After a relatively slow start for the European ski season because of little snowfall and warmer temperatures, skiers are reveling in the recent snow that has hit the high Alps from Switzerland to France to the Italian Dolomites. Gstaad, Zermatt, Val d'Isere, Chamonix, and Meribel have strong bases with up to five feet of snow covering the high altitudes. The latest ski reports show snow steadily falling across Gstaad's 3,000 meter glacier with high winds preventing access to some trails. French resorts are beginning to get coverage from top to bottom. And with the snow have come the ski deals, plenty of them.
Ski Europe (tel. 800/333-5533; www.ski-europe.com) continues to offer the lowest-priced packages to Europe's top resorts through to the spring. To take advantage of those good conditions in Switzerland, try a seven-night trip to Zermatt with roundtrip air on Lufthansa Airlines for $1,090 per person from New York to Geneva. Accommodations are at the three-star, tourist-class, 24-room Hotel Elite Garni where you'll also receive daily breakfast. Lift passes, air taxes and ski rental are not included in this air/land package but you will get second class rail travel from Geneva to Zermatt. The ski areas at Zermatt start at 10,000 feet high and are reachable by tram and gondola.
For Francophiles, a similar weeklong package to Chamonix starts at just $1,079 per person and includes airfare through Geneva from New York and seven nights' accommodations at a three-star hotel. Details of the trip include roundtrip airfare on Lufthansa, luxury motor coach transportation to Chamonix where you'll stay at the eighteenth century Hotel Le Croix Blanche at the base of Mont Blanc. Buffet breakfast will be served daily for the duration of your stay. Airline taxes and surcharges -- which should cost between $195 and $325 -- are not included in the price of the package. The hotel's café faces Mont Blanc and the hotel provides free shuttles to the slopes and ski school. The resort town of Chamonix is just as well-known for its challenging skiing as it is for its vistas and landscapes. Photographers, snowshoers and nature lovers come to enjoy Mont Blanc's various winter offerings and amazing winter scenes.
Val d'Isere attracts serious skiers, shoppers and night owls. Late-night dinners and nightclubs are as popular for the non-skiers in the group who come for the revelry, networking and champagne. Ski Europe's seven-night trip to Val d'Isere with shuttle bus transportation from the airport in Geneva to mountain starts at $1,298 per person. Hotel accommodations are at Les Cretes Blanches, a thirty room, two-star rustic mountain lodge built in 1965. The hotel is just a short walk to the shops and restaurants in town and very close to the Bellevarde and Solaise ski lifts. Val d'Isere is blessed with height: The base starts at 6,000 feet with most of the slopes as high as 11,000 feet. Some of the most challenging skiing takes place along the "Espace Killy" named for gold medalist Jean-Claude Killy, France's most famous skier.
The Italian resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Dolomite Mountains outside of Venice is 95 per cent operable with 33 out of 36 lifts open and 60 trails. (And just think: if the weather is bad, you're in Italy anyway, and close to Venice) Ski Europe's seven-night trip starts at just $840 and includes airfare to Venice, Italy from New York and seven nights at the Hotel Montana. The package does not include ski rentals, lift tickets or air security taxes, but does include local hotel taxes. The family-run Hotel Montana is well-situated in the center of Cortina d'Ampezzo and, if you don't want to use the free ski shuttle bus, is still just a short walk to a set of lifts. Cortina is popular among both the young snow boarder set and couples seeking a romantic getaway. The mountain resort contains all the chic of Italy with its fine food and fine fashion even at altitudes above 10,000 feet.
Talk with fellow Frommer's ski bums on our Winter Sport Message Boards.