Shipping Skis and Snowboards to the Alps: Cost, Packing and Deadlines

Skis on the car roof, on the train, or at the airport for a surcharge. Or you send them a few days ahead and they are waiting at the hotel. Shipping skis and a snowboard to the Alps by courier costs less than most people expect, and within the EU it takes no paperwork. All it needs is the right box. And slack in the calendar, in December above all.

Who takes skis: length decides

Which carrier will take your skis depends on their length, not their weight. A pair of skis with bindings weighs 5 to 7 kg, and with boots and a helmet in the same box you stay under 15 kg. But the limits on the longest side differ.

The figures are from carrier websites as of 9 October 2026. The box has to be a few centimetres longer than the skis, which is why DPD works for skis up to 170 cm. Girth is no worry: a 175 × 20 × 15 cm box comes to 245 cm. A snowboard is shorter and wider, around 160 × 30 × 15 cm, and fits the limits of both DPD and GLS.

Eurosender has its own page with a calculator for skis and for snowboards. You enter the box dimensions and the addresses, the system picks a carrier that accepts that length on that route, and a courier collects the parcel from your home.

How to pack skis and a snowboard

Skis go in a ski bag, and the bag goes in a cardboard box. Eurosender explicitly warns that a driver may refuse a bag on its own as insufficient packaging, because the standard packaging in parcel transport is a box.

1. Strap the skis together and put cardboard or foam between the bases.
2. Wrap the tips, tails and bindings in bubble wrap. Sharpened edges cut through whatever lies next to them, the bag included.
3. Pack the poles with the skis and wrap the points separately.
4. Find a long box. You can buy one, or tape one together from two or three smaller ones. Sports shops have leftover boxes from new skis.
5. Fill the empty space with clothing. A jacket and trousers work as padding and free up room in your suitcase.
6. Tape all the seams and reinforce the ends of the box, where the strain is greatest.

For a snowboard, Eurosender recommends taking the bindings off and wrapping them separately. Throw a screwdriver into the box too. You do not want to go looking for one at the hotel. Boots can go in the same box, just watch the weight and make sure nothing moves inside. The general rules are in the guide on how to pack a parcel.

How much it costs to ship skis to the Alps

The price of shipping skis to the Alps depends on the route, the size of the box and the speed; there is no fixed tariff. Carriers charge by whichever is higher, actual weight or volumetric weight, and volumetric weight is length × width × height divided by 5,000.

• A 175 × 20 × 15 cm ski box: volumetric weight 10.5 kg
• A 160 × 30 × 15 cm snowboard box: volumetric weight 14.4 kg

So you pay as for a ten to fifteen kilo parcel, although the skis weigh half that. Our working figure is roughly €16–27 on a short central-European route into Austria, Italy or France with a standard service (indicative); express costs more. Only the calculator gives you the exact price, once you enter the addresses. Run your own dimensions through the volumetric weight calculator.

For comparison, airlines charge roughly €50–150 per flight for skis. If you drive with a roof box, you obviously do not need a courier. It pays when you fly, take the train, or when four of you share one car and the skis simply will not fit inside.

Timing: when to send the skis

Send the skis so that they arrive one or two working days before you do, and in December add several days on top. According to Eurosender, standard delivery of a parcel up to 30 kg takes 3 to 4 working days, while Priority Express delivers across Europe within 24 hours.

Before Christmas and around New Year, courier networks are overloaded, and Eurosender itself advises adding a few days to the quoted time. For a stay starting on 27 December I would send the parcel by the middle of the month at the latest, preferably earlier. The same goes for the February half-term weeks. General Christmas dates are in the article on Christmas shipping deadlines, and you can work yours out in the deadline calculator.

Book the return trip together with the outbound one. There will be no time for it on the last day of your stay. And you will need the same box again, so do not throw it away at the hotel (reception will usually put it somewhere).

Delivery to a hotel or apartment

Skis are delivered to a hotel in the guest’s name, with the hotel name in the address and the reception phone number. The courier needs someone to hand the parcel to, and reception needs to know something is coming.

• Write to your accommodation in advance. Ask whether they accept parcels for guests and where they store them. Most hotels do, private apartments often do not.
• Put the guest’s name, the hotel name and your arrival date in the address. In the note for the courier give the reception phone number, not your own.
• For an apartment without reception, a pickup point in the village sounds like the answer. But pickup points have stricter limits, at DPD a 100 cm longest side, so skis will not go through. That leaves arranging it with the owner.
• Track the parcel and tell reception the delivery day.

Austria, Italy, France and Switzerland

A ski parcel sent from one EU country to Austria, Italy or France travels without customs duty and without a customs declaration, because it never leaves the EU. Switzerland is not in the EU, and a parcel going there passes through customs even when it holds your own used gear.

For Swiss resorts, then, expect a customs declaration, a longer delivery time and possible charges. Check the conditions with the carrier before you book, or simply take the skis to Switzerland with you, which is the easier way. The rules are summarised on the page about shipping to Switzerland. For EU countries an ordinary booking is enough; see Austria, Italy and France.

Insuring skis in transit

Basic insurance is included in the price of almost every Eurosender service, but its limit will mostly not cover the price of newer skis. Extra cover is added when you book. Photograph the skis before packing and the finished box as well, and keep the proof of purchase, because a claim is valued on it. More in the guide to parcel insurance and compensation.

Sending a suitcase along with the skis? The process is the same and is described in the article on how to ship luggage on holiday. And in summer you can do the same with a bike: how to ship a bike by courier.