Beginner Skiing Holiday package - do they exist?

[Monki]

Hi!

My partner and I are interested in learning to ski and I remembered that my sister went on a ski - lesson holiday several years ago with her school and she loved it !

Can you get these as individuals ? Or do you have to go with organised groups? We've never looked into a holiday like this before and most of the websites we've seen are for accomodation only and do not mention ski lessons.

We're not too fussed where they would take place, but prefereably in the France / Switzerland / Germany areas

If you could help it'd be much appreciated!

Thanks

[911DM]

Book any ski holiday and book up "ski school" at the same time.

You'll be in a group who have never ski'd before and will receive tuition in the morning and afternoons.

Alternatively book up an instructor for both you to share. More costly than ski school (not that much though) but you will learn in one day what ski school would teach you in three.

[theboymoon]

911DM said:

Alternatively book up an instructor for both you to share. More costly than ski school (not that much though) but you will learn in one day what ski school would teach you in three.

This.

You don't even have to go for a whole week

[Monki]

Thanks a lot, are the ski schools usually advertised on the travel agent website? Or do you need to book it alternatively??

Thanks again!

[renmure]

Travel agents and brochures like to give the impression that you need to book lessons (and lift passes and hired ski equipment) through them in advance. I guess they earn a bit of commission from it. The reality is that it is simple enough to organise ski school, equipment and passes when you are in the resort. Sometimes things are cheaper locally, sometimes not but there is not much in it either way.

[maser_spyder]

The easy way;

Book package holiday from Iglu.com or similar.

Ignore ski hire, lift pass and ski school from the tour operator, it's normally all marked up on the standard rate (apart from lift pass), you can sort it out cheaper and better yourself.

You probably won't need a lift pass for the first few days, depending on the resort. You'll likely be 2-4 days on the bottom slopes learning the basics.

Turn up to resort.

Go to hire shop, hire kit. (they'll be helpful).

Go to ski school office (seek it out, or it's normally bloomin' obvious!), organise ski-school. They'll tell you where to meet.

Meet another bunch of beginners, spend the week falling over, drinking, eating, and being outside and having great fun.

Go home.

Repeat at least annually.

Ski school in France and Austria will be pretty good. Not so sure about Germany but I would expect excellent.

Switzerland can be eye-wateringly expensive.

France is expensive for food and drink, but cheap accommodation.

Austria is expensive for accommodation, but cheap for food and drink.

Check through this forum, somebody else asked exactly the same question only a couple of weeks ago, and I posted a massive response with all the pros and cons of various resorts and countries!

[Monki]

Thanks a lot for the advice, I'll have a look for your post (search, as per usual, was not working )

Thanks again everyone!

[maser_spyder]

Monki said:

Thanks a lot for the advice, I'll have a look for your post (search, as per usual, was not working )

Thanks again everyone!

There you go;

http://pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&amp...

All part of the service.

[Monki]

Ah cheers! Hadn't had chance to have a look so saved me the time

Thanks again

[maser_spyder]

Monki said:

Ah cheers! Hadn't had chance to have a look so saved me the time

Thanks again

S'now problem.

See what I did there?

Sorry.

[sjg]

The internet has made all this very easy.

Lift passes you can almost always buy online via the resort's website (and usually in English) - if you need a photo they'll email you and you can just attach a suitable shot for them to use. Your passes arrive a week or two later in the post.

Ski hire - the biggest chain, Ski Set have a UK site to book your hire on - http://www.skiset.co.uk/ . Pick your hire shop and the stuff you want, pay and just turn up at the shop when you arrive to collect your kit (and check/amend sizes if necessary).

For lessons, ESF ( http://www.esf.net/en/ ) have a site where you can book lessons direct.

[maser_spyder]

sjg said:

The internet has made all this very easy.

Lift passes you can almost always buy online via the resort's website (and usually in English) - if you need a photo they'll email you and you can just attach a suitable shot for them to use. Your passes arrive a week or two later in the post.

Ski hire - the biggest chain, Ski Set have a UK site to book your hire on - http://www.skiset.co.uk/ . Pick your hire shop and the stuff you want, pay and just turn up at the shop when you arrive to collect your kit (and check/amend sizes if necessary).

For lessons, ESF ( http://www.esf.net/en/ ) have a site where you can book lessons direct.

Internet sure has made this easier, but personally, I quite like turning up to a resort in the afternoon and having a wonder around to find out where everything is. Makes a change after a day's travelling!

I own an internet company, so a week away is a week away from computers and technology, I biased.

Everything is easy to find in the resort, there's not really any need to buy it in advance unless you're a worried/panicked type!

[996nick]

Before my first (and so far only!) ski trip I was advised to get some dry ski slope lessons before I went. I did that and although it was hard work on the dry slope, I reaped the rewards when I got out to Italy, as the "snow plough" was a lot easier on real snow!