Is there any feasible weekend skiing available from Dublin?

fortyplus

Is there any feasible weekend skiing available from Dublin (Spring 2007). The only advertised I can se is for Scandinavian destinations (not really interested).

Ideally we would hope to fly on a Thursday/ Friday & return Monday. Italy/ Austria/ maybe France are preferred. Middle range skiing.

Direct flights strongly favoured.

sharingan

Maybe scotland?

The one thing that limits you here is your accomodation. If you can book that in advance, great. But you have to get accomodation booking to coincide with your flight time.

All travel agent/tour operator based stuff, is based around securing accoms first (offered in weeks only)

The locals take the flights out of the equation so its possible for them.

Your only alternative is to basically turn up and look around for accomodation then. Requires more bravery than me, but its probably very unlikely that even popular resorts would be totally booked out. Settle into pubs and ask the staff would be a good start, or check the resort & hotel websites in advance, once you have secured your flights.

Basically its not a common thing at all.

kenco

Some people I know have done a trip to Milan and then on to the Milky Way (about 4 hours from Milan). I think they hired a car and made their own way up. They took a chance on accommodation are were prepared to sleep in the car but as it happened they asked around and were sorted out easily enough (that said I dont think it was peak season).

Its a fair bit of travel for a limited amount of skiing but.....

Cooee

I've done Scotland. But the weather is so unpredictable, snow so unreliable that it is not worth the risk.

Flying to Geneva and then either bussing or driving to the many rersorts in the area is easy and managable for a weekend.

The same with going into Turin - very close to Milky Way.

Munich is within striking distance by car of many good Aurtrian resorts.

Imposter

Aer Lingus and Ryanair do direct flights to Salzburg so that's an even better idea than Munich. Getting accommodation just for the weekend could be the problem.

edmund_f

my current plan is to fly Cork - Prague start of march for a long weekend (fri monday) hire a car and drive north to Harrachov, all pretty beginner stuff as far as the slopes go, which suites me perfectly...

EileenG

Fly to Zurich and ski Andermatt for the weekend. You can get a train all the way there, and there is plenty of challenging skiing for a weekend. A week might be too long.

Fly to Bergamo with Ryanair and go to Foppolo. It's less than an hour from the airport and most of the hotels include transfer in a weekend package. There isn't a lot of skiing, and most of it is better for novices and intermediates, but it's fine for a weekend.

Fly to Grenoble with Ryanair and get a local bus up the mountain to Chamrousse. Excellent family resort, and you can try your hand at an Olympic downhill piste.

Or (my favourite), fly to Paris and get an overnight train to Bourg St Maurice and ski Les Arcs, or Ste Foy. Tigne and Val d'Isere are accessible, but probably wasted if you have only a couple of days. Fly out on Friday, train overnight, hotel Saturday night, train back Sunday night, early flight Monday morning and you can be at your desk about an hour late after skiing all day Saturday and Sunday.

Triangle

I looked at this earlier this year.
My plan was fly into barcelona -hire car and stay in a rented apartment for the weekend.
It was fairly reasonable but there was so little snow i never bothered.

mcgratheoin

Try Lillehammer or Hafjell in Norway. Definitely accessible as a weekend trip.

Don1

Flew Ryanair to Freidrichshaffen in Germany early this year. Then hopped on the train to Obersdorf on the border with Austria. Cheap and great criac, and loads of accomodation, even though we hit at the end of the traditional holiday week! I think we had a bus to the train but I can't remember. Too much schnapps...... :rolleyes:

piskins72

what about Sierra Nevada in Spain? flights with Ryanair to Almeria and then drive to Granada, my bnl did this earlier on this year, flew out on sat n back tues.

Static M.e.

Pulled this from a Christmas Newsletter 2006 from the Ski Club of Ireland, thought it was informative.

Our leisure time is limited with work and family commitments and a short break can be more cost and time effective than the traditional week’s holiday. Weekend breaks can be a better use of time:- take for example the Ryanair flight to Salzburg – Departs Dublin at 17.00 on a Thursday and departs Salzburg at 21.30 on a Tuesday - you ski for five days for the loss of 3.5 work days. There are a host of resorts within 1 to 1.5 hours of Salzburg: Saalbach, St Johann, Kitzbuhel, Maria Alm, Zell am See, Kaprun to name a few. Similarly there are daily Aer Lingus evening flights to Munich with resorts such as Lermoos, Westendorf, Mayrhofen, Seefeld, Soll, St Anton, within 1.5 to 3 hours drive. For short breaks the best flights leave Dublin late in the afternoon with the return leg is in the evening/night so you can maximise snow time.

watna

Imposter wrote: »

Aer Lingus and Ryanair do direct flights to Salzburg so that's an even better idea than Munich. Getting accommodation just for the weekend could be the problem.

The Salzburg flights are very expensive. unless you fly on a tuesday or thursday (they only go tuesdays, thursdays and fridays, both ryanair and Aer Lingus). As above It's good if you can go mid-week,(thurs to tues) mucho expensivo to fly on Saturdays

bonkey

Ryanair also fly to Basel now. The times are horrible for a regular trip, but for ppl wanting to ski they could work. Of course, Basel is the wrong end of Switzerland for skiing anywhere but, well, Switzerland.

Imposter

watna wrote: »

The Salzburg flights are very expensive. unless you fly on a tuesday or thursday (they only go tuesdays, thursdays and fridays, both ryanair and Aer Lingus). As above It's good if you can go mid-week,(thurs to tues) mucho expensivo to fly on Saturdays

Try the times that are not really high season - so Jan or Mar. You might get lucky. Accomodation is still the problem though.

I flew from/to Salzburg last christmas with Ryanair - this year it was WAY too expensive IF there was something available - same with Aer Lingus.

Static M.e.

Yes they seem very expensive at the moment, you can cheap enough flights to Munich though

Im going to work on the cost today for going next weekend, the route being Dublin -> Munich and then drive/train/bus to a resort

In work at the moment so its harder to get the information.

Going forward what I would like to do is have a couple of Weekend trips written down so if people can get the time off, then can quickly book flights, know exactly where they are going and how to get their. We might also try and organise some boardies weekends away over the coming winter if people are interested

watna

Imposter wrote: »

Try the times that are not really high season - so Jan or Mar. You might get lucky. Accomodation is still the problem though.

I flew from/to Salzburg last christmas with Ryanair - this year it was WAY too expensive IF there was something available - same with Aer Lingus.

I know, I'm going on the 22nd December and the flights were astronomical. Luckily my dad was feeling generous and bought myself and my bf flights for our Christmas present, otherwise we'd be going nowhere this Christmas! I'm going to have to try figure out a cheaper way to get there.

Last summer, I went over to visit the parents in Austria. I got a very early morning flight to Charleroi because it was cheap, then waited in the airport for about 5 hours and then got a flight to Salzburg from there (all with ryanair). it was extremely tiring and sitting in the tin shed that is Charleroi was a bitch but I saved a fortune so it could work if people were up for a bit of extra travel.

watna

Static M.e. wrote: »

Yes they seem very expensive at the moment, you can cheap enough flights to Munich though

Im going to work on the cost today for going next weekend, the route being Dublin -> Munich and then drive/train/bus to a resort

In work at the moment so its harder to get the information.

Going forward what I would like to do is have a couple of Weekend trips written down so if people can get the time off, then can quickly book flights, know exactly where they are going and how to get their. We might also try and organise some boardies weekends away over the coming winter if people are interested

ooh a boardsies weekend would be fun, I even have free accomodation for people! It's always good to have like-minded people to share the car-hire bill and get some good skiing in! Unfortunately I won't be able to afford flights this winter. maybe next year?!! I'd be in then!

Kaisr Sose

I lived and skied in Switzerland for a few years -here is twoo easy ways to do a tailormade short ski trip, no hassle, just book the flights to Zurich early and on depart on a Thur/Fri, ret on Mon/Tue for the best deals.
Switzerland
Fly daily with Swiss or Aer lingus to Zurich, or RyanAir to Basel (Just started)
Trains every hour from Zurich Airport to the following
Adelboden (€90 ret. time-2h45m), www.adelboden.com Wengen, Murren, Grindlewald (€90 approx 3h30m) www.jungfrau.com
You can get a discounted 2 day lift pass with the train ticket-and also good deals on accomadation -more info www.sbb.ch/en/ and look for snow and rail offers-from 15 Dec to Early April.
From Basel its just a bit shorter
Austria
St Anton direct by train from Zurich Airport-4hrs seamless Swiss transport-about €100 return. Every 2 hrs. Doing this for the new year myself-got fed up waiting for others.
Am over in Switz this weekend do hope to hit the slopes. Will try get the prices on the snow and rail for 07/08. Willing to answer questions for those that have any.

Spetzcong

The year before last I headed to Courchevelle for a weekend just before Christmas, flew into Lyon and the Chalet we stayed in had a fella in a van pick us up at the airport, took the Friday and the Monday off so technically it was 4 days but we got boarding in every day. All round it only cost about 300 euro (not including boozing money).

Bob_TG

Cooee wrote: »

Munich is within striking distance by car of many good Aurtrian resorts.

If you hire a car watch out for the weekend traffic from the locals. In that case, Monday might be a better return date than a Sunday. It once took me 5-6 hours (as opopsed to 2-3) to get from Salzburg to Munich returning on a Sunday afternoon !!

To me, the key is a direct flight with easy transfer. Zakopane in Poland might be an option. Direct Ryanair flight from Dublin to Krakow and then 1.5 hours via train. Haven't been there myelf; but it's #1 for Poles (could be long queues though).

WillyWonka

Bob_TG wrote: »

It once took me 5-6 hours (as opopsed to 2-3) to get from Salzburg to Munich returning on a Sunday afternoon !!

Had that same problem in Italy, missed flight. Nightmare.

This is a great thread, thanks for reviving it. I just posted this one too, which basically suggests a boardies weekend...
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055210584

Let the games begin