We all want to ski or board more, but we usually face one or two big problems – not enough time and/or not enough money. The answer I’ve found over the years is to actually ski more often but spend less doing it – “ski smart,” you could say.
Popping to the mountains every now and then is, after all, how most people who live in countries with their own ski areas do it. You whizz to the slopes as quickly as you can, squeeze as much of a ski holiday out of it as you can, and are back home before your boss notices you’ve left the office.
Taking a ski weekend is a good solution too if you’ve already had the standard ski holiday week this season but can’t bear the thought that it’s going to be another year before you hit the slopes again –especially if you were unlucky enough to be booked in resort before all the snow arrived at the start of last month so face two years between good ski holidays. Now all the snow has arrived but you can’t afford to take another week off.
SkiWeekends.com, as their name suggests, are past masters of making the most of the ski week-end. Offering holidays to a choice of more than two dozen ski resorts in France, Austria, Italy and Switzerland, they offer everything from remarkable value £299 fully catered weekends to Les 3 Vallées, to uber-luxury 5★ packages. You don’t even have to travel at a weekend …
Here are some thoughts about ski weekends and short breaks to ponder:
Smarter Use Of Your Holiday Time
Most SkiWeekends.com weekend holidays run from Thursday to Monday, so you get four days on the slopes – two thirds of a ski week, but use only two days of your precious work holiday entitle-ment. So 67% of a ski week for 40% of the usual ski week holiday entitlement.
Or to put it another way you could take three ski weekends and get 12 days on the slopes, the equivalent of two ski weeks, but take just one extra day of your work holiday entitlement than you need for a regular ski week. Better still you get to try three separate resorts too, or just keep returning to the one you love and seeing it at different times through the season.
Three day weekend ski trips are another option and whether its three or four days you’ll be skiing on Saturday, a quiet day on the slopes as most people are travelling to or from your resort then, whilst you’re smugly already there.
If you want to ski really smart try to book your skiweekend over a bank holiday and use still less of your entitlement, zero perhaps!
Luxury Stays in Top Resorts
Although it’s possible to enjoy a remarkably low priced short break, you don’t have to pay vastly more to go for the luxury option either and an increasing number of people are figuring that if you’re going to fit in a fast ski trip, you might as well do it in style. They will even tailor make a trip for you.
SkiWeekends.com has a dedicated team of staff who specialise in their portfolio of top end prop-erties selection of four and five star ski hotels selected in top resorts including Chamonix, Morzine, Val d’Isere, Val Thorens and others with prices from £344 by air for three nights bed and breakfast in a Chamonix four star.
As with all their other destinations hotels and resorts are chosen both for being quick and easy to reach from the airport for fast transfers and then for being either by the slopes or very efficiently linked to the nearest lifts and pistes. Most properties will also have great spa and dining facilities, along with spacious rooms and excellent services – lift passes, rentals and ski school or guiding (if required) and restaurant reservations can normally all be handled by the team so you don’t need to worry about them.
Four night weekend and three day midweek packages are available getting you as many days on the slope as you have nights in the hotel. Half board packages are also available to book, along with all the added optional luxury services these top class hotels can offer. If you can afford a bit more, why not indulge…
Affordable Half Board Inclusive Packages
SkiWeekends.com offer holidays to dozens of different ski chalets and hotels but the company’s three star Hotel Verseau in the world’s largest ski area, the 3 Valleys, is a favourite of many (so much so, that TripAdvisor has awarded it a Certificate of Excellence).
Located in the traditional French spa village of Brides les Bains below Meribel, and connected by a fast gondola, the Verseau has spacious and well-equipped rooms each with a good-sized bath or shower room and serves up three course dinners in the evening. As an added bonus a ski hire shop runs from the hotel, so you can pre-book your equipment and have it ready for your arrival.
Smart Travel
Although the process of travel by air can be time-consuming and can waste a day at the start and again at the end of your trip, Although the process of travel by air can be time consuming and waste a day at the start and again at the end of your trip if your tour operator doesn’t have their wits about them, if a bit of thought into it you can equally maximise your time on the slopes by choosing airports and resorts that are quick and easy to get to, so you can arrive the evening be-fore and be ready to ski for three or four full days before heading back. This means you’ll get three days in a three-night holiday, rather than travelling eight days for six on the slopes. Travelling on a Monday or Thursday also means you’re more likely to avoid the weekend traffic jams. If you applied the same logic 5 days of work equals an amazing 15 days on the slopes.
Again SkiWeekends.com are the experienced experts on this way of going on a ski holiday, knowing the flights to book you on, the resorts that can be reached quickly and the properties within those resorts where the process is fast and efficient too – their mantra is “Ski More – Be Happy” in other words, everything is designed to cut travel time and maximise slope time.
More information :023 8020 6971 – SkiWeekends.com – [email protected]
