Buying Ski Property: Visits

One of the best litmus tests for whether or not you like a ski resort is to go on a visit. That’s true even if you’ve been going to the resort every year since you were a child. Going to a resort for a ski holiday and living there are two completely different prospects, and there are a few things you’ll consider if you’re looking for a second home that wouldn’t seem important on a short trip.

If you’re looking at buying somewhere you’ve spent entire seasons rather than a collection of peak week visits, you might as well stop reading now. This isn’t the blog post for you.

You can tell a lot about a ski resort from what they’re like during the quieter periods. I’m not necessarily talking about the darkest depths of June and October here either, although those are always interesting times to visit a ski resort. I’m talking about mid-January, late April, November, the summer season (if there is one). Times when the resort is open, but no longer filled with the annual flood of school holiday travellers.

Every resort is busy during peak season, so if you’ve only ever visited during those times you’re likely to have a skewed view of what it’s really like. It’s the quieter periods when you’ll find out what the locals are like, whether the town still has the sort of atmosphere you’re looking for when the crowds are no longer there, whether or not the supermarket and the nice restaurants are open during quiet periods.

Whether you’re visiting one resort or several (a luxury rental car is a good investment if you’re not keen on spending long hours sitting on a train) it’s easy to get distracted by the properties themselves, and fail to fully consider what the resort is really like. A lovely chalet with the perfect kitchen and an open plan living area is one thing, but if it’s in a resort you don’t want to keep coming back to year after year, it’s a bust.

Whichever resort has caught your fancy, whether in France, Austria or Switzerland, we can help organise a visit that suits you. If you get in touch with us, we’ll try to find the perfect ski property for you.