1st timers...what to bring & daily budget

[Carusa123]

We've just booked our first ski trip to Andorra for a week in late December. Me, DH & 3 teens. I can find a list online easily enough of what ski clothing we need but I'm wondering what to bring for evening time wear...jeans & hoodies?? We are doing HB in hotel so will probably only go out a couple of times as I'm assuming we'll be wrecked...well I will be in any case!!
Also what would be a realistic budget per day...for lunch out & couple drinks in the evening. Are there activities in Soldeu that we should check out in the evenings and approx costs.
Any other inside knowledge from experienced visitors?

Lastly there is no way we can access lessons on a dry slope before we travel so any tips on any exercises we should do at home to help us survive the week?! Thank you.

We went to Soldeu last year and loved it!

Definitely a jeans and hoodie vibe in most hotels. We went out for drinks once or twice to accompany our partying teens and all still casual.

It's not cheap eating on the mountain but there are a lot of fast food type places, one right at the top of the gondola from Soldeu was our usual meeting spot as was cheap and cheerful. I'd budget around €15 euros for lunch (burgers, chicken wings etc) and a drink. Factor in a coffee or 2 too. Have a hearty breakfast and stuff your pockets with chocolate from the supermarket.

Our hotel had a lovely terrace so usually made it back for apres ski beers there around 5, always my favourite time. Think it was around €5 for a pint, maybe €8 for an Aperol spritz.

Feel free to DM me for any specifics!

We didn't do any activities as usually too shattered!

Thank you @massistar. I've sent you a PM.

You'll mostly live in pjs if not out in the evening. Jeans and a hoodie will be fine, if you travel in that, then less to pack. I spend most of my time in lined leggings that I wear as a base layer and a hoodie.

We budget about £100 a day on holiday, both summer and ski. Actual day to day spend can vary. Have some money ready for clothing emergencies as its expensive in resort for these things (lost gloves/goggles/buff).

Presumably you'll be hiring equipment? We do too. But we take our own helmets. No-one else's sweaty head has graced it, and I know it hasn't been in a fall.

Exercises. Anything where you can work your thighs and leg muscles. Squats I'm afraid. Having a good core will help too with balance. You'll spend a lot of time in a sort of half squat position that leans when you want to turn.

You'll wonder on day 3 what on earth you were thinking, when muscles you didn't know you had start screaming, but honestly, it's so worth it.

If the place you're staying at has a sauna and a pool, use it! I love the sauna for relaxing the muscles that have worked hard.

Have an amazing time. It is the best holiday ever.

@Carusa123 will have a look as soon as I can work out how to do it from the app!

Thank you @RhubarbFairy, that's really helpful information. I t sounds like I need to get my squat game on 😁
We also need to buy ski gear for all of us, any suggestions on reasonably priced brands?
Thank for the PM @massistar, it was also super helpful!

Mountain Warehouse do a one stop shop where you can buy package deals. That's what DH went for. Otherwise Decathalon is reasonably priced.
I managed to find my salopettes on ebay for £3 and it was a local pick up too, so they were a bargain.
FB Marketplace is a good place to look too if you're happy with preloved.

We did our first ski trip last year.
Mornings are quite a rush if you're in 9am lessons (as you probably will be) as you need to get up, have breakfast, collect your gear and put it on (boots take a while!) and get to the slopes. Therefore, I regretted the fact that we seemed to either have PJs or jeans/hoodie. We couldn't wear PJs to breakfast but wearing jeans/hoodie meant putting those on, having breakfast and then getting completely changed again into ski gear. Many of the other guests in the hotel seemed to have elegant underlayers which they wore to breakfast and then just put their ski gear over the top.
Take swim stuff. Even if your hotel doesn't have a pool, there is likely to be one in the resort and it can be nice to do something one afternoon which is completely different and uses different muscles

@spiderontheceiling we tend to just wear our base layers to breakfast. Certainly on the top half. I don't wear base layers on bottom half so just shove on joggers and then put my ski trousers on when I go back up to get my gear to go out.

@Carusa123 TK Maxx can be good for ski clothing too. Bit hit and miss in the shops but often have online.

Just a thought, but there are places you can hire ski gear. You may decide not to go again!

Decathlon is good for basics, I would look second hand on Vinted etc for better branded stuff at the same price. Brands that I go for and the teens might like are Burton, Volcom, Planks, DC- second hand will cost the same as mountain warehouse but much better quality. You want to be as warm and dry and possible in late December so everyone has a nice time!

definitely jeans, boots and jumpers for evening. Take some cheap sunglasses out skiing with you in your pocket, you will want them for lunch/drinks and it won’t matter if you fall on them and break them! Also always good to have a couple of pairs of sunnies with you generally as you will need them and if you lose/break them it’s usually expensive to replace them in resort. Would also recommend “pub gloves” for the evening. Just normal gloves you would wear at home, I get cheap primark ones to Chuck in my pocket so I don’t risk losing my expensive ones.

I wear ski socks for 2/3 days then change them, you don’t need too many pairs and I would recommend going on the thinner side of socks. A buff is also always a good idea!

Also if you have girls then roxy stuff is lovely and plenty of it on Vinted!

Already been said but Mountain Warehouse is fairly good for everything you’ll need. Aldi ski stuff is great but I seem to remember that doesn’t usually come in until January.
Definitely very casual in the evenings, jeans and hoodies are fine. I don’t remember any specific evening activities in Soldeu although it’s a while since I was there. It is a lovely place, I hope you really enjoy it.

Apres ski wear: Definitely casual for the evening! If you can find some thick (I mean, really thick) fleecy lined trousers or jeggings, they're even better than jeans as they don't soak up every drop of water from melted snow. Ponte fabric is really good.

Steal a bread roll and stuff it with ham at the breakfast buffet, wrap it in a paper napkin and stuff it in your pocket. This will be the best morning snack or even possibly lunch when you want to stop on some idyllic bit of the mountain rather than queue for hours at some overpriced cafeteria by the lifts. Save your money for hot chocolate 😍

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. We're fairly well kitted out now I think, mixture of Lidl & Decathlon gear. I'm now starting to get very nervous about the actual learning to ski...am reasonably fit but very uncoordinated 😞
Kids will fly it I suspect, they're all quite athletic. Me and DH not so much! Any words of wisdom or tips would be much appreciated.

Have fun with it! Snow is soft to fall onto!

How are you learning? DH and I shared a private instructor, so we were able to hand fun together (and laugh/sympathise) and we processed quickly as we had focused attention.

We've booked ski school for all of us @RhubarbFairy . Maybe we should look at a couple of private lessons?

We put the DC into ski school as they were surrounded by peers and the instructors made it fun. We discovered, by playing on the ski school website, that we could pay for 3 x 2 hour private lessons for DH and I for the same price of all week group ski school for us.

This meant we progressed faster, enjoyed being in each others company, and had lots of free time to practise. Our week was much more flexible.

We had lessons from 10-12 on the Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. We spent Sunday afternoon exploring the resort on foot via the lifts, Monday afternoon pottering around town, with a play on the nursery slope with the DC after ski school on both days. On the Tuesday morning we went properly up the mountain with our instructor and had our lesson there. By the end of that lesson, we were confident enough to navigate the gentle blues and got more and more confident as the week progressed (it's a small resort).

Highly recommend sharing a private instructor with your DH instead of group ski school.

We did our first ever ski trip (with teens) a few years back. I struggled, and switched to private lessons part-way through the week, with the costs of my unused group lessons counting towards the private lessons. dh was much more confident than me, fine in the group with the dc, and would have been held back sharing my private lessons. I relaxed and really enjoyed my private lessons, once I was no longer trying to keep up with everyone else!

So you might want to try ski school for all and see how it goes.

I've taken some great advice from this thread as dh and dc are going skiing for the first time next year. Stupid question, but what footwear do you wear during the day when not skiing ? Do we need snow boots/ trainers? Is one set of outer wear ok for a week- can they be dried off in the evening? How many sets of under layers do we need?

Outdoors footwear depends on what time of year. Paths usually get cleared but may be icy early in the season, slushy or clear of snow later on. Walking boots are generally fine unless you plan to go sledding with kids or into deeper snow. One set of jacket/salopettes is fine, they dry pretty quickly, but 2-3 sets of under-layers and socks which you can air/rinse as required between wears.

Waterproof shoes or boots. DH has walking trainers, DCs have snow boots and I have Dublin River boots (they're my year round workhorses).

As said above, your outerwear should dry providing you have warm accommodation. Our last accommodation had underfloor heating so I used to lay ours on the floor in the bathroom.

We take 2 lots of base layers each and 3 pairs of socks. I use lined leggings from Primark as one of my layers. Just as warm as my merino pair.

Take two pairs of gloves if you can as they do take longer to dry.

Are you near one of Snow Zones or other UK indoor ski places? They always did pre holiday beginners lessons which are very helpful. Dry slopes are much harder to ski on than snow, so may put you off!

A few lessons in English on the basics and learning to use a pull lift will make you much more confident.