Need advice for holiday

Alexl

Ok so me and a few friends (maybe around 10) are trying to organise a ski trip for the end of February, we were thinking of going to val thoren. And being students are trying to do this as cheaply as possible in terms of accommodation anyway. I was just wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction or give some advise as there are so many options and it's proving quite difficult to find unbiased advise on the subject.
Also Val Thoren was just a suggestion, not a requirement, advise on where to go would also be hugely greatful. I know it seems like a lot, but any tiny bit of help would be hugely appreciated as I have never organised a trip before.
Thanks a lot

bovril

I've never to France skiing but from what I've heard it's probably not the cheapest place you could go skiing if budget is the main thing.

I would suggest have a look at italy (livignio, cervinia) or Austria. Soll is one of the cheapest places in Austria although might not be the best snow reliability wise or suit the ability of your group. You don't specify what general level your group are.

I'd start by having a look at a few of the tour operator sites to give yourself an idea of resorts and approximate prices. The TO route will probably be more expensive than booking yourself but some of the sites will allow you to set up an account and everyone can log on and pay off their holidays in stages.

http://www.wtss.co.uk/ is great for finding out what the resorts are like. The book gives info on transfer times from the different airports.

If you want to book your own holiday as seperates you'll need to price flights to some of the airports near resorts (milan, bergamo, salzburg, munich etc). Pick a resort nearby, go onto the tourist website for the resort and this will give you info on accom, transfers etc.

petethedrummer

Never been to Val Thorens but anyways. The most important things to do are to:

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1. Book Flights.
Find an airport close to your destination.

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2. Book Accommodation.
http://www.valthorens.com/ looks like the official site for the resort.... I've only had a quick look at it. I tend to go with as cheap as possible as you don't spend much time in your accommodation, only to sleep really.

I always try to get somewhere in the centre of whatever resort I'm going to or very close to a lift.

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3. Book Transfer from Airport to Resort.
Sometimes you can get there by public transport or by shuttle buses from airports.

The 'getting here' section of the website gives all the details: http://www.valthorens.com/winter-en/val-thorens/getting-here/by-bus.53.html

Or you could contact the private operators listed here.
http://www.ultimate-ski.com/Ski-Resorts/France/Val_Thorens/Getting_there/index.html

Or create a request here: http://www.ski-transfers.com/
Local taxi and bus companies will give you a price for a transfer.

But on first look, it looks like the shuttle buses are the way to go for you.

Booking ski passes, equipment and insurance can wait till you get the other stuff together. You can actually leave the equipment and passes till you get there, but you might get an online deal if you book in advance.

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Have a look at the tour operator sites you might get a good deal and it might prove to be less hassle to organise.
http://www.crystalski.ie/index.shtml
http://www.inghams.ie/
http://www.topflight.ie/SkiSplash.aspx

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Its a good idea to split the tasks up, as it can take alot of time sorting a holiday out for everyone. Or in my case I'm sorting out a holiday for 11 or 12 people with some more undecided, most of whom I don't know. So I'm not booking accomodation for everyone, I'm giving a list of decent accommodation and let them book themselves.

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When you get there and you want to do something out of the norm, you can find a holiday rep, even if you haven't travelled with their company and book on to some of the activites, night skiing, tabogganning, meals up the mountains, pub crawls and other such tomfoolery. If you want.

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As for recommending a resort, the best I know for apres ski and night life are Val d'Isere in France and St Anton in Austria. Salbaach and Ischgl in Austria are supposed to be great too.

They're not bible but have a read of these
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/nov/23/skiing.bars
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/jan/19/skiing.apresski.bars

EileenG

Val Thorens is one of the most expensive resorts in France, and it's hard to find a cheap way of doing it. However, one option would be to look up the UCPA centers which cater to young people skiing in France. Also check out the youth hostels, which provide all-in packages and good craic. www.fuaj.org.

If you speak any bit of French at all, you'll save a lot of money by looking for one of the less well known resorts. How good is your skiing?

levi

Val Thorens is the cheapest resort in the 3 valleys - Les Menuires is cheap enough too. I've been to both. 6 of us went and it didn't cost more than €650 each for flight, transfer, apartment, lift pass and rental for a week in January. PM if you want anymore details

Alexl

Wow! Thank you all so much. I am overwhelmed by the amazing response first of all. With regards to level, we would all be of a reasonable level. I would probably be the worst in the group and I am just between red and black slopes in terms of level. And as a group we would have quite good french, probably to conversation standard, so will deffo check out the more obscure resorts also. I will look into all of this information and let you know how I go, just in case I do something blatantly stupid that needs correcting ha ha but hope that wont happen. Again cannot thank all of you enough!