Dec 4
2009

Winter sports vacations can be expensive, so I thought I’d post ten of my favourite money saving tips.

  1. Book in advance, you can often get a good discount. If staying more than 3 weeks in a ski area it can sometimes work out cheaper to buy a season pass with a substantial pre season discount.

  2. If you don’t want to book in advance, then why not leave it until the last minute and get some late booking offers.
    Snowtrex     , Holiday homes Interhome and others sell off their unsold accommodation with up to 30% discount in the last 2 weeks. Be flexible and if you are wanting to travel at school holidays don’t even bother trying this method.

  3. Book your transport well in advance. You will get the cheapest rail, bus, ferry and air fares.

    Winter Sports

    Winter Sports

  4. Do a big shop away from the resort at a supermarket or better still a Farmers market. The price of food and goods at Winter Resorts has a massive mark up.

  5. Take sandwiches and a stainless steel flask for food / drink while out on the piste. You can even save time by eating on the long telecabin rides. That way you save by not eating in expensive restaurants in the resort and have more time to ride.

  6. Look at buying second hand skis or snowboards on ebay, SCUK or the SkiClub web sites. It will be cheaper than hiring at the resort.

  7. You can buy last seasons Ski Snowboard clothes cheaply at TK Maxx or sometimes ebay.

  8. Have a look at Annual Travel Insurance including Winter Sports, it can often work out cheaper. However whichever insurance you plan on buying, check the small print to ensure it covers the activities you intend carrying out.

  9. In many French resorts the Supermarket chain Sherpa has a number of schemes to help you save money. Firstly they will buy back unused, undamaged boxed, tinned food at the end of your week. Secondly they offer free hire of fondu and raclette equipment, all they need is a deposit.

  10. If you are travelling by car, you will find that snow chains are cheaper at the large supermarkets near the Alps than back home.

Coming next. 10 ways to spend a more sustainable Winter Sports break.

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Dec 2
2009

To travel to Chamonix, from Brussels, I booked a seat on a Eurolines coach, boarding by Gare du Nord. One of the main advantages of travelling by bus, is the low carbon footprint. Buses are generally light and do not use much fuel per person. They can also be quite cheap. I noted that the tickets from Brussels to Chamonix start at 9 Euros one way, shame mine wasn’t quite that cheap, I actually paid 90 Euros return, but had no extra fees for baggage etc.

Eurolines coach

Eurolines coach

I departed the Euro lines bus station at 18h00 on Sunday,after checking in a good sized bag and a snowboard in a bag. From what I read on the website for Eurolines Belgium, they don’t accept skis and snowboards, but the crew stowed mine in the baggage locker. Just don’t go turning up expecting them to accept your winter sports equipment in Belgium. If you are travelling from the UK then it is no problem. It all boils down to the fact that each country has a different coach operator badged as Eurolines operating their part of Europe. The journey was uneventful. We drove out of Brussels and on to Lille in France, a DVD was shown as we left Brussels, then another DVD on the leg from Lille to Paris.
Most of the passengers alighted at Paris and new passengers boarded, some with skis in carry bags. It was now about 11h00,so now more DVD’s were played. The coach then travelled down the Autoroutes headed for Geneva, but stopping for a break every 2 hours or so. Fortunately the coach was half empty so everyone had two seats each to try top get comfortable on for the night. I did manage to sleep in a number of unusual positions before waking after about half an hour each time.
As we went through the Jura, I noticed that the scenery looked very white, I was having difficulty making out why as I had removed my contact lenses for the night. It soon became apparent that it was snowing heavily. The bus stopped at the border at Switzerland and all passports were checked. There was a short stop at Geneva and then we headed back for France and Chamonix.

Chamonix, my destination

Chamonix, my destination

It was just getting light as we entered the Chamonix valley. It looked magnificent with its new covering of fresh snow. The coach had difficulty with the build up of snow on the streets of Chamonix, but managed to get to the bus stop outside the railway station.

I was tired most of Monday and slept really well on Monday night. Would I travel by coach again? Yes, in fact I have to on my return leg. It would be good to find some of those 9 euro seats and may well look out for them.

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