Advice needed -mid week ski

Pinky123

Hi,
I am hoping to get some advice on booking a 3 night ski break in late Jan /Feb. I am a complete novice at this but my husband has skied a couple of times in the states. We can go mid week and are hoping to fly out of cork if that is at all possible! Budget is not huge but it's hubbies 40th BDay present. I am not fussy what country we go to but do want decent accommodation.
All advice is really appreciated.

fct

a 3 night ski break out of Cork will be difficult to find.
Might be worth checking for a flight Cork - Munich (Aer Lingus operates one Wednesdays and Saturdays).
And then head to Skiwelt (www.skiwelt.at/en) either by renting a car or taking a train.
Some (other) resorts close to Munich can be found here <click>

Fiachra2

I woudl agree that will be difficult.

If you can manage the time you would probabaly get a week in Bulgaria for the same money as you will spend and you will get 6 days skiing instead of 2

Pinky123

Flying out of Cork is not essential, we can do Dublin either. We can only do 3 nights as this is as much baby sitting we can wrangle out of the clan .......

EileenG

DIY it. Book flights to a suitable ski area, then look for a hotel or Pension for your dates. Most apartments etc will be booked up, but you should be able to get a decent hotel, especially as you are not going during the school holiday.

there is no reason why you need to do it as an organised thing. It's very easy to hire your own skis etc without a tour operater telling you where to go.

Pinky123

EileenG wrote: »

DIY it. Book flights to a suitable ski area, then look for a hotel or Pension for your dates. Most apartments etc will be booked up, but you should be able to get a decent hotel, especially as you are not going during the school holiday.

there is no reason why you need to do it as an organised thing. It's very easy to hire your own skis etc without a tour operater telling you where to go.

Defiantly sounds like our kind of thing, any suggestions on where would be a good spot, resorts etc.

EileenG

Well, if I were doing a short ski thing, I'd probably go to Bourg St Maurice in France. It's a market down, with a lot of hotels that don't automatically do week to week, and it's got access to some great skiing.

The funi for Les Arcs which has skiing for all standards, goes up from the end of the train station. There's a good ski hire shop right beside the funi as well.

If you get a decent flight, Arabba in Italy is two hours away from Trevisa airport, and has cheap hotels and access to amazing skiing.

I've had great ski breaks in Andermatt in Switzerland. Fly into Zurick and a train ride there. High snow sure skiing, friendly but not touristy. And I've always wanted to ski Engleberg, also a train ride from Zurich.

That's personal preference, I'm sure lots of other Boardsies have their own favourites.

Fiachra2

Aer Lingus to daily flights to Geneva and swiss fly to Zurich. You can acess an awful lot of resorts from either of those airports. I have never done teh Munich thing but I understand thats fairly painless. Also Ryanair do flights to a range of French cities which again allow access to a range of resorts.
Given you are short on time proabably best to keep it simple so possibly avoid Ryanair in case the deliver you to the wrong airport a day late and maybe go for something that a lot of other people do for example Chamonix from Geneva. There is a regular and relativly short bus journey from airport to resort.

Pinky123

Fiachra2 wrote: »

Aer Lingus to daily flights to Geneva and swiss fly to Zurich. You can acess an awful lot of resorts from either of those airports. I have never done teh Munich thing but I understand thats fairly painless. Also Ryanair do flights to a range of French cities which again allow access to a range of resorts.
Given you are short on time proabably best to keep it simple so possibly avoid Ryanair in case the deliver you to the wrong airport a day late and maybe go for something that a lot of other people do for example Chamonix from Geneva. There is a regular and relativly short bus journey from airport to resort.

Exactly the info I need, thank you. Will check it all out.

a148pro

There is a website called jet 2ski.com or something like that which lists various airports and how far they are from various ski resorts, look at that with cork airport website and see what your options are. Ex dublin geneva is prob best option, with a good few resorts within 90 mins of there. Avoriaz or morzine sound like good options for you, or the three valleys maybe. Chamonix is prob the nicer town and the more dramatic setting but the skiing is less accessible to notices. Zurich also a good option.

Two mini tips for you - if renting a car get winter tires, if there's a lot of fresh snow on the roads consider getting chains but winter tires will prob be good enough for most conditions. If renting in geneva rent from the french side of the airport and you'll get them as standard (I think - its either the french or the swiss side! Pretty sure its the french...)

Secondly, if you're only booking for a few days you may find a lot of places slow to get back to your enquiries. This is because most places will hold out to try and get a full week's booking - if they take yours they'll lose the other days of that week. So don't be afraid if you can't get anywhere, in the last few days before you go you'll them have lots of options. This may not be a problem for you if you're booking higher end accommodation anyway. Also most resorts have their own websites with centralized booking systems. These are usually very helpful and will produce more results than established accommodation booking websites.

As per resort like eileen i'd love to go to engelberg, its supposed to be small and character full. I think you can also get there by train from one or other of the swiss airports. But the main attractions there, for me anyway, would be the off piste. If you're lookin for somewhere semi romantic zermatt is supposed to be good, I had two friends who went there for a mini honeymoon.

If you search for a website called we love 2 ski.com or something like that you'll find extensive reviews of resorts. I've found them very accurate and helpful in the past. Would link to it but I'm on the phone here and Typing this is hard enough!

Fiachra2

Here is another idea if you do go to munich try Garmisch

http://www.skiing.ie/ski-resorts/munich-day-trip/

I have been there in the summer and its quite big and I would imagine enough skiing for a couple of days.

I have skiied Engleberg and its nice but nothing special.(and its very small) It has a glacier so its a safe bet if you are going in the spring.

Here's the link for weloveto ski. Their reviews are very comprehensive. I think they are the people that used to do the Audi ski guide

http://welove2ski.com/

I would agree on chamonix that its a bit messy but if you just go to one place and dont try and ski the whole valley its fine.

Zermatt is epic and very beautiful but not cheap Its more like something you'd do for a wedding anniversary and Im guessing as it's his 40th he just wants to ski all day and then have a rake of swallies in the afternoon-an expensive occupation in Zermatt.

(come to think of it as its his 40th you could always let him away for a week with a gang of lads........)
And on that note it will bow out before things start to get thrown!:D