How much does a week’s skiing in Sälen cost for a family?

How much does a week’s skiing holiday in Sälen cost for a family? This question is asked every autumn in thousands of kitchens, and it rarely gets an honest answer. Most websites give a single figure – a daily rate, a lift pass price – leaving the family with half the bill still hidden from view. The truth is that a week’s skiing consists of five items of expenditure that carry different weightings, and that only two of them can really be influenced. This guide goes through them one by one, so that you can set a budget that will last all the way home.

First, the most important point: accommodation is almost always the biggest expense, and it is also the only expense where the cost per person falls the more of you there are. A group that chooses to rent large cottage in Sälen and, on average, they pay less per person than a family of four staying in a flat – whilst the standard of accommodation is higher. You should therefore always calculate in kronor per person per day of skiing, never in kronor per night.

Short answer: here’s a breakdown of the costs for a week’s skiing in Sälen

For a family going away for a whole week in peak season, the breakdown is usually something like this, regardless of the price range:

• Accommodation: roughly half the budget, sometimes as much as two-thirds in the premium segment.
• Ski pass: the second-biggest expense for a family who go skiing every day.
• Food and drink: a third significant item, which depends entirely on how much you eat out.
• The journey: fewer than most people from the Mälardalen region think, but considerably more from further south.
• Equipment, ski school and activities: the item that varies the most between families.

Please note that none of the figures are fixed. For the same week, the same family and the same house, the cost can vary by tens of thousands of kronor depending on the week number. Always check the current prices with the relevant supplier before finalising your budget – they are revised every season.

Accommodation – the item you have the most influence over

This is where the big money lies, and this is also where the only truly powerful lever lies. The price difference between two stays at the same address can be several times greater, whilst the difference between two weeks in the same house is often even greater. Two factors are key: the location in relation to the slopes and the week of the year. Christmas, New Year, the winter half-term and Easter are at the top of the list; December and January outside the school holidays, and early spring after Easter, are at the bottom.

The second factor is the size of your group. The cost per person drops rapidly when more people share the same roof, as most of what you’re paying for – the house, the sauna, the kitchen, the living room – costs the same regardless of how many people are staying there. Many families solve this by travelling with another family or with grandparents. If, instead, you’d prefer a house tailored specifically to your needs, there are accommodation for the family in Sälen in various sizes. We have examined the factors driving price levels in themselves separately in our review of what determines the price of accommodation in the mountains.

Ski passes for the family – the second-largest item this week

A six-day pass per person is a significant amount for a family of four or five, and it is also an expense that increases with the number of people, without any discount whatsoever for living together. There are three ways to reduce this cost: buying well in advance online, taking advantage of children’s and young people’s fares, which differ significantly from the adult price, and not automatically buying a six-day pass when a four-day one is sufficient. Many families with young children find that the third or fourth day ends up being only half a day anyway. We’ve summarised current prices and purchasing strategies in our guide to how much the ski pass costs in Sälen.

Equipment: bring your own or hire it on site?

For an adult with their own kit, the matter is settled. For children, it isn’t. Children grow out of their ski boots in a single season, and renting them for a week at the resort is often cheaper than buying a new pair every year – plus, you don’t have to carry them around. Bear in mind, however, that hire is most expensive during the school holidays and that the best sizes run out first; book in advance if you know their shoe size. If you have your own equipment, you’ll need a roof box or ski rack on the car, which in turn will increase fuel consumption noticeably. Ski school is a separate item that’s easy to overlook in the budget and is often the best value for money of the whole week.

Food, restaurants and après-ski – what people actually spend their money on

This is where families differ more than on any other item. A family that shops in the valley and cooks all their meals at home will spend roughly the same as their usual household budget, plus a ‘mountain surcharge’ on their groceries. A family who have lunch on the slopes every day and dine out three evenings a week will easily spend as much on food as they do on lift passes. A fully equipped kitchen is therefore a real financial advantage of staying in a holiday cottage compared to a hotel, and the single easiest way to save money is to do your big weekly shop on the way up rather than at the mountain shop.

All the same, make sure you include a couple of restaurant visits in your budget from the outset. Planning for them works out cheaper than leaving it to chance, and a dinner at home with a hired chef can cost less per person for a large group than the same group eating out.

Getting there: by car, train or plane

From Stockholm, Uppsala and the Mälardalen region, the Sälen is one of the country’s shortest trips to the mountains, and travelling by car is practically always the cheapest option for a family – fuel costs are shared between four or five people and equipment travels for free. From Skåne and Gothenburg, the picture is different: the journey time is close to a full day, and an overnight stay en route or a night train can be both cheaper and more enjoyable than driving non-stop. Flying to Scandinavian Mountains Airport saves time but requires a hire car or a transfer at the other end, which should be factored into the comparison. Always count the journey as two days’ travel, not as a cost item – those days should be deducted from the total when you’re calculating the cost per day of skiing.

Three budget levels: economy, standard and premium

Rather than exact figures, which change every season anyway, it is more useful to understand what distinguishes the different levels:

• Economical: A week outside the school holidays, basic accommodation a short distance from the slopes, your own equipment, all meals home-cooked, travelling in your own car. It’s entirely possible to keep costs down to around half the peak-season level.
• Normal: A week’s holiday, a cosy house with a sauna, hired equipment for the children, lunch on the slopes a few days and dinner out one evening.
• Premium: A week’s holiday at the top of the range, a ski-in/ski-out chalet with a spa, a ski school for the children, a chef or catering on some evenings, and optional extras such as made-up beds. Here, the cost of accommodation rises sharply, whilst lift passes and food remain at roughly the same level.

If you want to move down a notch without compromising on quality, the ‘Weekly’ option is the most effective choice. We’ve written about when is the cheapest time to book a holiday cottage in Sälen and exactly how much it actually amounts to.

Summary – how to book your skiing holiday in Sälen

How much does a week’s skiing in Sälen cost? You’ll have the answer in half an hour sitting at the kitchen table: set out five columns – accommodation, lift passes, food, travel and equipment – fill in your own figures for the dates you can actually travel, and divide the total by the number of people and the number of skiing days. Almost everyone who does this exercise discovers the same two things: that the week number matters more than the choice of chalet, and that the cost per person drops rapidly as the group gets bigger. If you’re unsure which chalet offers the best value for money for your particular group and dates, do get in touch – we’d be happy to work it out with you, even if the answer turns out to be that you should choose a different week to the one you’d planned.