Family of 6 ski trip for under 8K February half term

[Skelligski]

We haven't gone on a ski trip as a family before and I'm just starting to research.

First quote from all inclusive provider came back at £20k which is not doable.

I think we need to go for a less fashionable, less busy location. Ideas? We could also drive instead of fly but I'm wary about doing this if we only have a week in the half term.

Children are aged 8, 10, 13 and 14. The eldest 3 can ski at a basic level, ie: they have been skiing once before each.

Borovets is brilliant

We went before lockdown with Peak Retreats who we have used several times before. Drove and used Eurotunnel (to Samoëns in France), self catering in two storey "Alpine" style apartments which are quite spacious. Made lunch to take up the mountain, but ate out in the evenings.
Was all very reasonably priced (for skiing, at least!)

Staying just outside of the main resorts, either a mile or two out of town rather than ski in/ski out, or in a connected village, can save £££

For example, for the Ski Circus (Saalbach-Hinterglemm-Leogang-Fieberbrunn) stay either between the villages (most out-of-centre hotels will have a shuttle minibus that takes you to the lifts) or in villages nearby. Leogang is cheaper than S-H but has lots of apartments just by the Asitz gondola. Viehhofen is 5 minutes on the free ski bus from the lift into Saalbach ski area. The bus runs every 10 minutes in peak times. Viehhofen also has a direct ski lift into the Zell am See ski area, which is on the same lift ticket as the Ski Circus.

For a much smaller (and therefore less expensive) resort, look at somewhere like Rauris. There is an old thread that you could look at >https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/skiing/3893018-First-time-skiing-how-does-it-work

• particularly the post from @TeetotalKoala about 9 posts down.

Go self catering. Look at Serre Chevalier - excellent ski area for all levels (250km of pistes), good selection of reasonably priced restaurants. Fly to Marseilles and drive up. Train is possible if you change in Paris then get sleeper to Briancon. Or drive Friday night and stay in a motorway hotel..it takes about 10 hrs from Calais and Dijon is a good place to stop.

Example apartment approx £2100 higher end for the area) here

Flights look like £130 pp at the moment. So would be £800. Need to compare this and flights to driving.

Ski pass over 12s is approx £200pp so say £1200

Skis and boots for all of you for the week c £140 each so call it £850

Car hire I’m guessing £500 ish for 6 seater?

Allow £2000 to cover food (take sandwiches up the mountain for lunch and add frites and drinks, cook at home 2 or 3 times)?

Should be possible for less than £8k?

If you're taking the children out of school you should avoid pretty much the whole of February because holidays cover the whole month. January and March are cheaper. I always prefer March because of generally warmer weather, but the snow can be hit and miss (especially if you go to a lower resort). End of Jan is a good bet for cheaper/good snow.

I would also check out Peak Retreats, haven’t used them but was looking the other day and they seem to have plenty of reasonably priced options in great locations

Obertauern- nice sized resort.
Fly to Salzburg.
Minibus cost 150 euro (we got 8 in with bags)
Stay here:

apartmentsobertauern.com

@Teacherontherun

Borovets is brilliant

Borovets was unpleasantly busy when I went some years ago. I would look at smaller French Alps Resorts. Snowtrex.Com does accommodation with lift pass deals. I would drive rather than fly to save money esp at Feb Half Term. Personally I wouldn't take 4 children out of school.

Have you considered going in Easter holidays? Much cheaper and more time to travel by car.

We're a family of 6 and had a couple of fantastic ski holidays in the French Pyrenees when the kids were younger. We were based near Les Angles but sampled several of the other resorts in the area - Font Romeu, Formigueres are the ones I can remember. Having skied in the Alps previously, we were struck by how much less everything cost and how much quieter the slopes were compared to the popular alpine resorts. That may have changed now, but certainly worth considering.

@TinLeaf

YABU

@TinLeaf

??

We spent Feb half term here.
It was amazing!

www.schneider.at/en/rooms-suites-and-apartments/detail/?si=12&type=room

We had the Swiss Pine Delux double room with interconnecting doors- but there is room for four children as a double bed and a sofa bed in each and they are roomy. Half board for four was £5k. Flew Jet2 to Salzburg.
Best food and Spa I've seen. Kids rooms in the basement with games, air hockey etc. sledges provided

Try lookin

Whoops I meant try looking at small resorts, we did la Molina near Barcelona in half term before covid. Cheap flights, cheap hire car, 2 hourrs from city, if you get bored of skiing, can go explore beach and city. Or you could drive up Andorra too.

We were always tied to the Feb half term when the kids were young as we are/were also teachers. What we would do was fly to Marseilles (MUCH cheaper than Geneva etc) and drive/get the shuttle bus up to one of the Southern Alp resorts like Les Orres, Risoul or Vars. We would self-cater in an apartment (or a few apartments as we had several families going) and everything is significantly cheaper than the northern alps - lift passes/ski hire etc.. Plus, the weather is almost guaranteed sunny. Great snow too.

It’s worth looking on a map and calculating the driving times to different resorts. Then compare that to flying with a shuttle type transfer.

I can recommend a company called Aravis Holidays for self catering accommodation in a small French resort called Le Grand Bornand, stay in the ski village of Chinalion.

We tend to fly to Geneva, hire a car and stay in self catered accommodation. For half term for somewhere that sleeps 6, I would think you would be looking at about 2400 euros in that French resort. Sometimes there is not a huge difference, between flying and driving, but other times we have found it really expensive to fly. Half term it is usually a lot cheaper to drive. You will need snow chains unless you have winter tyres.

If you are going to drive and use Eurotunel for Feb half term you would be wise to look at driving over 2 days on the way down as it is a long drive with very high chance of delays. We find it much easier to leave the day before and break the journey, there are loads of threads on places to stay on the drive down with costs. We do this as the last part of the journey is up a mountain, potentially in heavy snow, therefore the earlier you can get there and the less tired you are driving up a mountain road the better.

We have found car hire to be really expensive this year and a 6 seater will be even more so. Have a look at flights and car hire for your dates on easy jet or british airways for an estimate.

To drive we tend to spend about £850, you will need to budget for your crossings cost, petrol and motorway tolls if driving to France. Also any one off costs like snow chains.

The other thing to consider is the prices in resort, these can vary hugely between resorts.

If you cost it and it is too expensive, it’s worth looking at the Easter holidays, look at how snow sure the resorts are. As relatively new skiers you may really enjoy it being warmer (easier to picnic) and lovely to sit out in. The costs will usually be much cheaper.

Soldeu or El Tarter Andorra are great and good value. We book everything separately, Andorra Travel Service is great also.

That post of mine gets tagged so often (have since name changed).

We LOVED Rauris. It's an hour or so outside Salzburg, so was really easy to get to. We opted to get the train from Salzburg and then a taxi for the last few km.

It's a tiny resort so impossible to get lost, but plenty to keep you occupied if you're newbies as we were. I always recommend it as a beginner and family resort that doesn't cost the earth. Its also very pretty and very accessible.

Clickable link below.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/skiing/3893018-First-time-skiing-how-does-it-work

The first two times we brought the kids ( 5 of them !) we went to Kranskja Gora in Slovenia and it was fab !! Stayed in what is now called the Best Western . Flew with EJ to Llubjana.
We spent 3 thousand euro in total ! Amazing .
Obviously that was a while ago but still.

That’s a crazy price. We ski in Italy. Fly in to Bologna with Ryanair (much cheaper than flying into Milan or Venice etc for the Dolomites, and only Ann extra 30 mins or so driving. We stay half board in a ski in/ out hotel.

I would consider an Easter trip and avoid feb half term altogether if possible. Plenty of snow on high resorts and lovely weather usually. Also more flexibility on dates due to two weeks holiday. We ski until the beginning of may every year and love it late season.

We went skiing in austria in feb half term. It was £2k including flights, 2 adults, 2 children at a resort with shuttle buses daily to the slopes, fully inclusive 4 meals a day, spa resort (children's activities included). A really lovely introduction to Austria.

Going in term time or Easter hols are both better options than Feb half term. For costs and busyness.

Small resorts can be ideal for beginners and cheaper - look up Serre Chevalier and Sainte Foy. Both are great. Self catering apartment cheaper than chalet. You can get cereals, fresh breads & croissants etc from bakery, make pesto pasta for some evenings and eat out for others.

Facebook groups like "Skibay" are good for clothes & equipment.

I bought my kids ski stuff from ebay in the middle of summer! A Helly Hensen ski jacket and matching trousers was £13! Other stuff like thermals were bought in bundles from ebay too. If you book now for next feb, then start shoppibg around for preloved gear in the summer.

This thread is a bit sad given all the other threads this evening about people who can’t afford food (I say this as someone who went skiing this year so I understand you, I just think it’s a bit tone deaf within the context of the struggles people are going through).