Ski season is here, and first-class snow has been flying, especially in Europe, where the Alps got off to a better and earlier start than has been seen in recent years. But Europe has been trending upwards with American ski and snowboard travelers in recent years, and great snow is hardly the only reason why you should ski or snowboard in Europe in —and beyond. There are some economic downsides to the strong dollar but when it comes to visiting Europe, the math is simple—your money goes further.
The dollar is now at near parity with the Euro, about as good as it gets historically. The bottom line is that right now is a really good time to use dollars for European travel. But strong or weak dollar, ski vacations in Europe are going to be better values for a variety of other, even more important reasons than currency exchange.
This could not be further from the truth. Sometimes flights to Europe are a little bit more than flights to major U. Across the board, the transport difference is nominal. Ski instruction in Europe is very high quality—but costs about a third as much as in the U.
But in almost every other key respect, skiing or snowboarding in Europe is substantially cheaper—even though you often get a lot more skiing—and two people skiing for five days can save enough on just lift tickets and lessons to cover round trip business class airfare.
Or you can fly coach and pocket the change also, anytime you fly, you risk delays, cancellations and uncertainty. But at least when you fly to Europe, on any carrier, you are protected via compensation, and that can save you hundreds more on air.
