Ski holidays

dmcgee

Anyone any recommendations on good value ski locations and/or ski booking sites?

Smurfette

Your best bet in Livigno or Andorra if you haven't skied before they are duty free when you get there so not as expensive for food/drink as other places like France and Switzerland . Best in otherwords cheapest time to go is January or March as Feb is the school holidays across europe and the slopes are jammers probably get good deals for march too and its not so cold either . Go to your Travel Agent as they will have all the deals from the various holiday companys and not just the ones that the web sites are affilated with

wasabi

i skied in livigno for the first time this early march and had a great time. the only real downside was it didn't snow while i was there, but all the slopes were still skiiable

to give you an idea of cost, i think the lot set me back about 700 yoyos including
ski pass 130
ski eqp rental 70
lessons 100
accommodation & flights about 500

this was booking through panorama, who by all acounts are pretty good.
also this was at offpeak season so could be more in feb say. i know people booking for feb 04 paying 1000.

having said that you can get some really cheap duty free booze/electronics/whatever in livigno - it's easier to get a bottle of vodka there than a pint of milk. restaurants are good value too as smurfette said.

there are a fair variety of nursery slopes (i like 17 and 18) and by the end of the week you should be able for the blue trail down the whole mottolino mountain, which i think is about 6 or 7k long and great fun.

skiing is something everyone should try if at all possible so don't b put off by the cost too much, it'll be more than worth it

Imposter

I think location really depends on what you want from the holiday. It also depends on your experience.

If you're a beginner with little or no experience and want the nightlife side as well Andorra seems good and is very reasonable. Somewhere in the alps would be better if you have a little experience. If you have all the gear already then booking the holiday privately might be a good idea.
I'd suggest Austria or Italy for a relatively cheap ski holiday (cheaper than Swiss and most of France). The runs will usually cater for all levels and there's a more of an international feel to it rather than just English and Irish peeps in places like andorra.

drane2

Just going back through old posts and I came across this...

I would recommend NOT using a travel agent to book a ski holiday. They rip you off something fierce.

This year I'm going to Les Arcs in France for a week, I pieced together the holiday myself (all prices for three people)

Flights - 210
Return Train - 300
Accomdation + Ski Pass - 900
Ski gera rental - 180
Insurance - 90
Total - 1700

Compare that to Panorama (I think)
Flights + Accomodation - 1700
Supplement (3 people staying in a 4 berth chalet) - 50
Insurance - 180
Ski Pass - 540
Rental of ski Gear - 330


Total - 2800

Smurfette

That's all well and good Drane 2 might suit you but from experience I wouldn't go like that again ..what happens if there is a delay in your flights you then miss your following train or you get to the apartments and they aren't up to scratch there are endless possibilities that can go wrong and who can you contact? One other main point,Yeah the panorama price is a lot dearer but Panorama ARE NOT Travel Agents they are a tour operator so they will only give you their price.A travel agent will shop around all toup operators and the web and give you their best price so i think it's worth a try personally

drane2

More like a travel agent will shop around for you and then add in a couple of hundred euro. Incidentally I came acorss the Crystal Holidays ski brochure which I picked up from a travel agents on talbot street a while back and the pricess are much the same. I also checked out directski.com and they were pretty much the same. 700 euro for flights and accomodation.

As regards missing trains etc.. just give yourself plenty of time for transfers. For me there's about six hours in Paris between the time the flight lands and the time the train leaves. And oif I miss that train I'll just get the next. If I get to the train station four hours early then I'll just dump my bag in the station lockers and go for a quick spin around Paris.

As for the appartments, I booked them through the local reservation agent (http://resa.lesarcs.com) so I think that counts a guarantee that they'll be up to scratch.

I can understand the handiness of using a travel agent, but to me it's not worth paying 400 euro extra. I don't really like travel agents anyway, and I especially hate the way most of them still try to force their over inflated insurance on you.

Smurfette

You must be going to the wrong travel agent then ...and also you are still missing my point Crystal and directski are Tour Operators not Travel agents ...Travel agents sell all products and don't charge a couple of hundred extra the price is the same whether you book with a travel agent or with a tour operator direct they make comission from the tour operator the customers price is the same regardless .
and maybe its just different ways of travelling but to me hanging round paris for a few hours and then getting trains etc isn't a holiday for me I would just want to be getting on the slopes as quick as possible with the least hassle just difference of opinion but i think you should get yur facts about travel agents right before you post on boards