How to Plan Your First Ski Holiday: A Winter Activity Holiday Plan in 7 Steps

The plan in brief

1. Assess your level: Have you never skied, have you tried a few times, or are you comfortable on easy runs?
2. Choose the resort: For beginners, a large beginner area and a magic carpet matter; for those who can ski, a variety of runs.
3. Decide how long: If you are skiing for the first time, allow at least 2–3 days on the slopes.
4. Pick your dates: Think about reliable snow and the mid-year school holiday crowds together.
5. Put the package together: Lessons, equipment, ski pass, accommodation and transfers: separately or in one package?
6. Get your clothing ready: Dress in layers; jacket, trousers and gloves are personal equipment.
7. Check safety: Helmet, warming up, rules on the slopes and insurance.

1. Be honest about your level

Everything starts with this decision, because your level determines the resort, the package and the length of your stay. You are in one of three situations:

Most people who say “I tried it once” still benefit from a basic course on their second holiday, because controlled stopping and turning have not yet become second nature. For details of the first step, see our guides How to Start Skiing and How to Start Snowboarding.

2. Choose the resort

For a beginner, the number of runs matters less than a wide, gently sloping beginner area, a magic carpet and easy access to easy runs. You can find all the resorts in Türkiye, with altitude, run and lift details, in our guide to ski resorts in Türkiye.

• If you have never skied: Erciyes, with the beginner areas with magic carpets at its four gates and the training area at Hisarcık, is one of the most comfortable options.
• If you can ski: the forest runs of Sarıkamış or, abroad, Bansko make a good next step.

For a detailed comparison of the three resorts, see our guide Erciyes, Sarıkamış and Bansko Compared.

3. How many days should you allow?

A common benchmark at ski schools is that a beginner can come down an easy (green or blue) run after three days of lessons; Vail Resorts, for example, gives first-timers a fourth lesson free if they cannot come down an easy run at the end of the third lesson. This is a marketing guarantee, not a scientific norm, but it shows well why 2–3 full days on the slopes are needed for a first holiday.

On Doğadayız basic course packages, two full days are spent on the slopes: on day one, a basic lesson with an instructor until midday, then practice in the afternoon in groups re-formed by level; on day two, clocking up the kilometres on different runs. The lessons are not limited by the hour; the goal is for everyone to be able to ski on their own under control. To match the length of your trip to your level, see our guide How Many Days Should a Ski Holiday Be?.

4. Pick your dates: snow and crowds

In Türkiye, the ski season usually runs from mid-December to the end of March; at high resorts it extends into April. Examples:

Opening dates change every year depending on snowfall and snowmaking; before making firm plans for early December, wait for the resort's announcement.

The mid-year school holiday (sömestr) is the busiest period. According to the Ministry of National Education (MEB) calendar, the 2026–27 mid-year holiday runs from 25 January to 5 February 2027. In January 2026, Erciyes welcomed about 250,000 visitors on the first weekend of the school holiday. If you want to avoid the crowds, choose weekends before mid-January or after mid-February, and weekdays if possible.

5. Put the package together: separately or in one package?

The pieces of a ski holiday are: transport, hotel–slope transfers, accommodation, meals, ski pass, equipment rental, lessons and insurance. You can arrange them one by one, but this is also where the most common first-holiday mistakes happen: the hotel being far from the slopes, the queue for rental equipment, missing your lesson time.

An activity holiday combines these pieces into a single programme. On Doğadayız winter packages, accommodation, ski pass and ski or snowboard equipment are included in every package; on basic course packages, lessons with an instructor and a helmet, goggles and protective gear are included too. We explain step by step what to compare packages on in our guide How to Compare Holiday Packages with Ski Lessons Included.

6. Get your clothing ready

On the slopes, the three-layer rule applies: a sweat-wicking base layer, an insulating mid-layer and a waterproof outer layer. The ski set is usually included in the package or the rental, but a ski jacket, trousers and gloves are personal equipment. For the full list, see our guide What to Wear Skiing and Snowboarding.

With rental equipment, the binding setting matters: the release value of ski bindings is set according to international standards (ISO 13993 for short-term rental, ISO 11088 for your own equipment) based on weight, height, age, boot sole length and skier type, and this setting is a job for a technician. Give this information accurately at the rental shop.

7. Safety and insurance

• Helmet: According to a meta-analysis of 12 studies, the odds of a head injury are about 35% lower among helmet users. Wear a helmet from day one.
• Fatigue: In a study of 753 injuries at a ski resort in China (BMJ Open, 2020), 36.7% of injuries happened in the last hours of the day. When you get tired, call it a day rather than forcing one last run.
• Rules: Before you set off, read the FIS 10 rules for conduct on the slopes that everyone on the slopes follows.
• Insurance: In Türkiye, insurance is not a legal requirement for skiing, and a ski pass does not always include insurance; Erciyes A.Ş., for example, states that its ski pass has no insurance cover and that everyone should take out their own insurance. Under the general conditions of standard personal accident insurance, sports on snow and ice are excluded unless otherwise agreed; you need to have skiing added to your policy. Abroad, travel health insurance is also compulsory for a visa; on the Doğadayız Bansko programme, travel health insurance for abroad and skier insurance are included in the package.

First ski holiday checklist

The difference a group makes

A first ski holiday is much easier with people who share the same excitement: learning with people at the same level reduces the fear of falling, and time spent together in the evenings lets you share the day. According to Doğadayız booking records, about 39% of participants in the 2025–26 winter season joined with a single booking. That is why our winter programmes are designed as a social adventure holiday.