The Secret To Ski Short Breaks

It’s a question we get asked quite often - Can I ski for 4 days and minimize time away from the family and office?

The answer is a resounding YES, but there are a lot of things you should take into account when thinking about short-breaks. How wonderful to squeeze 3 or 4 days on the slopes without having to use a whole week of annual leave. If this is something you’d love to explore, we’ve been offering them for many years and have done it ourselves countless times - Let us guide you through the best tactics for getting the most out of a ski short break.

1. Picking your dates

Short breaks are possible on a lot of dates through the ski season, but don’t expect to grab a cheeky 4 days away over New Year, Half Term or the first week of the Easter Holidays. These weeks are the most in demand and most expensive. You might just be able to do it, but it may end up costing you more than the whole week. For your short-break skiing, you simply must have some flexibility on dates and be prepared to go in the low season. These dates are when tour operators have far more space they need to fill and far more flexibility as a result.

The best dates to aim for are early-mid December, most weeks in January and late-March, and any time after the first week of the Easter school holidays.

Next, think about the specific days you’d like to travel on. Everyone loves the idea of flying out on a Thursday evening, skiing Friday-Monday and flying back late on Monday night for a bleary-eyed return to the office on Tuesday morning, bragging about yesterday’s knee-deep powder to your jealous colleagues!

However, you once again have to consider tour operator schedules. Whilst Thursday - Monday can be done on some dates, most operators prefer you to either arrive or depart on their main weekend turnaround days. This helps them fill gaps in their occupancy, whilst leaving their main arrival dates free to try and sell the following week for 7 nights. So be prepared to consider Wednesday to Sunday as the ideal 4 night duration!

2. Transport Choices

Some myth-busting - Do not plan to take the last flight from Heathrow on a weekday evening. Landing at Geneva at 9pm simply doesn’t work. Once you’ve cleared passport control, baggage reclaim, customs and taken a transfer, you might miss dinner, arriving in resort at midnight or later.

Most tour operators simply don’t allow this - it’s difficult for the arriving clients, if you’re renting equipment then you’ll have to collect in the morning, costing you slope time. It’s difficult for the hotel to do check-in in the middle of the night when fewer staff are available, and there’s an impact on other guests. Imagine being woken at 2am by the racket of someone arriving into the room next door and excitedly unpacking.

The best way to plan a short break is the earliest possible outbound flight, which gives you chance to hit the slopes on your arrival day if everything runs to time. Then take the latest possible inbound flight on your return day - departure from Geneva at 8pm can mean skiing until 3pm if you choose the right resort!

3. Choice of Resort

Whilst you can take a short ski break to almost any resort, there absolutely are some destinations that are better suited than others. If you’re only away for 4 days then do you really want to spend 7 hours of that on transfers to Val d’Isere? Resorts like Chamonix, Samoens and Morzine are just an hour from Geneva, Pragelato under 2 hours from Turin and Alpe d’Huez can be reached from Lyon in 1hr45.

Or how about taking a scenic rail transfer through Switzerland to charming resort towns like Grindelwald, Wengen or Zermatt?

Imagine this stunning view from the balcony of your hotel on a Thursday, whilst all your colleague toil in the office!

The golden rule when thinking about which resort for your short break is flexibility. A lot of resorts are simply not available for short break bookings, so you need to decide what matters the most to you - A specific destination, or making the most of 4 days away with less emphasis on where?

Finally, you don’t really need a vast ski area if you’re going to spend 3 days skiing - Anything with 100km+ of pistes is likely to keep you amused for a shorter duration. Priorities aren’t the same as for a full week away with the family!

4. Important to remember…

The absolute key to getting the most from your short break is planning. Minor details really can throw a spanner in the works; losing half a day’s skiing is bad enough when you’re away for a full week - if you’ve only got 3 days on the slopes, seeing nearly 20% of it being burned away by a technicality is soul-destroying.

So, pack light. Fly with BA or Swiss and take a large sized cabin case and a rucksack without any at gate charges. Skiing with hand luggage only is a joy - Just make sure you have a good rotation in your wardrobe! Sail from plane to transfer without the wait for a suitcase full of clothes you won’t wear and the ever-present possibility of a bag that doesn’t make it. If you ever run really short, you can buy essentials in resort and hotels will always offer a laundry service.

Although not the only option, we thoroughly recommend Club Med for short breaks. Their all-inclusive service helps to really maximise slope hours when your main constraint is time! Lift pass waiting for you on arrival, ski-to-door locations at all hotels with the option to join ski groups departing from the hotel boot-room.

Always book your ski equipment in advance and from the hotel where possible. Another reason to book with Club Med, where ski equipment is available in-house and is high quality. Well worth the extra cost for the added convenience, and especially good value when you’re limited on time.

5. Budgeting

This is where a lot of ski short break dreams can fall flat. If you’re hoping to divide a 7-night price into per-night costs and times it by 3 or 4, you’re going to be disappointed. Flight and transfer costs are fixed and sometime higher in midweek, you won’t be able to get on tour operators’ charter flights.

4 nights’ skiing will be comfortably over £1,000pp in most cases, once all extras are added on, and if you’re looking at a busy date then you can budget for a bit more too.

Another honest truth, if you’re doing a short ski break to save money, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons - Short breaks are designed to maximise time on the slopes for minimal time out of the office, all of which does come at a premium.

Conclusions

We love ski short breaks - If done right you can get a hug amount of enjoyment packed into 3 or 4 days in the Alps. Stick to the golden rules and you too can get maximum fulfilment from minimum time invested.

Don’t get caught in the classic traps! Fly out early and back late carrying all your bags yourself, arrive or depart on a weekend and pick a resort with a short transfer and high altitude (they do exist).

Don’t try taking short ski breaks to save money, use them to save time!