Future half term planning - want to avoid France! Got any ideas?

[Muchtoomuchtodo]

Thinking well ahead and we'll be needing to ski during school holidays. Possibly Christmas but probably February half term.

I'm keen to find out about places that we've not previously considered and try to take advantage of cheaper flights to non-skiing specific airports. I don't want to spend the week standing in queues for lifts. Up until now we've always stayed in catered chalets and we enjoy that set up but, as the dc will be older, hotels or self catering apartments are more of an option.

Sierra Nevada and The Dolomites spring to mind but I know nothing about these areas - are they snow sure, what are the ski areas, lift pass prices, ski schools etc like?

Are there any other places that I should look into?

Would definitely recommend Austria (the Gurgls are great) or if the budget can stretch Switzerland. I was chalet girl in the Troubs Vallees and would never bother to go back. Austria is lovely and organised. The Austrians ate good at organising their resorts and they teach the children well. Switzerland is the gold standard as they’ve worked it all out and set it up well. Yes they are not felxibke when you want to do something different but to be honest, they’ve got it so sorted Id just go with it. Pistes are always great, transport is spot on abd ski school is the best. Our children adore Switzerland. We have taken them to France but bizarrely their comment was that Swiss Ski School is far stricter but far more fun and they learnt a lot more.

Sorry that was Trois Vallees. My spell checker was being overly bossy!

I wouldn't rule out France all together.

We've done Serre Chevalier a couple of times at half term and it was absolutely fine crowds wise - probably because it's a bit harder to reach. This Easter we're going to Montgenevre which is close to the Italian border and seems to have a good selection of reasonably priced self catering accommodation .

I'd priced up a few non France recommendations and the thing I'd say is to make sure you factor everything in - so lift pass, car hire, accommodation costs, ski hire - before you make a decision. I was quite keen to try out Baqueira in Spain based on a Mumsnetters recommendation, but when I priced it up, it would have cost us £5000 for the week, even though the flights were only £500 of that, whereas I could go to Serre Chevalier where everything costs £3000 although flights make up £1k of that.

I'm doing neither - instead I'm going to get up mega early the morning the EasyJet Feb half term flights are issued and hope to get something reasonable that way .

The Trois Vallees have moved on I suspect - I was in Courchevel a few years ago during Paris/UK half term and it was absolutely great. Loads of high speed lifts and there is just so much skiing (500+km of piste) there is plenty of room for everyone. IMO you can't compare it with somewhere like Obergurgl which is high, bleak and fairly limited (100km of piste?) but great if you want to travel at Easter or happy to take your time pottering about. Horses for courses I guess. I am also a fan of Switzerland but only because I am limited by wrap around childcare packages etc.

Hi Mumtofourandnomore
Interested in Are for Easter 2019 so any advice would be appreciated. It looks like currently Norwegian fly quite late on a Sunday and I was worried about the stress of driving/arriving that late at night, or staying in a hotel and driving the following day.
Also how are food/drink prices?
Many Thanks

I loved Sweden when we went a few years ago on the recommendation from a mumsnetter.

www.skistar.com/en/ski-destinations/salen/

...might have been mumtofour's recommendation.

If it was - thank you , we loved it.

Thanks Eve, I really love the sound of Sweden, I'm just really concerned about getting there an everything costing a fortune which would put a bit of a downer on things if we aren't prepared....

Have you thought about Andorra? Waaaay quieter than France and we really liked it - great food, accommodation, piste condition and instructor. And good value.

The only reason we haven't been with dd is we wanted a shorter transfer and different childcare options.

Jostar - to be honest - we thought overall was cheaper than France, was expecting sky high prices and found it favorably compared to ski resort sky high prices in France.

They are very much set up for families and days out, each ski area had a huge ski station room ( bit like a village hall) set up with banks of microwaves , kettles etc , so a lot of people bring packed lunches leave safely in the lockers and heat up at lunchtime. There are things to buy as well, pizzas etc.

Outside there are fabulous covered firepits that are sponsored by volvo that are lit every morning and again people bring lunch and do their BBqs for lunch. Lots of the ski lift bases had free hot juice.

I felt in Sweden that there weren't out to squeeze as much money out of you as compared to a French resort.

The runs aren't challenging red/ blacks - but wide and spacious and uncrowded , which was great for us.

As I come from New England and have a house in Quebec, I feel entitled to say this -- Northeast US/Canada ski is crap. If you like alternating between slush, ice and lifts from the 1970s, this is the place for you. I went at Christmas and it was -35, without the windchill. There's a reason why it's cheap and not too crowded. On the plus side, your kids will learn to ski in poor conditions. And appreciate Europe.
Lots of beautiful places to ski in Austria, Serfaus being super good for the money. You don't need to go on a package, if you can hire a car. Switzerland is expensive, but the extensive train system means you don't need to go with a company even if you're not comfortable driving. Lots of hotels throw in free childcare.