Coach or Flight Travel

6 Day Skiing – The Standard School Ski Week.

The standard format for school’s winter sports trips is to travel to a resort, stay for 6 nights (if travelling by coach) or 7 nights (if travelling by plane), to ski for 6 full days for four hours per day, and then to return home. Please see our list of inclusions to check on the full detail and options available.

Custom and practice dictates that the changeover day in French resorts is a Saturday, and in Italian resorts it is a Sunday. Thus coach travel groups will depart on Friday night to French resort, and Saturday night to an Italian resort. They will start the return journey on the Friday night from France, and Saturday night from Italy. Flight travel groups will normally travel out and back on the same day of the week – i.e. the Saturday or Sunday.

Exceptions to the Rule

As you might expect – there are possibilities to step outside of this travel routine. At the start and end of the season, resorts and hotels are less busy and are more amenable to starting and finishing in the middle of a week, or for extending the week by a day, or even shortening it by a day.

If your group would like to leave on a Thursday, or come back on a Tuesday – for example, or any other combination of days, then the start and end of the season is when you are most likely to be able to do so. In any case, we suggest you ask us – and we will be happy to try to organise around your schedule.

In particular, we have agreed with Bardonecchia and Sauze d’Oulx that there is a positive benefit to some groups staying for only five nights during a week. For the hoteliers – they have beds free to sell for the lucrative weekend break market. For the school students and staff, having an extra day to recover from what is undoubtedly a demanding (and rewarding) week, before going back to school means that they are less tired and better able to readjust to the demands of a busy timetable.

And skiing for just 5 days doesn’t necessarily mean less skiing ! In fact, it can mean more. By scheduling lessons for 5 hours per day, split 3 hours and 2 hours, morning and afternoon, you actually get to ski more than if you were skiing for 6 days for 4 hours per day.
Please click here to go to our information sheet on 5 day ski trips for school groups.

It has been a long time coming – but finally, there is a realistic “other” option to transport your school winter sports group away for the week. Click here to go to our page about train travel options.

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