What makes a good ski weekend
On a week's ski holiday, a three-hour transfer is annoying. On a weekend, it can eat half a ski day each way. So for a short trip, the main things to look at are:
- Transfer time from the airport, ideally under an hour and a half.
- Flight times that let you leave on a Friday and come back on a Sunday night or Monday.
- Snow reliability, because there's no time to wait for a better day.
- Easy logistics: ski hire near your hotel, and lifts close to where you sleep.
The resorts below are ranked roughly by how quickly you can get from landing to skiing. Transfer times are typical road or rail times without heavy snow or weekend traffic, which can add a lot.
Innsbruck: skiing from a city
Innsbruck is the easiest ski weekend in the Alps. The airport is about two miles from the Old Town, and the Nordkette cable car runs from the city centre up to the slopes, so you can land in the morning and be skiing by lunchtime.
The smaller ski areas around the city, such as Axamer Lizum and Glungezer, are all within about half an hour by bus, and the Stubai Glacier is around an hour away for more reliable snow early and late in the season. One regional ski pass covers many of them.
For big-name skiing, St Anton is about an hour from Innsbruck by fast train, with the station in the village. Innsbruck has direct winter flights from several UK airports, but many run only at weekends, which actually suits a weekend trip. Check the airline timetables, as approaches into the valley can be affected by bad weather.
Chamonix and the resorts near Geneva
Geneva has more flights from the UK than any other ski airport, from most UK airports and across the week, which makes it the most flexible choice.
- Chamonix is about 1 to 1.5 hours by road. It's a proper town with restaurants and nightlife, and huge mountain scenery, though its ski areas are spread out and suit confident skiers best.
- Megève is about 1.5 hours away, a pretty village with gentler, tree-lined runs.
- Morzine and Les Gets, at the edge of the Portes du Soleil, are about 1 to 1.5 hours away, with a big linked area.
- Flaine, in the Grand Massif, is about an hour and a quarter away, and its high, north-facing slopes hold snow well.
- Verbier in Switzerland is around two hours away. It's further, but it's famous for its off-piste and lively après-ski.
Avoid big high resorts like Val Thorens for a weekend. They're superb for a week, but they're three hours or more from Geneva.
Italy from Turin
Turin is close to the Milky Way ski area. Sauze d'Oulx is around 1 hour 15 minutes by road, and Sestriere is similar. Courmayeur, under the Italian side of Mont Blanc, is about 1.5 hours.
Italian resorts are often cheaper for lift passes, food and drink than the French and Swiss ones, and the coffee and lunches on the mountain are a big part of the fun. Flights to Turin from the UK are mostly in the ski season and less frequent than to Geneva, so check the days before you plan around them.
Places that don't work for a weekend
Some brilliant ski destinations are better saved for a longer trip:
- Zermatt: car-free and stunning, but around three and a half to four hours from Geneva or Zurich by train.
- Andorra: good value, but around three hours by road from Barcelona or Toulouse.
- Bansko: cheap and cheerful, but about two and a half to three hours from Sofia airport.
- The Three Valleys and Tignes: fantastic for a week, but long transfers from Geneva and slow mountain roads on Saturdays.
If you have four or five nights, these all become good options. See our ski holidays page for longer trips.
How to plan a ski weekend
- Fly Friday, ski Saturday and Sunday, and fly home late Sunday or Monday. Monday flights are often cheaper than Sunday evening ones.
- Travel with hand luggage if you can, and hire skis and boots in the resort. Book ski hire online before you go to skip queues on Saturday morning.
- Book a hotel near the lifts or the ski bus, so you don't lose time each morning.
- Buy lift passes online in advance. Many resorts sell cheaper passes for two or three days, or for weekdays.
- Watch the snow forecast in the week before. If snow is thin, a resort with a glacier or high slopes is a safer bet.
The best months for a ski weekend are usually January to mid-March, when snow is most reliable. Avoid UK half-term and Christmas weeks if you can, when prices rise and slopes fill up. Our February half-term page has ideas if those are your only dates.
