The kit is the part people worry about. The travel, the lessons and the hire matter just as much for a smooth trip.
This runs in the order you actually do it, from booking the thing to picking up the lift pass. None of it is complicated. It just has to be done before you go rather than at the airport.
How close you stay to the lifts can be more important than how nice the room is. 5 minutes from a lift with a gentle area to learn on beats a smarter place 20 minutes away, and it matters most with children or anyone still finding their feet.
A package bundles flights, transfers, accommodation and often the lift pass, with one company answerable if something goes wrong. Booking the parts separately gives you more say over each one.
Somewhere to start:
Would you rather not organise any of it? Tell us what you are thinking and we will come back with a ready-made plan. Think of us as your concierge: we sort it, you turn up and ski. Tell us about your trip.
Worth knowing: most annual travel policies stop at the edge of the piste, so winter sports is usually an add-on rather than something you already have.
It is also the one thing that is cheaper to sort at the same time as booking, because cancellation cover starts from the day the policy does.
A few providers who cover winter sports, if you want to compare:
We are not insurance advisers and nothing here is a recommendation of any policy.
Transfers come in three shapes: the coach that comes with a package, a shared minibus, or a private car or minibus for your group. The coach is the easiest thing to say yes to. A private transfer runs to your flight rather than a timetable, and once there are five or six of you the difference per head is smaller than people expect.
Journey time is the thing to look at before you choose. Two hours on paper can be four on a Saturday in February, and the last hour of a long transfer is what people remember about the first day.
Lessons are a really important part of the trip, along with the right kit. Sam is a working instructor and gives friends the same advice.
Group lessons are sociable and plenty of people love them. Private tuition puts an instructor on you and nobody else, which is why families and anyone with limited time take it. You can have one instructor for the whole family, one each, mornings only or every day of the week, in most decent resorts.
The instructors worth having are booked early, which is the only reason we mention it here rather than further down.
Sorting hire before you arrive means the shop already has your height, weight and boot size, so the skis are on the rack with your name on them and the bindings are set. It also skips the Sunday afternoon queue.
Standard skis can suit a first trip, and for some a shorter ski is friendlier to learn on. Own boots with hired skis is the combination most regular skiers settle into.
Resorts sell passes on their own websites, usually a little under the ticket window price, and it saves the first queue of the week.
The one most people miss: a beginner spending week one on the nursery slopes rarely needs the full multi-valley pass, and most resorts sell a smaller area for a fraction of it. Children are often free below a certain age, and family prices exist and go unnoticed.
Advertisement: some links on this page earn PRE-SKI a commission if you buy, at no cost to you.
Answer a few questions and we will point you at the right course.
Find your course in 60 seconds