Pricks on sticks & gays on trays....who's been?

[VC]

 

[jonm]

I'm looking to book somewhere cheap, half board really, around 11th Feb or 7th April due to the other half being a teacher...

anyone know of somewhere cheap?

[VC]

Andorra is usually pretty cheap, avoid pas de la cassa and aim for soldeu (not sure on the spellings)

the slopes that join cassa are utter rubbish and your lift pass is extortionate money to extend to cross the mountains whereas soldeu has nicer longer runs and better nightlife 

[Tamiyoman]

You wont find cheap for 11th feb, not unless your very lucky im afraid as everyone is trying to go those dates (french have holidays then too so sharpen your elbows for the lift queues!)), we were looking for same date in Feb due to my mates wife being a teacher, 7th April would likely be a cheaper option for you but snow getting pretty slushy by then, crispy in mornings and slushy in afternoons

Italy tends to be cheaper than france, I saw a deal yesterday for 17th March £299 4 Star half board nice looking hotel in centre of town in Sauze D'oulx Italy.

try teletext online for cheap deals they tend to be pretty well priced.

[Tamiyoman]

Quick look on teletex shows cheapest available for that week would be around £680+ per person, austria or Italy, France start at around £700+

April yo should get soemthing for around £500 pp

[jonm]

nice one on the heads up

[jonm]

Prices don't seem bad at the begining of April...

Snow wise though for April would Italy, France or Bulgaria be best?

[MAT ED30]

Think chamonix just hadq good load of snow

[Tamiyoman]

Lots os areas in Alps had loads of snow, I was in les Deux alpes week before Xmas and they had loads of snow too, Ischgl had 5.4m (18ft) in last few days, getting in an out will be tricky and its a VERY expensive place altho worth it as Apres is the best I have seen in 15 years!.

Italy not had as much, France and Austria seem to had most of it.

Would not recommend Bulgaria unless you like your food cold or lukewarm at best and skiing is not exactly challenging, good for families on a budget but otherwise give it a miss.

Ischgl Austria is FANTASTIC but Expensive.
Alpe D'Huez France is large ski area (Good Off piste!) and good nightlife and reasonably priced
Les Deux Alpes France good ski area but not very snowboarder friendly due to flat areas, reasonably priced (we went in december 4* Full Board (Including free bar from 4pm through to 10pm!) inc lift pass for £675.
Montgenevre France is great skiing but limited nightlife (and you can do 3 countries in 1 day there also!)
3 valleys France (Meribel, Courcheval, Les Menuires, Val Thorens, La tania etc) massive ski areas, meribel/courcheval expensive, la tania and Les menuires limited nightlife and much cheaper!
Val D'Isere/Tignes France, good skiing and expensive
Vars cheap but expect long uphill walkes to hotels
Sauze D'Oulx Italy, good skiing and relatively cheap.

[B3n]

Well after a txt off my mate ive just booked to go to Bansko in Bulgaria on the 28th Jan Ain't stepped foot on a snowboard in 2 years so it should be fun. Not sure what to expect from Bansko though and Im not really a fan of Bulgaria due to previous experiences whilst there on hol's a few years ago. But it was cheap enough so I thought why not . Paid just over £500 for 4* Hotel half board with lift passes and board rental.

Getting rather excited now

Ben

[MattPoss]

Well after a txt off my mate ive just booked to go to Bansko in Bulgaria on the 28th Jan Ain't stepped foot on a snowboard in 2 years so it should be fun. Not sure what to expect from Bansko though and Im not really a fan of Bulgaria due to previous experiences whilst there on hol's a few years ago. But it was cheap enough so I thought why not . Paid just over £500 for 4* Hotel half board with lift passes and board rental.

Getting rather excited now

Ben

I went to Bansko 2 years ago and I enjoyed it, it was only my 2nd time skiing so I was just glad to be out there having a go. By the end of the week we had done most of the runs. The nightlife was ok too, nice big bar at the bottom of the gondola which was good, couple of nice restaurants as well

I don't know if I'd go back due to it being a bit smaller but for value for money it was fantastic

Enjoy
Matt

[Tamiyoman]

If your not a regular intermediate or advanced skier Bulgaria will be fine, its only when your inter/advanced I would not recommend it as piste is limited at best

[Tamiyoman]

Well it is the holiday season (for me anyway), so after my trip to Les Deux alpes week before xmas, myself and my mate decided we wanted to go to Ischgl again and drive there, well after costing it all out (Fuel, tunnel, self catering apt, food etc) we were looking at approx £445 each to do it for week 17th to 24th March, well after a few convos between us we decided to look at flying instead and just booked today to go to Sestriere (part of the Milky Way ski area in Italy) and we got 3*HB hotel, flights, tranfers etc for £349 each, so its booked and paid for, only we are going 11th to 18th March instead!!, roll on the snow clouds if you please!.

If there had been 4 us going in the car it wold have worked out at only £250 each but as 2 could not commit we thought sod it, fly!

I dont do summer holidays so try to go snowboarding at least twice per year (3 if i can manage it with work!).

[MattPoss]

Well it is the holiday season (for me anyway), so after my trip to Les Deux alpes week before xmas, myself and my mate decided we wanted to go to Ischgl again and drive there, well after costing it all out (Fuel, tunnel, self catering apt, food etc) we were looking at approx £445 each to do it for week 17th to 24th March, well after a few convos between us we decided to look at flying instead and just booked today to go to Sestriere (part of the Milky Way ski area in Italy) and we got 3*HB hotel, flights, tranfers etc for £349 each, so its booked and paid for, only we are going 11th to 18th March instead!!, roll on the snow clouds if you please!.

If there had been 4 us going in the car it wold have worked out at only £250 each but as 2 could not commit we thought sod it, fly!

I dont do summer holidays so try to go snowboarding at least twice per year (3 if i can manage it with work!).

That sounds great, who did you book it with if you don't mind me asking?!

I'm looking at going but were wanting to go cheap this year, it's the lift passes that are the expensive part

Cheers,
Matt

[Tamiyoman]

Hi Matt, we got the deal off Teletext through an Abta agent, its actually a Thomas Cook / Neilson holiday tho  basically they "Broker" out late deals to agencioes to fill the flights and rooms so we got a holiday with a brochure price of £659 (on thomas cook website at £375 currently) for £349 each, was happy with that, cheapest we could find HB in france was £392 or £380 in Austria (my choice!, better apres! )

Lift passes for Milky way are around £167 This covers Sestriere, Sauze D'oulx, Sansicario, Cesana, Claviere and Montgenevre (In france, been there apres limited but great mountains!), thats approx 400km of piste in total (who cares about Piste tho im a snowboarder i rarely touch pistes!  )

Sestriere is also a high altitude resort (at 2035m) so snow should be ok going late in season.

Good luck with the search, there are deals to be had if you look every day!