I normally go skiing in Feb to Andorra and have never had a problem with lack of snow (High altitude/Plenty of snow cannons&Snow makers). I have been with First Choice and have not had any problems, in fact I have never had a problem with any travel agent when skiing, summer holidays is another thing.

This year myself and my 2 boys (15/16) are heading for Austria (Soll). My first visit but the boys have been to Austria before. I will let you know my impressions when I return.

Thanks for that. Picked up new brochure yesterday from First Choice for Winter 05/06 to start looking.
Would appreciate on hearing how you get on in Feb. Have a nice time!

I know exactly where you are coming from sunseeker1 we are also planning our first ski holiday this year. We are looking at St Anton in Austria and Borovets in Bulgaria at the end of may. If anyone knows what these are like at this time then please tell me.(Sorry to use your post sunseeker1)Is there better resorts to chose for this time of year? Hope your holiday goes well
Surfer chick
x x x x

My partner and I are also looking to go skiing - never been before so looking for somewhere good for beginners but also not long transfer time from the airport.... Have seen two places in Austria, one called Trins and the other called Magic Mountains... can anyone comment on these?

Hi

I went to Zell am See over New Year just gone but I also went 3 years at the same time. On both occasions we had tremendous snow. The first time I went I was a raw beginner and I found the resort to just perfect. My husband on the other hand is a qualified military ski instructor and although brilliant for me (one-to-one teaching of course) he found the resort very limiting indeed. On our return this year I thought it would be good to see how much I had improved as since we went the first time I've been to Lake Tahoe, Banff twice and Kitzbuhel and so I'm reasonably good now. I found Zell the second time to be absolutely boring and I had outgrown the slopes. Shame really as the resort is absolutely gorgeous.

Fantastic for beginners, okay for intermediates but that is about it. The lifts have an awful long queue and the slopes can get very packed indeed and feels like a bowling alley at times. Still we had a good time but wouldn't go back for a third time.

Stay away from the Hotel Waldhof. Nice hotel downstairs but the rooms are disgusting. However, the food was fantastic. My bathroom was filthy and we made loads of complaints. also heard the George was awful too. We stayed the first time in the Grand which was lovely and our friends this year stayed at the Tirolhof and had a lovely time (superb hotel).

The resort is lovely. We have put a complaint in with Thomsons with video footage but are awaiting a reply.

Banff is my favourite place - it is awesome.

Hi to you all,

We have just got back from Austria skiing and it was our first time.

We have kids 15-9 years.
We stayed in Niederau, at the 4* hotel Sonnschien, we had the best holiday ever, so much that we have booked to go again to same place for 06.

The ski school was brilliant we have a few intructors through the week their english was good, These guys had patients and god did they need it!! the instuction was brilliant. What i liked about this resort was we had 4 hours lessons per day , for 6 days most other countrys did 2 hours.

It took me a couple of months to find a resort that would suit us we wanted the kids in our lessons, a small resort, ski in ski out, good standard hotel with pool, short tranfers and reasonbly priced. We got it all here. The place is perfect for us it was "beautiful".

The snow was good to we had lovely sunshine for 4 days then it snowed for 2 days (which i thought was great i love the snow) . 13 inches.
I doubt we will have a sun holiday for a while we all enjoyed it and everybody who was there said the same i never met anyone who didnt like it. You make so many different friends your all in the same boat "learning to ski" god watching everyone fall is hillarious!!

By the end of the week we were doing red runs and me and my hubby got silver medals for the race at the end of the week!! i make sure i get the gold next year.
I think every one should try it if your thinking about just do it you wont regret it.

Here are some other resort on my short list Ellmau (austria), Soll (austria), La thuile (italy), Passo Tonale (italy) and sestriere.

Any questions please ask.
Ali

First post- first time I've come across this site.
I would strongly recommend people read "Where to Ski Where to Ski and Snowboard 2005" which you can usually get from your local library (so no I'm not the author/publisher). This excellent book recommends resorts which are good for beginners, more snowsure early and late in the season, and issues such as those good for self-drive etc.
Generally I have stayed in self-catering appartments in France and have driven to the Alps - the main reason being to keep down costs as with 3 boys and needing to go in school holidays we wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise.
This year it is Zell Am See at Easter so I will be interested to know if there is sufficient mileage there for a week. Never been skiing in Austria before and I have to say I am worried about the language (I can't even order a beer in German) and getting veggie food. We'll see...

Passo Tonale in Italy is an excellent resort for beginners. Its high altitude, which means fairly snow sure, the instructors are good fun and speak excellent English (and taught my 4 yr old to ski within 3 days, not bad).

The resort is very compact although the Hotel Paradiso (where we stayed) is a bit of a walk from the resort centre. It does, however have a swimming pool which makes up for it!

The resort is a lovely mix of red and blue runs, with a glacier black run away from the main ski slopes....its not expensive to ski in Italy (as with other resorts) and the transfer time was only 2.5 hrs from the airport.

I can and would highly recommend Tonale to anyone who is interested in learning to ski with or without children!

Just back from Soll in Austria where the weather and snow was excellent. The village was very small and we (myself and 2 sons 14&16) stayed in a guest house the Maximillion which was 5 minute walk from town and 15 from the gondula. Accomodation was spacious but did not have any communal areas other than the breakfast room. We had booked on a B&B basis and the continental breakfast was youget, ham cheese and bread.

There is lots of skiing to be done in the area. The ski school had plenty of english instructors. My son was in the childrens ski school but should have been in adults as he was one of the oldest. There was only 2 english children in his class. My class and my sons were nearly all english with one or twoDanish and Belgians.

It seemed that the ski school and equipment hire was slightly cheaper in resort, but at least by pre booking we were guarenteed equipment. (we had prebooked the basics and then upgraded our boots in resort).

Nightlife was a bit dull, but after skiing all day I was not expecting to stay up too long.

If any one has any specific questions please ask.

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could help me with some info on Passo Tonale?

My family and I (there are 10 of us) are going there for Xmas 2005. 7 of us will be skiing (all beginners except me), and 3 will not be skiing. Is there much to do for non-skiers? Most important question - what's the night life like?! Is there much to do? Also, has anyone stayed at/knows of the Hotel Dolomiti? It wasn't our first choice, but we left it a bit late unfortunately!

Any info at all would be greatly appreciated!

Also, I just got back from Zell am See in Jan - it is fantastic!! There were 26 of us and we had a blast, and the nightlife is brilliant!! We even had a wedding out there!!! I strongly recommend it!

Cheers x

Its a lovely little resort, especially good for beginners and intermediates. The tuition is fantastic and our son, aged 4 was skiing the blues by the end of the first week....... Its got one main high street with everything centred around the main ski school meeting place. Nightlife, like with most places is as you make of it! There are a couple of excellent (loud music) bars and nothing is particularly expensive. As for the non skiers, well the Paradiso Hotel has a swimming pool and gym, the walks round the area are picturesque, the glacier is reached by a gondola and can be accessed by skiers and non skiers (splendid views etc).

I loved Tonale and would go back in an instant.

Its a quick transfer, about 2.5 hrs and the coach journey is a bit hairy up steep sided mountains! Dont look down! A trip to nearby Madonna Di Campignio is highly recommended too.

We just got back from Lapland, with my non skiing mother in law, she took a good book or three and enjoyed just chilling out in the local bars, by the fireside whilst we chilled ourselves to the bone on the extensive ski area!

Has anybody else satayed in the Hotel waldhof in Zell am See? thinking about going on last minute deal but not sure if it's not nice!

it all depends on how far you are looking to travel. vail and breckenridge in the us are suppossed to be fantastic for all levels of skiiers, pus the apre ski is second to non, it may cost a little more to get there but once there its a lot cheaper than europe... the same goes for banff andwhistler in canada... or try stowe and kilington which is not too far from boston, for that little bit of a shorter flight.. all these slopes cater for all levels and include snowboarding as well..

Looking at skiing America/Canada 2006. Family of 5 2 adults 3 kids.
Anyone able to give me some idea how much i can expect to pay for weeks hols.

Thanks

Hi,

In reply to your Passo Tonale query. We went to Passo Tonale two years ago and stayed in the Hotel Sport Vittoria. The hotel was brilliantly located straight across the ski slopes. The food varied, if you are into pasta, pizza's etc., it was brilliant. Not much varity for people who don't like this food.

Nightlife was extremely quiet. No bars/pubs really, more coffee houses that stay open lateish. Two discos, nothing much happening there.

Ski-ing was excellent, is very open so weather can be very cold (no trees).

As with regard to non skiers I can't see what they would do if they did not ski.

Is there anyone out there that has been to schladming?? We are going next January and would appreciate any feedback. Staying in Hotel Neue Post.

Thanks

Passo Tonale is where Alberta Tomba used to train, so if it's good enough for him..............................................

Hi there

Myself (21) and my boyfriend (22) are planning on going skiing for the first time next year. We are thinking around the 12th March 2006.

Can you recommend any resorts for us please? Looking through the brouchures Austria seems to be nice? We are looking for great apres ski also! we aren't mad party animals but would love to ice skate, go toboganning, have the option of clubbing if we want, a good sports centre, bowling, looking around the shops....etc...

Can anyone think of any resort that might suit us?

We are going to splash out and go for a good 4 star hotel with a pool and half board.

Anyone got any tips for us? Any advise would be appreciated!!!!

We are after looking at all the brouchures now and we think that either kitzbuhel, mayrhofen or zell am see are the places for us and we are edging toward kitzbuhel for around early march 2006. has anyone been there at this time of year or any really for that matter? i am really worried about lack of snow as i read a review in http://www.ski-europe.com which said that the low altidude means slush and ice and little in the way of snow. After paying all the money we want to be able to learn to ski!!! any comment anyone?!

I have been to Kitzbuhel in early March and it's a wonderful place to go. Huge amount of runs, very good ski schools (my wife learned to ski in Kitz) and plenty of sun.

However, as with pretty much all resorts in Austria you do have to take a chance. The problem is that their low altitude does mean that some years you could end up with little, or slushy snow. No way of knowing in advance really.

If you are looking for a really good place in Austria with a good snow record then consider Obertauern. It's beautiful there, the highest resort in Austria, and gets loads and loads of sun. It is however at the more expensive end of the scale.

http://www.obertauern.at/englisch/

[EDIT] Added link for obertauern resort