First time skiing holiday for family

[mel38]

I wondered if anybody could recommend a really nice family friendly ski resort or hotel for a first family ski trip in feb half term next year, we have 2 children aged 3 and 8 and it will be my 40th birthday.

Thanks
Mel

Will you want the 3yr old to ski ? Not all skischools accommodate under 4's . Have a look at the MN Reviews section too but half term can be manic in the bigger resorts so you may prefer somewhere smaller.

He will be 3 months of being 4 so would like him to ski . i dont even know what a big resort is or a small one so a complete beginner here !! i havent a clue where to start , lol

I suggest morzine/les get, either are great for beginners and are nice towns, only an hour transfer from Geneva. Both are not all that high so can suffer if snow is scares (as it is currently) but as a beginner I doubt you would notice as there will always be manifactured snow on the beginner slopes, plus it isn't cold and windy which can be very of putting for beginners. Morzine is a largeish town (by most resort standards) and therefor has lots of no skiing activities too.

Belle Plagne and Arcs 2000 both good. Not terribly pretty but skiing is good. If you want picture perfect try Arc 1950 :)

if you are looking for a company to take stress out of what to do/ski hire/lessons etc. Try Esprit. They have some good last minute deals too.

I suggest you look at the Kinderhotels (www.kinderhotels.com) as they cater specifically for small children. We stayed at the Hotel Bär in Serfaus and had a lovely time - our youngest was 4 and the childcare staff took him to the ski lessons directly outside the hotel for 2 hours every morning, then gave him lunch and looked after him until we returned in the afternoon. Very child friendly ski school as well, with a giant mascot skiing around distributing gummy bears to little children and dancing with them .

Another vote for Kinderhotels here. We've stayed at a couple when our kids were younger and the child care and ski lessons were very good. Also lovely spa/sauna/pool and delicious food for dh and I.

My friend is going to a Kinder hotel in austria with her almost 4 year old. It looks fab.

We do s/c in small resort (no point spending loads on a ski pass as a beginner) which works well for us, but as total beginners and no doubt wanting a relaxing and fun 40th, I would suggest that you go Kinder!

We went to Val Thoren last year and had fantastic snow. The ski-school for children was ace, although I think it was 4+.

With children under about age five the Kinderhotels are definately the best - they have great childcare programmes (different play rooms/programmes for different ages) and are mostly located in very family friendly resorts - with great ski schools for kids. Food and spa is also excellent (at least where we've been), so both parents and kids are well catered for.

I'd also recommend to book direct with the hotel and get a flight to the nearest airport. It works out much cheaper than using a tour operator in my experience.

Would definitely recommend Arc 1950 too as they have the Caribou Club for the little uns which is run by Spirit 1950 (the owner of which worked in the States for many years). Agree half term will be busy but the good news for next season is that it is only the UK on holiday for the 11/02/12 week whereas this year we were joined by most of the rest of Europe. Have a look at www.ernalow.co.uk. I know Erna Low has a Resort Manager who has 2 small children so would recommend you getting in touch if you have any other questions. :)

In my experience there is little point in trying to teach a 3/4 year old how to ski. On her our first trip DD2 was 4.8 and went to a lovely ski school where they spent most of the day playing and a little time on skis, by the end of the week she could go down the small slope and stop, but never mastered the magic carpet back up. They following year at 5.8 she was better, made it to the proper slope, but never worked the drag lift up. On year 3 she started to learn to ski.
Older daughter was 7 when she first went and we could see the daily progression. By year 2 at the age of 8 was off over on the proper runs on the mountains.

I think you have to have an open mind. We have taught both DSs to ski when 2,3,4 - DS1 was taught by me and DH, DS2 had a bit of time on skis with us both, but started ski school at 3.3. Both love skiing. However, my niece who was 6.5 on hols last year HATED it, and I suspect will never be a skier. At Xmas DS1 (6) and DS2(just 4) were skiing confidently with us on blues and doing the odd bit of red. The worst bit was keeping them out of the powder and jumps in the trees!

Agree with Powdermum about just giving it a go with DCs. DS1 hated it for the first 2 years (started when he was 4). DS2 started at 3 and loved it from day 1. I vividly remember the Esprit staff literally picking him up, skis and all, and saying "we really do have to go now!!" when he would go up and down the nursery slopes for the full duration of lessons - whereas many kids gave up after 20 minutes or less!

Duh! Sorry I mean agree with fedupwithemployment.

I think it wouldn't do any harm to put your 3 yr old in a short hour long ski class. My daughter loved wearing skis at this age and feeling she was skiing like her older sibling. By 5 she was skiing confidently whereas my older child who started at nearly 6 found it quite hard the first time and nearly chewed his glove to pieces the first day. Both children love skiing now.

If you look in the review section you will see mona lisa appartments snowbizz. I wrote the first review for this company on mumsnet and we had a great holiday with them. the accommodation is basic but fine and the snow bizz set up is perfect for a family skiing for the first time. You could also look at the holidays offered by family ski, ski famille and esprit. I haven't skied with my children in austria so can't comment on that.

Some kids are fine with learning at 3/4; some hate it! DS is 4.10 months and was skiing blue runs with confidence at New Year, with his sister (6+3months then) who has also been having private lessons and loving them since 4. But they have both been on skis since they were 2, so were used to the concept. Worth trying though!

if you have loads of dosh, i'd recommend anywhere with Powder Byrne. They made our first ski holiday as a family a breeze and after learning the ropes have done it more independantly since.

Bear in mind however that Feb half term is the most expensive time to go skiing with ANY company, in some cases even more expensive than New year.

jaffacake - which ski school in Val Thoren did you use please?

I would recommend Family Ski Company - we have been with them 3 times now and this time our youngest was 6 weeks off being 4 and skied - though not aways happily!!

Family Ski Company have excellent childcare - they have ski school helpers who stay with the little ones and are great for encouraging them when they aren't too sure or are just pure shattered by the end of the week! I wouldn't recommend trying skiing with an under 5 without ski school helpers - they are worth their weight in gold!!

We went to Ardent in the Portes du Soleil (near Morzine / Avoriaz) - the chalet, food, jacuzzi & childcare were all fantastic.

I recommend Austria every time. We started skiing there when my son was 3 and I have always found it very good. We just came back from here and absolutely loved it. It was a real family holiday rather than just a skiing holiday

We had our first family ski holiday at Obergurgl, Austria, with Ski Esprit. It worked really well in terms of children ski lessons and child care. Boboland at Obergurgl is fantastic for children to learn skiing! If you prefer a fancier hotel with better food. You can book ski lessons direct with ski school but will need to find hotels that do childcare. I think quite a few of them do offer creche type childcare. The advantage of ski Esprit is you don't have to worry about dropping them off and picking kids up from ski school yourself. Also, nice to eat downstairs while kids sleeping upstairs (we brought our monitor which worked inside the chalet) but the downside was the Chalet was a bit basic and the food was only ok.