What are the cheapest companies for ski holidays

[WomblingWriggles]

DH and I used to be avid skiers, until the arrival of the dc. The dc are now old enough to be left, but not old enough to really enjoy a serious ski holiday.

Unfortunately, of course, money is tight at the moment. What are the best companies and resorts to look at for cheap ski holidays?

We are pretty serious skiers, so although Bulgaria sounds great, there probably wouldn't be enough skiing for us.

We are happy to drive or fly, book apartments independantly or book a package holiday.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

As there are only two of you, your best bet is to book last minute. Look at Iglu for deals. DH and I did this all the time prior to DD being born.

I think you will find with there only being two of you driving will not be the cheaper option by the time you have paid for crossing, fuel and tolls.

Rocket ski. Esprit deals but dont have child care or their lessons . iglu deals . Ifyouski deals Skibound deals, Skiworld deals

Here's some tips on Peak Retreats website.
www.peakretreats.co.uk/ski/budget-skiing.htm
If you are putting together your own package, it might be a good idea to pick resorts near to airports where cheap airlines fly such as Geneva or Grenoble.

Here's a few cheap French package companies. The first link is to a company where you can choose apartments only, full board or AI in many of their resorts. AI includes all accommodation, food, lift passes, ski hire, sometimes guided skiing, children's clubs. The only thing a French AI package does not normally include is ski school which would cost from 90? a week.

www.capvacances.fr/

www.villagesclubsdusoleil.com/

Loads and loads and loads of French companies which own "residences" throughout France which are usually rented by families as they often have indoor pools and other family friendly facilities. About the cheapest is Goélia and Solieilvacances. Also Residhotel, Pierre et Vacances, Odalys, CGH, MGM.

We always set a budget, for travel, accommodation, ski hire, ski passes, 4 * ski school, food at around 400? each for the week, that's around £350 each, in last 3 years the first week of Easter. You may just about manage that target if you do your own package.

If it's just the two of you I rent my place out. I can send you a PM with details if you like. It's in one of the top European resorts so amazing skiing and v good value as I'm just trying it this year to see If I can cover my costs.

I would check where the snow is and take it from there loads of lower resorts suffering so I have heard...

I think it depends where you want to go and when. If you have the time and energy I would sign up to all the big company newsletters as they often sell distressed flights and beds at bargain prices at this time of year if you can go last minute. The week beginning 26/03/11 seems to be a good option for this season and the Italian resorts seem currently to have better conditions than some of the rest of the Alps. In terms of apartments though be careful as the big companies often charge under occupancy supplements whereas companies such as ernalow.co.uk just charge you for the accommodation so you could either choose a studio 2 to keep costs at an absolute minimum or maybe go mad and pay for a little bit of extra space...

Just remember how expensive eating out is in France, Austria, etc. So if you do it yourself and do self catering you're going to need to cook rather than eat out. And take as much food from the UK with you as possible, even the supermarkets are very expensive compared to here.

We went with Esprit earlier this year - £999 per adult, DD was cheaper. This included flights, hotel and food. We couldn't have done it cheaper even self catering I don't think. The AA say if you drive down you're looking at about £500 for ferry, diesel and tolls. Then the is the cost of extra insurance for the car and european breakdown (£13 a day for the breakdown).

Great advice, thankyou everyone. I think a few other people are also keen, so we may be able to get a group of 6-8 people.

Try this one

The search is a bit crap, you think you found a good deal then you go to book and it is for a group of 10, but it is cheap.