The family ski holiday can be one of the best bonding experiences around, but it can also be astronomically expensive. If your budget is limited, is it possible to have a family ski holiday? Oldgreytravel took his family of four for a ski holiday during February half term last year and the total bill came in around £2000. Still not cheap, but a lot cheaper than the other “bargain” deals you see, which generally hover around £3-4000 for a family of four at peak holiday time. If you are prepared to take the children out of school in term time (and suffer the consequences) then costs can be slashed. However, if you are locked into school holidays, then the prices are going to be at a premium. February half term is the busiest time of year with English and European half term holidays coinciding with the best snow. You can expect busy, some would say dangerously over-crowded, slopes and an outrageous mark-up on normal prices. Christmas and Easter are alternative, slightly cheaper options, but snow reliability will be a factor you need to bear in mind.
So, how did Oldgreytravel manage such a bargain holiday? One big tip is to break out of the mental block of the week long holiday. Most young children will be more than happy with 4 days skiing and, while you will be most unlikely to find accommodation in the school holidays available for rent for less than a week, you don’t have to occupy it all the time. If we are talking budget, we are talking apartment/self-catering, by far the best option anyway for young children.
The other is to look at the smaller resorts, prices will be considerably cheaper. Those not frequented by British tour firms cheaper still. We stayed in the small, but beautiful, village of Aussois in the Maurienne Valley near the Italian border. We stayed in a 2 room apartment with bathroom and kitchen, located right at the bottom of the slopes and with the added bonus of a panoramic view over the village. With 50km of piste , it was compact, but perfect for children, with uncrowded slopes and no queues, even at peak school holiday time. Lift passes, ski hire and tuition were also less than in the big resorts. We did invest in private lessons for the girls as they would not fit into the standard week-based ski school group tuition. This was money well spent and the girls could spend the afternoon practicing the morning lesson. Progress was quicker than it could possibly have been in a largely French speaking group lesson.
Being based in South East England, we drove to the resort with a stopover each way. This was the cheapest way for a family of four to travel, though it may well not be so for those living further from the Channel ports. Flying or train in the peak holiday period is likely to be considerably more. If you shared the driving, you could probably do the Alps in one long drive, saving further on accommodation costs.
The above can all be arranged on-line. All European ski resorts now have excellent official websites, where everything you need for your holiday, including accommodation, can be booked in advance. There is no need to use a travel agent or book with a travel company. It is much cheaper to organize yourself. Brexit and the collapsing pound have certainly not helped the economics of skiing, but if you can follow some of the above advice, you are likely to get the cheapest half term ski holiday possible.
