For some people, only the Alist resorts will do. Maybe it’s because they are
desperate to bond once more with a favourite guide. Or perhaps they can’t
bear the thought of missing out on an iconic piste. Or it could just be they
mix in circles where admitting you didn’t holiday in a famous,
celeb-infested resort equals social death.
But if your budget doesn’t match your aspirations, how can you afford to ski?
Simple – you stay in the ’burbs.
Nearly every A-list resort has at least one bargain basement, and often
they’re no less convenient than the luxury chalets in the middle of town.
Book into a cheap hotel or self-catering apartment there, and when people ask
you where you skied, you can say, vaguely: “The same old place, dahhhling.”
So, here’s how to look posh while pinching the pennies.
VAL D’ISERE, FRANCE
Posh: Val Dizzy has always been posh, but in a
Barbour-jackets-and-green-ski-wellies way, not posh like a Russian
gazillionaire and his Bulgari-encrusted wife. That’s begun to change – and
the best chalet in town now costs up to £55,000 a week.
Penny-pinched: La Daille is Val’s big architectural mistake, and it
sits like a naughty child at the entrance to the valley. But so what?
There’s superb lift access from here up to the heart of the wonderfully
varied ski area, and bog-standard apartments can cost as little as £180pp a
week, including return Eurotunnel crossings, with Erna Low (0845 863 0525, www.ernalow.co.uk).
Saving face: the essential stop used to be for lunch at La Fruit-ière,
at the top of La Daille’s lifts. Now the place to be seen is the Edelweiss
(00 33 6 10 28 70 64), on a hairpin piste above the village of Le Fornet.
Book your table weeks in advance, then, if it looks as if it’s going to be
sunny, badger the management incessantly until they promise to put you on
the balcony looking west – the views are gorgeous.
VERBIER, SWITZERLAND
Posh: you’d have thought Verbier’s reputation as one of the toughest
Alpine resorts to ski would have scared off the glitter-ati. Not a bit of
it: swanky chalets sprawl across Verbier’s plateau.
Most are not even available for rent – the plutocrats who own them don’t need
the cash.
Penny-pinched: Verbier has lots of satellites – but the one that works
best for those who want to ski hard and party hard is Le Châble, immediately
below the resort at the bottom of the valley. There’s a gondola from there
that runs between 8.30am and 6.45pm, and in nine minutes whisks you up to
the place where all the ski schools and guides meet. Down there, B&B
accommodation at Max and Millie’s (00 41 27 776 4007, www.bedandbreakfastverbier.com)
costs £104 a night, based on two sharing a double room. Fly to Geneva with
EasyJet (www.easyjet.com; returns start
at £46), then jump on a train. Return tickets cost £55.
