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Hi, I am looking to take my teenage son skiing next month, mid April.
We are looking for a cheap place for beginners, with instructors for 2/3 days.
We are based in London.
Any advice, on where, how etc. Can use various points. Just looking for best most cost efficient way to do this.
Thank you so much.If I were you I would take a long look at the snow forecast before you book anything for the rest of this season. Most resorts will be shutting up shop soon because it’s been such a poor season for snow (highest resorts e.g. Val Thorens, Tignes excluded of course). Player 2 and I were in Mayrhofen in Austria a fortnight ago and even though there was decent enough snow on the actual piste it was warm enough to sit out at lunch on the mountain in a t shirt and off piste was far too dangerous because of a lack of sufficient snow. P2 is back there now for a few days and says it’s boiling and all the snow is melting so is glad he didn’t go next week instead! In contrast we had the best snow we’ve ever had at Val Thorens in the first week of January, but it is the highest resort in Europe.
In general terms I would suggest Austria or Italy for cheapness (definitely not France or Switzerland!) If you want to use hotel group points you’ll probably need to stay at one of the bigger resorts to find somewhere you can redeem them.
If you want to do really budget go to Bansko in Bulgaria next season and stay at the (cheap for what it is) Kempinski for a little luxury. But if you yourself are an even vaguely experienced skier you’ll be bored to death after 2 days because it’s such a small ski area. I took a group of complete beginners a couple of years ago as it’s dirt cheap to get private lessons, but I wouldn’t go again.
If you do want to go to France and want the ease of booking as a package instead I highly recommend using getmetothealps.com – the best ski travel agent I’ve ever used. Brilliant customer service, highly competitive pricing and made booking a 12 person group trip so straightforward.
Mid April is tricky, as it’s very late in the season and many lower resorts may have closed. And higher resorts may not have high beginner slopes, or beginners might be on south-facing slopes that suffer badly in the April sunshine. So local knowledge is important.
Ordinarily, I would advise beginners to avoid the big resorts: there is no point paying premium prices and putting up with crowds when you will only use 10% of the available runs. But you are much more restricted than most people.
I would suggest that you head over to the snowheads.com forum and drop your question there. You will get a load of helpful advice, but please do come back here and tell us what you decide.
As this is a points website, I should also add that you should not imagine that you will be able to use hotel points in a ski resort, as none of the big hotel chains will have a property in a place where you will want to ski. Even in the big resorts in the USA, where chain hotels are more of a thing, offerings from the likes of Marriott and Hyatt are invariably badly located, as properties in the heart of the ski area tend to be oltoo small for the big operators to bother with.
I posted this reply then it disappeared!
If I were you I would take a long look at the snow forecast before you book anything for the rest of this season. Most resorts will be shutting up shop soon because it’s been such a poor season for snow (highest resorts e.g. Val Thorens, Tignes excluded of course). Player 2 and I were in Mayrhofen in Austria a fortnight ago and even though there was decent enough snow on the actual piste it was warm enough to sit out at lunch on the mountain in a t shirt and off piste was far too dangerous because of a lack of sufficient snow. P2 is back there now for a few days and says it’s boiling and all the snow is melting so is glad he didn’t go next week instead! In contrast we had the best snow we’ve ever had at Val Thorens in the first week of January, but it is the highest resort in Europe.
In general terms I would suggest Austria or Italy for cheapness (definitely not France or Switzerland!) The Dolimiti ski area in Italy is beautiful and reasinably priced if you stay in one of the smaller, less flashy and more family friendly resorts like Arabba. If you want to use hotel group points anywhere for skiing you’ll probably need to stay at one of the bigger resorts to find somewhere you can redeem them, most ski resorts have independent hotels.
If you want to do really budget go to Bansko in Bulgaria next season and stay at the (cheap for what it is) Kempinski for a little luxury. But if you yourself are an even vaguely experienced skiier you’ll be bored to death after 2 days because it’s such a small ski area. I took a group of complete beginners a couple of years ago as it’s dirt cheap to get private lessons, but I wouldn’t go again.
If you do want to go to France and want the ease of booking as a package instead I highly recommend using “get me to the alps” – the best ski travel agent I’ve ever used. Brilliant customer service, highly competitive pricing and made booking a 12 person group trip so straightforward.
I’m a huge ski fan but you might struggle this year. I just had a look at the Obertauern webcams – the resort sits at 1700m but even that’s starting to look bare. they have colder weather and more snow forecast for the start of next week, but I’d be waiting until a few days before if you really want to go (on the plus side, avios seats may well open at the last minute). High temperatures also mean wet snow which makes the skiing very hard work. And don’t go thinking you can do this on the cheap. If you do it’ll be a miserable experience because it’ll be a schlep to and from the slopes etc.
As noted above, smaller resorts in Austria offer good value, as does Italy.
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