Snow board/Ski trip without travel agent

Freethinker

Hi,

My self and my mates are tryin to book a snow holiday somewhere in europe this year without going down the travel agent route for once.

We will all need snow board/ski rental.

Has anyone constructed their own ski hol flights, ski pass, rental, chalet, travel from airport etc.

If you have and it was successful could you please let me know the details of your trip.

Thanks

Relevant

One thing to watch out for when booking your trip is airport transfers. Where an airport looks convenient and has cheap flights it is important to check out how much it will cost to get to the restort from the airport. Nobody wants to have to fork out 400quid for a taxi to the restort.

Fattes

Freethinker :It is easily done depending on where you want to go. FlightsRyainar/Aerlingus: Tons of snow access and well served airports especially for France/Austria and Italy Poor Lugage allowance and ski chargesTransfers:Most major resorts have good links and established transfer companies in airports that surround them. Hotels/Chalets and some appartment owners can provide transfers sometimes at no extra cost always worth asking when working out the price of accom. If you are feeling really brave you could alwasy ask a travel company bus going to your resort and tip the rep a €50 for your transfer! Accom: With TO dropping bookings and abandoning Chalets it will be easier this year to get accom at good rates through the year. Most resorts have a tourist office that can provide a list of apartments/hotels etcRental:Again either the torist office will give you a list or you can hit the web and search the town allot of the shops/bars/hotels will include other local business on there links siteAllot of information can be gathered from TO brochures in terms of Airport transfer times hotels and places to stay and rental shops and the rest is just web searches and mailing your choice. Happy shoppingCouple of websites that might help youNatives.co.ukSnowheads.comSkiclub.co.uk

Snowie

figure out where you want to go and then decide My friend owns a chalet in one resort I dunno if you want the website address but if you do il send it to you shes pretty chilled out and good fun

davmol

I thought about the idea of booking my own trip previously but i always found the last minute deals cheaper and less hassle to book than doing my own custom holiday.
We met a great gang who was involved with crystal the last time we travelled and most times the gang we hang around with on ski trips we met through the travel agent while travelling/joinging in on nights out etc organised by the TRav agent.
im sure you could do it cheaper but ive always found hte ease of using agents alot more attractive.

av8rirl

This is what we did last Jan...

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Soll (Familienregion WILDER KAISER - Skifahren Tirol - Österreich) in Austria? I'm going out on 17 Jan. You can fly into Salzburg (1hour from Soll, fly with Ryanair) or Munich (1.5hours from Soll, fly with Aer Lingus).

Costs are as follows:
Flight (Salzburg): €83 return
Transfer: Approx €30 each way
Accom: €34pppn B&B in the Mirabell (Mirabell) Its basic but clean and is right in the centre of town. I've stayed there the last 5 years.
Lift Pass: €181.50 (Skiing area: SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser - Brixental - WILDER KAISER - ski resorts Austria, Tyrol) You may be able to get a 10% discount depending on where you stay.
Ski/Boot Hire: €72.50 (SKI, BOARDS & BOOTS BY SKICENTER STOLL) You may get cheaper elsewhere but these have the best range of gear.
Insurance: Approx €15 (JustCover.ie Travel Insurance)

Conditions - I've never had a bad year in the last 6 years that I've been going there... (Livecam - WILDER KAISER - ski resorts Austria, Tyrol)

Nightlife is pretty good and eating out pretty cheap.

Now thats all your homework done for you!

Friends that booked thru a travel agent paid €1400 for the same trip!!!
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Good skiing. Good nightlife... No hassles with flights and transfers. My bro works for Ryanair and at the moment they may or may not fly into Salzburg this year. Best bet is probably to fly Aer Lingus to Munich and get the train or organise collection (the B&B can sort this locally). Alternatively wait a while until Ryanair show their winter schedule and see if they fly to Salzburg.

Thats just a suggestion... you can go to any resort you want around Europe... as some other poster has said... check out the transfers... you don't want to fork out another few hundred quid on transfers... and you don't really want to be travelling another 4 or 5 hours after the flight... well I don't!!!

ShayK1

I've been going to Oberstdorf for the passed 3 years. Never used a travel agent. I've posted lots of info here. The only thing I've changed is I now fly to Munich with Aerlingus instead of flying to Freidrichshafen (sp?) with ryanair.

loobylou

ShayK1 wrote: »

I've been going to Oberstdorf for the passed 3 years. Never used a travel agent. I've posted lots of info here. The only thing I've changed is I now fly to Munich with Aerlingus instead of flying to Freidrichshafen (sp?) with ryanair.

was looking at Oberstdorf for family next year, Ryanair fly to Mmengen (or similar) which looks to be on a direct train route to resort.

am i bovvered

We are flying to Memmingem this year with Ryanair.... cannot wait

EileenG

Haven't used a travel agent for years. If in doubt, fly to Paris or Zurich or Frankfurt or Turin, and get a train to the resort you are interested in. Once in the station, you can always get a local bus or taxi if necessary.

It's very easy to book hotels and stuff yourself. If you are going to France, take a look for organisations like FUAJ.org which is the French youth hostels or UCPA.fr which will do everything for you. They provide full board, accommodation, usually ski pass, ski hire, lessons and craic. Usually not five star luxury, but great for families and on a budget!

Keep an eye on Ryanair, they often have flights to weird little airports you never thought of, but which are close to interesting skiing and at non-tourist prices.

For what it's worth, I highly recommend www.cis-valcenis.com for a family.

tech

Aerlingus fly to Salzburg this year!!

flikflak

Apart from the first ski holiday I have always booked mine independantly. Usually narrow it down to where I want to go then look for apartments and flights.

I mostly use Homelidays and holiday lettings for the apartments and will fly with whoever is the cheapest. I then hire a car and go to resort. Simple.

Last year to Morzine we flew to Geneva then jumped in our hire cars and within an hour we were in our apartment.

cheapskate

Same here, last 3 years I've gone independent to Italy (Livigno, Passo del tonale) with my mates (3)
We fly aer lingus to Milan Linate (first year ryanair bergamo), hire a rental car €200/3 isn't too bad and you have the use of the car for the week + leave the hotel after breakfast on the last day (instead of 4am like some tour companies) as you booked that later flight!
Always book a hotel half board and hotels normally arrange a good rate for ski hire/lessons
Take the stress out of ski holidays, book your own (Like probably most people, got ripped off by too many reputable tour companies)

CS

onimpulse

We've booked everything ourselves for the past few years but last year we realised in hindsight it would have been cheaper to do a package...

It's very easy though. Book your flights, most resorts have their own website which will tell you what the nearest airports are and the transfer options from there - we've gone by train the last few years. Just book your seats if you can - it usually doesn't cost any extra and it saves you sitting in an aisle if the train is busy as it can be to ski resorts that time of year.

After than just google accommodation - most places have their own websites these days so it's dead easy!

I really enjoy not getting all the rubbish the travel agents try to sell you - but you do have to do a bit of work yourself so you know whats on. Again, the resort website is usually a good place to start...

erinn

myself and my boyfriend went that way last year...

we went to kaprun in Austria we booked a b&b with english owners, flights with aerlingus and got transferes when we arrived.

ski hire ect at the moment will be easy to get over there (once there is more then one ski rental shop) and thats what we did...you can however book before you go if ya want just google them.

an easy way to check if you'll get airport transferes easy is if tour opperators go to the area...chrystal do packages to kaprun and thats how we knew we'd be able to book on to a bus when we got there and it was grand cause we were only on the bus 20mins before we left the airport. some times chrystal will let you book onto one of their buses but not always...you have to give them a ring a few days before!

depending on where you want to go there is sites for chalets an places that are for rent and you can book rooms or the whole thing out.

LeoD

Organised own trip to Sauze d'Oulx last season. A bit of hassle getting from airport to hotel - a bus, a train and finally a taxi. Only when we got to the hotel did we find out that the hotel run a taxi service and would have collected us at the airport so if you book accomodation beforehand, check to see if they'll collect you from the airport. Got the hotel taxi back to the airport a week later, easy-peasy.