Czechski.co.uk Factsheet

Site last updated : Tuesday, November 30, 2010

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Welcome to czechski.co.uk, your one stop shop for all you need to know and do to arrange your perfect European winter sports adventure. Click play to discover a taste of what’s on offer:

Why the Czech Republic?

The Czech Republic offers outstanding value for money for the British and the Irish. The cost of living is a fraction of our own, and Sterling and the Euro go a long, long way. It is safe, advanced, and rapidly catching up with other western economies. CLICK HERE to read what lonelyplanet.com says about the Czech Republic.

Our resort, Rokytnice Nad Jizerou is in the famous region of Bohemia in the beautiful Kraknose (Giant) Mountains, close to the German and Polish borders.

Check out these reviews we found on the web!

How can the holiday be so cheap?

Basically you arrange your own flights and car hire and we arrange all the bargains for you in resort. You have many benefits to take advantage of : Budget Airlines; great value car hire; amazing prices for quality accommodation; ski passes, ski and board hire, lessons, meals out and of course shopping, all significantly cheaper than any other ‘Western’ ski resort.

Although you put together the flight and car hire, if you go through us for the accommodation, then we can – if you would like - ‘package’ the rest together for you, including having English speaking contacts sorting things out for you in resort, and generally making sure you are always okay.

Flights

You fly to the famous tourist city of Prague. Alternatively you can fly to the nearby airport of Wroclaw (pronounced “Vrotswaff”) in Poland.

One of the most significant things in your favour is that the airports in Prague and Wroclaw are not traditional ski destinations. Therefore the prices do not “spike” at key weekends or holidays, something that frustratingly always happens at places like Geneva, Chambery, Salzburg etc. If you are early enough you should be able to get return trips for less than £100.

And it’s only a 2 hour flight away!!

Click on these two useful links to explore flights from your region:

www.wegolo.com www.skyscanner.net

Please note: these sites are great for finding you your flights.

However they can add on quite hefty booking fees.

You should use the sites to find the flight you want,

and then go to that airline’s own site to get it at the cost price.

Car Hire

Car hire is also really good value. There should be no problems getting a car for 5 for the week for £200 including compulsory snow tyres (chains not needed).

Car hire in Prague airport is a 1 minute walk from arrivals. The guys in there speak perfect English.

You could simply Google : “Prague Car Hire” and there will be endless options, however the following search site is the best we have found so far, and the one we always use ourselves :

www.auto-europe.co.uk

Driving (and navigating) to the mountains

If you have ever driven abroad then this is quite straightforward. It’s just the same as the rest of Europe, with decent quality highways most of the way, and definitely no precipitous mountain roads. The pleasant drive is just over 2 hours from Prague and slightly longer from Wroclaw.

We recommend Google Maps to get directions.

For your convenience : Gmap directions from ‘Prague Airport’ to ‘Rokytnice nad Jizerou’

Alternatavely : Gmap directions from ‘Wroclaw Airport’ to ‘Rokytnice nad Jizerou’

Ignore any mention of tolls - The hire car has a windscreen mounted chip card included which automatically pays for any toll… You just drive!

Accommodation

If you are interested in booking accommodation, we will contact our partners who will send you some offers to choose from. Once you arrive at our resort you park up at our accommodation agency, which is on the road into town, so very easy to find. After checking in you are taken to and shown round, your accommodation. Our representatives speak good English. The accommodation itself is excellent value for money, and easily of a standard you would expect in other European resorts. Even in the peak weeks you should be able to find self-catering accommodation for approximately £100 per person per week. We can find you hotels, but with the 2 supermarkets, and amazing prices, it’s easily the most cost effective to self cater.

The Pistes and Lifts

Our resort has something for everyone: children, other beginners, good intermediates, and even the advanced. The perfect combination for a mixed family group. The resorts have a traditional mix of chairlifts, T-bars and button tows. The pistes are wide and very well maintained and the snow is reliable. There are extensive snow-making facilities. It’s definitely on a much smaller scale than, say, the Alps or Rockies, but it really does offer exceptional value for money.

Passes, ski and board hire, lessons etc.

The ski pass allows you to ski at 6 self-contained ski areas (a bit like Chamonix but on a much smaller scale). At some of the smaller ones, which are great for the kids, you can get a pass for about £ 10 -12 per day. The bigger areas can cost up to £ 22 per day for an adult, less for kids. If you buy a multiple day pass (anything from 2 days plus) for the whole area, then our contacts can get you a 15% discount with what is called a “Bonus Card”. This brings the average daily cost of a pass down to around £16. You should do this only if you want to ski the more expensive areas of Harrachov and Horny Domky.

Equipment Hire

For ski hire, again it’s up to you, but you will not be able to beat the deal our contacts can get for you (e.g. : 6 days for the price of 5). This can mean an average price of approximately £7 per day for skis, sticks, boots and helmets. For snowboard and boots, probably £9. And all the gear is the same as you would get in any French, Italian or Austrian resort (Head, Rossignol, Blizzard etc.). Our contacts will also take you to the ski hire shop and facilitate everything for you, making sure you get the best deals. The hire shop has over 500 pairs of carving and cross-country skis available as well as 250 snowboards from holiday to sports or race models.

Lessons

If you are wanting lessons you can arrange your own over the internet, or sort some out when you get there. However you are much better off asking our contacts in resort to arrange these for you in advance. Once you book accommodation you need to let our contacts know what you would like. They can organise good quality English language lessons very much to your needs. You don’t necessarily have to sign up for a whole week if that’s not what you want. Many people put their kids in lessons for a few mornings and then take it from there themselves. Anything is possible.

Both these schools offer lessons in good quality English:

www.majorski.cz www.classicskischool.cz

But you are much better off letting our in-resort contacts sort it for you.

For the grown-ups this is the perfect opportunity to splash out on a very affordable one-to-one lesson, something which might be too expensive in other circumstances.

Eating, drinking etc.

Basically it’s much cheaper than back home, and VASTLY cheaper than in Alpine ski resorts. No need for packed lunches, you can get a snack lunch out on the slopes for a couple of pounds per head. In the evenings if you are splashing out you can get a decent meal out with beers for £6-£8 per head.

The night life is generally quiet. There are a couple of decent bars in the centre of town and a scattering of tavernas where you can eat and drink. It’s certainly not the type of place to go if you are wanting to ‘burn the candle at both ends’. But what there is, is outstanding value.

There is a Tesco in the middle of town with a full range of products you will recognise (plus many you won’t). The prices are fantastic, for example half-litre bottles of Czech beer for 35p-40p. Not to mention the cheap vodka… Careful now!! Basically, you can get everything you need to cater really well for the duration of your holiday, with the opportunity to try lots of new and interesting things.

Other Attractions

You can night ski on a couple of the pistes in the resort, and there is an excellent “white knuckle” snow tubing park. You can drive or go on an organised trip to the excellent Babylon Aqua Park.

If you find your skiing is improving you can drive 45 minutes to the neighbouring (and more advanced), resort of Spindleruv Mlyn where there is, along with great skiing, a 4km purpose built “sledge run” through the forest.

Still interested ?

So how can Czechski.co.uk help arrange your holiday ?

Flights :

Czech out affordable flights.

NB : accommodation does not necessarily have to be booked from Saturday to Saturday. It is often possible to do different arrival and departure days, and shorter or longer breaks, so you can take advantage of the best flight deals.

Click to see our flight links

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Car Hire :

Czech out affordable car hire.

Click to see our Car Hire links

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Accommodation :

Decide on your accommodation requirements.

Please be careful to make sure that when you are looking to book any accommodation that you are fully aware of how many of the party are sleeping in bedrooms, and how many are on sofa-beds in the lounge. Typically an apartment for four would be two people in a bedroom and two on a pull-out in the lounge. Whilst this is quite normal practice everywhere, it’s best just to check beforehand to avoid any confusion or even any possible disappointment.

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Czechski :

We pass your requests onto our in-resort contacts. They will then contact you directly and send you some possibilities for you to look at, normally with a good set of photographs for you to view. If you like what you see and choose to book, then from this moment onwards you will only deal directly with the resort contacts. And all things such as ski passes, lessons, hire etc, they will sort out with you directly.

Remember, February half term (which is as expensive as it gets) everything, including any spending money is approximately £ 450 per person. If you can get anything to compete with that, take it! You basically have nothing to lose… We look forward to hearing from you in the very near future.

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Our fees and costs :

All the information provided by Czechski.co.uk has been provided free of charge to allow interested parties to make informed decisions about whether a DIY ski holiday is for them. We basically provide clients with key contacts within the resort, who ensure that your winter holiday can happen smoothly and cost effectively.

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To make the next step :

Simply fill in the Enquiry Form below. We will then pass your information on to our resort partners. You will then get a free, no obligation quotation, with no follow up contact from Czechski.co.uk. If you like what you see then you just get back in touch with our Czech team, who will take things from there. Best wishes, Czechski.co.uk