Booking your holiday yourself is great because you can do what you want when you want, and you don’t end up on a coach dropping off many other people in neighbouring resorts.
It does mean you have more to do, and when something goes wrong, which we all know it can, then the bucks stops with you – but it does give you the ultimate in flexibility, from how you to to the resort, exactly where you stay, to what days you arrive and leave, its literally all down to you.
And lest face it with the advent of the likes of booking.com and Airbnb, its not hard to book ahead and you do find most resort staff speak english, so the task isn’t as daunting as it sounds, it just depends on how much time and comfort you have in doing literally everything yourself.
For your very first trip to the mountains choose a smaller resort which has a few beginner slopes – this will mean the slopes are likely to be less busy and the snow will be in good condition, making it easy to turn.
For Guaranteed Snow
Most resort will have snow all winter, but you can find the lower slopes can be sparse in early and late seasons. So if you want guaranteed big snow, then head high to resorts over about 1800 metres.
Resorts Close To The UK
Here are ten destinations you can get to quickly (times quoted are travel only and don’t allow for you to waste time collecting baggage, going to the toilet, breathing etc…):
Igls, Austria (2 hours, 15 minutes)
Few ski resorts can claim to be less than 10km from the airport but as you fly in to Innsbruck, two hours from London you can pretty much look out of the window and wave to people on the chairlifts as you come in to land. Well that’s a minor (and slightly alarming) exaggeration but you get the idea.
Igls is one of more than half-a-dozen mid-sized ski areas surrounding Innsbruck and all on one lift pass. The terrain is mostly benign but there’s a historic black run where Franz Klammer took gold in the 1976 Olympics, It’s a 15 minute transfer here from the airport. It should be noted that several other resorts like Seefeld are not much further away.
Cairngorm, Scotland (2 hours, 17 minutes)
So yes this is a bit of a cheat as already within the UK, but you can fly to Inverness from a number of airports including Gatwick and Luton with EasyJet and Manchester with FlyBE, flight times are usually around 60-90 minutes. Once you arrive at Inverness though it’s either the buses or an expensive 48 mile taxi journey to Cairngorm. A hire car may be the most viable and you can do the drive in about an hour.
Chamonix, France (2 hours, 25 minutes)
One of the world’s most famous resorts is also one of the easiest to reach. Geneva is a one hour, 35 minute flight from London then it’s a 50 minute drive to Chamonix so long as you avoid busy times.
Crans Montana, Switzerland (2 hours, 26 minutes)
If you can get on a flight to Sion airport you can be in Crans Montana, 25km away, in a little over half an hour by taking the train to Sierre and then the Sierre Crans-Montana funicular, a 36 minute combined trip.
Ruhpolding, Germany, (2 hours, 35 minutes)
Salzburg Airport is just under two hours from the UK and there are dozens of Austrian ski areas just an hour to 90 minutes away. But heading north west in to the Bavarian Alps is closer still and the German ski resort of Ruhpolding is just a 40 minute transfer. Crystal Ski offer holidays there.
Oslo Vinterpark, Norway (2 hours, 38 minutes)
Flights to Oslo from London, Manchester, Birmingham or Edinburgh take around one hour, 45 minutes and the capital has a great little ski area at Tryvann up on the hill above. You can reach there in 58 minutes by a combination of fast airport train, tram and a short shuttle the last mile or in 48 minutes by a rather more expensive taxi or rental car.
Morillon, France (2 hours, 40 minutes)
The Grand Massif is one of the closest major ski areas to Geneva and after that 95 minute flight its only just over an hour’s transfer to Morillon, one of the traditional villages on the outside of the huge snowy bowl that’s home to Flaine. Simply whizz to Morillon then take the lift up and ski on down in to that huge snowy Mecca. Peak Retreats offer holidays there.
Chamrousse, France (2 hours, 55 minutes)
For a ski resort that’s not only quick to reach but also cheap to get to and stay in, the 1968 winter Olympic Resort of Chamrousse is hard to beat. Expect to pay about a third less for your lift pass (and most other aspects of your holiday) that at the big name French resorts too. It’s a one hour, 45 minute flight to Grenoble from London and A taxi or hire car should get you from there to resort in just over an hour, alternatively Bens Bus can transfer you there at a very reasonable cost in 1 hour 15 minutes.
Sierra Nevada, Spain, (3 hours 25 minutes)
If you’re hoping to get a little further, the BA flight to Granada airport in southern Spain does take longer (2 hours, 35 minutes on the plane), but you’re then only 50 minutes by taxi or rental car from the superb ski area of Sierra Nevada, Spain’s highest and with slopes looking out over the Med. If you want to save a lot of money but take a few minutes longer take the bus from the airport to Granada then change coaches for the bus up the mountain.
Levi, Lapland, Finland (3 hours, 50 minutes)
Another of the more distant choices from the UK Levi gets a mention as once you’ve made the flight to Kittila airport (and there’s a new charter there from Gatwick with Thomson Airways serving Crystal Ski Holidays this winter) it’s only a 20 minute transfer to Finland’s largest resort. The flight is around three and a half hours to make the 2,000 mile trip though so that bit takes a while.
For Families
It’s always tricky planning a family ski holiday. For most of us the two elements to get right are booking a complex holiday and getting all these details right and doing so at a total price that doesn’t break the bank.
Your best chance of success is indeed to plan ahead, so you know what you’re like to have to pay out and so you can avoid stress points which can blow out of proportion and ruin an otherwise good holiday.
Looking back I have tended to find that we had our best family holidays most often in smaller, friendlier, intimate resorts rather than the giant areas
Here are some of our favourites:
Les Gets, France
Les Gets is widely recognised as a first class choice for families, thanks to its relaxed ambience and its excellent facilities. Although part of the huge Portes du Soleil ski area is has an intimate feel and its own separate ski area. The resort goes to great lengths to organise a full program of fun packed children’s activities and kids can enjoy the cinemas, bowling, skating rink and the unique mechanical music museum as well as my personal favourite – sweet and chocolate making classes with resident chocolatier Isabelle.
Kimberley, BC, Canada
Another personal favourite, everything seems to come together perfectly for families in Kimberley. There’s a large modern accommodation complex – Trickle Creek Lodge – right at the base of the slopes (it’s the building left of picture), complete with spacious condos, shop, restaurant and spa. The ski room is on the ground floor and you simply get kitted up, walk out through the automatic doors and you’re next to the children’s snow nursery area and the base of the lifts up the mountain. Those lifts are fast, comfortable chairs serving wonderful long family friend runs, with the option to head off to steeper and deeper terrain moments away. The original town of Kimberley is a mile down the road and a great place too. It’s simply the perfectly designed family resort.
The Lecht, Scotland, UK
Many children and adults alike have learned to ski in Scotland over the years. I’ve always liked The Lecht as a family base as it’s very self contained and the ’new’ base building, open some years now, has rentals, ticketing and a restaurant looking out over the slopes all in one place – with car parking and ski lifts all steps away from each other. Costs are very reasonable too. Once your children are old enough and confident enough to ski by themselves, and perhaps have more energy than you do, you can take a break in the café and still keep an eye on them!
Ruka, Lapland, Finland
Actually I think we’ve enjoyed our trips to pretty much all of the half dozen Scandinavian resorts we’ve visited as a family. But Lapland does have that extra magic – a better chance of seeing the northern lights, dog sledding and reindeer safaris, the oddness of limited daylight in mid-winter and the dream like quality of everything floodlit, and above all the great excitement of Santa living nearby which infects children and adults alike. The ski areas are generally small to moderate, intimate places where you can happily ski together on predominantly family friendly slopes. I remember cost was a factor in the past but fortunately that has dropped by about a third in recent years. We visited Santa at three different houses in Lapland over the years, all were good but Santa’s Secret Cottage near Ruka was by far the best.
Smugglers Notch, Vermont, USA
North America really leads the ski world when it comes to childcare quality and Smugglers Notch, or ‘Smuggs’ for short, located on the other side of the mountain to Stowe in Vermont, leads North America. Why so good? It works on every level of those key aspects of a successful family ski holiday, and then it takes it to another level by a commitment to family ski fun perfection. OK I know this is starting to read like an advertisement but it is coming from personal experience.
Smuggs has a compact base – everything within a short walk, including the ski slopes. It’s pretty much car free, the ski area is compact so it’s all very manageable on and off the slopes. The accommodation is largely in spacious, comfortable, well equipped condos – again, top marks for family suitability. Next we have dining and apres ski – think lots to do, lots of laid on events, big family feasts but all either inclusive top your package on very low cost – so you don’t end up blowing a fortune on in-resort costs. Then there’s childcare and ski school – again a creme-de-la-crème reputation for being the best. It really was a stand out choice.
Galtür, Tirol, Austria
Galtür has a quiet, pretty, compact centre and it also boasts an impressive sports centre with indoor pool that the kids will enjoy, along with activities like tobogganing and sleigh rides. The largely child-focused ski area has been designed to be super family friendly in to various fun zones suited to different levels, tastes and abilities.
Avoriaz, France
Actually part of the same huge Portes du Soleil ski region as Les Gets, Avoriaz scores high for families on a number of levels. Firstly it’s a rare full pedestrianised ski resort, all access is over snow with no vehicles to worry about and most accommodation ski-in, ski-out; secondly it has a 40 year reputation for its pioneering Village des Enfants child care and ski school facilities originally conceived by the great Annie Famose and thirdly there was the recent opening of a tropical water park on the mountain, because Center Parcs are part of the same group that run Avoriaz. It’s called Aquariaz and its excellent.
