1st Time Ski Holiday

Hi

We are interested in taking a ski holiday for the first time. As a family of 5, 2adults + 3(16,14,11), I am trying to price something reasonable. We have never skied before so we don't need much in the way of pistes. The wife is a reluctant flier so I need something within 1 flight from Ireland. I am perfectly willing to hire a car and drive at the other end. We have no gear so need to hire everything.

Any recommendations out there in regard to either quality, ease or economy would be gratefully appreciated.

Slim

Fly Ryanair to Reus , hire car , drive to Andorra 4 hours max as long as you go mid week, at weekends lots of people leave Barcelona to go boarding and skiing, have heard horror stories of 2 hour tailbacks crossing border into Andorra.
Equipment , lift passes and lessons can be easily booked when you get there.
Accom depends on time of year price wise but obviously book before you go.

Or Aer lingus to Barcelona , hire van ,drive to Andorra 3 hours i think great roads.As movax said definitely go midweek mon - fri i'd say as there's about 10 times as many people on the slopes at the weekend.
Equipment , lift passes and lessons can be easily booked when you get there at very reasonable prices i thought.
Accom depends on time of year price wise but obviously book before you go.

For self-catering accomodation in Andorra I have stayed here before; not luxury but comfortable; they will get you a 10% discount on your ski pass. Be sure and nab a locker at the ski station on your first day - well worth it. You can organise your ski/boot hire on line and get a discount on that as well. Great outdoors used to hire out ski jackets and trousers - don't know if they still do; you will have to get gloves, socks, hats and sunglasses. if you have obliging grannies/aunties etc., they could get the kids stuff for christmas presents.

If you are all beginners it's worth getting private lessons; the five of you can go as a group or you could split up kids/adults 3/2 if you wanted.

www.hola-andorra.com

Oh and be sure to book a session in the caldea - you need to book in advance - don't leave it till you get there.

Have you had a look at the key post on Skiing and some other threads on the same subject.

For some reason, in my experience, it is cheaper to buy lift passes & pay for ski hire before you get there. I've heard of people who have been charged roughly double the price when trying to purchase in resorts.

Kildrought - i've been to Caldea at least a dozen times and i've never booked. I wonder why you had to? and i've been there in high season too. were you doing something special in there or just the normal session?

Hi,

for beginners, Andorra is good, since there are plenty of green/blue rated slopes. It tends to be a cheaper than Switzerland/Austria too.

To do it the cheapest way, its best to book your flights and accomodation yourself and hire the skis/boots when you get there.
However if this is your first time skiing and you're not sure what to expect, it might be easier to go with a tour group (like Panorama, Crystal ski etc), since they can book it all and take away the responsibility from you.

For ski clothes, you can hire ski suits in Ireland (in The Great Outdoors I think). Also, in Dublin, Pamela Scotts ski shop have very competitively priced ski wear. Cant remember exactly what street the shop is on - but its parallel to Grafton St, going towards Georges St.

Enjoy your hols.

Thank you all for the advice and SueEllen for reminding me of what I should have done in the first place. The consensus seems to be Andorra so I will check that. Zag's tale of flying to Munich appealed to me as we visited Mayrhofen this summer and loved it.

Slim