It’s well-known that if you’re a skier, you’re usually looking at holidays that cost thousands, rather than hundreds. As well as the cost of resort accommodation and flights, equipment hire and lift passes aren’t cheap, and that puts many people off. If you also need to travel during school holidays, it’s often a major investment, and whilst we’re loving our family skiing adventures, we do miss our adults only ski trips during the quieter weeks.
One thing that lots of people can manage though, is a weekend away courtesy of grandparents and extended family, so instead of the usual country retreat, we wondered if it would be possible to get a weekend ski break in Europe for a sensible price, and be home in time for the school-run.
How to find affordable ski holidays
We got some great advice from No.1 Currency and found that making the most of a weekend ski break is just a matter of choosing your resort carefully. Here are their tips for maximising your time on the piste:
- Choose a resort with short airport transfer times: visiting Sauze d’Oulx in Italy is a good choice, with a total flight and transfer time of just 3 hours, meaning you could be settled in and ready for a full day on the slopes the next morning. It’s also the cheapest option, with 3 days skiing and return flights costing £201.
- Steer clear of Switzerland unless you can stomach the cost of hobnobbing with the celebrities who favour resorts such as Verbier, and the most expensive resort, Villars.
- Consider staying in-city for an even faster (and often cheaper) way of getting to the ski slopes: Innsbruck international airport is only 15 minutes from the city centre, and has some of Austria’s best ski resorts on its doorstep.
- Use Skyscanner or another flight comparison site to compare up to the minute flight costs and secure the best deal for you.
- Think about the cost of added extras – sometimes the unplanned-for costs of food and drink on the slopes is one of the biggest costs.
- Hunt around for the best currency exchange rate before you travel, to make your money go further on arrival.
The table below shows a comparison of costs on some of the essentials of a ski holiday:
|
Resort
|
Country
|
Flight Time
|
Transfer Time
|
Flight Cost
|
Ski Boot Hire (3 days)
|
Ski Pass (3 days)
|
Bottle of Beer
|
Bottle of Wine
|
Bottle of Coke
|
Lunch on the slopes for 2
|
Total
|
|
|
Villars
|
Switzerland
|
1 hr 40
|
1 hr
|
£104.00
|
£138.00
|
£142.50
|
£2.99
|
£14.95
|
£2.99
|
£22.41
|
£427.84
|
|
|
St Anton
|
Austria
|
2 hrs
|
1 hr
|
£183.00
|
£76.43
|
£108.34
|
£2.57
|
£14.04
|
£2.42
|
£15.60
|
£402.40
|
|
|
Verbier
|
Switzerland
|
1 hr 40
|
2 hrs
|
£104.00
|
£86.89
|
£154.46
|
£4.67
|
£14.95
|
£3.74
|
£22.41
|
£391.12
|
|
|
Engelberg
|
Switzerland
|
1hr 40
|
1hr 30
|
£98.00
|
£133.76
|
£85.82
|
£3.74
|
£14.03
|
£3.36
|
£20.92
|
£359.63
|
|
|
Mayrhofen
|
Austria
|
2 hrs
|
1 hr
|
£183.00
|
£42.69
|
£103.27
|
£2.34
|
£11.70
|
£1.95
|
£13.26
|
£358.21
|
|
|
Innsbruck
|
Austria
|
2 hrs
|
15 mins
|
£183.00
|
£47.33
|
£83.40
|
£2.34
|
£19.50
|
£1.95
|
£12.48
|
£350.00
|
|
|
Megeve
|
France
|
1hr 40
|
1 hr
|
£104.00
|
£65.40
|
£94.32
|
£5.30
|
£20.67
|
£2.87
|
£25.51
|
£318.07
|
|
|
Chamonix
|
France
|
1 hr 40
|
1 hr
|
£104.00
|
£62.99
|
£103.64
|
£7.01
|
£13.26
|
£3.90
|
£18.73
|
£313.53
|
|
|
Warth-Schrocken
|
Austria
|
1 hr 40
|
2 hrs
|
£98.00
|
£64.84
|
£107.55
|
£2.49
|
£17.16
|
£3.12
|
£14.83
|
£307.99
|
|
|
Courmayeur
|
Italy
|
1 hr 40
|
1 hr 30
|
£104.00
|
£57.87
|
£99.76
|
£2.34
|
£10.92
|
£2.73
|
£18.72
|
£296.34
|
|
|
Morzine
|
France
|
1 hr 45
|
1 hr 30
|
£104.00
|
£61.16
|
£102.88
|
£2.34
|
£9.36
|
£1.95
|
£12.48
|
£294.10
|
|
|
Schladming
|
Austria
|
1hr 55
|
1 hr
|
£86.00
|
£45.93
|
£108.74
|
£1.95
|
£14.04
|
£1.95
|
£14.04
|
£270.31
|
|
|
Sauze d’Oulx
|
Italy
|
2 hrs
|
1 hr
|
£53.00
|
£45.19
|
£77.94
|
£2.73
|
£7.02
|
£2.34
|
£12.48
|
£200.70
|
|
*Table supplied by No.1 Currency.
Do you have any tips on maximising your time on a weekend ski trip?