UKC

I'm taking the family skiing and am thinking of organising the trip myself and not going through a company. I am hoping to stay in a catered chalet. Can anyone recommend a chalet? (Bear in mind that I am going out on the 28th Dec and it will need to be at a high resort)

In reply to mark hounslea:

If you do want to look at having someone else sort out flights and transfers, SilverSki have been good to us over the years. I think that they offer their chalets without flights etc as well actually.

In reply to mark hounslea:



Go high or east. The Austrian Alps often get snow earlier than the western Alps, although obviously nothing is guaranteed.

In reply to mark hounslea:

Are you planning on hiring a car and EasyJet to Geneva Mark? or booking a transfer?

In reply to mark hounslea:
Or - book self catering and book a separate chef. We've done that the last couple of years and it's been awesome. We've been in Morzine (so not high, but easy access to PdS and used these guys:

http://www.thechalethostco.com/chalet-owners-and-managers/

Flexible, helpful and great value. They even halved the wine bill because we didn't drink much!

In reply to andy:
Morzine's a good call for DIY, easy access by hire car or minibus transfer from Geneva (several EasyJet flights a day from Liverpool), nice traditional town for evenings out and easy lift access to the much higher Avoriaz if snow is limited (odds are it will be fine by 28 December), but may need walk/shuttle bus to get to the lifts.

In reply to kevin stephens:

Not sure Kev. Any advice would be good

In reply to mark hounslea:
I find DIY ski trips are great for destinations where I/we can book budget hotels/gites and for trips which don't start and end on normal change over days. This is how I do my trips to Chamonix.

Catered chalets are more often than not organised by package tour companies and there may be less choice for DIY. Self catered chalets give you more flexibility but won't save much money when shopping in resort, and waste a lot of cooking time.

Catered chalets can be a bit of a gamble on who else you share them with. You may get similar like minded family groups you can enjoy hanging out with, or people you can't get on with; even worse if they have noisy or badly behaved very young children - can be claustrophobic in a small catered chalet.

Larger catered chalets blend into hotels (often called Chalet-hotels) and good ones have many of the benefits, tea and cake after skiing, set meals with complementary wine etc, and more control over who you and your family spend time with.

Transfer from the airport to resort is a factor, Chamonix and Morzine are not too far and pre-booked fixed price mini bus prices are reasonable - but you may end of waiting at the airport for your booking. Car hire is flexible especially somewhere like Chamonix where it can make it easier to get around, but not often cheap and you may have extra hassle./cost parking. A package holiday will have no hassle coach transfer which is a lot easier

My recommendations would be to go for a good chalet hotel package with a reputable company. Mark Warner are very good and have a couple of places in Tignes (we are going there with them in March) which has excellent snow sure skiing and depending on which area of the town you go for the option of good, but not over the top night life. Mark Warner use Jet2 flying from Manchester which is a lot better than the usual package airlines, ie check in times and 22kg baggage allowance .

Let me know if you need anything else

In reply to kevin stephens:

OP wants cheap option


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In reply to JJL:



sorry I must have missed that, can you point me to where Mark asks for cheap ?????????

In reply to kevin stephens:

"Not going through a company"


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In reply to mark hounslea:

I've never even thought of a self-travel, catered chalet... The tour operators generally get good deals on flights, so I'm not sure if it would work out cheaper.

We've self-catered a number of times, and some friends have driven all the way (one does not like flying). That way, they can take pre-cooked, frozen meals for a few days.

I was surprised how easy SC was; I didn't consider it 'wasted time' because it was easy socialising time, with kitchen/dining/living in one room, as most family SC apartments are. But we did share the cooking between us, and we ate out on one or two nights. Cook simple meals. Use the chalet facilities, e.g. raclette/steak grill.

I know you asked about catered chalets, and I'm blethering on about self- catered. Apologies for being presumptious/answering the wrong question...

In reply to captain paranoia: The separate caterers will also do less than a full week - so you could self cater for a few nights, eat out once or twice and have the chef in for a couple of nights.

In reply to kevin stephens:

And we find that Morzine has absolutely stacks of self-catered apartments and chalets. We booked a 5 bed chalet in town for about €1200 for a week last Jan. It was a bit short of bogs (only three for eight blokes) but we had the chef in for 4 nights (and mornings - they do breakfast) and it was ace.

In reply to andy: the more I think about it Mark a self catering chalet in Morzine would tick the boxes for you, easier to get a place to yourself, low enough to drive a hire car to or option of low cost transfer companies Eg Morzine Express. But easy access to higher ski areas of Avoriaz (worked for me once when there was zero snow in Morzine) For 28 Dec it will be dark early enough to cook, also eating out in Morzine was quite reasonable. There is an excellent ski hire company operating in Morzine called Doorstep Skis who deliver to your chalet and will make sure you have the best kit for you

In reply to kevin stephens:

Moraine is too low for reliable snow...you forget to mention your white dot preachers.

To the OP, I live in the Alps during the season, Morzine, Avoriaz are quite unreliable and powder transforms there quickly,especially for a week visit you could easily be disappointed.

In reply to mark hounslea:

Good luck with this!!!
You've picked the busiest, most pricey, week of the year and I would think all the accommodation you would like has been booked up ages ago. Best to trawl through all the ski companies if you really want to ski at New Year or look at places some distance away from where you want to ski and travel in each day?

In reply to mark hounslea:

Have a look at www.skivillaroger.com I can thoroughly recommend it. Lovely chalet, fully catered, including unlimited wine and the food is excellent. Great location for Les Arcs, Sainte Fois, La Rosiere, Val D'Isere and Tignes. Due to the central location, you can always find somewhere to ski if the weather isn't great.

Not sure if they are booked up that week but worth a check.