Ski Hire Prices 2026/27: What Renting Skis Really Costs in the Alps
Ski hire prices are the cost of renting ski equipment (skis or a snowboard, usually with boots and poles) for a set number of days from a rental shop in or near a ski resort. They vary more than most people expect: the same intermediate package that costs €80 for a week in France costs […]
Switzerland Ski Resort Opening Dates 2026/27
> In a nutshell: Switzerland’s ski resorts open on a rolling schedule from early October to mid-December 2026. Engelberg, Saas-Fee, and Zermatt lead the way thanks to glacier access, while Verbier, Grindelwald, and Flims open their main sectors through late November and December. Switzerland’s high-altitude, glacier-connected resorts are some of the most snow-reliable in Europe […]
Italy Ski Resort Opening Dates 2026/27
> In a nutshell: Italy’s ski resorts open on a rolling schedule from late October through early December 2026. Breuil-Cervinia leads the way on 24 October, thanks to its glacier connection to Zermatt, while Cortina d’Ampezzo — co-host of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics — opens sector by sector rather than on a single date. […]
Andorra Ski Resort Opening Dates 2026/27
> In a nutshell: Unlike most Alpine countries, Andorra’s ski villages open together rather than in stages. All 8 of alpy.com’s confirmed partner villages — across both Grandvalira and the separate Vallnord domain — are confirmed to open on 4 December 2026, weather permitting, a coordinated start rather than a staggered rollout. Where France, Austria, […]
France Ski Resort Opening Dates 2026/27
> In a nutshell: France’s ski resorts open on a rolling schedule from late November to mid-December 2026. Tignes and Val Thorens lead the way on 21 November, followed by Val d’Isère, Les Deux Alpes and Montgenèvre on 28 November, then most of the rest of the Alps through early-to-mid December. France is home to […]
Austria Ski Resort Opening Dates 2026/27
> In a nutshell: Austria’s ski season opens over nearly two months, from Sölden’s glacier hosting the Ski World Cup season-opener in late October to most other resorts running by early-to-mid December. Ischgl marks its opening weekend with a headline concert — Westlife plays the resort’s 25th-anniversary “Top of the Mountain Opening” on 28 November […]
Solo Holidays Skiing: A Practical Guide to Traveling and Meeting People on the Slopes
Booking a ski trip alone can feel like a bigger decision than it should be. Solo holidays skiing simply means heading to a ski resort on your own, so you can set your own pace, manage your budget, and keep your plans as flexible or as sociable as you like. There’s no one to split […]
Hotels and Accommodation Val d’Isère: The Ultimate Guide for Choosing Where to Stay During Your Ski Holiday
Where you stay for your Val d’Isère accommodation shapes your trip more than almost any other booking decision — it determines your walk (or bus ride) to the lifts, how late you can reasonably stay out for après-ski, and how much you’ll pay for broadly similar square footage. This guide is part of our complete […]
How to Choose Ski Holiday Accommodation: Apartment, Hotel or Chalet, Compared
You’ve picked your resort somewhere in the Alps, roughly worked out your dates, and now you’ve hit the accommodation question: apartment, hotel, or chalet? It’s one of the biggest decisions in planning a European ski holiday, because it affects your budget more than almost anything else on the trip — and unlike a summer holiday, […]
Planning a Ski Trip with Mixed Abilities: A Family and Group Logistics Guide
Somebody in your group skied every February half-term as a kid. Somebody else has never clipped into a binding in their life. And there might be two kids who did a week of lessons last year and are somewhere in between. Planning a ski trip with mixed abilities is one of the most common — […]