Cheap family ski resorts - any recommendations ?
Discussion
Having just got back from a lads trip to Kitzbuhel, I'm already thinking of the next trip.
Next year we're looking at our first ever family trip. It would be me, Mrs JQ and 2 boys (5 & 6 at time of travel), plus some friends. I'm probably an intermediate and the wife is beginner / intermediate, whilst the kids have never skied before. I'm fine going down blacks but am happy to cruise all week on blues with the wife, so we're not after anything challenging.
Can anyone recommend some good cheap family friendly resorts? It does not need to be posh or have lots of off piste, but it does need to be cheap, a good availability of self catering apartments, have a good kids ski school and perhaps have things other than skiing for the kids to do should they get tired. It would also be a preference for it not to be a busy resort.
We're located in the North West, so not totally keen on driving, but if there's a big cost saving then happy to consider it.
I will be investigating over the next few months but thought it might be a good idea to get some suggestions to get me started - past holidays have always been based around the quality of the apres-ski and challenging skiing, both off which are no longer even considerations.
Cheers
Next year we're looking at our first ever family trip. It would be me, Mrs JQ and 2 boys (5 & 6 at time of travel), plus some friends. I'm probably an intermediate and the wife is beginner / intermediate, whilst the kids have never skied before. I'm fine going down blacks but am happy to cruise all week on blues with the wife, so we're not after anything challenging.
Can anyone recommend some good cheap family friendly resorts? It does not need to be posh or have lots of off piste, but it does need to be cheap, a good availability of self catering apartments, have a good kids ski school and perhaps have things other than skiing for the kids to do should they get tired. It would also be a preference for it not to be a busy resort.
We're located in the North West, so not totally keen on driving, but if there's a big cost saving then happy to consider it.
I will be investigating over the next few months but thought it might be a good idea to get some suggestions to get me started - past holidays have always been based around the quality of the apres-ski and challenging skiing, both off which are no longer even considerations.
Cheers
My suggestion given the total beginners is Bulgaria as ski school/kindergarten tends to run for six hours a day. Resorts aren't fantastic and snow isn't as sure as the high alps but then you don't need that for the majority of the group. Price wise it's cheap and cheerful both on the hill and in resort, if you can avoid school holidays you probably could get away for a couple of grand.
I decided to dig up some previous threads which I’ve pasted in below, which you may find helpful-what would your budget be realistically? It’s an expensive activity with lots of fixed prices-passes, gear hire, lessons? Here’s a previous family drive rough budget:
Apartment - £850
Tunnel - £170
Fuel - £310
Tolls - £120
Adult lift pass: £150
Adult skis: £75 (no boots inc)
If you go self catering it’s handy to have a car to get food in the valley to save on costs.
Cheap skiing:
drive with full car to Europe,
if you're going to fly then book in advance and fly and not on a weekend.
Book the ski passes and boot/ski hire in advance online,
Rent small apartments direct from owners not through travel agents as you're only really in them for a meals and sleeping
Expensive skiing:
New Year or Christmas weeks or Half Term
Flights on Saturday
Swiss resorts
Whole pistemap passes when you only ski 50% of it
Hotels
Eating up the mountain (packed lunches)
If you’re going to have to go at half term you’re gona have to bend over and take it to an extent-stick to resorts off the UK tour operators radar and you could/should be OK.
Main Alpine skiing countries, Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy. All offer a similar-ish their own twists of unique-ness. You can also ski in Scandanavia, Spain,and Eastern Europe but to name a few of the alternatives from the above. Sticking to the main countries-there are some sweeping generalisations here but it will give you an idea:
Austria, resorts tend to be 'real working towns' vs purpose built resorts. Many of these are picturesque straight off the front of a chocolate box cliche. Good standard of accomadation and good spa facilities. Generally the mountians are less rugged, great on mountian facilities. Food and drink are cheaper in comparrison to France but not cheap. Lively apres ski but equally places with non, no one does apres like the Austrians IMO.
France, Allot of purpose built resorts, rugged mountains great scenery. Many sprang up in the 70's and are pig ugly IMO, more thought given to the architecture in the more recent past. Home to several of the worlds largest interlinked and famous resorts-more than most can cover in a week, something for everyone. Food and drink prices take the pi@s a bit especially on mountain £6/£7 for a plate of chips and £7 for a beer not uncommon. I usually go on catered chalet board basis when in France to keep costs down. Apres ski not really on the same level as Austria although there are some exceptions. Generally I love the skiing in France but little else.
Italy, always seems more chilled out when skiing in Italy. Food is great and relatively inexpensive on the moutain, good facilites etc. Night life tends to be much more low key. Dolomites have some particularly unique/stunning scenery.
Switzerland, kind of mixes some all of the best elements of the above into one destination for me. But due to the exchanged rate it's more expensive than the other destinations and difficult to do on a budget.
Some people seem to stick to one ski country as it suits what they want. As an overall holdiay package I like Austria but also ski in Italy often.
You don't need a huge amount of pistes on your first trip so I'd recommend a smaller resort/area for a first trip.
Other stuff:
Like other holidays board basis is similar. You'll come across chalet board or chalet hotel. Chalet board ranges from having shared bathrooms etc to effectively being in a mini hotel. You tend to get you breakfast, and evening meal with wine included (staff tend to hav eone night off) you also get afternoon tea when you get in. It's not quite fullboard. It's a good way to meet other people, but not everyones cup of tea. Some Chalet hotels do Full Board/All Inclusive.
You can rent pretty much everything with some companies renting all the clothing etc too. You can pick up decent gear in TK Maxx or 2nd hand on Ebay. In a past life I was a ski instructor, did a one off week agian recently with a UK based company called Interski. They're based souly in the Aosta Valley (Italy) and offer packages where everything is included-liftpasses, ski hire, clothing and lessons. Also get vouchers for lunch on the mountain.
Apartment - £850
Tunnel - £170
Fuel - £310
Tolls - £120
Adult lift pass: £150
Adult skis: £75 (no boots inc)
If you go self catering it’s handy to have a car to get food in the valley to save on costs.
Cheap skiing:
drive with full car to Europe,
if you're going to fly then book in advance and fly and not on a weekend.
Book the ski passes and boot/ski hire in advance online,
Rent small apartments direct from owners not through travel agents as you're only really in them for a meals and sleeping
Expensive skiing:
New Year or Christmas weeks or Half Term
Flights on Saturday
Swiss resorts
Whole pistemap passes when you only ski 50% of it
Hotels
Eating up the mountain (packed lunches)
If you’re going to have to go at half term you’re gona have to bend over and take it to an extent-stick to resorts off the UK tour operators radar and you could/should be OK.
Main Alpine skiing countries, Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy. All offer a similar-ish their own twists of unique-ness. You can also ski in Scandanavia, Spain,and Eastern Europe but to name a few of the alternatives from the above. Sticking to the main countries-there are some sweeping generalisations here but it will give you an idea:
Austria, resorts tend to be 'real working towns' vs purpose built resorts. Many of these are picturesque straight off the front of a chocolate box cliche. Good standard of accomadation and good spa facilities. Generally the mountians are less rugged, great on mountian facilities. Food and drink are cheaper in comparrison to France but not cheap. Lively apres ski but equally places with non, no one does apres like the Austrians IMO.
France, Allot of purpose built resorts, rugged mountains great scenery. Many sprang up in the 70's and are pig ugly IMO, more thought given to the architecture in the more recent past. Home to several of the worlds largest interlinked and famous resorts-more than most can cover in a week, something for everyone. Food and drink prices take the pi@s a bit especially on mountain £6/£7 for a plate of chips and £7 for a beer not uncommon. I usually go on catered chalet board basis when in France to keep costs down. Apres ski not really on the same level as Austria although there are some exceptions. Generally I love the skiing in France but little else.
Italy, always seems more chilled out when skiing in Italy. Food is great and relatively inexpensive on the moutain, good facilites etc. Night life tends to be much more low key. Dolomites have some particularly unique/stunning scenery.
Switzerland, kind of mixes some all of the best elements of the above into one destination for me. But due to the exchanged rate it's more expensive than the other destinations and difficult to do on a budget.
Some people seem to stick to one ski country as it suits what they want. As an overall holdiay package I like Austria but also ski in Italy often.
You don't need a huge amount of pistes on your first trip so I'd recommend a smaller resort/area for a first trip.
Other stuff:
Like other holidays board basis is similar. You'll come across chalet board or chalet hotel. Chalet board ranges from having shared bathrooms etc to effectively being in a mini hotel. You tend to get you breakfast, and evening meal with wine included (staff tend to hav eone night off) you also get afternoon tea when you get in. It's not quite fullboard. It's a good way to meet other people, but not everyones cup of tea. Some Chalet hotels do Full Board/All Inclusive.
You can rent pretty much everything with some companies renting all the clothing etc too. You can pick up decent gear in TK Maxx or 2nd hand on Ebay. In a past life I was a ski instructor, did a one off week agian recently with a UK based company called Interski. They're based souly in the Aosta Valley (Italy) and offer packages where everything is included-liftpasses, ski hire, clothing and lessons. Also get vouchers for lunch on the mountain.
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