Skiing in 2023

Argo foc yourself

Looking for a ski holiday with teenager for 4 nights/3 days. Looking at booking myself as prices are expensive. Possibly Italy. Open to other suggestions. Anybody give any good resorts please with plenty of blue runs/ski school, village, easy transfer/accessibility. Will book flights direct from Dublin. All help greatly appreciated.

slightybonkers

Fly to Turin, head up to Aosta/Pila. Or head to Sauze d'Oulx.

Both accessible by train or bus if you don't want to rent a car.

Otherwise fly to Munich and head to Austria. Lots of great ski areas within 2hrs or 2.5hrs, by train or very easy driving either.

Accommodation is not widely available outside the sat to sat weekly booking, but you will find something to suit if you look around

trashcan

Westendorf ticks pretty much all your boxes there as regard runs, ski school, close to village etc. Wouldn’t say it’s cheap though, and have never self booked, so I can’t really advise on that score. There is a train station outside the village though, so flights to Salzburg, or Munich, and then train might be an option.

randombar

Hi all,

Looking to do similar myself for Feb mid term with 2 kids (9 and 6). 15th to 19th or 15th to 20th.

What are the best options for us from Cork? I heard previously that it's cheaper in Bulgaria / Poland but I could be way off.

I can't see them doing a massive amount of skiing as their first time at it and stuff so would prefer to do this on a budget to see what they think of it.

Thanks.

strmin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119934775#Comment_119934775

Poland would be a good budget option. Easy hills for beginners. Cheap lift passes and ski rental. The only thing missing is extensive skiing areas. Be prepared to repeat the same slopes over and over again. Wasn't an issue for me when I started skiing and really enjoyed it.

randombar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119938757#Comment_119938757

That definitely wouldn't be an issue. Any idea of locations in Poland?

strmin

If the purpose of your trip is skiing only, then Bialkatatrzanska would suit you. If you want some other activities as well, I would recommend staying in Zakopane. It's really nice in winter. A few small ski slopes around it. And plenty do while on a break from skiing.

randombar

Looking at the flights, ryanair fly direct to Poznan and Gadansk, looks like a different end of the country from what I can see.

A1Son

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119934775#Comment_119934775

Not much options flying out of Cork for a budget friendly. You really don't want to travel from Gdansk or Poznan to Zakopane. Better option would be fly to Carcassonne and get up to Andorra. The majority of resorts are going to be busy around mid term, so ski in / ski out would be best. The kids probably won't progress any further than 2 or 3 slopes (depends on the slopes though) for their 1st time with just 3 days to practice, so small resorts will still be great fun.

randombar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119949868#Comment_119949868

Stupid question but what does ski in ski out mean?

A1Son

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119949932#Comment_119949932

Generally @randombar it means accommodation either beside the slopes or beside a lift station. Very handy for busy weeks with kids. Always a little more pricey, but worth it imo.

a148pro

Barcelona a good option too. I brought my kids last year and went to a small resort called La Molina just under two hours from Barcelona airport. Good for children, really cheap even though it was mid term. Its quiet mid week but gets a lot of day visitors at weekend from the cities. The one thing to note is when I was there there wasn't much natural snow, so it was somewhat unattractive to more seasoned adult skiers, skiing streaks of artificial white down an otherwise brown mountain. But its naturally white for its opening weekend at the moment and I imagine is white for most of the season. There are quite a few gentle runs at the bottom of the mountain which are ideal for kids learning. All they really want is a long driveway type slope, snow, artificial or otherwise, and gravity. We got a private instructor for very reasonable price and he was excellent.

If they don't like the skiing that much you can always retreat to Barcelona, or do a two location holiday as, personally, I think 3 - 4 days skiing is enough and there should be an abundance of coastal or city accommodation available at short notice at that time of year.

In general the Pyrenees are good value. Girona would also be an airport option if that's available ex Cork, or Toulouse, Lourdes and maybe even Bilbao for other resorts at the other side of the Pyrenees.

randombar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119955074#Comment_119955074

that's great, I'll look into Barcelona so and see what we can do there.

randombar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119955074#Comment_119955074

Any advice for rental there? Did you have much gear heading over?

a148pro

We had clothes and I had boots, but otherwise kitted the kids out with boots, helmets and skis in resort at the foot of it. I don't remember the gear being great but it was perfect for the kids and the staff were good with them. All resorts are the same in that regard though, there's always rentals at the bottom of the main lifts.

That resort is linked to a resort called Masela too so there might be more accomodation options. You can also go further up the Pyrennees in another half hour or so, to Soldeu and the other resorts in Andorra. There are a lot of options its just a matter of picking one.

randombar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119959075#Comment_119959075

Turns out there's a lot of destinations that don't start till after Feb from Cork.

Might need to look at Dublin all right.

johonnyboy

Is it too late to be booking now? Myself and two daughters (16&13) and possibly the 10 year old. All accommodation in Austria looking close to 1k for a week, plus flights, car hire/gear rental etc. Packages still available seem just as cheap without the hassle.

randombar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119967320#Comment_119967320

I've been checking the packages and everyone seems to be a week long when I need just a few days. . .

a148pro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119967320#Comment_119967320

If its the same price I'd definitely go package. Would be nice to be looked after for a change. But I prefer the flexibility of DIY and like a shorter break than a full week.

sheesh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119967582#Comment_119967582

friends of mine did a few days in westendorf got the hotel near the train station so it was not walking distance to the lifts https://goo.gl/maps/XvmvkjYSsuY5KHCK7 they got a few days there

Dial Hard

Just booked Trysil for next Sunday to Thursday. Very last minute but the snow just looked too good to pass up. We were there last January and it's the best skiing I've ever done. Unbelievably long runs. Of course, the trade-off is that you feel like you're going to freeze to death on the lifts up, they take so long, but it's worth it, imo.