It’s all very well finding low cost flights to the Alps with Monarch, but if you want to watch how many Euros you spend once you land, it’s well worth planning ahead to ensure that you get the best value.
That often means trying to travel to places fewer people are wanting to and travelling on dates which fewer people are trying to book, but if you’re able to do that you can also have other benefits besides lower prices – empty slopes, no lift queues and untracked powder for example!
But there are other ways to save too:
Buy Your Lift Pass Early
It’s likely that your six day lift pass will cost as much, if not more than your Monarch flights, but just like airlines, ski resorts are increasingly pricing their lift tickets in a similar manner.
Ski resorts rarely get full in the same way that a plane does (thankfully!) but increasingly resorts are offering low season discounts on lift passes – particularly in France and Italy and sometimes at Austrian and Swiss resorts too.
An increasing number are also offering discounts if you buy in advance online, sometimes a fixed 10% off, other times there are ‘flash sales’ when prices drop. So the advice is to go straight to the resort’s website as soon as you know you’re going there, as prices will almost always be lower online now than if you wait and buy in resort.
Accommodation and Lift Pass Deals
Ski resort websites and sometimes accommodation-only tour operators based in the UK, often offer accommodation deals that include sometimes free, or more often discounted lift tickets when you book your accommodation through them, usually when you book early.
Although deals come and go, as we went to press for example Alpe d’Huez in France (fly to Grenoble, just 90 minutes away, with Monarch) is offering a week’s stay in a four person self catering apartment for just 1 Euro when four people buy lift passes for 238.50 €/person. The offer is valid from the 4th to the 11th and from the 18th to the 25th of January 2014.
Rent Equipment Online Before You Fly
If you don’t have your own equipment so cannot take advantage of monarch’s current poffer of free ski carriage it’s worth renting your ski equipment online before you arrive. This save times in resort (although of course be careful that the rental shop is convenient for the slopes and where you’re staying). Deals come and go but are invariably dramatically better when pre-purchased online. Typically Skiset (skiset.co.uk) offer up to 40% off in-resort prices, Intersport (intersport-rent-france.co.uk) and ski-rental.co.uk up to 50% off. Ski Republic (ski-republic.com/en) have built a reputation on a rent-one-get-one-free offer, good news if there are two, four or any even number of you travelling. Of course however big those discounts seem it all depends on the starting price, so it’s worth spending a little while typing your details in to multiple sites to find what really is the best for you.
Travel Outside Peak Season
Just as Monarch tickets cost less if you book early and aim for lower season dates, similarly costs in resort are less if you travel in the weeks before Christmas or after Easter.
You can also find prices for accommodation and lift passes can fall on certain dates between Christmas and Easter too, if you are careful where you book. For example the top resorts like Courchevel and Kitzbuhel are busy with Russian guests celebrating the Orthodox new Year during the first few weeks of January, but for smaller resorts this is low season and prices drop. Most resorts offer lower prices in the final two weeks of January.
Peak season in many resorts across the Alps are higher again in the main season from early February to mid-March, but you can often find better deals if you avoid the main school holiday periods which in France run from 15th February to 15th March this winter. School holidays aren’t so busy in other countries so if you are not tied to France, or to those dates, shop around!
The start and end of the ski season are almost always better value than the main season, and high altitude regions like the Austrian Arlberg, where resorts like Lech and St Anton are only a few hour’s drive from Monarch destination airports like Friedrichshafen and Munich, offer snow sure conditions. The Arlberg’s ‘Wedel weeks’ before 20th December 2013 and after 22nd March 2014 mean savings of 15% – or some 25 Euros on a six day lift pass.
Families Save in Spring Sunshine
Right across the Alps and Dolomites resorts offer family savings from mid-March onwards. This can often mean, among other things, that children get free lift passes, and sometimes also free ort heavily discounted accommodation, rentals and tuition, when a family books in to a ski resort together.
The giant Dolomiti Superski region in Italy, for example, served by Monarch flights to Verona, is offering free skiing holidays for kids under 8 with their SkiSpecial for Kids” promotion from 15th March to the 21st April 2014. Children born after 30th November 2005 receive their ski pass and accommodation free on purchase of a ski pass by a related adult for the same period. Youngsters aged under 12 (born after 30th November 2001) pay half price for their holiday. All kids also have discounts for the ski lessons and equipment rental.
Many other ski resorts have similar family friendly promotions around this same period, you just need to search their sites.
Box
Monarch Flights Season Start Dates
Friday 13th December
Leeds Bradford to Munich.
Saturday 14th December
Leeds Bradford to Grenoble.
Gatwick to Friedrichshafen and Grenoble.
Luton to Munich.
Manchester to Friedrichshafen, Munich and Verona.
Sunday 15th December
Manchester to Innsbruck
Year round
Gatwick to Barcelona for ski areas in Andorra and Spanish Pyrenean resorts like Baqueira – open from late November).
Manchester to Venice for the world famous resort of Cortina d’Ampezo, so snow sure it re-opened in the summer as there was still so much snow left.
For more information, latest deals and to book visit: www.monarch.co.uk/ski