1st skiing holiday - where to begin with booking - advice please!

[Bluezoo123]

Looking at booking our first skiing holiday second week in March for 3-4nights. Partner able to ski and I am doing an intensive course before going. Where would anyone advise going that is good for beginners, reasonably priced, easy to get to (would prefer transfers than self-drive) where you can hire skis etc that will have snow at that time? Looking at flying from a London airport or south of England. Any advice appreciated. Colleague who regularly skies recently got caught out on holiday and there was no snow so had to come home again! Thanks in advance

In the 2nd week of March you should still have good snow in most places in the alps. Disclaimer - I don’t know anything about Austria. I had a day skiing yesterday in La Plagne which would be excellent for beginners.

You could either look at a company like Crystal or Inghams that would be a package and could give you some ideas or book a hotel or apartment and flights separately. Bear in mind that if you drive from the airport the last bit will be up the mountain which in good weather will be fine but if it is snowing you might have to stop and put snow chains on.

March should be pretty safe snow wise.
Booking with a tour operator with a snow guarantee can help, but their definition of enough snow might not be yours (for example Bulgaria opened in time for Christmas but only on the nursery slopes!)

We liked Passo Tonale in Italy for beginners. Our favourite resort is Stubai Glacier (austria) but you need a car really. We have just been to Val Thorens which is a bit more of a party scene.

We love Tignes (Le Lac) which is the shared resort with Val D'Isere. Loads of skiing for all abilities. We've also caught the train there a few times (it's a 30 minute bus ride from Bourg St Maurice).

We really like Zermatt but it's not ideal for beginners and everything in Switzerland is so expensive relative to France.

Another option is one of the resorts near Geneva airport which can keep flight costs down. Chamonix is around an hour away. I've yet to visit as our trip there was cancelled in the pandemic.

We're trying St Anton this year as we're going in Feb half term for the first time (we usually go at the end of March so have to pick a higher altitude resort).

Tignes has been mentioned and it is my absolute favourite place to ski (we're going back for the 4th time this year) but I absolutely wouldn't recommend it to you. If you're a beginner - you won't need the absolutely massive mileage that Espace Killy offers (and that you pay for via v spendy ski passes and generally more expensive everything) and also the transfer from Grenoble (where a LOT of the ski companies fly to) is a brutal 4 hours - usually on a bus without a toilet. We are getting the train this year to avoid that hideous transfer (it's 45 minutes from Bourg St Maurice). Save Tignes/Val D for once you love skiing and will get your money's worth from it!

Alpes D'Huez would be good - especially at the Bergers end. It's a big bowl with nice beginner and blue runs into it. It's south facing - so can get a bit slushy later in the year but I've been at a late Easter before and it was fine.

La Plagne nice enough but it's lots of smaller villages spread out. I'd avoid La Plagne 1800 - There are a couple of green runs but, once you go further afield, the blue run back to the resort from Plagne Centre is absolutely hideous. I'd probably avoid Plagne Soleil too - the beginner area there isn't great and you will need to either ski down a blue at the start of the day or get a bus to, say, Plagne Centre or Bellecote. Which isn't ideal if you're a beginner.

Zell am See/Kaprun would be good too - nice easy transfer from Salzburg. Pretty snow sure and Austria definitely has better apres ski than the majority of the big French resorts.

Usually for absolute beginners I'd say book a package holiday with Crystal/Inghams/Nielsen etc. but for a 4-night holiday this won't work as these companies mostly do Saturday-Saturday one-week packages. You can still look at these companies in order to get an idea of which resorts are popular with British guests and then choose a resort or two to research further.

There are a number of specialist travel companies that offer shorter breaks, but these can be expensive and only usually go to the most expensive resorts, which might not be the most suitable for a beginner.

Which leaves organising a trip yourself, which as your partner has already been on ski trips and presumably knows the basics should not be too difficult. Beginning of March should still be fine for most major resorts in France and Austria. Look at where the airlines fly to and work from there - e.g. Geneva for the French Alps, Salzburg or Innsbruck for the Eastern end of the Austrian Alps or Zurich for the western side of Austria.

The previous poster mentioned Zell am See in Austria. I'd recommend the neighbouring resort of Saalbach-Hinterglemm for a first-time skier as there is more for beginners and a far better apres ski vibe. As it is somewhere I know well, this is how a trip to there would work (MNs who usually go to France can maybe do something similar for their favourite French resorts) :

Flight to Salzburg - easyjet, Ryanair and BA all fly from the London airports and there are flights almost every day in the winter.

Salzburg to Saalbach - Private taxi (See www.saalbach.com/en/service/arrival) or by train or bus via Zell am See.

Accommodation - The Tourist Office website (saalbach.com) has an accommodation service - you put in the required dates and this is circulated to the hotels and guest houses etc. Or airbnb/booking.com etc. for hotels and apartments. Tripadvisor for reviews - and look at the hotels that the Package Tour Operators use, as these can also be booked direct or via booking.com

Every second shop in Saalbach rents skis and boots. Lift tickets are available from the lift stations - no photo required. There are several ski schools, all with English-speaking instructors if you need an instructor on the first day (hint - this is a good idea, not only for finding your ski legs without you partner but also for finding out the best areas to go to and the pistes to avoid).

thank you for all your advice - I shall look into them all! Anyone any experience of Bulgaria in March? Was looking at borovets and hotel rila

My friend (who's a regular skier) wasn't impressed by his Bulgarian ski trip. But I'm sure it's probably a cheaper option.

Have you been on www.snowheads.com ? Definitely recommend signing up and having a look - they have loads of reviews. I've a friend who's been to Bankso and Borovets and they preferred Borovets. The former is a bit heavy on the strip clubs apparently!

Bulgaria in general - not a fan, although many people here and on Snowheads have had good holidays there considering the low price. (For a lower-priced holiday than Austria/France I'd look at Andorra).

Bulgaria in March - definitely not because it is too late in their short season.

I've not been to Zell Am See, but as I write this, I'm 20 minutes down the road in Rauris, so I can confirm that Zell is super easy to get to from Salzburg airport.

A 10 minute bus ride from the airport to the city centre. It drops you outside the train station. Then about an hour and a half direct on the train to Zell.

It’s not been a good start to the ski season in France. Check out planetskieu.com. Southern French alps are a lot better than northern at the moment. Think about Puy St Vincent.

A patient I see is a ski instructor all over the world. He recommends India, although you do not want to get injured there.

He also said Indians are not big on skiing so it is quiter there.

There's a direct bus from Salzburg airport to Zell am See several times a day. Bus line Nr 260. You can take the same bus to get to Saalbach Hinterglemm by changing at Maishofen Glemmtal Abzweigung
salzburg-verkehr.at/downloads/regionalbus-260-salzburg-bad-reichenhall-lofer-saalfelden-zell-am-see-2/

You need to go reasonably high to be snowsure and Bulgaria has had little snow so far this season so risky. 3–4 days won't really be long enough to make progress though.