Ski holidays. How do they work?

[Scramble]

Might not be for a while yet but always fancied a ski holiday with the kids.

But how does it work? Say I see a hol for £239 pp, what do you actualy get?
Does it include any equipment, passes or lessons? How much does all that cost?

How do chalets work or do most of the deals you see mean hotel type accomodation?

Someone please give me the idiots guide to ski holidays.

[hatwoman]

just thinking about your post Mrs Guy - do your kids have lessons or do you all ski together? bit lonely for you if they're off on their own

[MrsGuyOfGisbourne]

Hatwoman, the time they had all day lessons in Austria, DH was also there so we had the luxury of long lunches, (tho' he could not ski so did hangliding instead )
I actually like skiing alone, ( and sitting with my hot choc on a cafe terraces with my book ) but in La Rosiere with Ski Esprit they had ski guiding which was terrific fun and took me out of my comfort/lazy zone. The ski guides were variable - one of them, a loud double-barrelled public school type boasted that he had blagged hs way to the job and had minimal experience amounting to a week's ski trip when he was 13 (he managed to crash into a glass-plate restaurant window one lunch time - luckily only his pride injured - so after that I took care to go wiith the other...
I have found in the past with Mark Warner in Les Deux Alpes and Silver Ski in La Plagne thatthe ski-guiding was VERY flaky - if there were say three guides and 20 people, two of them would go woith the 2 'expert' - loud middle aged male skiers so they could enjoy more challenging the skiing themesleves, and the other one would be stuck with the 18 intermediates...
TBH I would rather the children skiied with their instructor than with me, but we pootle bout in the afternoons - usually DS1 acts as the guide and re-traces the route he covered in te morning in class.

[Surr3ymummy]

Scramble - We stayed in an apartment in Courchevel 1650, which was ski-in, ski-out, and so easy for the ski school. 1650 has some lovely wide green (easy) runs, and a drag lift, so no requirement to go on a chair for some time. We drove down, as well which saved money, but have also tried the ski-train which gets you extra time skiing. The apartment was great - in a block, with a small supermarket on the ground floor (where you can buy those whole roasted chickens), plus there are lots of restaurants - including cheaper pizza places, and some nights we just had pasta etc in. There was a Patisserie opposite for pain-au-chocolat for breakfast, and a lovely South facing balcony. My DDs are 12 and 10, and have taken to it really well. DS is only 16months so we're going to a chalet this year with the in-laws, but in a few years we'll be back in the apartment again.

[MrsGuyOfGisbourne]

Surr3ymummy - sounds fantastic - can you post details?

[Surr3ymummy]

The apartment is in the Residence 1650 block located in Courchevel 1650. There are a number of apartments available for rent from the local agency - here who do speak English. The one we usually stay in is 734 Euros for a week in Jan - sleeps 5, and has a double room, a separate (very small!) cabine with bunk beds for the kids, and a sofa bed in the lounge (although we don't use that). The other residents generally are French. Parking is available in the carpark underneath the building for around 60 euros a week. They also charge you an end of stay cleaning charge of about 50 euros I think.

The drive down from Calais takes about 8 hours. We've got our eurotunnel tickets for about £150 this year, but I imagine it varies depending on when you book. In the past we've stayed in some very cheap motorway hotels and got to the resort in time for breakfast on Saturday and a full extra day skiing .

[Surr3ymummy]

Oh and on arrival the agency give you a discount voucher for the ski hire shop in the street below the apartments.

[hatwoman]

that's a great site surr3ymummy - thanks

[MrsGuyOfGisbourne]

Thanks Surr3ymummy- may try that next year -I like the sound to fthe underground parking as the parking situation is the main reason I am flying rather than driving this year. We always used to drive pre-kids, and noe the DC are 10 & 8, will go back to that in the future.