recommendations for a family friendly, quiet ski resort (Childcare not needed)

[jenthehen]

We have children aged 7 and 10 who are both confident skiiers. Previous years we have been to Ruka and Ylass in Finland and Are in Sweden. We have really enjoyed the safe quiet slopes, without queues which these resorts have. Having been several times I quite fancy a change but am struggling to find anywhere that fits the bill. Most catered Chalets in Europe seem to focus on childcare and entertaining the kids. Although we all like to have lessons in the mornings we like to spend the rest of the time together as a family, we like places with long tree lined routes, good snow quality, a reasonable number of runs (at least 80km) but not such a huge resort that I'd loose the kids as they bomb off in front of me. We also need a few more challenging runs to keep my husband happy. Does anybody know of a European resort that matches this description that they'd be happy to share with me?

St Johann in Tyrol comes to mind, but haven't been there in years. Had some nice smallish hotels and plenty of tree-lined routes.

thanks for that I'll check it out.

La Rosiere.

I do like the sound of La Rosiere but my husband has gone and booked himself on a trip with his work colleagues there 2 weeks before our school holiday, not sure if he'll want to go again, although we could use it as a chance for him to check it out and then book a last minute for the whole family.
(a bit greedy of him I know!)

Viva beat me to it! Would have also said La Ros - we have been there several times and I decided it wuld be the place I would take the grandchildren to teach them when the time comes should I be so blessed . High resort, very sunny, and quiet (even @ Feb half-term) - good skiing with the novelty of skiing over to the Italian side. Only drawback is that it can be windy, and there are only chairs and drags, no gondolas on the French side. But is very cheap for such a high resort, so would definitely give it a go. When we have been there have always met families back there for the severalth time.. We now usually stay at the Eucherts end, for ski-in ski-out, with ice rink and bowling and only a 10 walk into the main street if you want more choice of restaurants and shops.

Thanks Mrs GofG that is really useful, i've just been looking and most of the accommodation available seems to be at the Eucherts end and I was wondering if this was too far out as we really prefer ski in/ski out so you have answered my question for me. Is there a travel company that you could recommend? ps I can completely recommend Are in Sweden as a great place for Grandchildren to learn to ski.

Have been to la Ros with ski beat and would recommend them.We are going to plan peisey with ski beat at feb half term.

Risoul was uncrowded when we went last Easter, quiet and family orientated. Some of the drag lfts steep though.

I don't know how much money you are thinking of, but I would seriously consider puy st vincent with snowbizz becuse that is small, friendly and there are family skiing afternoons, evening kidsclubs and have excellent lessons. here are about 90kn runs i think.

You might think about saas fee - horse drawn sleighs and very pretty, north facing so generally good snow, but switzerland so can be pricey.
Lots of people like la tania, les gets, le grand bonard and chamrousse, but i haven't been there. Courcheval 1850 is also supposed to be family friendly (but ££££).

I am going to start a thread on skiing in scandanavia, would you mind letting me know your thoughts on that please? (trying to avoid hijacking a good thread).

If you want a quiet resort St Foy is lovely, only about 6 miles from La Rosiere. We have been there the last two years but are going to La Rosiere next Sunday. Can't wait.

Les Gets is very family friendly and utterly lovely.

Oooh, good thread. I'm looking for somewhere to take the kids for their first ski holiday.

I liked Les Saisies; stayed there a few years back with a mixed group of 8 (but no kids) and it struck us as very family friendly and we only heard 2 other British families all week! (Not sure if that would be a problem if you wanted ski schools though?). It's not a huge resort, but there are lot's of blues and reds, a lack of queues, but maybe a bit short on serious black runs if your kids are at that level, although I think the nutters in our group found enough to keep them happy for a day or two. There is one horrible drag lift you will want to avoid, up a very short black run (difficult to spot it on the map), but avoidable if you know about it in advance. We stayed here at Le Hameau du Beaufortain, about 1km out from the village, but on a blue run. It was lovely.

If you're looking specifically for chalets, have you tried Chalet Rentals Direct and Owners Direct? They've come up trumps in the past. Another option we've used is negotiating with a catered chalet owner to use the chalet on a self-catered basis.

We are in austria at the moment ( inneralpbach ) staying at the galtenberg hotel for the second time. ( I've reviewed it on here before ) . I can't recommend it highly enough. 40 min transfer from Innsbruck airport ,the hotel picks you up. Fantastic hotel with pretty much everything included ( that's lift passes and ski school. The only extras are flights ski hire and alcohol) great snow at the moment,too much today to Ski . It is very quiet with NO queues but there's nothing to do après ski , but that
Suits us just fine. All I need is the fantastic evening meals ,glass of wine and bed

hi headintheclouds, we really like the look of that hotel but were rather hoping to go skiing at the end of march. Do you know what the snow is like in Austria that late in the season by any chance?

Mckenzie, the snow here at the moment is unbelievable and I can't imagine that it will have gone by march. They have great piste bashes and snow cannons here. We came here 2yrs ago in March and snow was good then. It has snowed 30cms here in last 2days and I'm not exaggerating , I think it's unprecedented for Austria at the moment .My only observation is that there's not a lot of pistes for real expert skiers but plenty of challenging reds for intermediates like myself and family.

One more sleep and I'm off to La Rosiere in the morning. It is so exciting apart for the fact the taxi is coming at 4.30 am.

thanks headintheclouds, DH and I are experienced skiers but only just getting back into it having had a break re babies/young children so decants reds will suit us just fine. Our DCs skied for the first time last year - they are 10 and 7. Will there be enough for them I wonder? Much as DS likes to think he'll be int he blacks this year, I'm really not so sure .
Deste - we've skied in La Ros quite a few times in the last 15 years, inkling last year with the DCs. We went late last year and really suffered from the poor conditions but you won't have that problem this year . I hope you have a fab fab time!

headintheclouds - I'm , have also been to the Galtenberg.

mckenzie, have a look at Hinterglemm or Serfaus, loads of great family skiing and good hotels.

I second Les Gets really nice small family friendly resort.