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4 Responses to 'What kind of car should I rent for a ski holiday? Do I need to rent one at all?'

1. diskohousefunk - November 14th, 2008 at 6:25 am

   That depends, if you are going to Vail or Beaver Creek, you’ll land in Denver, you can take “vans to vail” for pretty cheap. We rented a car last year, but it stayed in the parking structure at the condo all week except for when we went grocery shopping one time.

   Almost all the resorts have a really nice shuttle system to and from the lodging areas, points of interest in the village, and to the main lifts. So you could get away without renting a car. Good luck, Vail’s the best in my opinion by the way.

2. telie - November 17th, 2008 at 5:46 pm

   if you are coming to utah or colorado i suggest something with four wheel drive like a truck or suv but definetly not a car

3. Jacee - November 21st, 2008 at 5:22 am

   A question – are you planning to ski every day? If so, you should come to Utah. You can stay just about anywhere in Salt Lake, take a bus from the hotel and be on the slopes in 30-45 mins. It will take several hours to get from Denver to any ski area.

   Or if you prefer, stay in Park City and ski right out of your hotel, walk to a restaurant, or shop in the many shops. No car needed at all. Take a shuttle from the airport to Park City.

   Skiing near Salt Lake is much more accessible than any place in Colorado – and the snow is usually deeper, more powder and better quality. Oh, and did I mention – less expensive than anywhere in Colorado (except for maybe Deer Valley).

4. Holly at Travelocity - November 24th, 2008 at 6:22 am

   Whether or not you need to rent a car really depends on where you’re going to be staying. Vail, for instance, has an extensive transit system that would probably render a car pretty unnecessary — the buses run 24 hours a day (365 days a year) on a variety of routes, and are absolutely free! From the airport to your resort, there are a variety of airport shuttles, including the popular CME.

   Speaking of Colorado, you’ll find much the same situation should you decide on Aspen — the town is small enough to traverse on foot, and there’s a free bus service between the four mountains. It’s pioneered by the Roaring Fork Transit Authority and buses run every 15 minutes at pretty much all hours of the day and night.

   As for Utah, which you said was your other choice, here’s some good news: 11 of its resorts are within an hour of the airport, so vetoing a rental car won’t bite into the budget TOO much if you need to call on the services of an airport shuttle. Once you’re there, you’ll find that the Utah Transit Authority runs buses from many hotels straight to the slopes. You might also want to look into the Park City Transportation Passport (a link is below), which includes round-trip transportation in a shared-van service to and from the SLC Airport to Park City, as well as free unlimited taxi service within the Park City area.

   All that said, however, it is quite nice to have the freedom of your own set of wheels — while you don’t strictly NEED a rental car (even less so if you’re staying in a ski-in ski-out sort of place), some people don’t like the feeling of being carless. If you do decide to go the rental car route, make sure you choose one with a four-wheel drive for those mountain roads — and definitely book it as far in advance as you can, as four-wheel drives sell out pretty quickly on big ski weekends. You’ll also want to have snow chains pretty handy in case you need them. Best advice of all? If you’re unaccustomed to driving in areas where the roads are snowy or icy, give yourself plenty of time and don’t rush.

   Hope this helps a little — have a great vacation, wherever you end up going (carless or not!)

   –Holly

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