Choosing the Right Style of Ski Holiday

It's time to book your annual ski holiday; no doubt you’re wondering which is likely to be the most practical and cost-effective ski chalet – catered or not? It’s important at the outset to say there’s just no easy algorithm you can apply to say for sure. You need to look at the details of a specific offer, a given resort and then do some basic mathematics to give yourself some idea.

That probably all seems pretty self-evident, but there are a few points to keep in mind when you’re trying to evaluate one set of costs against another for that chalet - catered and non-catered options both have their advantages. Here are some things to consider (in no particular order).

Make sure you understand the number of courses and portion sizes you’ll get as part of any deal including meals. This isn’t gluttony but rather practicality; you’ll be burning a lot of calories on a skiing holiday and the cost comparisons won’t make sense if you have to go out and buy top-up food every night after you’ve eaten!

Remember that basing your restaurant-eating cost projections for a holiday on the cheapest menu options you’ve been able to find on the net might not be a good guide. There may only be so much cheap-n-cheerful restaurant food you can eat before you’re driven to more expensive establishments.

Be clear on the content of your particular deals or options. It won’t be cost-effective to pay for a chalet (catered) but then need to eat out regularly because you don’t like the food. If you’re trying to find comparative restaurant costs, try to make sure you’re looking in your actual ski resort rather than just one in the same area. The cost of eating out can vary surprisingly from one resort to another, even if they’re in the same general area. In some cases that’s to do with just how ‘fashionable’ a resort is, but in others it’s very difficult to explain. Whatever the cause, don’t get caught out by finding out upon arrival that eating out is more expensive than you expected based upon pre-trip research.

Don’t overestimate how easy it is to ‘get by’ on basic food if you’re planning to eat out. This is a slightly different issue to the basic restaurants point above and relates to those skiers who think you can make do in the evenings with some bread and soup in their room. It’s fine in theory, but in practice it can be fairly miserable - and you may find you’re driven out to those restaurants faster than you might think.

Look out for accommodation options that include a healthy breakfast in terms of both content and quantity. You won’t want to be hungry on the slopes and find yourself spending a lot of your time checking your watch and waiting impatiently for lunch opportunities. Eating well at breakfast might also help you to spend less at lunchtime, which is most often spent away from the chalet. Catered options offer plenty of levels for all budgets, so do your research and choose wisely.

Danielle Hodges is the Marketing Manager for Ski Amis, a specialist ski travel agency and booking service offering bonded holidays staying in a chalet, catered or self-catering, in La Tania and other fantastic destinations. For a luxury or good-value skiing holiday and the best catered chalets call Ski Amis.

Writer and Online Marketing Manager in London.