 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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It depends what company you are looking at for France.........£2000 should be plenty for outside of half term/easter hols if you shop carefully.....maybe worth a look at Rocketski, been with them a few times...half board places, not the smartest or best gourmet food but warm and welcoming and they are an ok company and should enable you to get the whole trip, ski school included for well under £2k. Apres in a lot of their places isn't mental but hotel bars are good and they tend to go away from the mega expensive French resorts.
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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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It is a while since I've been to these resorts but would recommend the following:
les Arcs 1800 hotel du golf - great location at bottom of a blue piste. Chair lift very near hotel.
Valmorel _ hotel du bourg (this is a B & B but is in a pretty street with lots of nice places for evening meals)
If you live in the south east these resorts can be accessed easily by daytime Eurostar ski train (or the overnight option if you are sound sleepers!) with a short bus transfer the other end.
We booked a package with a large TO for these holidays but you could look into the cost of booking your own hotel/transport and see if it works out cheaper.
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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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£2000 is a very reasonable budget and should get you pretty much anywhere.
We did Maria Alm in Austria last year for around £650 p/p, short transfer, pretty village, quiet slopes, couple of decent apres venues although not huge. Tuition was good, area linked to other villages, easy and reliable bus service, the one day it snowed so hard overnight that the ploughs were blocking the road for the bus, we called our instructor to apologise for missing the lesson and he sent a 4wd to pick us up! Great service or what? 
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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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...and why the preference for a hotel? Skiing can be more fun with people in the same boat as yourself, so consider a catered chalet and group lessons. If you're not keen on a large Tour Operator, there are plenty of smaller operators and even a number of SnowHeads who have chalets.
Out of high season, £2000 is a healthy budget. As you'll want a medium-sized resort (as a beginner, you don't need 999km of steep pistes linked to another 129 resorts and a lift ticket that costs more than the GNP of Scotland) look at places such as La Rosiere, Les Arcs, Maria Alm, Zell am See, Saalbach for the apres, Elmau/Scheffau, the Ski Amade resorts and no doubt more suggestions will follow.
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Wed 26-09-12 17:32; edited 1 time in total
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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What we did for our first ski trip...perhaps not exactly what you are after, but hopefully some of what I wrote might be of use!
http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=86952
Serre Chevalier was lovely and the hotel, instructors, etc. all excellent. Transfer about two hours from Grenoble.
Wherever you end up going, enjoy!
chemistry
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many thanks to you all for your advice- we are going to have a good look at these options over the weekend
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sazzle82, lessons before you go is a great idea, but preferably not instead of having some tuition when you get there, too. Your budget should definitely run to some private lessons which, given you are fit, and will have learnt the basics before you go, might be the best bet.
There are loads of French options which aren't mega expensive, but the choice of hotels is generally wider in Austria. Personally I'd sugget a catered chalet too - and for those, the choice is far wider in France.
Ski Olympic is a good company with chalets in a range of French resorts, but there are plenty of other good ones.
Have a great time. If you have lessons this time, and your husband doesn't, you'll then be about the same standard, and be able to have lessons together on your next holiday (because there will be a next one.... ski hols are very addictive).
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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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Sazzle, I would look at Cervinia, which is beginner/intermediate heaven.
The Petis Palais (Crystal or Chaletline) is a full-board (ie breakfast, packed lunch, afternoon tea and evening meal), all-inclusive (ie all your evening beers and wines in the bar) job, spitting distance from the main gondola. I think they have a buy one, buy one half price lift pass deal at the moment.
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Hey, Soulboy, where do I get that liftpass special? Going to Cervinia for 2 weeks in January.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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JHBGerry, I dunno if they're doing it then, or whether it only works if you use an operator, but we've booked for half term week (Feb 11) through Chaletline and they sorted it out for us.
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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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Andorra is great for learning and on a budget. Although I'd expect Andorra to fall a long way inside your £2000 budget. We've managed inside that to Andorra for 3 of us inc lift passes, lessons and equipment during a school holiday.
Cervinia as northernsoulboy, suggests is good for beginners, as it Alpe d'Huez.
Should be able to go to all of them well inside your budget - unless you also mean to include spending money in that.
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northernsoulboy, JHBGerry, with Crystal it's a local area pass only, so it means you wouldn't be able to ski the Zermatt side, which we really enjoyed when we went.
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You know it makes sense.
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hammerite, yep, aware of that Hammerite. But I'm going with young kids so won't go to Zermatt more than once, when I'll get over there on my own (and will just buy a day top-up for that).
Sazzle, the other tbhing to say about Cervinia is you're about as guaranteed to have decent snow there as anywhere. This far out from booking, personally I would make snow-sureness a requirement.
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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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Why book now? The best deals we have got have been about a month before. Crystalski will have some big discounts about a month before, but don't panic, there will be a holiday out there even a week before! We have also been with Rocketski - to Alpe D'Huez and Serre Chevalier and would recommend them both, the former being in such a great position! We have been able to go for about £700 all in, in fact the year we went to Serre Chev, the package was about £250 pp for HB hotel, flights and transfers. We couldn't beat that!
Been to Cervinia for a late break this year and would just say wind! Oh, and fog.... We couldn't even ski on the last day. But as we know, conditions change and one year it could be the best ski holiday of your life, the next, the worst. We have been to the 3 valleys for the last couple of years and I don't think you can beat it. We stayed in Les Menuires.
The thing is, people will always say, "go here, we had a great time", but it is subjective. I wouldn't go certain places, but that is my preference. You'll have a great time wherever you end up 
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Poster: A snowHead
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sazzle82, if you decide on France, remember that the school hols run from mid February to mid March, and all those weeks are best avoided if you have the choice. I'd agree with Clare_M that if you are flexible, a last minute booking can be a good idea. If it's a low season week (e.g. mid January) you should have a good range of choice - and could afford to leave it really late to book (the best deal we got on a late booking was booked 2 days before departure).
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FAQ
please
