Cheap skiing (Ryanair?)

frobisher

On thoughts or experiences on cheap skiing in Europe? Possibly ones on RyanAir routes?

oconn

did it loads.... flew to stansted change to salzburg... train for 1 hour and you can take your pick....also did easyjet to munich ( change in stn again ) ... if you get the flights half reasonable then its good but changing flights is a bit of a dose....if you could get a cheap flight direct you are laughing ... just ring / email the local tourist board either before hand or when you arrive( in austria they dont like to book anything in advance other than sat to sat. so if you are going other days dont worry just go there pick a ski area and find a little village at the end of a slope .

sharingan

I know friends who manage to do this and it works out quite well for them.

I don't know how much cheaper it works out than say going through DirectSki or something, who are normally pretty reasonable.

I have met people though for whom this was a lot of hassle, and one group where it nearly went pretty pear-shaped. Winter weather can play havoc with connections remember, and generally you are doing a lot more travel.

redzerdrog

dublin to grenoble is fairly cheap and only a couple of hours from mont blanc with plenty of resorts, we usually base in chamonix and then do all resorts in the area plus 1 or 2 in italy

Nietzschean

i'd avoid directski like the plague, useless... just back from a trip with them i don't think there was a single person happy with them from it. Both their staff in dublin and on site were just crap...(nevermind adding on 100% onto snow boarding lessons as a cut for themselves)

sharingan

Nietzschean wrote:

i'd avoid directski like the plague, useless... just back from a trip with them i don't think there was a single person happy with them from it.

I am curious, what specific things were you unhappy with?

Nietzschean wrote:

Both their staff in dublin and on site were just crap...(nevermind adding on 100% onto snow boarding lessons as a cut for themselves)

Reps are always a mixed bag, I have been on holidays where I have never met mine.

And what they added 100% onto the snow boarding lessons after you arrived? Or it was more expensive than locally available tuition? I haven't found locally available tuition to be particularly cheap, and snowboarding tuition is always more expensive than ski tuition.

d2ww

flying to Turin this Easter, €150 rtn. Cervinia is not too far away, public transport links a bit patchy at that time of the year, so we are hiring a car at €75/person. HB is €560 for the week.

robinph

sharingan wrote:

Reps are always a mixed bag, I have been on holidays where I have never met mine.

I always try my best to never meet the reps and only saw the directski ones last week on the bus to and from the airport. Other guys in our group did run into them a couple of times though during the week but I think that was just for meeting up for the lessons and then later in the week when they were too knackered to go to the bar so were in the apartment when they called round.

Imposter

#Elites wrote:

doing this myself, Direct from Dublin-> Salzburg then train up to Kitzbühel, flights where 9.99€ oneway/not with taxes so cheap enough!

having trouble finding a hotel though, the saterday-saterday seems to be true, as they list hotels with places, but when i ring they say its not possible:(

and turing up on the day would be way to much hassle, as we come in about 9 at night, dont want to lugging it around the place trying to find a room!

Kitzbühel is very much a town to be seen in rather than a town to ski in. The skiing is average at best. Everythnig is also crazily expensive.

There are far better places around Salzburg (even nearer to the airport than Kitzbühel). You may have a better chance getting accomodation in a small town with a 20 minute ish bus ride to a ski lift in a neighbouring town/village.

Nietzschean

sharingan wrote:

I am curious, what specific things were you unhappy with?

Lets see, an hour sitting in the busses in turin cause they somehow thought 1 group was 5.... Moving the bags from the busses onto mini-busses to bring to the apt's took another 30mins - hr of us standing around outside.... and it went on....

Reps are always a mixed bag, I have been on holidays where I have never met mine.

And what they added 100% onto the snow boarding lessons after you arrived? Or it was more expensive than locally available tuition? I haven't found locally available tuition to be particularly cheap, and snowboarding tuition is always more expensive than ski tuition.

They charged us 130euro for 3 days snowboarding lessons as far as i recall, the same instructors/school was charging 135 for 6 days when were there... private 1 on 1 lessons were cheaper than what we got charged...

MadsL

where would you recomend, for good skiing thats 1-3hrs from Salzburg by Train?!

Bad Hofgastein

Airport transfers can be arranged - taxi is about €60 each way - but if you speak german talk to Taxi Groger & Rudigier Tel: 06432/66 11 they run bus group transfers - I paid €30 coming back.

Train is possible - but probably more hassle - rent a car from Saltzburg maybe for a short ski trip?

Sixt do a skispecial for €200 for a weeks car hire.

Imposter

#Elites wrote:

Strange as many people i know have gone there and said it was great..!

but where would you recomend, for good skiing thats 1-3hrs from Salzburg by Train?!

That's just what i've heard from Austrians about KB i've never been there although i'm always talking about a day trip but it's just too far for me. Here are some resorts that are near Salzburg.

Saalbach/Hinterglemm - there's a shuttle service that costs 35€ from Salzburg airport and they pick up late (10pm I think is the last one) (it's like a taxi - http://www.holiday-shuttle.at/) - I like everything about this place - so much great skiing, great apres ski, good nightlife, super restaurants, international crowd. Accomodation could be hard for just a weekend.
Zell am See - town is ok, quiet enough for it's size but still lots to do. Skiing ok. You can also go to a nearby glacier in Kaprun if there are snow problems.
Flachau - skiing is good, but lifts can get crowded - town is ok, you'll find stuff to do at night.
St. Johann (Aplendorf) - i like the skiing here, not much skiing and not really for beginners, nightlife is quiet enough but apres ski can be good

Bad Gastein - not been there but i hear it's good

Obertauern - this might be a bit far
Schladming - same as above
Söll/Westendorf - this is a similar distance as KB, the skiing is super but it's full of english and irish.

Imposter

#Elites wrote:

wutcha think?

I think you should do what you think is best.

It wouldn't be my favourite idea but then I don't have to do it and I don't know you

Imposter

#Elites wrote:

its just the choice of so many resorts, and never skiied in Austria, and how no idea where to go!

Well I presume it's not like your going ot give up skiing after this year! You can go back again!

rbuckley

i wouldnt do the staying in salzburg and driving if i were you as it is 2 much time wasted every day driving and you could also get heavy snowfall around salzburg and find yourself stuck on a motorway. group of 10 of us took 4 hours to drive 50 miles back to salzburg recently on a return journey from ski trip and missed our flights!!.
been to austria 8yrs in a row now and this year were in zell am see where the snow was only ok but as we had our own transport (ford transit bus) we were ale to drive to the kaprun glacier when we needed to. you can actually see the glacier from zell, its that close ,15 min drive and also very important the zell lift pass also covers the glacier+kaprun, glacier is just passed kaprun and its called the kitzhorn glacier and has some of the best snow conditions in all of austria at the moment. look up the local web site for accomodation. i would reckon you would have no prob getting a b+b as there seemed to be very few people around while we were there and i dont think they would refuse any business right now. 'google' zell am see to get the web site

rbuckley

i wouldnt do the staying in salzburg and driving if i were you as it is 2 much time wasted every day driving and you could also get heavy snowfall around salzburg and find yourself stuck on a motorway. group of 10 of us took 4 hours to drive 50 miles back to salzburg recently on a return journey from ski trip and missed our flights!!.
been to austria 8yrs in a row now and this year were in zell am see where the snow was only ok but as we had our own transport (ford transit bus) we were ale to drive to the kaprun glacier when we needed to. you can actually see the glacier from zell, its that close ,15 min drive and also very important the zell lift pass also covers the glacier+kaprun, glacier is just passed kaprun and its called the kitzhorn glacier and has some of the best snow conditions in all of austria at the moment. look up the local web site for accomodation. i would reckon you would have no prob getting a b+b as there seemed to be very few people around while we were there and i dont think they would refuse any business right now. 'google' zell am see to get the web site

APM

just back from sierra nevada, spain
flew aerlingus to malaga and back home from seville (Ryanair fly both routes)
Sat - slopes closed
Sun - Open but packed
Mon - Slopes closed due high winds
Tues - open but basically just ice - shouldnt have been open IMO

temps always around 13-15'C during the day

so in short don't go 2 sierra nevada if your hoping for a few days guarnteed skiing

verbatim

You can fly dublin to Bratislava in Slovakia with Ryanair then get a train to the Low Tatra mountains for skiing. Theres loads of places to do it, and everything is extremely cheap. Theres a major trainline which runs down the centre of the country from Bratislava to Kosice (the 2nd biggest city), and you've got the high tatras on one side, the low tatras on the other. So your only a few miles from ski slopes nearly anywhere along that trainline and public transport is everywhere.

You could also do Dublin - Tampere in Finland, but Finland is quite flat, so you need to get an expensive train to the east to get some decent skiing. Ruka is a nice place to ski. Ski hire is about 25E per day, and a lift pass is about 25E per day and log cabins are cheap and plentiful. Some nice classic skiing tracks around too.