Help, not sure where to start?

[peaceanddove]

Looking to book somewhere for next Christmas, with options for a bit of ski-ing, but with plenty of other activities for older teens too. We would need to hire ski gear too. We'd really prefer Switzerland but are flexible.

We want a chalet that sleeps 8, but we need a chalet maid service too. Ski in/out would be nice but not vital. Walking distance to all local amenities, so want a pretty town with plenty to do & places to eat etc.

Can anyone recommend something suitable? Is it best to book a package holiday, but with who?

We're just giving this thread a bump in case anyone's around to help the OP.

Have you skiied before? And what's your budget.

I am guessing as you need to hire everything that you are beginners so I suggest looking for a package style holiday that includes everything.

Eating out in Switzerland is incredibly expensive so if you choose a catered chalet then you only need to pay for lunches.

At the top end of the market I would recommend Scott Dunn.

If your budget is less generous there are dozens of average package holiday deals. If you have teenage children I would highly recommend one of the larger catered chalets run by many of the ski holiday companies such as LeSki, Powderwhite, or perhaps Club Med or MarK Warner as they offer a lot of group activities for the teens. They would probably find it much more fun than skiing with mum and dad!

Budget? Are you all decent skiers?

DH is a good skier as is my cousin's DH, but the rest of us are novices. But rather than ski school we're thinking maybe a couple of days of private lessons?

I definitely want it to be as straightforward as possible, so a package sounds really good. Budget is fairly open ended within reason, maybe £5k for the chalet for a week? I really like the idea of the teens being able to join in other activities? And, ideally I would like to be able to use spa facilities somewhere, as I'm a reluctant skier at the best of times.

Doesn't have to be Switzerland especially, it's just that DH has this thing about re-living the Wham Last Christmas video and that was filmed in Switzerland

Would ski gear be part of the package or would we need to buy separately?

Reliving the Last Christmas video, I love it!

I’d personally not go for ski in ski out if any of you are novices. If you’re not actually capable of skiing the route out of the chalet then you’ll have to walk round by the road on foot which in my experience can often be lengthy. Instead I’d go for somewhere a very short walk from the ski school meeting point. Re budget do you mean 5k per person? 5k for 8 people to stay in a ski in/ski out catered chalet potentially with spa facilities in Switzerland or any decent Alpine resort over Christmas doesn’t sound doable to me but I’ll admit I’m not a bargain hunter.

If you go for a package then the agent will usually be able to arrange equipment hire (skis, boots, helmet) but it will be at at an additional cost. If not then swing by the closest rental shop when you arrive in resort- it’s pretty easy.

This is all really useful, thank you - I hadn't thought that about ski in/out. I was assuming £5K just for the rental of a chalet based on a few prices I'd seen on AirBnB? Would expect to pay extra for flights, gear, lessons, food & drink etc. But happy to pay more for for the ease of a package deal.

5k is way too low for chalet rental, we pay 10-11k peak season and that’s for a fairly basic one.

Without any extras. Everything else on top.

Sorry- if you meant 5k pp then yes that’s about right.

www.chaletsdirect.com/
If you want to choose your own chalet, this is a good starting point. You can filter out what is/isn’t a priority.
We go catered now, after many years of hotels etc. we find it super easy as all food/drink included and transport to/from ski lifts and ski school.

I would recommend the following companies in the Portes du Soleil ski area:

Alikats.eu
MountainUtopia.co.uk

The Wham video was filmed in Saas Fee which has good non ski facilities, varied terrain and is snowsure - all a bonus with a mixed ability group. Go high for Christmas skiing as not every season has as good a start as this year. You normally hire skis, skiboots, sticks and helmet as a package locally but clothing is down to you.

£5k (unless you mean £5k each which is very different) won’t get you much in the way of a chalet in a pretty spot, unless you’re happy not having ski in/out access and maybe getting a short bus ride to the slopes?

Catered takes all the thinking out of it and works well.

Private ski lessons are great. I recommend highly. You’ll learn so fast.

I’d look a club med or mark Warner, but not sure if the accommodation would suit.

There is an awesome hotel/complex with an indoor climbing wall in Cervinnia, Italy called Active something in Champoluc, could be worth a look?

airbnb.me/wNSLI4upkmb

I'm confused now. This chalet is ski in/out and our top choice at the moment, though a bit bigger than we need. It's stunning and it's £6.5K for the week over Xmas next year. Not catered, but actually we've decided that we'll just eat out.

Is there some catch I'm missing as it seems a lot cheaper than the chalets you guys are talking about. Obviously, flights, transfers and ski hire would be extra though?

Sorry that link doesn't work. But it's Chalet Caprea near Karten, Austria.

chaletcaprea.com

Eating out in Switzerland on the mountains is crippling…we were paying over £60 for lunch for 3 of us (that’s pasta not lobster).

Austria might be cheaper…personally I’d go with a company either to Portes du Soleil (France) or the sella Ronda (Italian Dolomites - strongly recommend a company called Colletts for there).

But you are looking at at least £1500 pp flights/accommodation/lift pass plus £50 per hour private lessons (and you’ll want 3-4 hours per day as a beginner), plus food. Ski/boot hire is another £100 each ish.

If you want something pretty but not full on skiing with a big choice of restaurants you might be better with one of the larger French villages like Megeve or Courcheval - so there are pools and ice rinks and more restaurants etc. A lot of ski holidays are based on either full on catered set up in chalets or hotels or are fully self-catered (quite normal for a lot of Europeans) where they cook themselves. Mayrhofen or St Anton in Austria also spring to mind.

The French ski schools are generally really good too. You'd probably need to book for a min of 2 hours a day though.

Eating out- €100 pp/day for a light lunch and a mix of nicer meals and pizza. Alcohol is very expensive.
Ski hire - €200 for the week pp
Lift pass €250 or so for the week pp
Ski tuition €50 ph or so. So maybe €150 p/day
Flights/transfer €1500 for you all

So another €5k on top. So you can defo do it for €10k all in, probs jus under.

The only thing I would say is to go high high high so early in the season.

This place?
chaletcaprea.com/

If yes then the ‘catch’ is that it’s in a small resort at low altitude. Looks absolutely lovely for a spa break so that’s a box ticked for you. I’m not convinced it would satisfy the good skiers in your group given the limited terrain and the low altitude could mean that snow might be in short supply early season but I guess ask your DH what he thinks since he’s the skier. It doesn’t look like it has the non skiing activities that teens will enjoy. It’s also not catered and not Switzerland which you ideally wanted. So based on your brief it probably only ticks the spa box! If you’ve had a rethink about what you want and have changed your mind then it does look nice but if not then there are some great resort recommendations upthread I’d check out instead.

High resorts which have lots going on
Val Thoren
Les Arc
Tinges
La Plange is also good- but maybe not for absolute beginners.

I personally don’t love tignes. But les arcs is good fun! Loads to do and plenty of apres.

Most hotels/complexes have steam rooms and hot tubs. Check out Pierre Vacances for accommodation .

I'd be wary of it being "on the slopes" if some of you cannot yet ski. Great for those who can, snow permitting, to access nearest lift but could be a hike for those who may not be able or confident enough nor may it be where ski school is based. Little indication as to how close to restaurants, supermarket, resort facilities etc

If skiing isn’t important then that’s a lovely place to relax and spend time together. It’s not a big resort and possibly not great for skiing for the more advanced in your group. I’d be bored.

Part of the pull of a ski trip is that I can ski all day long then have a quick steam and then 2/6 nights we go out for some for food. 4/6 we make super simple meals at our apartment. We are done in from skiing all day and I do not mind spending double what we spend on our summer hols. We like to do first chair and grab the fresh powder!

However if that’s not your vibe I can see why you want to splurge on a fancier chalet.

Agree about cost.
Skiing at Easter next Yr, at high up French resort, self catering drive ourselves, very close to slopes and villages apres ski for older teens is 6k for eight.
Ski lessons for mix of beginners and a child in nursery and adults is costing £900, lift passes is £330 per adult, £280 for eaxh under 12.
Rental hire is £160 each. Luckily mist of us have our own kit.
Simple lunch out for hungry teens will I expect be £20 a head.
I'm paying for 6 adults, 1 17yr old and 1 6 Yr old.
Four of us have all kit.
Three adults having 3x 2 hr private lessons, under 12 doing nursery for five half days.
Absolutely no change out of 10k. Before we add food/eating out.