Iconic Films

2 for 1 tickets to Singin' In The Rain, this coming Monday. Book now

Navigation - link to other main sections from here

From The Times

March 20, 2003

There's plenty of snow for all the family

Escaping to the ski slopes for the Easter holidays will still be possible this year, even though the festival falls later than usual. Snow is plentiful in the higher resorts across Europe and families who had been waiting to see what the conditions would be like are now busy booking.

Stuart Hamlett, managing director of Igluski, the website which works with 130 operators to find the best deals available, reports a record number of bookings for April. “Now parents realise there is still snow on the slopes, they are giving the kids an unexpected treat,” he says. “We are also getting a lot of young singles booking for a second, even third time. They want to make the most of the excellent conditions and don’t mind where they go or where they stay as long as the snow is good.”

Igluski has availability in France and Austria for the week from Saturday, April 12, when most school holidays begin, including the fashionable French Alpine resort of Meribel, where a catered chalet only two minutes from the ski lifts has been reduced to £295 per person, including a flight from Gatwick.

In Austria, a week in a catered chalet at St Anton costs £299 with flights for the same week. For those prepared to take pot luck and be given accommodation on arrival at Salzburg, B&B for a week at an Austrian resort with snow will cost £199. Hamlett says that the big bonus of spring skiing is that the days are longer and the weather better.

Club Med also has availabi- lity at its 11 ski villages in France, including the three in Meribel: Aspen Park, L’Ant- ares and Le Chalet. Prices start from £829 for adults and £568 for children aged two to 11 and include flights from London on April 13, full board with beer, wine and soft drinks with lunch and dinner, the use of children’s clubs and evening entertainment. A ski pass and some ski instruction is included in the packages at all the villages, except those in Meribel.

Other resorts include L’Alpe d’Huez, Chamonix, Tignes and Val d’Isère. Small apartments in lesser-known French ski resorts are on offer with Peak Retreats for a week from April 12.

They include Valloire, at the foot of the Galibier Pass, with some of the best skiing in the area and good après ski. A one-bedroom apartment costs £360, based on four people sharing, with a Dover-to-Calais ferry crossing for car and passengers.

A similar deal is also available at Morillon, a traditional village less than 40 miles from Geneva. It has access to the Grand Massif and runs for all levels of skiers.

A manor house for eight near the hillside town of Lamego in the port wine region of northern Portugal is available over Easter with Individual Travellers Portugal. It costs £884 for a week from April 12 or 19, with car hire, but flights are extra. 0870-077 3773