Holiday in alps this summer, not too £££. Where would you recommend?

[CarelessWispa]

Rather than driving to France this summer, I think we might be brave and fly for the first time. I quite fancy the idea of staying in a ski resort in the Alps (or other mountains) where there are lots of outdoorsy things to do i.e. swimming, bike rides etc.

I have 2 children, 8 and 4, both boys.

Can anyone recommend something that won't break the bank. Isn't the cost of living in Switzerland very high? Perhaps the Italian alps might be a good bet, as both boys will eat the food, at least. . Not sure if a hotel with h/b would be better value than going the self catering route.

Thanks, in advance.

Have a look at Familien Hotels. I have driven through the Dolomites and the scenery is stunning.

The Swiss Alps are fab, but very very expensive, especially with the exchange rate at present.

French or Italian resorts will be slightly cheaper, but you will have to be very careful where you go. Many of the resorts are dead as a dodo in the summer.

We have been to [Morzine in summer, and to various other resorts in that area, and they were extremely quiet. There wasn't even any place to have tea and cake in the afternoon.

Chamonix is better as there are climbers and lots of rambler-types in the summer.

A lot of the resorts are trying to encourage people to come in summer - there was a mountain bike festival in Les Gets last year, and I think they have the ski lifts running for the bike trails.

If you are looking for a relaxing holiday, without much "entertainment" then you will be ok. And accommodation will not be too expensive, I would think.

Actually, thinking about it, I did a blog post about this a while back. If you are ok with not being right in the mountains, then you could go for somehwere in the Valle Verte - between Geneva and Chamonix. here

Even better than there would be Annecy, which is slightly more expensive but offers a lot more. We have stayed in this campsite here which is slightly further from the lake than it appears on the website, but has pool etc. And there are bike paths from there into Annecy. Our kids loved it there.

Austrian alps would probably be the cheapest and I'd say easier to get to than Italy???

I've camped in the Alps in summer before but in France and Switzerland. Switzerland is expensive, we camped just outside Zermatt which was lovely. Lots to do in the area. Also been to the Vanoise National park in France, lots of walking and mountain biking.

Friends of mine have gone to Grindlewald in Austria and said there was lots to do and it looked lovely. IME you need a car though to get about. It took us about 10 hours to drive from French coast to Zermatt. We did it straight in one journey non stop - swapped drivers along the way.

oh, and you can fly with EasyJet to Geneva, then hire a car to Annecy - it is less than an hour

Alpe d-huez looks good in France even if you don't go with Esprit the link has some good info on the area.

espritfamilyadventures.com/Alpe-D-Huez.aspx

Austria! It's the best place to go for an Alpine holiday if you don't want to break the bank.

We stayed at the Sportkamp Wolfgut in Zell am See, with Keycamps but there are plenty of chalet style hotels, around that area if you don't like caravan holidays. Our Keycamp guide gave us the best advice, and told us to get a Kaprun card. here You have to book a qualifying hotel, but the card includes a ton of amazing stuff to see and do! We paid for our cards, as we were staying with Keycamps. I'm not sure if that is still an option, but the camp we stayed at had a qualifying hotel on site.

We went down, river gorges, around castles, a boat tour, to two gorgeous spas, all sorts included with the card! It was an amazing week, which we hadn't really planned for until we found out about he Kaprun card.

As well as all the activities to see with the Kaprun card, you can drive up the Grossglockner, and see the biggest glacier in the alps, and see the marmots. We also went to Salzburg, saw Monet's house. There is also the tallest waterfall in Europe - the Krimml Waterfalls.

The food is fine, lots of pizza places, or German style cuisine.

Switzerland is very very expensive. When we went to Switzerland, we stayed just over the border in a French area of Geneva city, and tended to eat in France rather than in Switzerland!

The Italian alps are lovely, and eating out in some areas is cheaper. Tho not sure how much there would be to do there compared to Austria. If you are looking at Como area, it would be pricy.

Wow! Thanks everyone. Went away to clean the house and came back to loads of great ideas.

Will peruse at my leisure this evening. I'll stay away from Switzerland I think!

Oh, and respect to VivaleBeaver. A ten hour road trip with no stop makes me feel rather ill (and not due to car sickness)!

And dd was 4months old at the time as well! Though bless her she slept the whole way.

We've done all day drives, the kids are used to it now. They know when we go on holiday that the first day will be in the car, and prepare accordingly! Lots of DVDs, books, video games, snacks.