Less known resorts

[imdad]

Hi there,
I’m just hoping someone can help - my brain is fried! We’re (2 adults, 2 DC 9+5) would like to go for a few days over half term or Easter?
We don’t have thousands to spend so thought a lesser known resort might be a good idea. I can ski but the real aim is to give our 9 year old some experience on snow. My wife would also like a beginner private lesson . My son who is 5 would literally love the snow and could maybe have a small ‘play’ on the nursery slopes!
Any resorts near a busy airport that could suit?
Long shot I know......
Both teachers here so we have no other times of the year we can go! We simply can’t afford the prices we have been quoted 😕
Thanks

I think both your kids would manage proper skiing and benefit from ski school and it would be worth going for a whole week at Easter when prices are cheaper. Self drive is probably the cheapest way to get there. Self drive companies like Peak retreats include the Eurotunnel in their accommodation cost but you can get the cost down even further by booking the ferry through them. Or you can take £200 off the price and book your own flights instead. Somewhere like Morillon Les Esserts 1100 would be a good option for the first week of the Easter holidays. Cheap accommodation options, very gentle tree lined runs and you could get the local ski pass rather than the whole grand massif one. You would easily be able to return to the apartment for a cheap lunch to save on the cost of eating up the mountain. It is one of the closest resorts to Geneva if you fly or one of the nearest to drive to if you self drive. It will probably be hard to get cheap flights at this stage so would definitely recommend driving. It is motorway virtually all the way and french motorways are generally less busy than English ones. If you were to only go for a few days I am not sure you wold save much as ski school, ski hire and lift passes all work out better value when booked for a week.

Ask on snowheads forum... They know everything over there and many have skied With a family on a shoestring. Amazing resource.

Skiing is never cheap sadly. But most ski resorts will do a foot passenger lift pass to get you up the mountain for a play in the snow and lunch up there if that's all you wanted? Fly to Munich or Innsbruck and head up a glacier.

Have a look on the peak retreats website. there are plenty of smaller resorts with links to big areas. We have been to the Maurienne valley several times and it really is fabulous (cheap, quiet and wonderful) as long as you don't mind that there aren't too many Brits. Group ski lessons are likely to be in french so consider spending some of the money you have saved on private lessons.
peak retreats will advised on suitable airports.

We went to a place called Maniva in Italy last year. Tiny resort and it was very cheap.
We went in half term.
I wouldn't go back but purely as it's small and was our first ski holiday

Have a look at snowbizz. They operate in puy st vincent and are really good value compared to others. Drive to get the costs right down too. It's self catering and excellent facilities for the children

Easter should def be cheaper than half term.

A good trick is to do slightly less than a week maybe going out Thursday coming back on a Tues then flights are cheaper.

I found a good option the other day in Italy in a family friendly resort that was featured in The Guardian called Folgaria (Not folgarida with a d) For four people it came to nine hundred and something. Flying Luton to Verona and staying at a bed and breakfast there getting a private transfer.
Other than this one i would recommend flying to Geneva for easy quick access to Avoriaz, Megeve, Chatel, Flaine, Samoens. These are easier and cheaper than big resorts like Tignes etc. You could also look at Southern alps resorts like Serre and Montgenevre, Puy St Vincent and les Orres. I really like Valloire too.

I second Morillon, or Samoens especially if going in easter as it's higher. Flights to Geneva can be affordable, and there are some great apartments available, look on booking.com.

Try Pila. 3 hours drive from Milan. Fabulous family resort, great beginner/intermediate runs and it's quite high too so snow is great.

What about looking at some of the Eastern Europe resorts.
Have a look at Slovakia , Ukraine or Poland.

Hi we were similar and went for the first time last year.

We've stayed in France before in a Gite so we did the same, booked via the "Gites de France" and attend near lake Annecy and drove to some quiet small ski centres nearby-

It was great hardly any British families, mainly Frence, locals who lived nearby. The site was around £600 for the week which was OK and we drove, catching the ferry from Portsmouth to Caen. (the DC loved this and is an overnight so started at 7am drive to Annecy and got there around 3pm which was fine.

The ferry is around another £500 we get a cabin but you could do the Eurotunnel as well.

We went to La Sambuy which was good for first timers and also a little French run village place I will find some links, for you.

Overall about a grand for the travel and accommodation, and daily ski hire - no need to book through an expensive holiday company as you can do it yourself.

www.lasambuy.com/en/

www.gites-de-france.com/en?gclid=CjwKCAiA4Y7yBRB8EiwADV1haUcWCQ-bBc4ottTAan2ROutiY4H9I7jTamUBJPp7XDTaIdtGRwqXwxoCJDQQAvD_BwE

Oh, that was for half term, booking the week before. Ferry cabins can get booked up though