airport to resort help!

[ilovesushi]

Long story but I need to drop DC off at a ski resort next spring. I am flying them over, dropping, overnighting then heading off. Flights and hotel seem reasonable, but I can't figure out transport between the airport and resort. I haven't skied in decades so this is all new to me. I was imagining there would be something equivalent to a summer package holiday, where everyone piles on a mini bus included in the price and gets dropped at their hotel. Is this not the case? Am I looking at another substantial cost here?

I suspect most people buy a ski package where transfers are included with flights and accommodation. How easy it is to DIY depends where you're going I imagine?

Doesn't the resort offer transfers? Or at least give you information about how their guests get from the airport to the accommodation?

Plus do you really need to escort them? I would have thought if they're able to spend a week skiing without you there, they only need you to take them to their departure airport and fly over themselves?

How are they getting home again?

Are they working the season? Not sure why you would fly them over. Book a taxi or resort transfer.

There’s nearly always some sort of ski shuttle between nearest airport and the resort- there are loads between chamonix and Geneva for example. Have you googled “ airport transpfer [resort name]?”

Would help if you told us which resort. Or at least which area and airport.

Thanks for the speedy replies. DC is a young teen and I will be dropping them off to catch up with a school trip. Viable airports are Geneva, Turin and Milan. Resort is in the Italian Alps. My googling is just bringing up eye wateringly expensive taxi prices. They will travel home with the school.

Google ski transfer. There are loads of independent ones from the local ski airports to resort. Eg Geneva, Grenoble, Milan etc.

Be warned though they are often v expensive. Check that taxis aren't cheaper.

The shared ones can sometimes work out well eg Bens Buses https://www.bensbus.co.uk/ esp if you book now.

We arr normally 8 people so hire a minibus, buts its still at least 100 euros per person per leg.

Try and get to geographically closest airport, shorter transfer routes will always be cheaper. This is not going to be cheap though. Its going to be couple hundred euros for 3p at least.

Sorry thought you were 3p for some reason. 2p I'd budget around 80/90 euros per person, at least.

Ben Buses as mentioned by PP are reasonable and reliable. Not the quickest because you’ll have to wait for others to land then the bus will make stops but so long as you don’t mind that then they’re good.

Also look on here, can sometimes pick up shared transport that will be cheaper

https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewforum.php?f=8

Thank you so much. I'm going to look into Ben Buses. I'm emailing a few hotels too to see if they offer anything. I hadn't factored this aspect in at all!

Milan will probably be the nearest

Snow cabs is another option to look at if Ben Bus doesn't do your route - they're generally cheaper than most private transfers
https://www.snow.cab/

Ben Buses doesn't go to the resort, but Snow Cab, does so I'm going to enquire about a shared transfer with snow cabs. Thank you all! I could have been googling all day and none the wiser!

Arrggghhh Snow Cab doesn't go there either. Back to the drawing board. Geneva is the nearest airport, so I'll look to flights there to minimise transfer costs.

Can you drive? Might be easiest to just hire a car and drive him there and then drive yourself back. Driving from Geneva is generally quite easy.

in that case I'd google 'cheapest airport transfer <Geneva> to <Morzine> and insert the correct airport and resport and then price up 5 or 6 and see which comes out cheapest.

You could also try contacting Snow Cab/Bens and see if they will drop at your resort if it is nearby one of the major ones - school trips tend to be at smaller sattellite resorts near larger ones.

Otherwise its private transfer/taxi I think.

Look into the.cost of hiring a car from the airport and driving. If it's only overnight it might be cheaper than a taxi.

Try the resort area FB group. Family member lives in the Alps and they often post airport trips to fill spaces in vehicles. Have you tried BlaBlaCar?

I'm a bit nervous about driving in snowy mountainous conditions on the 'wrong' side of the road, so I'd prefer not to hire a car. Just seen that the Mount Blanc tunnel is closed. Not sure if that could impact things or not.
@unsync local FB group sounds like a good plan!

Which resort @ilovesushi

Trains can be a good option for some

It's La Thuile. I can see that there is a train from Milan or Turin to Aosta station. Maybe I then get a cab from there? I never imagined it was going to turn into such an (expensive) expedition!

Transfers to resort are often more than the flights in a DIY ski trip. Unless you're going to some of the 'main' French resorts, then things like minibus transfers are unlikely.

We have transferred in Italy and Austria by train/bus before, but it can take ages. Hiring a car is often the most cost effective option, but I get why you don't want to do that (I wouldn't drive to a ski resort in winter).

Can you see where the nearest train station is to La Thuile, and work backwards from there?

Thank you again everyone for taking time to help me sort this! I was driving myself nuts googling and getting nowhere.