Mumsnet Talk

We have skied for 10 yrs and last year was our first with DD. She is now (just) 2. Last year we went to Morzine self catering and dropped her off each day at the local nuirsery which was lovely but my heart broke beacuse she was soooooo sad.

I've looked at chalet holidays with childcare included which look great except for the childrens high tea. Our DD is used to eating with us at about 7.30-8 and going to bed at 8.30-9 and I really don't think she would cope with an early high tea.

Are there any holidays with childcare available (English staff) but that are more hotel based so that we would just eat with DD and not have to rely on her staying up and behaving with a load of adults?

Not sure it exists but thought worth asking!

I haven't been with them but have you seen this company here?

Mark Warner is another family friendly one here

Club Med is another.

I've heard dodgy things about esprit! but will look into Mark Warner and Club Med. Thanks

Mark warner does high tea, the dining room is for adults.

You need to look to Canada/US.

We have only ever self catered in Canada, but there are always plenty of kids out in the hotel restaurants at that time. The day care at Lake Louise is brilliant and mine have used it since, erm, 9 weeks. . Daycare at sunshine is good, and you can stay on the hill, too, if you like that sort of thing. I'd prefer to be in banff though, more to see and do.

We liked it so much we moved here. Jus' sayin'.

I wouldn't fret too much about using a nursery tbh - she's a whole year older and with all three of our kids we have had one year where they wailed incessantly in a ski hill daycare. The following year they settled no problem, and loved it. Ds1 once stood behind the check in gate for 4 hours until we came back.

Lake louise do parent and tots ski lessons out of their daycare from 3 I think. .

I found that the best way was to take my mother and she did the child care and we could all eat together. It might be cheaper and better just to take an extra person -who doesn't want to ski.

We've done that too, exotic. It works with my parents, but not mil and fil, who want to ski too.

There are plenty of staff providing childcare in european ski hotels that speak excellent English but are not British Nationals. Austria has loads of fantastic hotels with excellent childcare and children accepted at dinner.

Crystal. stay in a hotel not a chalet and use their childcare.

Crystal we went to Claviere with them and it wad perfect- your children can eat earlyor with you later

I like eating with DS as well, so I have always avoided places that insist in children eating separately. My favourite place was Hotel Cristallo in Katschberg (Austria). They had a nice children's nursery inside the hotel and plenty for the little ones to do outside. The nurses were German speaking, but their English was perfect as almost every child there was English.

We did Steamboat Springs in Colorado last season which is amazing family friendly.
We've also done Killington in Vermont the season before and although the mountain is much smaller it had the best set up for children I have EVER seen! US tends to be self catering or B&B, trans-atlantic ticket for non-skier may be excessive though...
US so much more flexible for children than France ime anyway!

If you take a chalet on between a group of friends then you can dictate when you want your child to be fed and hire a private nanny/babysitter to look after your dd. If you go with a company like Mark Warner, Esprit etc and are part of a shared holiday with strangers then the policy is to give dc a high tea at 5:30-6. Grown ups don't normally like small children around in the evening especially if they have got their children to bed.

Lurks

I echo the sentiment that US ski resorts are easier with children.... I'd recommend Deer Valley in Park City, Utah if you are a beginner/intermediate skier, and Snowbird/Alta just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah if you are expert. Salt Lake City is a very easy airport to fly in and out of and the ski resorts are max 45 minute drive away (unlike Colorado resorts where you have to drive 2-4 hours from the Denver airport.)