Alps summer holidays with two young boys!

[Padn123]

Hi everyone, thanks in advance for your time! We're thinking that in summer 2025 we may take our holiday abroad with our two boys who will be age 7 and 4. The Alps looks like it could be perfect, but I'm struggling to work out which specific area will be best and provide easy access to the various activities we'd be looking for. Advice much appreciated.
Key criteria and interests:

• Less than 1 hour from airport.
• Self-catering accommodation
• July or August 2025
• Good chance of warm weather (above 20 degrees celsius).
• Easy access (under 45mins drive/public transport) to a wide range of activities that work well with very young children. Things I reckon that would work really well with our boys include adventure playgrounds, summer tobaganning, beach, swimming/kayaking, short but scenic walks, cycling (on easy level ground), anything animal/wildlife related
• Restaurants/pubs/cafes ideally within walking distance or short drive of accommodation

Once we have narrowed down the area, then I'm wondering what the best route to finding the accommodation is. AirBnb? Certain websites you'd recommend? Many thanks

About an hour from Salzburg:
www.seitenalm.at
very family-orientated & family-run.

Interesting article in today's Times OP!

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/906e107b-d170-455c-9d27-0f00a1364f0c?shareToken=15d61a069f739c45e1d8baf41f3828b0

Amazingly helpful, fascinating article!

We are thinking exactly the same type of holiday for June 2024! I could have written your post! We will have a 2 and 4 year old at the time of going!

Looking at options. Morzine seems great for this age group. The Innsbruck/wider Tyrol region looks amazing but maybe a little more travel to get to different playparks etc? It is hard to decide! Some great blogs out there to help:

Morzine: Activities for young children Archives - Simply Morzine (simply-morzine.co.uk)

Tyrol region: Things to do with Kids | Family Attractions | Austrian Tirol (tyrol.com)

Have you decided on your location yet?! I think we are swaying to Morzine for ease with the 2 year old really!

Air b n b has some great apartments and chalets in Morzine too!

Me too!

I can't decide between Tirol and Morzine!!

@CoQ10 It is our first real holiday abroad with both little ones. Our little boy is very active and a resort type of holiday is just not for us as a family. Both look amazing. Tirol (now spelt correctly thanks!) has so much to offer but I think maybe a car would be needed to get around the region? I think public transport looks great there too mind.

Maybe Tirol might be better when kids are a little older than mine ( 2 and 4, to do all the climbing frames etc in adventure playgrounds?

Morzine maybe better for 2 year olds with pony trekking, the big pool complex etc.

Decisions!

Postbuses and trains are pretty reliable. We took toddler ds to St Anton one summer. Mountain lifts are great fun at younger ages, often there is a restaurant with play area or petting zoo at the top.

Yes mine are 11/12 so slightly older than yours!

I think a car would generally been needed in most mountain areas. We live in one, and although there’s lots to do, when you say pony trekking or mountain cable cars, or lake swimming, all we need to drive to really. Public transport often is limited to main roads through, and there’s no way I could get my 3 year old to regularly hike the distances up. Ie our closest bus is bottom of our hill, but it’s a good 20 min walk (1km up hill) for adult.

If I was to go to local swimming pool it would take about 10min car drive, Or over an hour walking, two buses and walk by public transport.

There’s also the option to leave area to go see something else relatively close if you hire car.

Look at Samoens in the French Alps. 45 mins from Geneva, charming old working village but with gondola up to 1600 m, lots of great places to day trip to including Annecy, Morzine, Sixt fer a Cheval etc. For accommodation take a look at https://www.alpsaccommodation.com/

We adored Morzine in the summer with young kids. We actually went on our honey moon and stayed at Chilly Powder (they do catered and self-catering) Summer in Morzine and Provence | Family Summer Holidays (chillypowder.com)

So much to do there - walking is easy with chairlifts and bubbles running (we made it over to Switzerland one day), pony trekking, outdoor swimming complex with slides, Lake Geneva in easy reach, day trips to Evian, amazing gorge walk at Pont du Diable, canoeing on Lac Montriond (they have a swimming lake also), Ice hockey to watch, loads of cafes to chill out in, summer events on in the main square. Just a brilliant holiday.

We visited Morzine this summer and absolutely loved it. The kids are all desperate to go back next year. We hired a chalet on the edge of Morzine, within walking distance of Lac Montriond and were totally spoiled for choice with things to do. It was a glorious 25/26 degrees for the entire week - perfect! We drove, but lots of others had flown to Geneva and either hired cars or were using the local shuttle buses (some of which are free).

If you pick the right resort, then getting around can be really easy in the Austrian Alps. Most Austrian towns are real, old working towns located in valleys - not purpose-built resorts perched on mountains like the awful, charmless Avoriaz concrete carbuncle pictured in The Times' article above - and therefore have good transport connections, either by train or Postbus.

What's more, most resorts offer free (or discounted) tickets for the ski lifts, cable cars and local trains and buses. As others have said, there are usually playgrounds and other activities at the top of every mountain that are accessible by cable car, along with restaurants, mountain huts and sometimes pools, petting zoos and other attractions, as well as the stunning views. A car is useful, but for a one-week holiday it is not absolutely necessary in somewhere like Zell am See or Saalbach-Hinterglemm.

Do you mind sharing the chalet accommodation please?

@snazzychair I have just provisionally booked this chalet: Chalet du Samoyède, Morzine – Updated 2023 Prices (booking.com)

It is quite central but I need some amenities within walking distance really with the little ones!

Have a look at Mountain Voyages - Chalet Chocolat, or Alikats have a few to choose from in the same area.
The one we stayed in isn't actually being listed for next summer, but Chalet Chocolat is on the same street and a good example of what's available.

@Havanananana - it really depends on region. Kärnten for example has no free lifts or public transport, and it’s quite spread out. But lots to do, you just need a car

I'm completely sold on Morzine now, not sure I can wait two years to go ;-) So much to do there. And the accommodation tips are really useful too.

I’m sure you’ll have a great time. Do look at Les Gets for places to stay, just a few miles up the road. It’s just a little quieter than Morzine which is quite bustling. The swimming lake up the top of the village is really nice, also the pool in Morzine is good, and Aquariaz up in Avoriaz is worth a visit too- our kids loved it in there. Enjoy!

From my experience, in Austria there are more options to get to some of the resorts by public transport, including trains. In France you are usually looking at a very expensive taxi from the airport or hiring a car (which post Covid is also quite expensive). But some would prefer that to taking small kids and bags on public transport anyway. I’d also say Austria is generally cheaper for food though maybe not as good.

Having a go at reviving this thread. @Padn123 if you're still going to Morzine and want any tips, we've been the last two summers with kids who were 3 &5 the first time - we LOVED it. So much to do - could wax lyrical.

Wanted to ask anyone else who might have recommended Saalbach Hinterglemm on this post. We were very very interested in going here, but finding it'll be A LOT more expensive than Morzine, to the point it's put us off.

We're finding flights to Innsbruck or Salzburg about £100 more pp than to Geneva which we could sort of live with, but it's the accommodation that seems crazy.

Hotels are very expensive in the high summer holiday season and mean we'd all have to share 1 room. We'd always prefer self catered apartments to give us the options but there just doesn't seem to be as much.

I suppose I wondered what any Saalbach Hinterglemm Mumsnetters had found?

As a guide, we stayed in a lovely (but simple) 2 bed apartment in the centre of Morzine with a good living area and well appointed for approx £1,800 for 2 weeks - so £130 ish a night. And that included all the taxes and cleaning fee.

I wondered if it's a case of staying a little out of town in Saalbach, but we'd still like to be able to access the buzz of town and go out for meals some nights with the kids etc so don't want to be too remote.

Any recommendations welcome (and if anyone is happy to share rough budgets).

Thanks,

@kevby88 You should be able to find a suitable apartment for £130/€150 a night in Saalbach. Look on airbnb, booking.com, VRBO or the Saalbach Tourist office website (Saalbach.com). Make sure that the apartment offers the Joker Card, which gives free access to the cable cars, buses, outdoor pool complex and more - it's worth about £400-£500 in savings for a family of four.

I think it’s a bit of a struggle at £130 (€160) a night if you’re looking at prime summer locations. Further away maybe.
As a comparison a 2 bed rental around me ( a bit further south), is more like €250 a night. That would be a good offer tbh, as I know many 1 bedroom places also at that price.

Also consider going right at the end of the summer. Lots of German or Dutch schools go back by about the third week of August. So flights the last week, or into first few days September might be slightly cheaper. And traffic better.