If you ski annually, how do you afford it?

[Truetoself]

The cost of a ski holiday just for two people in Bulgaria in mediocre accommodation for 4 nights was £2600 (during half term as DC at school).

The reaort is full of British families. I am imagining the cost for the average family would be a lot more? How do people afford it?

We couldn't afford for the whole family to go

Go over Dec/Easter rather than Feb half term, self cater and drive there. Go to higher resorts for guaranteed snow, buy lift passes during their Oct/Nov sales so works out similar cost to the smaller resorts. Meal plan, load car with all the dry ingredients and tins so just the fresh things to buy at French supermarket before climbing the mountain. We pay slightly more for accommodation on the slopes but offset that with not eating out as we can go back for lunch

Still works out at £1k/person or thereabouts. Could cut further if wanted to but would ruin the enjoyment for me so we sacrifice by going alternate years

Economies of scale make it cheaper pp for more of you and staying longer. When we went with another family, we got much nicer accommodation for same price pp with hot tub, sauna etc as a usual 2 bed apartment would have cost

Holidays are our main expenditure and we aim to get away at least twice a year but like a PP, we don’t eat out or spend much on daily basis

We don't go in school hols

Earn more money I presume. We go every year. It's one of the few things I don't begrudge spending money on though so save on other stuff. Spend very little on clothes or beauty etc. But we both earn very decently so skiing is manageable. We don't go to Disney land/Dubai/Maldives/other extravagant summer holidays either.

Check out Queyras (Ceillac and others), Crevoux and Reallon. There are loads but not served by UK companies.

Prices may have changed as was about 7 years ago but DD and me went to Bulgaria skiing Air BnB £190 for the week flights about the same, transfer wasn’t expensive, walking distance to the lifts. Spread out the cost by booking accommodation one month, flights the next, self catered ate out maybe once or twice. Don’t think it cost more than £800 for a week for two of us.

Try Poland - skiing in the Tatras is cheaper.

@Radiatorvalves thank you

Yes, Zakopane in Poland is fun & cheap.

Try Finland. Levi, Phya etc.

Or Bavaria, definitely a simple enough drive.

It’s only me and DS but I save like mad all year into my “ski account” and I book early. Norway has been quite cost effective for us, I book wideroe flights, get the train to as close to the resort as possible then the free hotel bus. Half board means stuffing ourselves at breakfast and just having a sandwich & snacks for lunch. Also we have different half term dates to England which helps… we are both good skiers so don’t need lessons and have own boots so just hire skis. Domestic holidays in the summer to west Ireland and maybe one other city break in the year means our ski trips are our major holidays. But it’s “our thing” so I will always prioritise it. I’m a totally lone parent on average income.

It has cost us over £10k for a family of four. Austria, feb half term. That includes group ski school for 2 kids, half board in nice hotel with a pool across the road from the lift, lift passes, ski hire, flights Ldn to innsbruck.

We afford it because we earn a lot. Most people we know who ski cut corners somewhere to lower the cost. They go over christmas or easter, or take kids out of school in term time, they go to places in scandi where it can be cold/dark or shabbier places in eastern Europe. They drive. They self cater. They stay 20 mins out of a resort and drive or get buses in. They go to lower, smaller french ski villages where the snow is less guaranteed.

The resort we are in is full of high earning lawyers, bankers etc. The only people affording this have exceptionally high household incomes.

Thanks for the responses everyone! We will explore Dec and April like suggested but not sure if money will be saved as not all resorts will have snow?

That is a risk.

When we went to Ruka there was loads of snow at Xmas, this year in Norway only half the runs were open, it was 7c on Xmas day and everything was melting. It's been a tough season for Nordic countries this year. Still had a great time though. I wouldn't consider 95% of the French/Swiss/Italian/Austrian resorts at Xmas - maybe only some of the glacier resorts like Solden, Tignes, Zermatt, La Plagne etc.

For Easter, look for high altitude resorts (or Nordic countries), don't expect snow in the town and be prepared to get up early and follow the sun round the resort as it softens the ice but be prepared to stop early when it starts getting too slushy. We did Trysil (Norway) a few years back at Easter and had a foot of snow dump the second day we were there and it saved the week - otherwise it would have been a pretty poor showing - but Easter was late that year (third week) where as Easter is nice and early next year (and very early for 2027 - in March) so should be better.

Personally I think April is really risky. In our local resort it’s always fine to ski at Christmas, maybe not huge powder if not early snow, but it’s cold enough that snow stays. But Easter is very risky. Lots of resorts close by mid or end of March and so aren’t even open. Those that are often only open mornings 9-1 by April. Christmas it also gets darker early so I find by 2pm it’s getting shady and cold ( fine if you don’t ski until last lifts though)

Best time if you aren’t restricted to school holidays is the last two weeks January.

This year has been the worse in 10 years. It’s barely snowed at all here. I usually have to clean 50+cm from our driveway regularly , this year not at all. Just thin dusting of 5cm. our local resort will shut by mid March

No idea how high up Bulgaria is but I know I. France if you wanted to ski in April and I assume December the advice was always pick a high resort like Tignes.

we always prioritised skiing over a summer holiday, for us the ski trip was the main trip. But we went to places like courchevel and Val d’isere so not cheap.

Friend of mine keeps costs down by having just bought their own chalet 🤔😆.

We always go at Easter. It's not much cheaper because you have to go with the big, high resorts and they tend to be more expensive. Its cheaper than Feb half term though and actually more fun to ski I think. Especially with kids or learners. It's warmers, you need less clothes, it's lovely to sit out on a terrace in the sun. We tend to go to Tignes but have done Les Arcs, La Plagne and Alpe D'Huez at Easter and all have been fine. Although ADH bit more of a risk because it's almost entirely south facing. Some years Easter has had massive dumps of snow just before it.

The thing is, many high resorts know they have a slight monopoly late in season, so the prices are still fairly high.

Somewhere like Obertauern in Austria would work. If you go a year easter is earlier, and stay 20 mins outside resort if needed and just drive in. You can fly to Salzburg or Klagenfurt for it to double chances of cheaper flights. It’s not really a problem at all driving in and it really opens up your accommodation options.

We go every year, usually twice. For a family of 4 we average 4.5-5k at new year and Feb half term. We've been all over Europe at that price, France, Austria, Andorra but usually Italy. I manage this by booking flights as soon as they come out and spending hours scouring the internet for small family run hotels or chalets which are nice but basic. Sometimes this has meant compromises by being a bit further out and having to get a ski bus to the lifts or driving. We are there to ski so don't care about posh hotels with swimming pools and used to manage childcare between us when the kids were little.

We prioritise ski holidays over summer and would rather do 2 at 5k than one at 10k. Fully appreciate that this is a luxury not everyone can afford but my DH grew up in a european country where skiing was normal whereas for me I'd have been as likely to go to Mars.

Thanks for all the input. Living in UK, i never fancied paying heaps of money to be even cooler but I took the plunge last year and have also converted two of my kids. Would like to go with all three kids at the same time next year so will start exploring options early.

Aw it's a different kind of cold though @Truetoself ! It's the best holiday. My kids love it so much that my eldest is on his second ski season so beware!

I definitely second going at Easter and driving. Companies like Sunweb offer good value as they arr inclusive of lift passes. For example I am currently considering a week all inclusive for just me and my son on 5 April for £1.1k. That includes all food and drink, accommodation, lift passes, and also equipment hire. If you’re really into skiing and want to go regularly I can recommend buying your own skis and boots second hand off eBay as the costs of equipment rental are very high.

if your children are younger than say 11 or 12,
many Austrian and Italian resorts will offer heavily discounted or free passes for kids.

or like others have said, stay somewhere other than main resort and drive up to higher resorts. There are loads of smaller resorts around places like the 3V, Aosta Valley, valtournenche for Cervinia etc.

Where would you recommend for last 2 weeks of January?

@Bayonetlightbulb - pretty much any ski resort should be fine the last two weeks of January. Either there’s enough fresh snow, or if not it’s early enough that they snow cannon and it doesn’t melt instantly. Plus end Jan is no European half terms or Christmas busy so it’s generally nice and relaxed on slopes, no queues and restaurants easy.
So if you have the option to go not in school holidays it’s perfect.
snow sure resorts in Austria I recommend Obertauern or Schladming. Katschberg is also nice as slightly smaller resort

We go at Easter and drive. More snowsure than December. We tend to go end of March/very early April. Snow might be slushy by the afternoon but it's lovely sitting outside for lunch in the sun. We tend to finish skiing around 2 or 3pm, then sledge/swim instead.

Resorts that are still OK for snow but not as expensive as the bigger, super high resorts are Ste Foy, La Thuile, Val Cenis, Montgenevre.

We usually drive down via Eurotunnel (so £250 for tunnel, plus petrol and tolls). Can usually find accommodation for under £1k. We often wait to buy lift passes until nearer the time, as there can sometimes be offers and discounts, especially for kids. Going to less popular resorts means the lift passes are under £200 per adult rather than £300 each for the week.

So yes, not a cheap holiday but we usually aim for £3k all in (2 adults, 1 dc) for a week of skiing. The bonus of driving is that we can usually ski on the first and/or last day, so get 7/8 days on the slopes.

Take a look at sunweb, peak retreats, heidi, ski weekends.