shower at the office Monday morning (so leave a change of clothes, etc. there)
Eurostar have now buggered it up a bit by changing the timetable so you have to be a bit more creative BUT if you do a 'weekend' EuroStar to Paris and TGV to Bourg Saint Maurice station, you can get more flexibility in travel times. Saves hours getting to airports from central London and the hassle of transfers at the other end since when you arrive you just walk to the back of the platform at the station, cross over to the handy furnicular using the passerelle, buy your weekend ski pass at the kiosk next to the furnicular and the cost of the 9 min. ride up the mountain is included in the pass (if you are going for four or five weekends, I would look at getting a season pass anyway). There's also a 'Zen' pass (I've got one) where you only pay if you ski (whiteouts no longer cost you anything) and there's a sort of 'cashback' option that can drop the day cost a lot if you ski more than 19 days per season.
You can also arrange to stay in Bourg Saint Maurice and just get the furnicular up to ski daily (prob. more convenient and cheaper). If you do this, there is a ski hire place right by the furnicular run by an English couple (you just pick up and drop off daily so you don't have to lug the gear around and it's cheaper than renting in the villages).
Les Arcs is also the right type of skiing for the level you are at.
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You know it makes sense.
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If you're travelling on your own I can see the appeal of Geneva with its plentiful cheap transfers. However it's almost impossible to find really cheap flights to Geneva. Fly to Lyon hower and even in winter half term week there are some return flights for £59. Then it's only about 90 minutes drive to Brides Les Bains with plenty of cheap hotels that accept 2 or 3 night bookings and a gondola that goes straight upto meribel.
Salzburg is another good option with lots of Austrian resorts within an hours drive - Zell, Kaprun etc.
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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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| BenTisdall wrote: |
| about 90 minutes drive to Brides Les Bains |
From Lyon St Exupery?
2 hours minimum.
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Poster: A snowHead
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BenTisdall, unfortunately you won't find many midweek flights to Salzburg.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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London City to Bern Flights twice per day means you can leave city airport about 18:00 Friday and return 17:00 from Berne, 50mins from the airport gets you to the Bernese Oberland, Unfortunately with current exchange rates nothing in Switzerland is cheap, but the short check in times an transfers might make up for that.
Berne Airport by the way is Brilliant I've gone from Touchdown to being in Lauterbrunnen in less than an hour (no traffic), no long queues for passport checks or baggage claims 100M walk to terminal from plane, passport control just inside door, bagagge claim right behind passport control, way out right behind baggage claim, onto bus and then short trip down motorway. Has to be one of the fastest connections between London and the Slopes.
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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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| Quote: |
IMV, Scotland generally only works if you can leave at the drop of a hat and can easily bin the idea if the snow or weather are crap.
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ie you live in Perth or Inverness and are unemployed.
Alpe d'Huez/2Alpes are easy via Grenoble airport and public transport.
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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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queen bodecia, The OP isn't looking for midweek flights, they stated that they wanted to go somewhere for a month starting on a weekend.
If going for that long I would drive out. Pick somewhere relatively cheap like the Maurienne, Val d'Arly, La Clusaz, Grand Bornand, etc. Buy season pass at early discount price then book a small apartment from the weekend after New Year for 4 or 5 weeks.
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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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If you're going for a month proximity to UK and travel time is largely irrelevant and most of the chat above redundant - you could fly to the US or Japan, pick up a cheap season pass and still only miss 1 day's skiing relative to France. I'd say of bigger concern than your travel cost is cost of a month's ski pass and accomodation/ daily transport. If you are really a novice and will need lots of lessons there are still some places (largely in North America I believe) that will offer unlimited offpeak group lessons for a small upgrade on the cost of a season pass.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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D G Orf, good call.
fatbob, yep, that too. I'd be in Utah or Wyoming myself, with maybe a little detour to Montana and somewhere west of Calgary.
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I like the premise of the original interpretation more. Trying to figure out how to get weekends in without taking any leave! 
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raddy46, Cheap flight into/out of Salzburg, very cheap bus or train transfer to/from anywhere in the Ski Amade region and you have loads of choice for suitable skiing. Take a 6 day course with a local ski school then using the Salzburg Superski Pass and the snowHeads who live and ski locally, you will have loads of fun in the remaining three weeks.
You should be able to negotiate a good deal on a s/c room for a month if you contact the local tourist offices first and start selecting your resorts and the accommodation criteria you want.
Flachau/Radstadt/Altenmarkt are all within 45 minutes drive from Salzburg Airport (bit longer if you use public transport) and that gives you a really good central base to work from. The buses are included in the ski pass, so no need to book your own transport. For a months equipment hire you are bound to be able to get a good deal if you need it. This will also allow you to upgrade your skis as you progress as well.
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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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queen bodecia, Don't they go daily from Gatwick to Salzburg on BA? We've just booked a few days in Kreischberg in Feb.
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FAQ
