To think a family ski trip for £5k is possible?

[Bizzle123]

Is this possible?

Two kids, two adults, one week ski holiday (Alps) during Feb half term, for £5k all in.

By all in, I mean flights, transfers, accommodation (fairly basic but close to lifts, self-catered), ski hire, ski pass, morning ski school for the kids.

If I’m being unreasonable, what should I be budgeting? Any tips to keep costs down?

Serfaus in Austria (we go there every year). Transfers through https://www.tirol-taxi.at/ who cover all the Austrian ski resorts. It's technically a shared transfer, but we tend to find that as it's only 70 minutes from Innsbruck airport and as we tend to be the only ones going to Serfaus that it mostly ends up being a private transfer anyway!

We’ve done it by driving and self catering but didn’t use ski school.

We spent more than £5k once - it was an all inclusive hotel with a spa not advertised on UK sites. Fabulous. But normally our ski holidays in half term come in less than that. They take a bit of planning, but perfectly doable.

We are booked already for next year, to a SkiStar Scandinavian resort. Accommodation is £1500, lift passes will be £900, car hire and fuel £500, flights £400, ski hire for kids (adults own our skis) £200. We are sharing the self catering with 2 other families booked in the same block of accommodation and not eating out so expecting to pay about £300 for food and drink for the week. This totals £3800 for 2 adults and 2 teenagers. Spending money for the odd hot chocolate and beer unlikely to come in at £1200!

This year we booked small hotels in France, staying in the Portes de Soleil region. We were only a party of 3, so we booked a triple room. Self catering apartments were available for 4 for a similar price if booked further in advance. This cost £1600. Flights were £450 (flying out on the Monday cut costs considerably, as most people fly weekend to weekend, but they could have been cheaper if we’d booked sooner.) Car hire and fuel £400. Lift passes £800. Ski hire £100. Food and drink most expensive as we are out every day £1500, would have been cheaper in self catering. Total £4350.

Andorra - a place I know well. We sold our self catering apartment there a few years ago because you just couldn’t fill it, even at low prices. The market is flooded with basic self catering out there. Flights to Barcelona for next year coming in at under £100 pp. You can get a decent flat for £1800. Lift passes £800. Car hire cheapest in Europe (I’ve just got back from Barcelona, we paid £140 for an estate car for a week.) Supermarkets dirt cheap, expect to be able to live well self catering for under £400 for the week. Ski hire £100 pp. Total before spending money - about £4000.

Get away from the idea you have to go to a big resort on a package holiday and you’ll find lots of affordable ways of doing things.

Some years we’ve used our Tesco club card vouchers to pay for eurotunnel tickets and driven to the alps, staying in a F1 motorway hotel on the way for £50 and taking lots of borrowed equipment and food with us. Other years we’ve taken the kids out of school. Other years we’ve waited till last minute and bought whatever packages were on special offer (need nerves of steel for this though, in case there’s nothing left. A situation which hasn’t happened yet though.)

Lots of ways. You just have to put a bit of effort in.

If Easter is early again then snow can still be good and usually cheaper than feb half term

You could drive to Austria and do self catering at that price. In Austria the accommodation tends to be on the valleys with lifts that take you up to the ski zones. That means there isn't a monopoly for accommodation like you get in French resorts.

We drove and stayed in a pension in the mayrhoffen valley.

From London, it took 14 hours door to door using the ferry. I think I'd recommend using the tunnel with the Flexi Pass option. You get to use any train and can jump the queues.

Because you're in the valleys, there's less risk of being snowed in and no need to drive on potentially dangerous winding roads with big drops.

We've gone at Easter before and driven there, both of which keep it cheaper.
Stayed in a nice chalet in Samoens, France and booked through Peak Retreats.

We've found flights can be really expensive saturday-saturday flying to France over half term, but if you fly Friday to Friday you can get cheap flights. It does mean you miss the last day of ski school. We paid 6k for 5 of us last time. Definitely doable.

Thanks for all the replies. I’ve got some hope from those people saying it’s doable, and I’ll check out all the suggestions people have made.

Or this company is meant to offer good value www.interski.co.uk/ or check out UCPA that offer all inclusive breaks or if you're happy to go in a big group snowheads forum organises some cheap trips including family ones.

Easter is too late for decent chance of snow next year.

£5 is pushing it for half term. It used to be possible a couple of years ago. We've booked a chalet for £2.5k for 8. Flights will be £1.5k on top (just for us 4 - other family will drive). Transfers can be a killer, £600-£1000

We've been to Bulgaria the past 3 years in February half term. £1100 each. It was a package and included flights, transfers, bed and breakfast, 5* hotel, ski passes and lessons. We were beginners when we started so the resort suited us then we loved it so much have returned.

We went over new year to one of the lesser known 3 Valleys villages. For our family of 5 (preteens/older primary):

Self catering accommodation with pool on site: 1800
6 day family ski pass: 1500
Equipment rentals: 350
3 days ski school for 3 kids (together with a private instructor for 2 hours/day): 600
Petrol/tolls/food on the road: 300 round trip
Food/drinks/treats on the mountain: 500ish over the course of the week

= 4800

That price doesn’t include self-catering food off the mountain (breakfasts and dinners). We drove as we live just a few hours away, so our transport costs are quite low

I thought that was a bargain actually, considering we’re quite a big family and the 3 valleys is on the more expensive side as a region to stay and ski, but it really does depend on several factors:

• how nice and/or well-located your accommodation is
• whether or not you self-cater and how strict you are about spending on mountain food and drinks (we ski with a backpack of snacks and a thermos of tea to keep meals out to just once/day, and even then we still end up spending more than we intend!)
• how you get there
• how old your kids are, how many of them there are, and if you want them in ski school
• how much gear you already own and therefore don’t need to rent
• when you go

I think prices for accommodation have really jumped in the last 2-3 years. It is absolutely peak price for the Christmas/New Year holiday and Feb half term. If you can go in mid January or March, you will save thousands on accommodation.

If you have your own gear, drive, go to a cheap resort, go out of peak time, kids don’t need school, and you self cater in a humble apartment that’s a bit of a drive or ski bus ride from the slope, then you can go for a fraction of the cost.

@mitogoshi Sadly Scottish snow just isn’t reliable any more, I wish it was! But it’s a great option if you haven’t booked anything and conditions are good.

OP others have covered it but yes definitely. Our friends did Bulgaria this year for £4k… I can’t recall if that included meals or not but I doubt you’d spend a grand on a week of meals in Bulgaria anyway (they were S/C)

It’s all very well saying drive but we find that easily costs £1000 with petrol, tolls, ferry and an extra night somewhere on the way. Essential if you live 6hours away from Kent. Also self catering in a resort can be really expensive. Easy to spend €100+ euros on a not very big shop if you’re trapped using resort supermarkets.
Ski school is another big expense but if you don’t need that anymore you can save €250/person.
We did it for £1000/person but took the kids out of school last year.

Not strictly accurate. catered chalets rarely include lunches and included alcohol is usually just wine with dinner. Also there is the ‘chalet girls night off’ when you are expected to go out to eat.
As others have pointed out prices rise significantly during half term whether continental or UK.

@TrickyD

Sorry I wasn't clear about "all food and drink" in the chalets.
You're correct, lunched usually aren't included in a chalet because it's assumed you're on the mountain.

Our Chalet hosts this year let us use their facilities to cook on their night off, which was nice.

And alcohol-wise , everywhere we've gone it's been beer & local wine included: there's a fridge with a free-for-all, not just at dinner.

But chalets differ. I can only share my experiences

It's definitely doable. We've always come in around the 5k mark for family of 4. Have always done DIY and not a package. Book cheap flights early, EJ or Ryanair. We tend to go to Italy or Austria rather than France as tends to be cheaper. Sure you won't get ski in ski out in Val d'Isere but it's definitely achievable.

Yes WelcomeToMonkeyTown, being able to cook on Chalet girls’ night off is a very welcome saving for big family.
We’ve never been lucky enough to have the ‘open fridge’ system, an honesty bar at best.

What level are the skiers at OP? Do you need 100s of kms of runs, or are you happy pootling on the same 40km of slopes? If the latter, then I would look at Bergfex or similar, to find a resort that is local, and therefore much cheaper. You'll need to organise transport and accommodation yourself, whixh is easy these days. In this vein I can recommend St Lary Soulan, Les Angles (both french pyrenees), Panticosa (Spain), Lofer (Austria) and Are, which is in Sweden, but can be surprisingly cheap at Easter as you can get 5 night midweek deals through skistar (i once stayed in a four person chalet for £150 for the midweek).