Ski holiday prices: Switzerland versus France

Yo-yo-ing prices...Switzerland vs France - What Does The Fox Say?

£3.50 for a pint of beer
£8.50 for a Tartiflette & salad
£2.20 for a vin chaud

In the French Alps? Surely this must be somewhere I've never heard of...

Switzerland is up to 30% more expensive than two weeks ago! Really the unpegging of the fixed Franc Euro exchange rate has meant Switzerland has gone off the scale. A £250 full area pass is now almost £400, a £40 lunch on the mountain can now be over £50. Add this to the changes in Swiss employment law which meant that many tour operators dropped Switzerland and the prices are now super high. There is some fantastic skiing in Switzerland, but you have to have the budget.

Many of our guests take 2, 3 or 4 ski trips each season so every penny counts. It's interesting that many of our coach weekenders might then also do a chalet break with us and quite often a 4/5* luxury stay too.

Back to those prices...They are real, the exchange rate has moved in the past couple of years from a painful 1.1€/£1 to a much more cheerful 1.3€/£1. This 20% change has made your pound go much further, added to the fact that the French really have been trying to be more comparable on price and quality and the whole picture looks so much better.

The beer price above is in our Hotel Verseau bar in Brides Les Bains in the 3 Valleys, but you can match this in Meribel on apres ski happy hours too. A taxi back down afterwards could only cost you £7 per head if there's 4 or 5 of you sharing the fare.

Craving a Tartiflette? In Avoriaz, there's a mountain restaurant on the slopes which has a great plat du jour at this price and we've had tartiflette there a couple of times for this bargain price.

The vin chaud, that's in Morzine at a great little hut as you ski back from the point de neon, just after the bridge if you know it. A great end of the day stops with an easy track back down.

So, skiing is getting cheaper! It's not often you hear that!

To find out more about a Ski Weekends holiday to France or Switzerland for this season, call one of our ski experts on 023 8020 6971 or email sales@skiweekends.com