Where is the best place in Europe for beginners snowboarding ?

Question

My wife has always wanted to go snowboading. As a 40th birthday present I would like to take her for a week. As we are both beginners, can anyone recommend a good resort in Europe ?

I would appreciate personal experience, rather than a copy and paste from a website review.

It's not for some time yet (April 2009), but I thought I should start the planning now :-)

Answer 1

Cortina is an excellent place to learn to begin.  It's also near other resorts which can be caught by bus or car.  Since it's April, you may have better luck with Switzerland.  Zermatt usually have a good snowpack until late May.  The glacier is open later, so you'll always have a pretty good snow.  If you want ambience as well, you could always go to Innsbruck or Chamonix.

Answer 2

Go To Arinsal in Andorra or to Pomporovo in Bulgaria. Both have good, easy slopes for beginners with very competent and friendly instructors. I havn't done snowboarding but I was a beginner skier in Bulgaria and loved it. I went to Arinsal in Andorra in 2006 and it is very beautiful, I wasn't a beginner then but my friend was a beginner in snowboarding for the week and loved it. Those two places are also very affordable as well when compared to some other places in Europe.

Answer 3

i would recommend Les Carroz, Grand Massif (france)

it a beautiful place in the french alps, ive been going there with my family for about 10 years

we have a chalet there so i cant tell you too much about accomation but there are many apartments and whatnot to suit your own price range

i actually prefer skiing so im not much of a boarder lol

but the facilities are really good and i know loads of people who loved it

as for the beginners thing....i was 7 when i first went there and i learned from scratch...and my parents had never done it previously either

so check it out!!

theres lots of good shops and restaraunts and the people are sooo nice

xxxx

im not sure about your price range but it is quite expensive (but i suppose most ski resorts are?)

Answer 4

Scotland in winter

Answer 5

I wouldnt go in April to Andorra, I have been there in early March and snow was melting then, so I think in April there is a big risk of a lot of bare patches.

As you want to go in April, I would suggest some of the higher resorts in the Alps, either France or Italy.

Tignes in France I would recommend from experience, it is good for beginners, has great scenery, and you could get booked into lessons. It is also very popular with snowboarders.

If you are considering going to Italy it may be worth checking that snowboarders can use all the slopes in the resorts as I have heard that the have banned boarders from some of the slopes and have ski only slopes, might be worth checking before you book.

Answer 6

switzerland

Answer 7

Speaking personally I'd go for an Interski holiday. They provide all instruction, equipment hire and Apres-ski entertainment as well as travel to, from and in resort. They tend to use the Aosta valley in Italy and have 3 main resorts - Aosta/Pila, Courmayeur and La Thuile. Consult their website for more details.