Ski resort close to Geneva. Think cheap, cheap, cheap. Help!

[fakenamefornow]

OK, booked flights to Geneva but nothing else yet. We are a family of five with children at 8, 9 and 11 we need-

High/snow sure as we're going early in the season.
Able to get to/from with public transport from Geneva airport
Children are first time skiing so we don't need big resort .
Cheap lift passes, fine if it's only for a small area.
Ski school for the children.
Self catering accommodation.

Anyone else had this criteria last year who can guide us? Feeling overwhelmed with all the options.

When you say 'early' what do you mean?

Praz de lys Sommard or Morillion might suit though not high.

There is little public transport from Geneva to ski resorts though many ski transfer operators who run minibuses up and down the mountain all day long. Alpybus, Skiddy Gonzales etc.

Chalets direct is a good place to start looking for accomodation but also look directly on the resort websites for accomodation, eg Les Gets.

Lift passes in the big resorts are expensive but even in the small resorts, they can be quite a lot.

Ski schools marketed directly to English speakers can be up to double the price per hour of ESF. ESI are worth looking at as an alternative.

Avoriaz?

I'm not sure that "Cheap cheap cheap" and Geneva will really go together. Is there a reason it has to be Geneva?

When are you thinking of going?

Lunde is right. Can you save up a but more between now and then ?

Skiing for a family of 5 is never an easy ask.

I think Italy would be better. Try and find a village resort and it will be much cheaper than the big French ones.

Have a look on snow finder and check for the small resorts.

Near Geneva will never be cheap, is there a reason you booked flights to a location you have no plans for?

For first time cheap skiing I would be heading to Andorra or Austria or even Bulgaria.

Very little ski areas are accessible by public transport from Airport into resort. You would need to book a ski taxi transfer

Alibis is the public bus service but for five people it might be cheaper to get private transfer anyway. But check the web site gor prices put diff resorts in
I used themountainrescue.Com

www.altibus.com

Click on English at the top for English version they do cheaper tickets for under 16

Oh, thread's come back to life! I'll check out the transport links. We've booked accommodation in Avoriaz now.

Avoriaz is pretty high. When are you going? The last 2 Christmasses have been a bit iffy to say the least.

If you've booked then this is probably too late, but we were in the same situation last year (flew out to Geneva on 21st Dec) and went to Cervinia. 3 children, 1st time skiing with them and wanted cheap. It was amazing. Not public transport though (hired a car from Geneva but it was an easy drive).

One other thing I should have said - look into private lessons. I found (certainly with 3 children) that there was little difference between private lessons and ski school. They got so much more out of the private lessons (no waiting around, queues etc).

I would say Avoriaz too but Christmas can be dicey in terms of weather. Book a transfer with one of any number of transfer companies. (One called Ski Transfers based in Les Gets)