Ski / snowboard holiday packing guide & tips
Working out what to pack for a La Plagne winter ski or snowboard holiday can seem a daunting prospect – particularly if you’ve never been on a winter trip before. In many ways, you need to think about packing for two types of trip as your daytime wear will differ slightly from what you’ll typically wear at night. Below are some ski / snowboard holiday packing guide & tips that should help. Then again, there are distinct areas of crossover between the two and thinking ahead will give you the best chances of staying within a reasonable luggage limit and not ending up lugging around huge bags to and from your ski flights, La Plagne airport transfer and your La Plagne ski holiday accommodation.
Rule 101: don’t feel like you need to take everything you own
While we’re all different, the truth is, you don’t really need that much extra clothing for a ski or snowboard holiday. In the daytime, you’ll pretty much wear the same gear – jacket, fleece, salopettes, gloves, etc. However, that same jacket and fleece can easily be worn at night too as temperatures drop rapidly in mountain resorts once the sun goes down and you’ll need them to keep warm between bars and restaurants.
If you ever do a winter season, you’ll soon come to realise just how little stuff you actually need as there’s nothing worse than being weighed down travelling with clothing you’ll never even end up wearing. Read on for some tips learned over the years.
Ski holiday packing tips
When you’re at home packing, it’s helpful to work to a list (we’ve included a downloadable PDF for both men and women below). That way, you won’t find yourself endlessly packing/unpacking to check you’ve remembered everything.
Also, rather than folding your clothes, try rolling them to save space. Lay out t-shirts, shirts, sweatshirts, etc one on top of the other (clothes of a similar shape work best) then roll them into a tube. This takes up considerably less space than traditional folding – plus it’ll stop clothes getting creased.
What to wear at night on a ski holiday
This was mentioned in a video report a few years ago but, really, you will wear your salopettes *a lot* on a winter trip – so much so that, really, you probably only need a couple of pairs of trousers. Also, in terms of shoes, don’t pack your best trainers or (for women), heels etc. Ski resorts exist because they have snow and, even when there isn’t much snow around, what’s there tends to melt and will just wreck whatever’s on your feet. Pack a decent pair of boots – some may even call these ‘weather boots’ 😁 – and that’s pretty much all you need. See above for some indispensable ‘wisdom’ from a previous season.
Changes of clothes
You’ll want a change of underwear each day – and possibly at night before you go out. However, jackets, fleeces, hoodies etc are all a good call for night times when it gets colder. In truth, all you really need is enough underwear, your ski/snowboard kit and a few base layer items.
As mentioned above, no one ever looks at your trousers – like, ever. So there’s no point taking loads of different outfits. A T-shirt or shirt plus jacket combination works well for keeping you warm outside but cool enough inside the often roasting hot Alpine bars and nightclubs. Other than that, you’re pretty well sorted in most cases as a ski holiday is not a fashion parade. To be honest, you’ll end up sticking out like a sore thumb if you try dressing in the night-time clobber you might typically wear back home.
The ski / snowboard holiday packing lists
You’ll possibly have other additional stuff you deem as being required but below is a list we feel covers pretty much everything you could possibly need for a ski or snowboard trip away. Actually, you could likely skip half of this stuff too but we included it to be as thorough as possible. Your phone now does most things that would have previously been needed – though you’ll get way better video and photos using dedicated cameras. Note, there are download links below each list if you want to print this stuff out in a more legible format and use them as a checklist.
Ski holiday packing checklist
| SKI TRAVEL LIST | MEN | WOMEN (EXTRA) |
| SKI STUFF | SKIS | |
| POLES | ||
| BOOTS | ||
| SNOW PANTS | ||
| THERMALS | ||
| JACKET | ||
| 2ND JACKET | ||
| SWEATSHIRT | ||
| FLEECE | ||
| HELMET | ||
| GOGGLES | ||
| GLASSES | ||
| BEANIE | ||
| GLOVES | ||
| SKI SOCKS | ||
| CLOTHING | SOCKS | TIGHTS |
| SHORTS / UNDERWEAR | SKIRT | |
| T-SHIRTS | BRA / SPORT BRA | |
| HOODIE | SWIM COSTUME | |
| JEANS / TROUSERS | ||
| SWIM SHORTS | ||
| TRAINERS / SHOES / BOOTS | ||
| ELECTRICAL | TRAVEL PLUGS | |
| VIDEO CAM | ||
| VIDEO LEADS | ||
| HEADPHONES /EARBUDS | ||
| SPARE HEADPHONE | ||
| MP3 PLAYER IF NEEDED | ||
| MP3 / iPOD LEADS | ||
| MOBILE PHONE | ||
| MOBILE LEADS | ||
| CAMERA IF NEEDED | ||
| CAMERA LEADS | ||
| LAPTOP/TABLET | ||
| LAPTOP/TABLET LEADS | ||
| WIRELESS KEYBOARD | ||
| RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES | ||
| SPEAKERS | ||
| SPEAKER LEADS | ||
| HDMI LEAD | ||
| MEMORY CARDS / MINI SD | ||
| GENEVA – 3 PRONG ADAPTER | ||
| HYGIENE | SHOWER GEL | MOISTURISER |
| TOOTHPASTE | PERFUME | |
| TOOTHBRUSH | SANITARY PRODUCTS | |
| DEODORANT | HAIRDRYER | |
| SUN CREAM | HAIR STRAIGHTENERS | |
| LIP BALM | HAIR PRODUCTS | |
| AFTER SUN | MAKE-UP / COSMETICS | |
| RAZOR | NAIL CLIPPER – TWEEZERS | |
| AFTER SHAVE | ||
| MEDICAL | TUBIGRIP | |
| KNEE BRACE | ||
| DEEP HEAT | ||
| PARACETAMOL / IBUPROFEN | ||
| RENNIES | ||
| PLASTERS | ||
| PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION | ||
| CONDOMS | ||
| TRAVEL | AIRPORT PARKING DOCS | |
| FLIGHT BOOKING DOCS | ||
| INSURANCE DOCS | ||
| PASSPORT | ||
| GHIC CARD (UK) | ||
| AIRPORT HOTEL DOCS | ||
| FOREIGN CURRENCY | ||
| TRANSFER / TRAIN DOCS | ||
| MISC | TOWELS (APARTMENTS) | |
| SHEETS (APARTMENTS) | ||
| BIN BAGS (APARTMENTS) | ||
| TOILET ROLL (APARTMENTS) | ||
| CLOTH (APARTMENTS) | ||
| SHOPPING BAG (APARTMENTS) | ||
| IF DRIVING | WARNING TRIANGLE | |
| SNOW CHAINS | ||
| YELLOW SAFETY JACKET | ||
| SNOW TYRES | ||
| ROOF BOX | ||
| SKI RACK | ||
Download the ski holiday packing list
Snowboard holiday packing checklist
| TRAVEL CHECKLIST | MEN | WOMEN (EXTRA) |
| SNOWBOARD STUFF | BOARD | |
| BOOTS | ||
| SNOW PANTS | ||
| THERMALS | ||
| JACKET | ||
| 2ND JACKET | ||
| SWEATSHIRT | ||
| FLEECE | ||
| HELMET | ||
| GOGGLES | ||
| GLASSES | ||
| BEANIE | ||
| GLOVES | ||
| SNOWBOARD SOCKS | ||
| BOARD CARE | MINIDRIVER | |
| SNOWBOARD WAX | ||
| EDGE TUNER | ||
| CLOTHING | SOCKS | TIGHTS |
| SHORTS / UNDERWEAR | SKIRT | |
| T-SHIRTS | BRA / SPORT BRA | |
| HOODIE | SWIM COSTUME | |
| JEANS / TROUSERS | ||
| SWIM SHORTS | ||
| TRAINERS / SHOES / BOOTS | ||
| ELECTRICAL | TRAVEL PLUGS | |
| VIDEO CAMERA | ||
| VIDEO LEADS | ||
| HEADPHONES / EARBUDS | ||
| MOBILE PHONE | ||
| MOBILE LEADS | ||
| CAMERA IF NEEDED | ||
| CAMERA LEADS | ||
| LAPTOP/TABLET | ||
| LAPTOP/TABLET LEADS | ||
| WIRELESS KEYBOARD | ||
| RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES | ||
| SPEAKERS | ||
| SPEAKER LEADS | ||
| HDMI LEAD | ||
| MEMORY CARDS / MINI SD | ||
| GENEVA – 3 PRONG ADAPTER | ||
| HYGIENE | SHOWER GEL | MOISTURISER |
| TOOTHPASTE | PERFUME | |
| TOOTHBRUSH | SANITARY PRODUCTS | |
| DEODORANT | HAIRDRYER | |
| SUN CREAM | HAIR STRAIGHTENERS | |
| LIP BALM | HAIR PRODUCTS | |
| AFTER SUN | MAKE-UP / COSMETICS | |
| RAZOR | NAIL CLIPPER – TWEEZERS | |
| AFTER SHAVE | ||
| MEDICAL | TUBIGRIP | |
| KNEE BRACE | ||
| DEEP HEAT | ||
| PARACETAMOL / IBUPROFEN | ||
| RENNIES | ||
| PLASTERS | ||
| PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION | ||
| CONDOMS | ||
| TRAVEL | AIRPORT PARKING DOCS | |
| FLIGHT BOOKING DOCS | ||
| INSURANCE DOCS | ||
| PASSPORT | ||
| GHIC CARD (UK) | ||
| AIRPORT HOTEL DOCS | ||
| FOREIGN CURRENCY | ||
| TRANSFER / TRAIN DOCS | ||
| MISC | TOWELS (APARTMENTS) | |
| SHEETS (APARTMENTS) | ||
| BIN BAGS (APARTMENTS) | ||
| TOILET ROLL (APARTMENTS) | ||
| CLOTH (APARTMENTS) | ||
| SHOPPING BAG | ||
| IF DRIVING | WARNING TRIANGLE | |
| SNOW CHAINS | ||
| YELLOW SAFETY JACKET | ||
| SNOW TYRES | ||
| ROOF BOX | ||
| SKI RACK | ||
Download the snowboard holiday packing list
La Plagne accommodation deals
La Plagne piste map
