Skiing in America

Meathlass

Would like to go to America shopping this year but also skiing so thought I'd combine the two and hope I can get some good deals with the weak dollar. The only operator I could find was Topflight but their website seems to be down at the moment for the skiing section. I'm looking for a 5 day learn to ski package, with hotel. Would hire everything out there as not bringing heavy ski gear over from here. How much do you think I should to looking to pay and would I be better booking hotel, flights and ski package sepatately? I usually do everything independently but thought it was be easier to have an all in package for this type of holiday. Any tips on resorts would be great as well, - perfer east coast.

Benedict XVI

Meathlass wrote: »

Would like to go to America shopping this year but also skiing so thought I'd combine the two and hope I can get some good deals with the weak dollar. The only operator I could find was Topflight but their website seems to be down at the moment for the skiing section. I'm looking for a 5 day learn to ski package, with hotel. Would hire everything out there as not bringing heavy ski gear over from here. How much do you think I should to looking to pay and would I be better booking hotel, flights and ski package sepatately? I usually do everything independently but thought it was be easier to have an all in package for this type of holiday. Any tips on resorts would be great as well, - perfer east coast.

On the East Coast New Hampshire would be a good option.

You could fly to Boston and hire a car and head north, there are a load of resorts in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, all about 3hrs drive from Boston.

The town of North Conway might suite you, it has a number of ski resorts nearby and also has a very good outlet center for shopping.

Most of the town have goods hotels and a lot of b&bs and plenty of ski rental shops, just just bring your own clothing, and you do not need any ski specific clothes in order to ski.

You may be better off booking yourself instead of going on a package, especially with the value of the dollar.

robinph

The east coast is aparently nowhere near as good as the west, but I've never skiied out in the US at all yet.

Oh and ... :cool:
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Meathlass

Thanks, I've actually been looking at North Conway, there is a hotel there with the outlet centre on site (suppose to be overun with kids so not sure about it). Topflight were quoting 979 euros for a room (couldn't put in dates though) while the hotel itself was quoting $900. That's quite a saving unless the topflight price includes ski packages etc.

I've been skiing before (only for a day) around Boston and we got skis there, if we were going for a week do you have to mind the skis yourself or can you rent new ones each day?

Also I'm not sure about hiring a car (don't mind the driving it's just the expense) though it may be essential. Would there be easy access to the resorts by shuttle bus etc from the surrounding towns?

Ideally I'd like to spend around 5 days skiing and 3 days in Boston shopping and sightseeing (lived there before so would love to go back) so it might be easier to arrange this outside of a package.

My worst fear is staying in a town that will take hours to get to the slopes each day and then at night being stuck in the hotel with nothing to do. There is a hotel on one of the resorts (loom mountain I think) but there doesn't seem to be anything to do around it - no shops, bars or restaurants.

If we just arrive at a resort on a sunday is it easy to book lessons for the week or do you need to contact them in advance? Finally, when is the best time to go (perfer before christmas)? I was thinking late October but that's probably way too early. Would early Dec be better?

Meathlass

robinph wrote: »

The east coast is aparently nowhere near as good as the west, but I've never skiied out in the US at all yet.

Oh and ... :cool:
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Thanks Robinph but since we're both skiing virgins I don't think it'll matter. Don't think it's worth the extra flying time and cost to get over to Colarado or somewhere like that.

Benedict XVI

Meathlass wrote: »

Thanks, I've actually been looking at North Conway, there is a hotel there with the outlet centre on site (suppose to be overun with kids so not sure about it). Topflight were quoting 979 euros for a room (couldn't put in dates though) while the hotel itself was quoting $900. That's quite a saving unless the topflight price includes ski packages etc.

I've been skiing before (only for a day) around Boston and we got skis there, if we were going for a week do you have to mind the skis yourself or can you rent new ones each day?

Also I'm not sure about hiring a car (don't mind the driving it's just the expense) though it may be essential. Would there be easy access to the resorts by shuttle bus etc from the surrounding towns?

Ideally I'd like to spend around 5 days skiing and 3 days in Boston shopping and sightseeing (lived there before so would love to go back) so it might be easier to arrange this outside of a package.

My worst fear is staying in a town that will take hours to get to the slopes each day and then at night being stuck in the hotel with nothing to do. There is a hotel on one of the resorts (loom mountain I think) but there doesn't seem to be anything to do around it - no shops, bars or restaurants.

If we just arrive at a resort on a sunday is it easy to book lessons for the week or do you need to contact them in advance? Finally, when is the best time to go (perfer before christmas)? I was thinking late October but that's probably way too early. Would early Dec be better?

There is a resort called Cranmore in North Conway that about 1 mile from the town. If I recall North Conway has a good few pubs and restaurants, and the thing is that you will be wrecked after a day of skiing anyway.

The place is unlikely to be over run by kids midweek unless you go the first week in Feb, which is mid term break.

Oct is a bit early, even Dec may be early depending on the winter , but you might be ok.

A car is probably a good idea as you may get bored with the one resort or town.

If I recall Loon is in Lincoln which is smaller than North Conway.

Pythia

What about Banff in Canada? It's quite near Calgary although it's probably a bit far for just 5 days.

macrubicon

On the East coast I have done Stowe in Vermont - a handy drive from Boston. From memory I booked that with Crystal Holidays.

Good variety of slopes and a busy ski school with good snow and plenty of snow cannon just in case.

On the west coast, I have skiied in the Snoqualmie area and Stevens Pass. Snoqualmie is about an hour from Seattle, Stevens Pass a bit further.

I love Snoqualmie, big wide open area's and lots of lifts etc. but it is a bit far away flight wise to get to Seattle...

I have always just gone up to the Skiing area's in Washington on spec ( already being in Seattle on other stuff ) so can't speak for the ski schools, but as it's not a big "tourist" area it's quite laid back and the school guys you come across seem grand.

Goldilocks 52

Hi there,

Just wanted to let you know we have been to North Conway for three years in a row - family ski, and I shop! The North Conway Grand hotel is surrounded by a shopping outlet village and there are plenty of restaurants in the town itself. I would recommend it - as I do not ski, there are plenty of shops to keep you going! Great bargains - Tommy Hil is so good there. Not a lot of partying though but usually all so tired after all day skiing. Cranmore is only up the road, but the other resorts definately need transport. Ski New Hampshire used to do a deal with taxis there, but last year that did not happen, so taxi's were very expensive, definately car would be needed. Cranmore is on the 'street' lever - no cable cars - and is great place. All in all its great place - we might even return again this year. Dont think you can go wrong if you want to ski and shop! We booked flights and hotel ourselves, dont think there is a package out there to do that - but we fly into Boston and its just around 2hour drive up - or Taxi could pick you up at about €400 return to airport.......... guess a car would be cheaper. Great place - do recommend it. That hotel even has an outdoor heated pool which is open through out the winter. We usually do Christmas there.........good luck with your choice. Goldi

Goldilocks 52

O and forgot to say, you hire your ski gear in the town and you bring them back to the hotel at night and they keep them in a separate room there for you. Its pretty quiet there before Xmas but someone presses a button on 26th Dec and it gets mega - they just decend on the place and it is quite busy. Leading up to Xmas is bliss so quiet - shops are deserted on Christmas Eve - think they are so organised they dont shop on that day!;)

Meathlass

Thanks for all the replies. I'd love to go to Canada some day but think it is out for this trip, just too far.

I had a look at the Crystal brocheure last night and some resorts have free car hire included in the price which is quite good. Most were around 1000 euros for flights and accomodation for 7 days and then another 300 for ski school and equipement for 5 days. Macrubicon, how did you find Crystal and Stowe? If you could remember the hotel you stayed in and what you thought of it that would be great.

Goldilocks, thanks for that info. Did you stay in the North Conway grand hotel yourself? It has very mixed reviews on Trip advisor with most people complaining about bad service adn being over run with kids, plus the bar closes at 11pm which is waay too early! I don't think I'll be able to get a package to suit through a travel agent as ideally we'd like to spend 5 days skiing and 4 days in Boston shopping and most packages seem to be 7 nights in the resort.

A friend also suggested last night to just go to america shopping for a weekend in Nov and then book a week off work in jan/feb and get a last min deal to a resort in europe for about 400 euros so now I'm thinking of this option too. There seems to be better apres ski in europe but I'd be worried about the sort of accomodation we'd get leaving it so late, though for that price ...

macrubicon

We were torn between the Green Moutain Inn and the Grey Fox, but the Green Mountain Inn won out as it had an outdoor pool!

They thought we were mad when we asked them to open it up, but fair play to them they did and we got a standing ovation for the swim!

It was a few years ago when we were there, but it was a nice quiet place in January and the Green Mountain is right on main street, an easy walk from the resturants and bars that were there at the time.

Meathlass

Thanks for that, still think you were mad to go swimming though. Was it not freezing! I was discounting any properties that didn't have an indoor pool!

macrubicon

The outdoor pool was heated and was just like a regular pool - nice and warm. There is a little towel room right beside it where you can leave shoes, jumpers, robes etc. so it's only a 2 foot jump in teh cool air !

Just be prepared that if you dunk your head under the hair will freeze up !

Meathlass

I have very long thick hair so think i'd end up with some kind of chest infection if I did that. When I was 9 my mum gave me and my brother 50p each to swim a length of an outdoor pool in Westport in March. We were blue when we got out - got 50 penny sweets though so result!

macrubicon

Get a good strechy swimming hat and you will be grand!

nicknackgtb

North Conway is the business i thought, yeah the bar closes at eleven but there's plenty of other spots you can go if ye wanna stay drinking.

If your a true skier, you'll know that you'd be wrecked after your day anyway so i dint have to worry bout the bar being closed. Its not the worst with kids runnin round, dint have to worry bout them too much.

The slopes get busy after christmas day so watch out for that.

The shopping is class over there in north conway. 50 - 70% off everything before christmas and a furthr 20-40% off after christmas cause they wanna get rid of all their stock.

http://www.settlersgreen.com/

Meathlass

My only worry about staying in the hotel in North Conway would be that not everyone would be there skiing. We're going as a couple (late 20's) and would like to meet other people to hang out with in the evenings. Really don't want to be in a hotel with lots of other non-skiers. Trip advisor warns that unless you have a gaggle of kids than the hotel at settlers green isn't great - children wandering round in their pyjames and playing chase in the lobby till all hours. Not my idea of fun and would rather avoid it if I could.

Goldilocks 52

Hi Meathlass,

We did stay in North Conway Grand. And yes the bar does close on the button - but there are pubs within walking distance down the road that you can to if you want to do the drinking thing. The service is slow, not like in Ireland - they seem to just go at a pace that does not get them too exerted!!!!!! but I do think the hotel is in such a great place near the shops - you can shop and go back and drop your bags and go off again!!!! suits me. The hotel does get busy like I said with kids after Xmas. There are plenty of restaurants in the town, all a short taxi away which is great. Its not a 5 star hotel but the rooms and beds are fine, with fridge and microwave tea/coffee etc and we find it good for what we want. They do not serve lunch but breakfast is good and you can have dinner in restaurant or their bar grub is fine too. We always book it direct ourselves and do the flights separately. If you want any more info - you could give me your e mail address and I could contact you direct - too funny - I live in Meath too................. so hope you get sorted and if you decided to go there - I will be able to give you more info if you want......... Goldi