Skiing: alternatives to Esprit

[rockybalboa]

We have skiied with Esprit before and suspect it cannot be beaten for combining ease of childcare with decent food, decent accommodation and a generally stress free holiday. However, we now have 3 kids rather than 2 and can only go in school holidays so what was already a rather expensive week away now becomes eye-wateringly so (even by skiing standards). We could go it alone with a s/c chalet or apartment but we would still have to find reliable childcare for the baby as well as suitable ski school for the older DC (one has skied once before, the other has not) and the lack of Esprit type wrap round care would seriously compromise the amount of skiing the adults could do.

I am seriously considering asking our nanny to come with us for a week (she's not live in and only works two days a week for us but it might work) but can anyone suggest any other ways of making it work other than coughing up for Esprit?

Have you priced up Mark Warner or Powder Byrne?

PB are very very expensive. You could go to their hotels and take your nanny and still be quids in I think! Mark Warner are cheaper but I would find a nice hotel, and PB have several, and see what you can book independently. PB do all the ski lessons for the children too so you do have to compare prices and what is included.

Thanks, I haven't looked at either of them but I will check them out.

We went with Ski Famille a few years back and they were great. Don't know how they compare on cost though.

PB are bloody ridiculous prices! I find it hard to believe anyone can afford them. Family Ski Company also £££, Ski Famille are megabucks also. There's Snowbizz, who only go to one small resort in france, and still arent' cheap but are a bit cheaper.

We have the same dilemma to be honest - also tied to school holidays and also finding we can no longer afford to go.

I did look last year at a place called Ehrwald in Austria. It looked really nice and had a new baby/ childcare centre on the mountain. DIY might be an option to somewhere like that. We used an austrian ski school class for my DD last year (she was 5) and she had a great time, despite the fact that there were no other English-speaking kids.

We go with Family ski, but their prices are comparable with esprit.

If your nanny would agree to go, that might end up being the easiest and possibly cheapest option. Once you've got a resort in mind, ask again about suitable ski schools.

Out of all the companies who offer this sort of service I've found Esprit the cheapest. Which is why we've been with them ten times. Never found anyone else to best them.

Another time we rented a small catered chalet in Chamonix and then booked the kids in a crèche type arrangement. They'd have lessons there. Dd was 4yo at the time. Can't remember if they went out on the mountain or just shuffled round the snow garden, probably the latter. Think it was called Penguin club. But they did 9-5 if you wanted it. You'd need a car.

We've also gone self catering once in Val disere and booked morning lessons via Oxygene. Also supervised lunch. Then skiied with dd in the afternoon. To be honest it wasn't much cheaper than Esprit. If any cheaper.

When we were in Chamonix my friend used a local babysitter for her toddler. The tourist office gave her a list of names and numbers. No idea what qualifications, etc she had.......possibly none!

Do you have any inset days during the ski season? The reason I ask is because our LA has a policy of not fining parents unless their children are out for 5 days or more. Ergo if there's a week with an inset day, that's only 4 days of unauthorised absence and hey presto, no fines. OBviously this won't work if you are fundamentally opposed to taking them out of school.

That's what we'd do if DH wasn't a bloody school governor

Thanks all. I have too many bloody children!!! I looked into the other options and they were all way more expensive. We did go s/c one year and use a local nursery when DS1 was too young to ski but in terms of co-ordinating ski lessons, nursery and meals it appears that Esprit really are the cheapest way. At least we know it will be hassle free with them and I'd pay a lot for that!

They normally have last minute availability if you dare risk leaving it. We've had some right bargains booking the week before departure.

I would head for a Kinderhotel that has big rooms. The Hotel Kroeller in Gerlos has rooms that can sleep 5 and there is free childcare, ski school nearby and so on. There are lots of others like that.

I avoid British companies like the plague. They really rip families off.

We went with john and blossom ski with some friends with older kids and they sorted full time ski school for them and a lovely nanny for DD. She might be able to pick up older ones from ski school too?

Was not cheap but not as bad as Powder Byrne! Food was very good.

Oh! Just saw your later post. I don't know if it would be cheaper than Esprit!

Boffin, brilliant idea. I just looked at Familotels and you get a lot more for your money in the half-term week. If you book eurostar as soon as the booking window opens, it's not too bad and you can get to austria in 12 hours door to door by train, we did it last year.

Another thing about Germany and Austria is that the school holidays are sometimes different so you can really win out there.

Remember too there is a sleeper train from Paris to Munich. I did Rome to Munich a few years back and it was great fun, very comfortable (not cheap though).