Where to Ski
 

I'd like to take my son skiing in Europe this February. He is 28 and lives in Chicago and is a teacher and thus has only President's week (2/17-25) off. He used to be an expert skiier (could do any run at Vail or Squaw, for instance), but has not done much skiing the last 8 years or so. I live on the West Coast, am 55, and an "advanced intermediate" skiier. Neither of us need to ski 7 days in a row (3 or 4 days would probably be fine), but just want to experience European skiing and some sightseeing in-between or before or after would be ideal. Trying to research a trip has been frustrating so far - so many choices, most seem complicated to get to, some say not to go at all in February because of Europe's school vacations then, etc. So, any advice would be appreciated. I'm not against renting a car, but a simple train or shuttle bus to the slopes from a major airport would be preferable.
Thanks for any advice you can give.

I'm a Colorado skier myself so no specific suggestions but www.epicski.com will be of help in your search.

Hi FB - If you're interested in skiing in Italy, the Val Gardena area in the Dolomites is hard to beat.

Take a look:

http://www.valgardena.it/eng/page182.html

http://www.valgardena.it/eng/page120.html

Best bases for this area IMO are Ortisei and Selva Gardena - which has easy access to the Sella Ronda as well as the World Cup ski runs in Val Gardena and Val Badia.

http://www.dolomitisuperski.com/

www.valgardena.it

Hope this helps ...

Steve

My husband loves to ski in Zermatt, Switzerland ! He says it's for all ages and stages of skiing levels.

Thanks.
I presume flying into Zurich is best to get to Zermatt and into Milan for Val Gardena?
Any recommendations regarding French resorts?

Actually, you can just as easily fly into Geneva for both Zermatt and a lot of the nearby French resorts.

I have skied in Val Gardena and I skied the Sella Ronda. I can highly recommend this area. There is enough terrain there to keep an expert skier busy for a week.

I actually stayed IN Cortina. You can either fly into Venice or Milan. They are probably equidistant to that area of the Dolomites.

The other place I would recommend is Verbier, Switzerland for the same reasons. Extensive terrain that will take a week to ski! I believe I flew into Geneva for that trip.

I was with my ski club during these trips. So we had a charted bus. I am sorry I can't be more helpful about transportation from the airport to the ski area.

I DO know that Verbier is accessible by train. Then you have to take a taxi or the gondola from the train station up to the actual town.

In Cortina there was no train in town. I believe it was pretty far away (like an hour). But the ski areas around Cortina & Val Gardena are serviced by free shuttle buses. So if you can get a train Ortisei or Selva Gardena you can access the other ski areas either by skiing between the different areas or by shuttle bus.

FB - Where are you flying from? The nearest airports for the Dolomites are Bolzano, Innsbruck, Verona and Brescia.

If you're flying from outside Europe, Venice, Munich and Milan are other possibilities.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

The week of February 17 is the week many European countries have school holidays, as it's the week of carnival. Also, in France, the Paris region has their ski break then. It's a very busy week, particularly in France.
Decide on where you can most easily fly to, and then check transportation from there before deciding. I know that Geneva airport has good connections to the ski resorts in the Haute Savoie and the ones near Geneve. I would advice against renting a car; when there is a lot of snow you will need to put on snow chains once you get higher up in the mountain.
We usually ski in Megeve, about an hour from Geneva airport, nice traditional village, good skiing at all levels. Lots of lovely hotels, but mostly small ones, so might be difficult to find a room.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
I can either fly to Europe direct from SF (London, Paris, Munich, Frankfort) and my son can fly direct from Chicago, we can meet in Europe and go on to the resort. Or, I can save the 2 hour drive to SFO, take a cheap Southwest flight from Sacramento to Chicago, and we can go together. So, I am looking at direct flights to Europe from either ORD or SFO, then probably a short flight into Geneva, Switzerland, or Milan, Italy, or Lyon, France, then ground transportation to the resort. Any way this can be simplified is what I am looking for.

FB - During the ski season Munich airport has a direct coach service to Val Gardena on SATURDAYS:

http://tinyurl.com/n2et3

Venice airport has a weekend coach service to Cortina:

http://atvo.it/eng/indexen.php#

Alternatively you can use public transport to the Dolomites from Verona, Venice, Innsbruck, Milan ...

Hopefully others can help you with connections from Geneva or Lyon.

Hope this helps ...

Steve