Skiing Locations-Tips Please

Ginger83

Hi, I am hoping to take my girlfriend away skiing in january. Would anyone suggest a good location, maybe a hotel with a pool? I have been told France is supposed to be good but we will be first-timers, many thanks

Mr. Presentable

http://www.skiitaly.com/fullstory.html

Italy ftw:D

ob

Ginger83 wrote:

Hi, I am hoping to take my girlfriend away skiing in january. Would anyone suggest a good location, maybe a hotel with a pool? I have been told France is supposed to be good but we will be first-timers, many thanks

I'd recommend picking a resort first, then looking for accomadation.

France is excellent for skiing, albeit a bit expensive, both in getting there and eating out, drinking etc.

Andorra is recommended for first timers, less expensive and while the skiing isn't meant to be as good as the Alps, it won't matter as much to beginners.
Livino in Italy is also tax free like Andorra, and it's a very good high altitude resort.

penexpers

ob wrote:

Andorra is recommended for first timers, less expensive and while the skiing isn't meant to be as good as the Alps, it won't matter as much to beginners.
.

Actually it sort of does. The resorts in Andorra (particularly Arinsal) are taking more skiiers than can be accomodated comfortably on the slopes, with the result that alot of beginners congregate on the bottom of the runs into the resort which is extremely dangerous when mixed with the more advanced skiiers. In Andorra, I witnessed on average 2-3 accidents a day, in France it was 2-3 a week. Even though the snow was good the week I was there, I don't think I'd ever go back.

harryt

Try Sonnschien Hotel in Niederau in Austria.Hotel is lovely,has a pool and is only a few minutes walk from the slopes.Its a small resort but has enough bars and 2 nightclubs .You wont have a lot of energy left in the evening to do much else.Ihe people are very friendly and ski instructors are brilliant.Enjoy yourselves:)

sharingan

Some comments on what was said so far:

France has a reputation for being expensive, but like everything else it depends. The ticket price for travel& acommodation looks pricey, but for instance in Chamonix we had self-catering apts and ate like kings for not much money (ask where the reps eat is always a good bet). 3 years later we still talk about the food.

In theory Andorra is good for beginners, there is a higher proportion of beginners, and ski instructors are more likely to have english as a first language. What penexpers said though: Andorra over-crowds its resorts, Arinsal is like the M50 at 6:30 PM. Crowded ski-lift queues and slopes are no fun for beginners - this will dominate your ski-experience negatively, as you become edgy about sharing a section of slope with 50 people just as skilled as you. Pas De la Casa is better, as it has a dedicated nursery slope area (non-ski-schoolers don't ski-through to get off the mountain), but has many of the same problems with bottlenecks & congestion.

On our first trip we went to Arinsal in the late season, while we got good enough quick enough to head up the mountains, a friend (he was a big lad) gave up in frustration. Most of the ski-schools had to be re-arranged as people gave up. On our second trip to Livignio (italy) it was totally reversed - its a huge resort with literally miles of track and breadth of nursery slopes.

BTW we were at Wilschonau/Oberau/Niederau (Austria) this year. Great snow, but its a very small resort and that was reflected in the nightlife and the variety of the pistes. Though good for beginners. We were staying in some lovely apartments between the main villages, but that meant no bars. I can still feel the chill from the 4:30 am jog back to our apartment. We suffer for our beer we do.

I could document more experiences, but I will instead just list the beginners essential ski check-list:

* Dedicated nursery slopes. You don't want to be spooked by experienced and thinks-they're-experienced skiers and boarders (especially) taking shortcuts through the nursery area on the way down the mountain.

* A good learning curve on the mountain. Your mid-week skill should be good enough for you to go up and around the mountain on your own initiative - you should be able to plot a course over the mountain through blues and easy reds, and actually see a decent chunk of the resort

* Stay on the mountain after ski-school don't be a wuss.

* Happening apres-ski. A six hour mountain burn should be cooled down by at least 2-3 hours of swilling whatever and chatting with your ski-school group and other endorphin-buzzed skiers. Certain resorts have a reputation for better night-life (all of Andorra, St Anton, Soll, Sauze D'Oulx (and italy in general) ). But never mind the reputation, many places with that rep can be a bit yobbish and it was in Chamonix (France) that happy hour was 3 hours long (my head still remembers pitcher races with some Norwegian girls and my stomach remembers the cocktail race grudge match later that evening).

* Good food & eating out. If you are booking a hotel, this is where going cheap is really going to hit you, especially in Andorra. Don't have the taste for Austrian cuisine, but getting a bite to eat in Niederau was a challenge anyway. Some places have superb dining. Italian in-hotel food is usually good regadless of hotel quality. For eating out, any large resort (say ~200km of piste) will have a wide variety of restaraunts, not just local cuisine (that you may not have the taste for). Though I really have to commend many of the italian resorts on the quality of their piste fodder. Pas de la Casa has unusually good eating out, and well priced too.

* Social scene - not quite apres ski, but you will want to be socialising with other holidaymakers. There will be lots of english speakers, but comparing notes with other beginners is fun. You will get a greater proportion of english speakers in Andorra & Italy and the bigger Austrian resorts, but thats not so much of a big deal - you will find Paddys, Brits, Scots etc. in the bar. We are quite predictable really. In any case most piste users are friendly even if you can't speak your language. If you are not in a big group, you are probably better off going in a hotel where you can socialise with the other guests, or else you will want to be heading out with your ski-school.

* Other attractions - museums, sleigh rides, etc. are for injured people and locals. Serious attractions are stuff like snowmobiles, frozen lake carting and scheduled trips to other nearby resorts (highly recommended). You get ice skating, polo on snow, football on snow and some very interesting expressions of local character - not something that should draw you away from either the slopes or heading out. As for Shopping its overrated. Andorra & Livignio have good deals on electronics due to duty free status, but its not like you can shop around all that much, and the shops close early in some case. Livignio & Pas de la Casa are pretty good though in that regard, in that their shopping is self contained. Going into the Andorra capital is a bit overrated. Maybe the gf might be into it, but I would rather be on the slopes. An exception to this is buying ski gear itself - buy it at the resort. In fact the best time to buy ski boots is on holiday when your feet are conditioned for it. While many hotels do have pools/solariums etc. Some resorts have sports facilities with better gear. It might even be free for hotel guests depending on the resort. Though for me, swimming is for summer. I don't understand why people would skip slope-time or bar-time to go swimming, though the bikini-clad snow chicks is probably a significant attraction.

* Good ski lift systems. In general the Andorran resorts can really underperform here. Its a personal pet peeve of mine. Quality lift systems are a big part of enjoying your ski experience whether you are advanced or a beginner. Modern lifts are less challenging/riskier to beginners and everyone likes getting back up the mountain quicker. Swiss, French & Austrian resorts are usually superbly equipped.

* Airport transit time: while the comfort of the buses that take you from the airport to the resort is considerably more comfortable than Bus Eireann, its nice to have a short 1-2 hr shuttle from Geneva, Turin, Salzburg or Innsbruck rather than the 5 hour+ shuttles from Barcelona, Toulouse or Milan. Your trip is usually at a more human time of the morning, and arriving at a proper time might get you a chance to pick up some essential nighttime supplies like Water, Aspirin or Breakfast

* Be able to appreciate the resort. Some of the more established French/Swiss/Austrian resorts may have a more re-assuringly expensive reputation, better investment or Alpine character; but often some of these resorts do require a good level of skiing ability to properly appreciate (like anything with over 200km of runs). Big resorts often require bus systems to get around, and they are often only regular at peak times - that might annoy a lot of people, especially those with bleary-eyed, over-indulged heads; sometimes its just nice to be able to walk up to the ski-lift. Some resorts are more physically demanding than others, like the high-altitude resorts, or their best parts are only available to competent skiers. Pay attention to how the brochures rate the resort for beginners, intermediates & advanced.

* Get fit beforehand. Gyms often do ski-fitness programs, but regular jogging will do, or grab a book on ski-fitness exercises. 4-6 weeks is enough, you will really appreciate your holiday if you do this.

This went on too long. In any case here are some recommendations:

-Pas de la Casa is the best of the Andorra resorts - good mix of everything. Good shopping too.
-Sauze D'Oulx, if it ever gets snow has some exemplary, varied skiing for all abilities, easy to get to from Turin, and nice options for skiing over the mountain into France. Great session too. Make sure that you get accomodation in the main town. Many tour operators have some cheaper hotels in a village down the mountain, and this isolates you from most of the action. However the 2 tiems we went there we were painfully unlucky with snow & weather - Italian resorts tend to face this risk more so than others.
-Livignio, great resort - the sheer volume of nursery slopes make this a great beginner resort, with plenty of up the mountain blue runs to get you visiting the rest of it. Both sides of the valley have a different skiing character. Good shopping too, and the town bus system is pretty good as well. Good option to do a day trip into switzerland in St Moritz.
- I did a day trip in Courmayeur (Italy), nice variety in the slopes, looked handy for beginners
-I haven't done enough of Austria, but it well caters for beginners and the session is good (feedback from friends). Handy connection too. Getting served Weiss beer in its proper glass beats whatever passes for beer in the other resorts. Simply too many good resorts here, and Austrian ski resorts are very well invested-in. Hard to state this properly, but its the little touches.
- French & Swiss resorts are sublime skiing Mecca's, but its possible that you may not be able to appreciate them properly as a beginner. All of them have good beginner slopes and tuition, but you would be mindful of all the parts of the resort that you didn't go to (I miss not doing the glacier run, or going up to Mt Blanc at Chamonix).

sweetie

Wow. Can someone sticky that last post. Information overload. Tis very helpful!

tywy

I'd recommend Austria for beginners because in Italy the lessons are only on in the morning. This means if you are a nervous skiier you lose out on 2 half days of skiing. With the full days instruction in Austria you get to see more of the resort for sure. I think there's full day instruction in France too but not in Italy. I'd recommend Austria over France though, the instructors are supposed to be better in Austria.