Childcare in Le Grand Massif (Flaine, Morillon, Samoens and Les Carroz)

[purplepete]

Thinking of driving to this area of France in Feb half term 2013 and would appreciate childcare recommendations. My daughters will be 8 and 10. We want to go self catering , not in a catered chalet or hotel and would like to find all day childcare that will escort the girls to their lessons, pick them up, give them lunch and care for them on 3-4 afternoons.

We have done similar in Avoriaz and La Rossiere that has worked really well but am struggling to find anything suitable here.

Alternatively are there any other resorts within a reasonable drive from the UK that provide good quality childcare that you know of?

There is an English lady in Samoens who does babysitting and childcare by the hour. If you contact the tourist office there they should put you in touch with her. She gets booked up so worth contacting her early. Then you could book whichever accommodation you like.

Les Carroz is good for childcare - the Club des Loupiots takes 3-12 yrs, works with the ski schools, and is only 5 mins away from the village centre. They take the kids to ski lessons in their minibus :) Their tariffs from 11/12: Full Day: ?31 (including meal and snack). Half day ?17 (no meal), 5 day pass (Mon-Fri): ?124, 6 days: ?155. And they speak English! It's open 8:30am-6:30pm Mon-Frid and Mon-Sun during French school holidays. They do lots of activities like snow games, sports games, entertainment and activities organised by the Tourist Office.

I know that in Flaine there is the Jardin d'enfants and they look after children and take them to their lessons.

In Morillon there is a Village des Enfants near the main gondola open every day until 5pm but they only take children up to and including 9 yrs.

The Samoens childcare I know of only takes children up to 6 yrs!

Let me know if you want any more info :)

Thanks for the info, I will follow it up.

Last year we used the Jardin D'enfants in Avoriaz and was very impressed.

Have you skied in Les Carroz? Any good for venturing off piste a little?

Yes, for off-piste you can go over several areas of the Grand Massif, the forest section right by Les Carroz, and over the snow bowl. Flaine has some excellent (but tough) off-piste. Really it depends on the snow conditions!

Just a word of warning about off-piste in the Grand Massif - the area has a lot of potholes and sinkholes, so you should only venture off-piste with a guide,