Welcome to a completely new section of the Pistoff pages. This section is targeted at the independent traveller who wants to plan and book his/her own winter holiday rather than just buying a ready-made package from the local travel agency just to make it even more fun.

We have noticed more and more people want to customize their own winter holiday, go to those lesser known places to avoid the crowds, driving all the way or flying in and then renting a car, possibly to ski at several resorts during their 1-3 week winter holiday.

This page is intended to help you explore new places and to give some valuable tips and hints to those who have not had a chance to do it that many times or who might be travelling to the Alps or Scandinavia for the first time.

Please notice we do not in general have time to answer individual questions but good questions and feedback will lead to updated pages.

As usual, we always welcome your feedback and suggestions. The most efficent way to send it to us is by using the feedback form.

Plan your trip

If you are travelling to the Alps, it is important to understand that (with a few exceptions) December and the beginning of January are not that snow safe, it can be windier and colder than in February - April but on the other hand you will avoid the crowds. Most school vacations occur in mid-February, end of February so this is when most resorts will be absolutely packed. The first week of March is also quite popular. In general, you can see which weeks are the most crowded ones by looking at the pricing of the local hotel rooms. The safest bet with regards to snow, people, weather is usually around mid-March.

B. Plan your budget and for how long you want to stay:

Most accomodation is from Saturday to Saturday in whole weeks. Outside the main winter vacation season it might be easier to get other variations. Because of the general Saturday to Saturday rule, flights tend to be fully booked and more expensive during Saturdays and Sundays. You might get a better deal by flying on other dates. Please also notice some of the low-cost airlines have other advantages as well. They might fly directly to smaller airports located closer to the ski area. Easyjet flies directly to Innsbruck whereas other airlines fly to Salzburg, for instance.

C. Plan how you want to travel:

If you live more than 1000 km but less than 2000 km from the resort you are normally considering three travel options: to drive, to fly or to go by train. Driving is not necessarily the most convenient nor the cheapest option if you need to stop overnight. If you travel by plane you need to consider the distance to the ski resort once you land and if you will continue by shuttle bus, scheduled bus, taxi or rental car. Traveling by train can also be very nice as most railways have special "snow trains" in the winter time which take you close to the ski resorts. Some ski resorts even have a railway station so that you can arrive directly at the resort. If you travel by car you should make sure you are equipped with snow chains as they might be mandatory when you arrive at the ski resort depending on the weather. Be sure to plan your travel time-tables realistically. Transfer times can vary a lot depending on weather and shuttle bus services can start quite late in the weekends.

Plan your stay

(also see links at the bottom of this page)

If you have a car you have more flexibility regarding accomodation as you do not have to stay next to the slopes. There is usually a lot of accomodation available in surrounding villages although you might not find it at the official ski resort pages. You also need to decide if you want to stay at a hotel, if you are looking for a self-catered apartment, cottage or chalet. In Scandinavia you will find huge amounts of self-catered, well-equipped cottages whereas the standard accomodation in the Alps is hotel room or self-catered apartment. In the Alps the chalets and cottages might be full-service all-inclusive with the staff living in the same cottage or it can be self-catered. In Scandinavia you will almost never see full-service cottages. Please also notice some resorts have professionally run hotels with self-catered apartments whereas other apartments might be owned by private individuals. In the latter case it means that the equipment of the apartment can vary very much even in the same building. This is more common in Scandinavia although sometimes the privately owned apartments can be run by a professional company which makes sure equipment and service is about the same for each apartment. You have to carefully see what is included and what not and remember to print out a copy of the description of the accomodation as well as your booking receipt. If you do not automatically receive a receipt, call and ask for one.

E. Check the availability of services at the resort in advance:

Especially if you travel with children. Ski lessons normally need to be booked months in advance, especially group lessons. Make sure you check the maximum group size as some ski schools try to maximize income rather than optimizing group size. Especially for younger children it is not nice to end up in a group of 15 kids and only one teacher. Please notice many resorts have several ski schools although only one may be officially promoted on the web site of the resort.

F. Check the opening hours of ski lifts and slopes if you travel at odd times. In Scandinavia it is quite common to have only part of the resort open during weekdays, especially in December, January and April. It is better to check in advance so that you can avoid unpleasant surprises.

Plan your safety

If you intend to go off-piste skiing a local guide is always recommended but please also notice your travel insurance normally only covers skiing on-piste. In France you can easily solve this problem by asking to have insurance included ("assurance" or "carré neige") when you by your lift pass. Please notice that the Carré Neige insurance is world-wide and can be bought for the entire season as well. This means that if you ski for a week in France and plan to go for a couple of weeks to Italy later on the easiest solution is to get the insurance for the whole season while in France. If you are not skiing in France you need to check for similar coverage with your local insurance company.

H. Always carry a mobile phone:

A mobile phone can be a life saver. The emergency phone number all over Europe from all mobile phones is 112, even in countries with alternative emergency numbers. It is also a good idea to enter the most important phone number into your phone memory in advance: hotel reception, piste first aid (can usually be found on the ski piste map), insurance company. It is also always recommended you have a person marked "ICE" (stands for "In Case of Emergency") in your phone memory so that rescuers know whom to call in case of an emergency when you are unconcious.

I. Never ski in the dark:

Only exception is slopes which are illuminated for the purpose of night skiing. It gets dark very quickly in the Alps so you should head down to the village when the top lift closes at the latest.

Links to cozy accomodation

tiscover - Excellent site for booking cottages in Austria, Switzerland, Germany, etc.

PV Holidays - French chain of self-catered apartment hotels all around France

Igluski - Excellent site for UK residents traveling to the Alps

Skistar - The major Swedish and Norwegian ski resorts

AlpenExpres - Snow Train tours from the Netherlands to the Alps (in Dutch)

RailEurope - Train tickets for the whole of Europe

Thalys - High-speed trains from Benelux and Germany to the Alps

SNCF Voyages - the travel booking site of SNCF