As a family we love to ski! In fact its where this family’s journey began when John and Martina first met whilst working the ski season in New Zealand. When we came back to the UK we thought we “could not afford skiing” but when Ben was 3 we looked into it further and in fact skiing does not need to cost the earth and now we normally ski more weeks each year than most getting at least 2 weeks of skiing in.
Jasna, Slovakia
With Martina being from Slovakia it was an obvious place to start, however we were still very unsure of what was on offer. Our first trip was with our good friends and we headed over to a ski area called Donovaly for christmas 2015. However it was a bad year for snow and there was not a lot around on the low altitude slopes so we decided to try Jasna which was about a 30 minute drive down the road . Instantly we were impressed as the higher altitude meant there was lot more snow and the facilities were modern and efficient. Ever since then we have been big fans of Jasna as it’s a great place for the boys to learn. The resort is located in the Tatra mountains and is a great family friendly resort, it is great value for the most part, although lift passes are a little steep (see below). There are many options for accommodation from 5 star ski in, ski out luxury to budget self catering and most of the accommodation is found away from the resort in the surrounding villages and towns at the bottom of the mountain making a car pretty essential if you are with the family.
There are two sides of the mountain, the main North face and the sunny but smaller South face and the resort has a good selection of runs with a dedicated free ride area that is managed and so is “safer” than many of the unmanaged backcountry you find in the Alps. What has made the resort perfect for us is that the christmas week is not the peak season for Slovakia like in the Alps so during this time we have found the slopes often very quiet for much of the day. This changes the week of New Year when the Slovaks head to the mountains and it does get busier. However even during this time we have never waited for more than 10 minutes for a lift and that was for the 1st lift of the day.
Unless you are staying at one of the few accommodations within the resort you have two choices how to get up to the mountain. There is the ski bus that runs from the large main town of Liptovský Mikuláš and stops at many locations along the way but with a family in tow this is not really an option with skis etc. and by the time it gets to the bottom of the mountain it is often crammed full. The other option and our prefered option is to drive. There are 1000s of free car parking spaces on the mountain (don’t let anyone try and make you pay as some of the parking attendants have tried with us), with most of them being no more than 5 minutes walk from a lift. However we have seen these fill up quickly, even before the lifts open and the road is subsequently closed meaning you have to park at the bus shuttle car park and take the bus. We leave early to get the best parking and relax, meaning we are often at the resort 1 hour before the lift open. We get parking right next to the lifts and we have a tea or hot chocolate whilst we wait and its also means no carrying of the skis and that uncomfortable walk after a tiring day of skiing.
Flights
Simple rule for this one if you want to save money… DON’T FLY. The airlines (as you would expect) hike up the costs to ski locations during the season and even more so during the holidays with Slovakia being no exception. Add on top of that luggage charges, car hire and ski rentals the costs mount up just to get out to the mountains then you have to add on the lift pass and accommodation. Having so much holiday time means that it is possible for us to drive but for many this is not the case and flying is the only viable option. You could fly to Bratislava or Vienna and then hire a car from their but it is about a 4 hour drive from Bratislava mostly on motorway. They are currently finishing a new motorway and by-pass so this could come down by an hour in a few years. A better option is to fly to Poprad which is about 30 minutes away from Jasna and is serviced by Ryanair from Luton in the winter months and you can pick up the car hire from the airport.
Driving
The drive from Calais to Jasna will take you somewhere in the region of 20 + hours… SO WHY DRIVE? Simple it’s down to cost and we have the time. When we drive we are able to pack everything in the car and roof box (skis included). We drive a 1.6 diesel Skoda Octavia and on the open motorway it is super efficient and fuel cost is around £250 as well as paying around £25 for vignettes (road tax for when you enter Austria and Slovakia) which you can purchase online before you leave or on the border. We also stop for one night on the way in a motel normally around £35 for the night for all 4 of us. We don’t book this until about 3 hours before we need it (on our phone using booking.com) as we don’t know where we will be on the journey and we can find the best deal in the area we are in at the time. That just leaves the Eurotunnel which if you book well in advance you can get for around £120 return. This leaves our total costs of transport at around £430 for 4 people to the skilfield. You would be very lucky (in the school holidays) to find just the basic flights for that cost. Check out our long drive checklist for things you and the kids will need for this journey to make it bearable.
Lift passes
Jasna has a funny system when it comes to lift passes. It is modern with you having an electronic chipped card which makes the lifts efficient. They also check if two people are using the same pass and they will catch you so dont (we have seen it happen). Jasna has however decided to embrace the idea of changing the price of the ticket depending when you buy the ticket, how you buy it and the demand for when you are buying. They call this Dynamic rates( https://www.jasna.sk/en/cenniky/flexi-ceny). The first rule is DO NOT WAIT until you get to the mountain to purchase you pass otherwise you will be paying a lot more for the ticket. You have to do this online (www.gopass.travel/EN/homepage) before you leave (the earlier the better) and pick them up at the main reception on your arrival. If it is a popular time of year then you will pay more than if you came in low season so the 1st week of the christmas holidays is cheaper than the New year a week later. We however found a loop to the system. As we ski for over two weeks (normally 16 days) it is cheaper to buy the earlybird season ski pass. We have to purchase this in the early summer not long after the previous session has finished giving us quite a significant saving. Again the later the season pass is purchased the more expensive it gets, so get organised and get in early.
Accommodation
As said previously this destination lends itself to a budget skil destination, and so staying on slope is not a possibility. However you don’t have to go far away. We stay in a village at the bottom of the mountain called Pavcina Lehota. It’s a small village with a a CoOP shop and 1 pub/pizzeria (however they are eating options 10 minutes walk out of the village). The village has many great budget options if you get in early which you can find on booking.com, but also just find them on google and book direct. We stay at self catering apartments which saves us fortune as we do not have to eat out (even though it is cheap) with them all having parking and ski storage. It is then a 5 minute drive to Liptovský Mikuláš where you will find a very large Tescos and other shops as well as alternative entertainment (One of Slovakia’s top Ice Hockey teams plays in the town).
The village also boasts its own slope and area for sledging. If the weather’s good and we are not too tired we will often head to the ski field for some apres sledging and snowman building.
Equipment
There is not real clear cut answer to say what the best thing to do is regarding ski equipment for the family. You can buy it, but that can be expensive and with the kids they grow out of it within a year, you can rent it which is also expensive or you might be lucky enough to be able to borrow it. We in fact when for the 4th hidden option, buy second hand! Buying secondhand over the internet is a risk that can sometimes payoff. but can also be a disaster. We have found that the purchase of clothing probably has the lowest risks involved because the costs are quite low. Boots and skis however can be huge risk and you never know if they are right (fit and quality) until you have them and that can be too late and expensive. We have found that the best option here is to use second hand shops. Unfortunately these do not exist in the UK but in the ski areas of slovakia you can find one in every town. This way we go to the shop, we can try on the boots and we can check the ski sizes and bindings and know that we are getting sets of skis that are fit for purpose.
Food and drink
There is nothing better than good!
No scrap that!
There is nothing better than cheap good food and Slovakia is one of those places where you will find good, filling hearty food at a reasonable price. When we travel we do travel cheap so our accommodation is self catering to save even more. As we said above the main town Liptovský Mikuláš is 20 minuets drive from the slope and the accommodation options we use. There there are many options in terms of large supermarkets to choose from if you go this way (Tesco’s and Kaufland). However even if you are really keeping to the budget please do try and eat out at least a few times as you will sorely rewarded with a fab culinary experience. Away from the mountain you can expect to pay between £5 to £15 for a main depending on your meal. If you check out our food page we have listed some of our favorite Slovak dishes and what you would expect to pay for them.
If you like a drink after a hard day on the slopes you are again in the right place. Beer is as cheap as water and the quality is top notch with some of the best beers going. The Slovaks also love a shot and again cheap schnapps of varying quality can be found although we highly recommend indulging in Tatra Tea, making sure you try each “flavor” and strength (maybe not in one sitting).
kids on skis
Now is the time to learn. The boys have skied since they were 3 and that means no fear and instant success. Jasna is perfect for beginner skiing and as we wanted to ski all day as a family it has worked really well for us. However after 3 years of skiing, Ben’s ability is starting to out grow the small resort and we are going to start looking into alternatives of larger resorts in Austria. Jasna is great cheap and perfect for the beginners and served us well as a young family on low wages. We will return often in the future but for now we have out grown the slopes of Jasna and are in need of some further challenge and longer slopes.
Family Russell-Smith Travel 