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My wife has expressed an interest in doing a family skiing holiday, I quite fancy it as well, but know nothing about it.
I've not skied on snow since a school skiing trip, which was almost 30 years ago, however we've both done a little dry-slope skiing.
The kids have never skied, so we'd all need lessons while we were out there.
The kids will be 8 and 5 if we go next winter.
I'm not particularly interested in snowboarding.
We'd be looking at either the Christmas holidays, or Feb half term.
Flying, ideally from Gatwick. (not interested in a coach)
We'd buy jackets/goggles/helmets/gloves, but would need to hire skis + boots.
So, any suggestions on where to go/where to stay/budget/what to avoid?
The only other issue is my daughter is a coeliac, and I always fret slightly about overseas trips, as we've had some difficult experiences.
thanks in advance...
My Wife and I went with some friends (a couple with a 3 1/2 year old at the time) for his 40th birthday.
We went to Neustift in Austria and had a great time; plenty of slopes, plenty of easy stuff, decent restaurants in the area.
We stayed at the Schoenherr haus in a large apartment with large ski equipment shop on the ground floor.
We didn't have lessons (but should have done, really) - there looked to be plenty of choice and lessons being advertised all over the place.
We flew to Munich, as there were no flights available to Innsbruck when we wanted to travel but we had a hire car and it was a very easy 3hr journey to Neustift from Munich.
I'd love to do it again, but my Wife wasn't keen on the actual snowboarding side of things.
Can't remember how much it all cost as we paid it in chunks - X for flights, Y for accom. Z for ski hire & passes etc.
My main advice would be to do a few trips to your local snowdome, ideally in the summer when it is quiet.
That way you can make sure everyone enjoys it and gets the basics before spending thousands on a holiday.
As Graham said, head to the snow dome first.
I went skiing in Austria and hated the skiing part. Loved the rest. Saying that, i'm off to Slovakia in a couple of weeks to try boarding for my stag do.
We've got friends who own a chalet business there and teach boarding. I won't try and push their business on you but I would recommend the area that they're based in for a family holiday. Check out Liptovsky Mkulas near the Jasna resort. Nice little town with loads of apres-ski. Plenty of other activities as well such as caves to visit, indoor go-karting, Tatraland thermal water park.
Flights from Luton to Poprad though not Gatwick. Bratislava is a bit of a mission from Liptovsky.
I love Jasna and it's certainly a cheap option but I'm not sure I'd recommend it for beginners.
The general standard of skiing seems pretty low there.
Oooh, good advice about the snowdome.. sounds like we should be doing that before we even book anything.
We live very close to a reasonable dry slope (Sidcup/Orpington) so maybe we should all spend some time there as well...
I'd been thinking about a package trip, but maybe we can throw something together ourselves... especially if we learn the basics before we go.
Go with a specialist family operator like Esprit (I've no link to them, I swear). Although I had skied a lot and always arranged my own trips, getting help when there were young children involved made a lot of sense.
They'll have a good time which means you will.
A second piece of advice, whip them up into a frenzy of excitement for months before. That will help avoid tears in the boot room.
We've been on two family trips, the second with Esprit in their chalet hotel in Meribel. The set up was excellent with kids being collected from the hotel by the ski school, kids lunch clubs, separate kids supper time and evening clubs.It made life for me and Mrs Camster great plus the kids loved the set up too.
The fist time was with Ski Amis in Les Menuires which was great but lacked did have quite the same level of set up as Esprit.
Costs wise, we took our kids out of school when it was 'legal'but it's still c 4.5k all in!
HTH
If you are going Christmas time with kids then why not go to Levi in Finnish Lapland. Very laid back resort, no massive runs but ideal for starting off.
There is quite a bit to do away from the slopes as well (snowmobiling, husky sledding, cross country skiing, santa trips etc).
We have been several times with Inghams and can recommend it!
I took my son to Borovets in Bulgaria for his first ski trip when he was 10 with Nielson. Great holiday, the local instructors included in the package were very good. We had superb snow but I've found out since that it's not always so. Maybe one to leave for last minute bookings.
Going to a snow dome or dry ski slope first is a great way to avoid a very expensive holiday that no one enjoys...
...BUT...
...a huge part of the appeal of a ski holiday is the snow, the mountains, the atmosphere, the food, the drink etc etc.
I personally don't enjoy skiing on dry ski slopes that much, yet I love ski holidays. In summary, it would be a shame for a bad experience on a dry ski slope or snow dome to put you off a ski holiday.
Maybe one to leave for last minute bookings.
Not if the OP plans on going during school holidays!!
Another shout out for Levi, but I wouldn't go at christmas because of the cost and the short days (you'd be in or near the Arctic circle). Very relxaed, all the ski schools are good with some great american\canadian teachers. Lots to other than ski as well, husky trips, Santa trips (well worth it for your kids at that age, and all very believable) and the chancs to see the northern lights. Bit more expensive than mainland euroski but I promise that you will have snow unlike some of Europe this year.
Go somewhere, anywhere.... where you can ski in and out of your accommodation.
Learning to ski/board is hard enough without all the aggro of hikes/bus trips with all your gear before you even get on the snow each morning.
But more important than where you go is ..... when.
Leave it later into the session when you will have more chance of good weather.... You don't actually want it to snow when learning.... it makes it double hard work.....
Learning in warm sunny weather is a joy... when you are tired and need 5 mins rest you just sit there in the snow taking in the Blue sky and the snow topped mountains... you cant beat it.
Stay away from pre-xmas and defo pre-xmas in the blooming artic circle or near to it.
^great advice Ro5ey
We went skiing as a family for the first time about 5 years ago, mainly because Mrs Rambo wanted to try it. We joined 2 other families we know, one skiing forever the others only for a couple of years.
Sharing a chalet is good as it slits the cost, gives you more people to talk to / ski with etc.
Things I'm glad we did/wished we had done:
We all had lessons so in the morning we did our thing then met with the others at lunch somewhere. So glad we did this as the benefits of being taught properly paid off. Second year we went we stepped up to intermediate and the third year Ms R had individual lessons and came on so much faster.
If you go for a week, take a half day off around Tues/Wed. You will be needing it and the rest of the week is better for it.
If you're hiring kit, make sure you go back if the boots don't feel good. Don't persevere. We ended up buying boots after 2 trips.
Buy a decent jacket and gloves and take a buff each - We bought decent merino base layers which were excellent and get well used.
We took some small bars of choc with us to help with tiredness.
We also had a chalet we could ski into and out off - so much easier after a long day to not have to walk in boots.
It can be expensive, but it's such good value if you go to a decent resort and get out most of the day every day.
We're off to Val Thorens this half term, I cannot wait 🙂
Do a bit of research on the resort you choose and, if France, see if there's an alternative to the 'ESF'. There are often smaller privately run ski schools which will have smaller classes, possibly better English (assuming you're not all fluent french) and a better attitude generally.
Alternatively given you are all novices you could just hire a private instructor for the first few mornings. You'll then have seen what he or she is teaching the others, can help out with video'ing the lesson for instant video feedback and repeating instructions during non-lesson time.
The kids will be 8 and 5 if we go next winter.
We'd be looking at either the Christmas holidays, or Feb half term.
I'd avoid half term like the plague - in fact tell the school they have plague... Easter migh be better with little ones as the days are warmer (depends when it falls though)
I found the ski instructors in Italy to be superbly friendly, (their schools aren't as monopolistic as France or Austria) and it tends to be a bit cheaper on the mountain than France.
You won't need a huge expensive resort, although you do want it to reasonably be high altitude for snow-sureness (unless you watch the snow reports and book your accomodation late)
If I had kids I'd drive out and get a Self catering apartment, good value - but not a luxury holiday.
I would always say go to Finland but be aware it can be very very cold. You of course have the right clothes but a lot of people find it a shock to the system.
I asked a very similar question before - there might be something useful here: [url= http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/ski-holidays-with-the-family-who-to-go-with-and-where ]Ski Question[/url]
In terms of coeliac / gluten (wife is coeliac) - we've found Italy to be good generally. They test the kids (I believe) when babies so there is a lot of awareness. We found restaurants etc. to cater for gluten free well.
From a chalet operators point of view I'd say:
Go at Easter. As others have said it will be warmer and cheaper than December or half term.
I am biased but small independent ops will tend to do better with dietary requirements. French supermarkets are getting better at stocking free from type products as well.
Choose a resort with British run ski schools. We find that they offer a better service and more feedback than ESF. New Generation are great in Meribel and are in loads of resorts across France.
Finally read reviews of anywhere that looks promising. Great prices don't mean good value!
My wife skis, I'm bi (ski and board......) and have done a fair few snow holidays in the past. New territory this year however, we were on the lookout for a kid friendly holiday to take our 6 and 4 year olds on for the first time. I'll echo what others have said, get to a dry slope or fridge somewhere and get a few hours in, that will allow you to step up from the complete novice group on your holiday. Must haves for us were ski in/out or short walk, pool, lots of easily accessible green and blue runs. We narrowed it down to Austria (lots of hotels have wellness facilities i.e. pool) and Italy. Ended up booking Passo Tonale in Italy. Have some plan B activities, your youngest may not want t spend a full day on the slopes. If going at easter, book a high resort.
Make sure you're fit before you go Freeagent - you are only there to carry skis!
DO NOT go and practice on artificial snow less than six weeks before travelling; there is a strong possibility of a novice falling badly and wrenching their thumb in the plastic matrix of the matting. It happens a lot.
We went to Chamrousse in France in the first week in January with our 7yo daughter.
It's one of the cheapest weeks of year.
The slopes are quiet.
The resort is 1 1/2 hours drive from Grenoble airport (45mins from Grenoble) and there is a supermarket very close to the terminal.
There are some lovely blue runs from the top to resort.
Most runs are below treeline, so fairly sheltered if the weather sets in.
The ESF classes were excellent, and the kids (all english) loved the instructors.
It's very much a family resort with very little in the way of evening entertainment.
Everyone we met was very friendly, but that may be because we tried to speak French as much as possible (only polite really).
The weather (for us) has usually been clear for 5 out of 6 days.
SnowTrex do good self catering deals (including lift pass).
The three of us with flight, accom and car hire paid about £1600 in a 4 person apartment.
Oh, and the restaurant at the top of the mountain does some very nice food and drink too.
We decided against using Xscape for lessons, due to cost. Mini_TP is very quick to pick up physical skills so was not a problem.
I want to go back, right now!!!!!
excellent advice - much appreciated.
That's not artificial snow that's a dry slope you mean.
I retract my comment about self catered - if it's you first holiday an independant chalet company (and to a lesser extent a tour operator) will be help you out a lot on a first holiday - might well be worth the extra cost.