Ski weekends

peter-pantslez

hey im only back from my first ski holiday i was in livigno and iv got the bug i didnt want to come home at all!!!!

im wondering are there any good places to get off to for a weekend say maybe fly out on the friday morning and come home sunday night? or monday morning? obviously somewhere near an airport and has quick tranfere times would be essential!

would it be worth it money wise? and time wise?

i would love to get off again and not have to wait till next year!!!

Overflow

Hey, ah so you have caught the bug! I remember being exactly the same when i first went 6 years ago.

I remember a discussion on the boards here where someone was recommending Oberstdorf as its very close to Friedrichshafen airport that Ryanair fly to, so flights should be cheap. I also read somewhere that a train runs direct from Friedrichshafen to St. Anton in Austria.

I guess your looking for the shortest flights and transfer times. Not every ski resort will be the same as Livigno now so do a bit of research, you will find that some of the smaller resorts are just ski centers and a bus trip away from the main town.

peter-pantslez

thanks over flow.

and yeah im looking for short flight and short tranferes and somewhere that has ski rental and is good fro beginners.

where is oberstdorf???

Overflow

Hey, its in Germany, here is a link:

http://www.skigermany.com/skiing/oberstdorf/oberstdorf.php

Ive never been there, its a pretty small resort now, ive never been it was just recommended to me. Its only 88km from Friedrichshafen airport so its quite a short transfer.

penguin00

at the end of jan im doing a trip to Geneva with aerlingus, then bus trip up to the chamonix and found a studio apt on the internet. did it last yeat and the snow was good.....only thing is i have a board its costs 60 to bring on the plane but only 40 to rent///annoying:mad:

enjoy where ever you go...

pen

peter-pantslez

penguin00 wrote: »

at the end of jan im doing a trip to Geneva with aerlingus, then bus trip up to the chamonix and found a studio apt on the internet. did it last yeat and the snow was good.....only thing is i have a board its costs 60 to bring on the plane but only 40 to rent///annoying:mad:

enjoy where ever you go...

pen

if you dont mind me asking how much is the flight and tranfere and how long will it take??

loobylou

Hi Peter,
Seems you have the bug! Weekends away are certainly possible and worthwhile but do have their own problems. Most cheap flights are midweek, you will usually end up paying top dollar at the w/e. Another problem I often come across is that the accomodation providers are geared up for week long rentals from a Sat to a Sat. They are unwilling to take a booking for a shorter duration and potentially lose out on a full weeks booking. They will only take a shorter booking a couple of days in advance when it is unlikely they will get anything else.
That said though, I have always managed to find somewhere to stay, last year we did'nt prebook anything but just turned up in resort. (St. Anton in February).
If you can get the time from work, flying out Thur and back on Tue can get you cheap flights and 5 days skiing if you pick the right resort.

peter-pantslez

cheers for that lobby.

iv been searching around on the et for a while now but i cant seem to find much.....im only begining so maybe im just not looking in the right place:)

loobylou

I mostly ski in Austria so the two best destinations I have found are Salzburg (AerLingus and Ryanair) or Friedrichshafen (Ryanair). Friedrichshafen (in Germany) is very useful as the Ryanair flight arrives in quite early, approx 9.00am. Theres a train station at the airport so you can be in some resorts before midday and skiing the same afternoon. Heres a link to resorts in the immediate area http://www.j2ski.com/ski_resorts/Airports/Friedrichshafen.html .The return flights leave approx 10.00am so again theres plenty of time to get back to the airport on the morning of departure.
Last year they flew Tue, Thur and Sat so was ideal for long weekends but I think they may have dropped the Tue one this season. Worth checking though.
Flights are usually very cheap, I've got two booked this month, both at €30 return, handbaggage only. Transfers are cheapish, eg Montafon €20 e/w. If theres a group of you it's often better to share a taxi. Transfers by train involves a few changes but it's pretty staightforward.
Basic B+B accom. can usually be got for €30-€40 per night, after that its just skihire and a lift pass.

EileenG

My typical weekend away is to fly to Paris, get an overnight train to Bourg St Maurice, ski all day in Les Arcs or nearby resort, sleep one night in the valley, usually in Seez where hotels are cheap and there's a free bus direct to the Les Arc Funi, ski all day Sunday, overnight train back to Paris, fly home Monday morning, at work by lunchtime.

You can also fly to Zurich and ski Andermatt for a weekend. Or Grenoble and ski Chamrousse. Fopollo is very close to Bergamo (local hotels will collect you) but it's limited skiing. a weekend is all you'll get out of it.

loobylou

Hi Eileen
How does above work out costwise roughly? How long does the train take and would you get a nights slep on it?
Thanks

peter-pantslez

cheers lobbylou im gonna check out that link now!!

WillyWonka

Also you could get cheap flights to Milan (Bergamo) and head to Montecampione.
Its about an hours drive and there are weekend deals on activitybreaks.com

Its not a big resort though, you'll stay in a small town nearby and its about 20/30 mins drive up the mountain. (you can stay up there if you like but not a lot going on)

Its a different buzz to livigno, more for the snow and the italian food.
That said you'll get a private lesson there for the price of ski school in other resorts, which might be good for people wanting to improve.

[Tip: Some of us stayed in hotel armonia and the guy there actually owns activitybreaks.com, he have us a discount on the ski pass and hire, 15 quid a day!!]

EileenG

loobylou wrote: »

Hi Eileen
How does above work out costwise roughly? How long does the train take and would you get a nights slep on it?
Thanks

Train typically costs 100-ish euro if you book it early. Night trains usually start around 11pm, and arrive between 7-8am. Going back, they start at 9pm, arrive at 6am. You do get a night's sleep, but not a great one. However, a couple of pots of coffee and you won't know the difference. You can book direct with www.sncf.com, and they'll post the ticket out to you, or you can collect it in any station.

sarsfield06

EileenG, that sounds like a lot of bother considering there are airports much closer to the slopes and 100 euro for the train is more expensive than a few days car hire. Why not just fly closer as you have all the hassle of airport to train transfer as well. Sounds very stressful for a weekend.

spurscormac

I would like to recommend the book "White Weekends".
Bought it for a friends birthday before Xmas, and just received delivery of my own copy from Amazon - cost £10 + delivery, all in all I was charged €15.68.

It does tend to focus on travelling from London, but the destinations are the same, so just find which airport you can fly to. It details 18 different types of destination, party, to group, to late snow, cheap, heliskiing in Russia, and alternative destinations for each sample weekend.

EileenG

You save time and hassle, and there are any amount of really cheap flights to Paris. Doing it this way, you work Friday, travel overnight (no hotel needed), ski Saturday and Sunday (one night hotel) and travel back on Sunday night so you can work Monday. This way, you get the most amount of skiing for the least amount of time off and the least money spent.

Went skiing recently to Val Cenis, and people came via all sorts of ways. The group that came through Grenoble airport actually took the longest and missed the most skiing, even though it was very close.

peter-pantslez

ok i wen ahead and booked my weekend away.

i flew out to munich on saturday morning, rented a car and drove to soll in austria. due to the flight being delayed taking off in dublin and some heavy traffic i hit in germany i was only able to get an hours skiing in on saturday.

so sunday morning i was on the slopes bright and early and got a full days skiing in and had a really good time and nearly got a full days skiing done on monday (had to leave the slope and hour before the lifts closed to head back to munich:(). got back to dublin for about half 9 monday night.

my self and my girlfriend had a really good weekend and pleased witht eh amount of skiing we got done, we even found our selves pushing the envelope and found ourselves spending most of saturday and all of monday on red routes:)

all in all great weekend and definately something id think of doing again!

peter-pantslez

oh and id just like to say a big thank you to lobbylou for giving me that website wwwj2ski.com most of my planning and booking revolved around that site!

Mmmm_Lemony

If you dont mind me asking, apart from food and drink how much did it hurt the pockets?

Looking to get away for one last (short) trip...

peter-pantslez

Mmmm_Lemony wrote: »

If you dont mind me asking, apart from food and drink how much did it hurt the pockets?

Looking to get away for one last (short) trip...

flights going on the saturday morning and back the monday night,

a 2 day lift pass (for the sunday and monday also gets you on the lifts for free after 3 on the saturday),

car hire for the 3 days,

and accomadation (all we could get for the weekend we were going was an apartment so it was dearer then a hotel),

this worked out at €400 each for me and my girlfriend.

peter-pantslez

oh and forgot to mention ski and boot rental for the weekend was included in the above price.

davmol

www.topflight.ie do weekend skiing in Norway.
You can ski for 299 euro for a weekend in Lillehammer in march april

rio1

We headed off to Engelberg in Switzerland recently for a weekend. Flew to Zurich, hopped on a train at the airport and arrived in Engelberg after just over 2 hours of an amazingly beautiful train journey. Two great days on the slopes. Very easy from Zurich airport for a weekend. Not a cheap country though...

smythire

i went to garmisch this year for a quick and easy snowboarding trip. cheap flights to munich and a direct train into garmish. cheap ski passes and the rental shop in on the piste which was also a good price. there are a large number of reds which is always good, so it was all good. except for the slow train down the mountain after a long day, but the images were brill.

i noticed on the saturday evening, loads of germanys jumping onto the train back to munich! there is a train & day pass which costs €47!! so you can stay in a big city travel up and down 2800 ft for under 80 quid.

LeoD

Flying Dublin-Salzburg tomorrow evening at 5pm, catching shuttle bus to Saalbach and arrive around 11.30pm. Ski all day Wed & Thu and before getting bus back to airport at 6pm. Fly back at 8.55pm.

Flights - €62 :rolleyes: (advertised price is 0c each way but taxes and cc charge... Not checking-in any bag).
Shuttle bus transfer - €69 return.
2 day ski pass - €70.
Equip rental - €50.
Accommodation - €200 (could have got a Pension for €30/night but decided to spoil myself so booked a 4* hotel).

Only extra costs will be lunch both days. Conditions look great at the moment so wanted one last fix before next winter.

Overflow

LeoD wrote: »

Flying Dublin-Salzburg tomorrow evening at 5pm, catching shuttle bus to Saalbach and arrive around 11.30pm. Ski all day Wed & Thu and before getting bus back to airport at 6pm. Fly back at 8.55pm.

Flights - €62 :rolleyes: (advertised price is 0c each way but taxes and cc charge... Not checking-in any bag).
Shuttle bus transfer - €69 return.
2 day ski pass - €70.
Equip rental - €50.
Accommodation - €200 (could have got a Pension for €30/night but decided to spoil myself so booked a 4* hotel).

Only extra costs will be lunch both days. Conditions look great at the moment so wanted one last fix before next winter.

Now you have made me jealous, i got back from Saalbach on the 7th March from 1 weeks snowboarding, had an amazing time, plenty of snow! If your an experienced skier you should try out slope number 1 (Black), get the SchattbergExpress gondola from the town center, make sure you do it early in the morning as it gets quite choppy later in the day.

LeoD

Went on my first ever ski holiday to Saalbach in 2000 and absolutely loved the place. Will be interesting going back now after skiing nearly every year since then. I remember looking at that run when I was there and thinking how in the name of jaysus would you ever ski down it.

Imposter

Overflow wrote: »

Now you have made me jealous, i got back from Saalbach on the 7th March from 1 weeks snowboarding, had an amazing time, plenty of snow! If your an experienced skier you should try out slope number 1 (Black), get the SchattbergExpress gondola from the town center, make sure you do it early in the morning as it gets quite choppy later in the day.

Early in the morning it is super icy, which is great fun

Overflow

Imposter wrote: »

Early in the morning it is super icy, which is great fun

Yep and super fast!

EileenG

Just back from a long weekend in Chamrousse. Dead handy from Grenoble, great snow. Lots of fun skiing the Olympic downhills.

a147pro

Ok, just back from Chamonix, which I presume is one of the most expensive resorts in Europe, the damage was as follows:

Flights - Aer Lingus - GENEVA - €210 return.
Decent flight time - 12.00 out, 15.45 back, which allows for three hours skiing and a shower on the day of return. Can presumably be gotten for cheaper if you're lucky.

Car Hire - €100 per person
3 people sharing a decent car, the low grade cars aren't much cheaper to be honest. The bus transfer is €35pp one way, an astonishing price given that its a one hour journey (in a car, maybe 90 mins by bus)

Accomodation - €45 per person per night
Two people sharing a nominally 3 person apartment. Nice, very central and right beside the bus stop but it would be no fun with three adults. Not sure if you can really get accomodation cheaper than this in Chamonix (if anyone knows it please tell me!). My mates were spending €120 per single person per night in a three star hotel.

Equipment rental - €30 per day for top level skis, boots and poles

Pass - about €33 per day over four days.
This is for the basic pass, €38 per single day. If you're headed to the top of Grand Monte or the Aiguille de Midi, its €48 for a one day pass. My own view on this is that you're better off just paying the one way fare to the top of Grand Monte (€10) whenever you feel like heading up as the queues are usually over half an hour or so. You can reserve one lift in advance per day if you have the pass and the necessary foresight. I don't think the skiing is sufficiently good to justify repeating the queuing but there is huge scope up there, particularly if you've got a guide. If you're skiing off the Aiguille you've already got a guide, or some kind of mental illness, and will have planned your day in advance so can just buy the pass for that day.

Food on the slopes - €15 per person
Based on a main course, one bottle of coke (€3.90!) and a yoghurt for desert.

Personally I think the price of the pass is unsustainable and will have to be reduced. €60-€80 per person per day of skiing is very steep and means I just can't go again this year. Looking at the options above it seems I'd get twice the length of holiday elsewhere for the same price.

That said, Chamonix is a bit special. The valley is really stunning, and the town is nice and somewhat organic unlike some purpose built resorts, so you can potter around on a day off.

The skiing in Argentiere (i.e Grand Monte) is amazing, and even if there hasn't been fresh snow it preserves well there. There's one off piste run which is in the shade most of the day and the snow remains powdery for ages after a fresh fall. The other resorts are just average in my opinion, but the options in the area in general are unlimited, in terms of off piste and general madness. You'll see loads of people with ice axes, harnesses ropes etc. as well as skis, and if I can ever afford to get a guide for a few days I'll be out there. I saw lads climbing down a cliff into a void with skis on their backs, another lad was skiing off piste behind me with no poles and an unusually shaped backpack, which I correctly guessed had a parachute (paraplente?) in it as he literally flew over me a couple of minutes later.

I really want to try other resorts but when its one hour from a cheap flights destination, and I'm afraid the conditions or slopes won't be as good elsewhere, its really hard.

conno16

a147pro - what airport did you fly to and suggestions for accommodation if you would
thanks a mil

conno16

sorry presumably geneva
reckon it'll be ok for skiing during easter?

a147pro

Yeah Geneva, sorry, I should have said that.

Most of the lads are heading back out in Easter, when I was there it was very sunny and as a consequence the slopes were degrading daily. But you might get lucky and get some snow while you are there or over the next while. I was there last Easter (which was earlier than this year) and got fresh snow and it was pure class, introduced me to the world of off piste which I had ignored previously. Some of my mates went back two weeks after that (i.e. about Easter this year) and insisted on sending me photos of the still fantastic conditions, so you can definitely be lucky. Remember though, Easter will be busy so expect queues.

I found the place I stayed on this website:

http://www.chamonixrentals.com/recherche.php

The place I actually stayed in was owned by the lady who owns this one:

http://www.chamonixrentals.com/fiche.php?id=96&date=&get=a:1:{s:14:"request_method";s:3:"get";}

This one wasn't available but Christine had another which I took then and again this year. Get back on to me and I'll give you her email address if you can't get in touch with her. €90 a night, might be more over Easter, less if you stay longer. Its slap bang in the centre of Chamonix town and beside a bus stop, has a great view of Mont Blanc from the balcony and a bath (very important IMO!), ski-locker downstairs.

Wherever you choose be careful you're not outside the valley or for away, as some of the places on that website are. There's no point being in les Houches for instance as its a bit out of town and you'll have to get two infrequent buses to get to some of the better slopes. The slopes there are the lowest and will thus be the quickest to degrade.

If I went again I'd either stay in Argentiere or Chamonix. Chamonix nice to potter around, Argentiere closer to (IMO) the best slopes - Gran Monte. There are buses about every 10 minutes from 8.30, Argentiere is an easy 10-15 minute bus ride away. If trying to get the first lift get the bus timetable from the very helpful tourist office as they run like clockwork and you just have to be there at the right time (5 mins before to be sure), rather than going down and queuing randomly for 15 - 20 mis which can be annoying. There are a few good slopes in Brevant and Flegere, and the views are worth the journey up, but the slopes are in worse knick there as they face the sun for most of the day, and you won't be able to ski down, so will have to queue at the end of the day to get the lift back. Gran Monte all the way IMO.

Best of luck with it I hope it snows! Bearing in mind the expense, it seems from the threads here that there are lots of cheaper options available ex Geneva or elsewhere so I'd say they're worth a look too if you haven't made your mind up.

LeoD

Got back from Saalbach last Thursday night safe and sound but flew out to Wales the following day for the rugby so only capable of posting now.

Saalbach is amazing. The place has got better since I was there in 2000. I compared piste maps from then and now as I thought there weren't as many drag lifts around this time and I was right. Looks like there are six new chair-lifts and all are heated with bubbles - absolute luxury. I skied Wed & Thu - Wednesday was glorious sunshine all day with snow falling on Thursday. The conditions were perfect, very few people around so no queueing to get on perfectly groomed pistes. I ended up doing that black #1 last thing on Wed and it was fine - not cut up at all. I can't say enough about the place. Normally I'd go to a different resort every year but maybe it's old age or I've finally met 'the one' but I think I might settle down with Saalbach after this.

Overflow

LeoD wrote: »

Got back from Saalbach last Thursday night safe and sound but flew out to Wales the following day for the rugby so only capable of posting now.

Saalbach is amazing. The place has got better since I was there in 2000. I compared piste maps from then and now as I thought there weren't as many drag lifts around this time and I was right. Looks like there are six new chair-lifts and all are heated with bubbles - absolute luxury. I skied Wed & Thu - Wednesday was glorious sunshine all day with snow falling on Thursday. The conditions were perfect, very few people around so no queueing to get on perfectly groomed pistes. I ended up doing that black #1 last thing on Wed and it was fine - not cut up at all. I can't say enough about the place. Normally I'd go to a different resort every year but maybe it's old age or I've finally met 'the one' but I think I might settle down with Saalbach after this.

Yes Saalbach is the biz alright! Ive been there twice now and think ill be heading back quite regularly, I am even considering buying a property over there i love it so much, black number 1 is fun, isn't it! Next time try black number 14 :D Your right about the lifts, the area towards Leogang has a load of new lifts with bubble canopies and heated seats!

Also if you kept your lift card you can enter the number on it on the the Saalbach website and see how many km you skied and how many lifts you took. I think i did 147km in total last time i was there.

LeoD

Did black #14 first thing after lunch on Thursday - great fun. That website is cool too - said I skied 90km over the 2 days. Everything about the place is great though. Even the first pair of boots I tried on in the ski rental shop were perfect - a groovy orange pair of Atomic Hawks - and that has never happened before. After a bit of inspection they looked practically new, not a scratch on them, so I enquired about buying them when giving them back but the guy in the shop said they wouldn't be selling them off for another few weeks so no joy. I didn't get the feeling they were going to be sold for half nothing either. Has anyone here ever purchased used boots?

If you buy a property in Saalbach, can I be your friend?

Imposter

LeoD wrote: »

Did black #14 first thing after lunch on Thursday - great fun. That website is cool too - said I skied 90km over the 2 days. Everything about the place is great though. Even the first pair of boots I tried on in the ski rental shop were perfect - a groovy orange pair of Atomic Hawks - and that has never happened before. After a bit of inspection they looked practically new, not a scratch on them, so I enquired about buying them when giving them back but the guy in the shop said they wouldn't be selling them off for another few weeks so no joy. I didn't get the feeling they were going to be sold for half nothing either. Has anyone here ever purchased used boots?

If you buy a property in Saalbach, can I be your friend?

I was there last weekend too (and this coming one :pac: ). My friend also had comfy boots for the first time ever and asked about buying them - The only guy who was there at the time couldn't sell them but said they'd be about 250! That's a lot for used boots imo. 100-150 would be more reasonable. Have a look online if you know the exact make of the boots.

smythire

i'm going next weekend!:cool:

LeoD

Enjoy - I believe they've had more snow since.

lisalaois

hey guys iv got a question about bindings, i have ski boots: http://www.jumbletown.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=50647 and am looking to get bindings, can you tell me if these are compatible with these???? :
http://www.jumbletown.ie/forums/showthread.php?p=239652&posted=1#post239652