October 12, 2004 -- Innsbruck, Val D'Isere, Chamonix, Courcheval, Interlaken, St. Moritz, Zermatt. The names even sound glamorous. They should. Skiing Europe is glamorous, challenging, adventurous, and stylish. Nothing like skiing 3,000 feet peaks, hearing foreign languages while sipping hot chocolate, watching Norwegian ski bunnies bounce over moguls wearing lycra ski-pants and fluffy pink hats while Italian hot shots shoot by whistling flirty tones. Feel the magic of Olympic pasts during the day and the full bellies of European cuisine as you sleep off the bumps and bruises from a day of heavy skiing and clean, mile-high air.
Fortunately, these exotic mountain locales are no longer out of your price range. A host of United States-based travel tour operators focus on European ski vacations making package deals both affordable and accessible for the American ski nut.
Ski Europe (www.ski-europe.com), a Houston, Texas based travel group wins the gold medal for most exceptional European ski travel deals in number of tours operated, selection of locale, and fair-priced options. A seven-night, eight day ski package that includes airfare from New York to Innsbruck, Austria (other United States departure points are available), accommodations, airport transfers and a daily European breakfast buffet (read bread, butter and jam, not omelets, eggs and bacon) starts at $715. Lift tickets, equipment rental, ski lessons, and the Irish Coffee you buy for that Swiss Miss you meet in the lodge are not included. Neither are air or departure taxes. Ski Europe recommends you call them directly at 800/333-5533 to book your trip.
If you're looking for slightly more exotic than Austria, France offers some of the most exciting and hoity-toity ski experiences in the world. Its mountains and surrounding spots offer some of the most scenic spots in the entire world. If you don't what we say about Chamonix, believe Charles Dickens. He wrote in 1846, "Mont Blanc and the valley of Chamonix, and the sea of ice, and all the wonders of the most wonderful place are above and beyond one's wildest expectation. I cannot imagine anything in nature more stupendous or sublime." It still holds true, and, again, Ski Europe delivers. The company offers a special seven-night package to the French Alps starting at $995. Like the above, air and accommodations are part of the package. Lift tickets and taxes are not. Call Ski Europe for available travel dates but these packages do not have to be booked by any special date.
Other sites offer similar deals from the United States, although you can't get approximate prices online. For example, Ski Moguls (tel. 800/6 MOGULS; www.skimoguls.com) offers trips to all Europe's best ski locations including Cortina D'Ampezzo, one of the earliest and hippest ski resorts in the Italian Alps. You should call the Colorado-based tour operator for details on prices as its tour search engine does not list prices for European resorts. The site does, however, have an excellent statistics page for each resort.
Another U.S. tour operator, Adventure on Skis (www.advonskis.com) should round out your selection of skiing offers from the United States tour operators. The site has compiled some good travel deals to Europe ski destinations. We didn't see any information on airfares or tour packages that included airfare (call them at 888/575-4226 for full tour prices), but a three-day hotel package with a selection of hotels starts at $159. These three-day packages are great ad-ons to longer European tours that don't limit you to skiing only. With low fall airfares to Europe dominating the travel market right now, good deals to major European cities can be had, making a quick ski stop a nice addition to your trip.
