Recommendations for beginner skiiers this Xmas

SuperStarHoney

Myself and the hubby (both 29) want to go skiing this Christmas, we're both beginners and can't take any time of work so we'll have to go the week over New Years.

Could anyone recommend where would be best for us to go?
Preferably we'd like a good quality modern hotel with a pool and a spa and our budget would be to a max of €2,000 per person, excluding lift passes, lessons etc.

Thanks in advance.

Static M.e.

Skiing for New Years is a great choice

A couple of things though, first just so you know its a very expensive time of the year so everything will be marked up accordingly.

Second for actual New Years eve itself, try and work out once you get there what you plan to do for night itself. Restaurants and Pubs can book up with Parties and you can get booked out everything after a day or two.

Also remember your Ski Gear, Goggles, Jacket, pants etc will cost you a few pound should you have to buy.

Do you mind long transfers 1-2 hours, 3-4 hours, 5-6 hours? This will narrow down your selection quite quickly.

€2000 Per Person NOT including lift passes, Ski Hire or lessons will get you very far. Where would you like to go?

Just one other thing to point out since you are both beginners, you are going to spend a lot of time on the baby slopes learning to Ski. My point being that you aren't going to make the most of the mountain, so someone touting that X resort has 600km of slopes shouldn't decide anything for you because you will only get to see a small fraction of that, and depending on how quick you pick up Skiing you could only see some blue runs on the Thursday or Friday.

Try and think about the following in terms of importance

Good nightlife
Lots to do in the evening (That doesnt resolve around Pubs)
How good a skiier you want to be at the end of the week
Is it more of a relaxing holiday or an Adventure holiday
Shopping
Restaurants
Hotels or Chalets?
Couple time or Party time?
Europe/States/Canada/Japan?

So many different places you could go/do with that budget that you need to be more specific on what you want.

RectalWareZ

Also if at all possible try to get some quick lessons in kilternan before u head off, will help emormously!

SuperStarHoney

Thanks for the replies guys.

We'd definitely be going for more of a relaxing break rather than an adventure holiday although we both definitely want proper snow, which I know can be touch and go in some places over Christmas.

We wouldn't have any set targets of how much we want to learn, more that we just want to give it a go and see if we enjoy it.

Country wise we've been thinking of Austria or Italy, open to others but definitely Europe. We'd like somewhere that has a good selection of restaurants and bars but certainly wouldn't be into wild parties/nightlife. It would also be nice to have something else to do in the evenings other than drinking and for the resort to be somewhat scenic and enjoyable just to stroll around.


I think our main priorities would be:
1) Guaranteed snow.
2) Good quality hotel that's nice to be in/around, preferably with pool and spa.
3) Decent selection of restaurants and to a less extent bars in the resort.
4) Shortish transfer time.
5) Skiing area convenient enough to hotel.

Seems like I want it all, I know but we are prepared for it being expensive with the time of year and all that.

RectalwareZ, if we did get one or two lessons in Kilternan before we left, should we still be booking ski school for the holiday then?

Overflow

SuperStarHoney wrote: »

I think our main priorities would be:
1) Guaranteed snow.
2) Good quality hotel that's nice to be in/around, preferably with pool and spa.
3) Decent selection of restaurants and to a less extent bars in the resort.
4) Shortish transfer time.
5) Skiing area convenient enough to hotel.

1. Hmm snow around this time of the year is hard to gaurantee. Snow is at its lowest levels between November and December. Jan, Feb and March would be the best months for snow. Also dont be disappointed if it does not snow while your there, it may not snow at all, it could be sunny all week.

I guess the safest bet would be to go to one of the very high resorts or a resort that is near a Glacier, these tend to have the best snow.

Then again i have never been Skiing around this time so maybe some else here has some better info about the best places for snow at this time of year. You can check the Snow History for the past 3 years at any resort at this website, to give you an idea:

http://www.igluski.com/snow-history

2. Dont really know much about this, we always rent an apartment. A hotel would suit if theres only 2 i guess, but they are very pricey!

3. I can personally recommend Saalbach in Austria, it has one of the best Apres-Skis, nightlife's and selection of restaurants/bars. It has been the best skiing i have ever done, so far. Andorra is also a good place for beginners to go skiing, its a Tax-Free country so it can be cheaper. Soldeu El Tarter is probably the most popular resort there. It has some nice hotels and there is a SPA nearby. Snow conditions could be poor at that time of year though.

4. Saalbach has a 1hr 30min transfer from Salzburg Airport. Ryanair fly direct to Salzburg. Andorra transfer times are up to 4 hours.
This link will show you the transfer times from airports around Europe to popular Ski resorts:

http://www.ifyouski.com/resorts/airports/

5. Austria has to be the best for this. There Ski Resorts are mostly all based in towns so you can generally ski from the slopes through the town to your hotel or apartment (conditions permitting).

SuperStarHoney wrote: »

RectalwareZ, if we did get one or two lessons in Kilternan before we left, should we still be booking ski school for the holiday then?

I'll answer this if you dont mind, while i have not been on an artificial slope before from what i have read, it is a bit different than the real thing. Id say if you do the lessons at Kilternan and are pretty competent by the end of it, i would get 1 or 2 Ski lessons on your Ski holiday just as a refresher and to get used to the feeling of skiing on snow.

De_man

quote

Country wise we've been thinking of Austria or Italy, open to others but definitely Europe.


I think our main priorities would be:
1) Guaranteed snow.

[I]no one can guarantee snow, austria & italy at this time of year is very iffy & is nearly impossible to guarantee except maybe St. Anton (austria) Val d'isere, Tignes(france) Italy - Cervinia has a good early record

Suprisingly, over the last few seasons Andorra has been excellent over Christmas / New Year..for here i recommend Soldeu - Sport hotel
Arinsal - Princess Park - not much of a town centre here & shopping limited unless you go to Andorra la Vella - but a great place to learn to ski[/I]

2) Good quality hotel that's nice to be in/around, preferably with pool and spa.
3) Decent selection of restaurants and to a less extent bars in the resort.
4) Shortish transfer time.
5) Skiing area convenient enough to hotel.

[I]When you're looking at the brochures have a look at Kitzbuhel - austria, very nice town centre - hotel i'd recommend is Hotel Weisses Rossl.....very very expensive but there's plenty of others in the town centre also have a look at Zell am See (Grand hotel)

if there's a group going, why not get a catered chalet?[/I]

Overflow

De_man wrote: »

Suprisingly, over the last few seasons Andorra has been excellent over Christmas / New Year..for here i recommend Soldeu - Sport hotel
Arinsal - Princess Park - not much of a town centre here & shopping limited unless you go to Andorra la Vella - but a great place to learn to ski

Actually if you look at the snow record for the past 3 seasons in Soldeu it hasnt been that great.

2007
Lower Slopes - 24cm
Upper Slopes - 37cm

2006
Lower Slopes - 6cm
Upper Slopes - 8cm

Now last season 2007 was ski-able, but the year before id say definitely not. Based on those numbers you can see that there is no guarantee especially at xmas time in Soldeu. The rest of Andorra had pretty similar poor snow.

Now when you compare that to Saalbach or St. Anton which i would highly recommend. You can see its a bit better, but in general 2006 was a bad year.

2007 - Saalbach
Lower Slopes - 34cm
Upper Slopes - 144cm

2006 - Saalbach
Lower Slopes - 6cm
Upper Slopes - 25cm

2007 - St. Anton
Lower Slopes - 71cm
Upper Slopes - 224cm

2006 - St. Anton
Lower Slopes - 10cm
Upper Slopes - 36cm

Its really hit or miss, you might be lucky and have a ton of snow or you might have hardly any and not be able to ski(worst case scenario!). But if i was going somewhere at that time of year i would want to go some where that has a decent snow record for that time of year and since it seems to be top of your priorities i would be looking for such a resort to better your chances!

Anyway thats just my 2 cents.

De_man

Overflow wrote: »

Actually if you look at the snow record for the past 3 seasons in Soldeu it hasnt been that great.

2007
Lower Slopes - 24cm
Upper Slopes - 37cm

2006
Lower Slopes - 6cm
Upper Slopes - 8cm

yep, i can't argue with those figures but you'll know that it doesn't take that much snow cover in the pyrnees to make them skiiable when compared to the alps. i was in arinsal one year it was a disaster:(

if it was an austrian choice, i'd go for St. Anton too, but these people are beginners, i've been there twice, great skiing, great nightlife,
but imho it's not a suitable place for beginners.

my beginners choice would be
1. Andorra (arinsal) - all runs go back to 1 central area, groups can't get lost
2. Austria (Kitzbuhel & Soell/Soll) -
3. Italy (Livigno, La thuile, Passo Tonale, Pila)

after a couple of trips then consider St. Anton

but if budget was of no consideration - Canada it would be;)

Overflow

Yeah i would probably have to agree with you on St. Anton, its seems to be geared more towards Intermediate to Advanced Skiers. But Saalbach has a great selection of slopes for Beginners.

I have been to Arinsal myself twice and both years the snow was bad but the second year it was terrible. We went early Jan, it was barely Ski-able, just a thin layer of snow, most had melted and there were rocks and stones stickin up everywhere. Is so disappointing when that happens!

I hear Livigno is another good place for beginners also.

Static M.e.

Sorry for the delay getting back to you SuperStarHoney.

I would agree with Overflow Saalbach would be a great place for you to go.

Livigno or Andorra (Arinsol / Soldeu) are great begineer places but dont forget for both you have 4 - 5 hour transfers from the Airport.

SuperStarHoney

Thanks guys for all the replies, all the information has been invaluable.

I've come to realise that there's no such thing as guaranteed snow so will just choose a good resort for begineers and hope for the best.

I think we've pretty much settled on Austria as the transfer times seem to be the shortest there. We're looking at both Saalbach and Kitzbuhel. I'm veering towards Kitzbuhel at the minute as I've found a really nice hotel but hopefully I'll get to do a bit more research over the weekend before I make a final decision.

Thanks again for all the help.

Overflow

No problem at all. Austria is a good choice, i think you will have a good time at either of those resorts, Austrian towns are very picturesk and really cater very well for skiers and as i said before their ski resorts are generally based around and in a town, there is always alot to do when your not skiing.

Saalbach does have a great choice of hotels, i dont know if you have visited the resort website:

www.saalbach.com

You can find a wealth of info on accommodation there.

Overflow

Forgot to mention that Saalbach has a ton of cozy Taverns all over the mountain which you can ski to on your way down the mountain. Its great to stop in and sit by the fire, get some lovely Austrian food, a hot drink or a cold beer ! I believe Kitzbuhel is the same. Probably with most Austrian resort aswell.

Lucifer

just for what its worth, me and my girlfriend started skiing 2 seasons ago (we have been 3 times since) and we have only been to Soldeu in Andorra....we seemed to have the same kind of requirements when it comes to hotels etc

I can't recommend Soldeu enough...we are booking a trip back for the last week in January...We have stayed in the Sport hotel hermitage and village and brussels (amazing food but on the cheaper side)...

we just love it there and with 290km+ of runs its great...

also the ski school is oe of the best in europe...we have kept in touch with a few of the teachers and will meet them when we go back...

olaola

St Anton is definitley not suitable for beginners.

Zell Am See is very good - and the school there is excellent. And you've got Kaprun nearby if the snow doesn't make an appearance. It's a cheaper resort, so your money will go quite far. There is a lovely hotel on the lake - we didn't stay there, but we popped in for a few drinks.

Ischgl is more expensive and also great for beginners - you'll have no shortage of 4 & 5* hotels there to take your pick from.

Oh and edited to say - I don't think there is a resort in Austria more than 2.5 hours from an airport. I can't be dealing with these long transfers!

Static M.e.

Lucifer wrote: »

I can't recommend Soldeu enoughQUOTE]

Yeah I love it too, I've been 5 times now

My only dislike is the transfer time