4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Willow]

My husband doesn't really do holidays but the kids are now old enough to want to go away. I was thinking we ought to take them skiing feb next year. We did a little before having children as OH parents lived in Switzerland at the time but I don't have any experience of ski holidays.

 

Also I'd prefer not to do a really expensive holiday (if thats possible for skiing ) so I have a chance of doing another holiday later in the year.

 

Has anyone skied in Bulgaria or other 'low cost' location ?

 

Other than good ski school, beginner slopes and good chance of snow is there anything else I should look for ?

 

What are the relative merits of chalet vs hotel ? We're fairly self contained as a family so not sure about been thrown together with strangers. Friends that ski tend to do the expensive options such as Meribel so I don't think we're likely to go with them.

 

Any thoughts ?

[Redwing]

We go to Finland a lot and love the snow!

 

You can fly to Tampere by Ryanair or BA and hire a car cheaply for a 6 hour drive north to one or two ski resorts in Lapland or fly straight in to Lapland for more money, I think Ruka is one of the better ski resorts in the south of lapland just below the Arctic circle and Levi is one of the best resorts further north.

 

Vuokatti ski resort is further south a shorter drive from Tampere airport so not in Lapland

 

There are also lots of other things to do in Lapland such as snowmobiling, dog sledding and reindeer sledge rides but it is far colder than you will get in the alps

 

We rent cabins through http://www.finnishlakesidecabins.com/ and have never had a bad one in several trips, they are really helpful and the cabins are always quality (watch out for the Lap008 cabin though - it has an outside lav, I won't forget that holiday in a hurry!)

 

We have always found holidaying in Finland quite cheap, the people are reserved but kind and accomodating and everyone speaks English which helps!

 

We have been to Chamonix in the alps before but always end up back in Finland

 

Can you tell we are fans?

 

Edited to add pic (friends cabin, not for rent )

 

Edited June 1, 2009 by Guest

[craftyhunnypie]

Although Austria is beautiful - it is not for the novice & can be expensive. My sister has been Lavinia in Italy - she loved it & that is where she learnt. It couldn't have been too expensive - otherwise she would not have gone.

Good luck & be careful!

 

Emma.x

[Janty]

The best holiday we have had as a family was a winter holiday to Pyha in Finland.

We had never been skiing before and only really went because my son's toffee nosed teacher wouldn't take him on the school skiing trip due to his Aspergers (although he didn't actually have the guts to tell me himself...he accepted the cheque and let son think that he was going on the trip for three months ).

 

We skied in the morning and spent the afternoon taking part in snowmobiling, reindeer rides, a visit to Father Christmas in lapland, etc. It was lovely. We had our own suite private sauna, drying room, etc.

 

http://www.laplandpyha.fi/winter/

 

 

 

[Willow]

Wow Finland looks like a nice option I'll look into that some more. I must admit I would never have thought about Finland, I did briefly consider Norway & Sweden but assumed they would be expensive.

[Janty]

It was really nice....very quiet so no queues for the ski lifts.

 

The food was also our kind of food. Nothing pretentious. Good old fashioned soups and stews.

[pat_m]

I can't advise on a family ski holiday as the OH and son were never up for it, so I just went with my daughter. If you are looking at booking a package through a brochure, look at Equity Ski - we went with them a couple of years ago and they were much cheaper than the big companies, and quote an easy to understand inclusive price in their brochure. We stayed in a basic friendly 3 star hotel, both the hotel and the guests were much nicer and friendlier than the more upmarket 4 star up the hill, and the reps seemed really nice too.