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Original poster

Child-free ski weekend suggestions

18 replies

FlopemOut · 08/12/2009 16:58

Hi. I am trying to organise a child free ski weekend for this season. It needs to be fairly snow-sure, close to an airport and pretty good/advanced skiing opportunities. Please can anyone recommend anywhere? I don't know where to begin!

OP posts:
LIZS · 08/12/2009 17:00

Chamonix, Alpe d'Huez ?

Original poster
FlopemOut · 08/12/2009 17:02

Have you been to Alpe d'Huez? I hear Chamonix is a a bit spread out and it can take a while to reach the good slopes?

OP posts:
Lapsedrunner · 08/12/2009 17:03

Innsbruck

LIZS · 08/12/2009 17:06

yes been to Alpe d'Huez. Not my idea of skiing really (above treeline and a concrete resort) but skiing is well linked and snowsure. At Chamonix you'd probably pick an area to ski all day as they aren't linked but still a vast range. Resort more lively.

LIZS · 08/12/2009 17:09

If you can fly to Sion it opens up Zermatt and Crans Montana as short transfer possibilities

tulpe · 08/12/2009 23:09

What about Morzine or Les Gets? Approx an hour from Geneva (perhaps a little more) but definitely do-able in a weekend.

Original poster
FlopemOut · 09/12/2009 15:16

Thanks for the suggestions and sorry for not coming back sooner. DD has been on a feeding frenzy! I am now busy looking at these locations - thanks again.

OP posts:
voituredepompier · 09/12/2009 15:50

A few places we have been for weekend breaks

Fly to Geneva, hop on a train at the airport to Martigny - check the swiss rail site for train times, and change there for Le Chable. takes about 2hrs. This will put you at the gondola beneath Verbier.

Going a bit further afield, you can get to Zermatt by train from Geneva airport but would be better if you had 4 days as the train journey is 4hrs. There is a Formule 1 hotel opposite the airport that will pick you up from arrivals and drop you back at the train station the next morning if your flight arrives to late to get the train that day. The trains are so darn reliable that you can get back to the airport with max 75mins to spare before your flight goes and maximise the time you have on the piste.

With a hire car and all within an hours drive of Geneva are
Samoens/Flaine more intermediate than advanced but some fantastic off piste that is very accessible from the lifts.

Chamonix - extreme skiing
Morzine - intermediate cruising
Le Grand Bornand/La Clusaz - very French resorts, good cruising.

rhapsodyinblue · 09/12/2009 21:38

I went with a friend to Munich last season - using airmiles for a flight from Heathrow on a Thursday evening.

2 hours drive took us to Garmisch Partenkirchen - great, challenging ski-ing for a few days, good restaurants and not as expensive as the Alps.

There's not much accommodation actually at the ski stations though - so we stayed at a b&b and drove to the lifts - about 10 minutes away.

We returned late on Sunday evening, so had three days ski-ing, which felt like a week because there were no kids or husbands.

pisteagain · 10/12/2009 11:10

Hi FlopemOut.

Dh and I did this a couple of years ago. We went to Avoriaz which is about another half an hour on from Morzine so higher and you can ski until April.

I posted on another thread about ski weekends last year called "Apartment or holiday home in ski area in france or austria". It was under my old name of twizzler/sunshineandsnowflakes-changed my name halfway through the thread!!

I don't know how to link threads but if you do an advanced search for my name it will come up. There were quite a lot of other suggestions too.

Good luck!

orangina · 10/12/2009 11:19

I like Courmayeur. About an hours drive from Milan, delicious food, shouldn't break the bank. Plus lots of fashionable posing Italians to watch while drinking delicious coffee.....

(What's not to love)

orangina · 10/12/2009 11:23

We booked a weekend there (ages ago, pre-kids) through a company called Momentum, who organised the whole lot for cheaper than if we had done it ourselves.

greygirl · 11/12/2009 11:35

brilliant thread, i am trying to organise a weekend with my husband, but didn't know where to begin. we thought verbier a bit far on the train, i guess the swiss do late night trains on fridays there?

pisteagain · 11/12/2009 19:35

Snowline (luxury ski company) are offering a short break wed-sun for 2 for £499. It includes flights and catered chalet. Only trouble is, it's for next weekend!

But they probably do them later on in the season too. Wish I could just hop on a plane and go on Wednesday!

LIZS · 11/12/2009 19:42

You might find this siteuseful for looking at trains. There is a new airline, Snowjet flying Stansted to Sion starting next weekend, shorter transfer to many of the Swiss Valais resorts(ie Verbier and Zermatt) than Geneva

Lapsedrunner · 11/12/2009 22:33

Another push for Innsbruck - there are 9 ski areas adjacent to the city, all served by BA & Easyjet from Gatwick.

Lapsedrunner · 11/12/2009 22:43

Another push for Innsbruck - there are 9 ski areas adjacent to the city, all served by BA & Easyjet from Gatwick.

Lapsedrunner · 11/12/2009 22:45

Sorry for duplicate, meant to post this

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