Doing it yourself with preschoolers

[narmada]

Hello,

The leaves are a falling off the trees and my thoughts are turning to skiing -- hurray.

HAve two children aged 4 1/2 and nearly 2. Went with Esprit in two previous years but this year we need to find something cheaper, but still with childcare for the little ones. I am considering DIY as Esprit is coming in at nearly £3.5 grand before lift passes and ski hire - too much for what you get with em IMO. And we can't afford it anyway.

NOr can we afford any of the other specialist family operators, e.g., Family Ski Company, Family Friendly Skiing, and not even Snowbizz. Kinderhotels out for same reason.

Don't really mind where we go, but it has to be reasonably snow-sure yet not Val Thorens-type altitude as I have problems with being too high up - gah.

Priority is good, well-regulated group childcare and family-friendly resort. Proximity to obscure ryanair airports a plus in view of cost :) Switzerland probably out owing to strength of franc.

Help!

Should have said, we are looking for (breathe deeply) New year's eve week (e.g., departure 30th December) as we are now tied to school holidays.

We've been to Samoens the past 3years, my ds's are now 3 and 5. It's a pretty little town, loads of self catering apartments available direct from the owners. Less than 1 hour from Geneva airport. There is a kindergarten there - we booked the boys in for the mornings plus lunch so we were able to get a good morning of skiing, then we'd go back up the mountain in the afternoon as they have a designated sledging area and easy green slopes so my older boy could have a play about on skis. The last day we put them in kindergarten all day and then we could ski over to Flaine.

Ooh thanks todolist that sounds like a really good place. Have fancied it for a while. Were you totally happy with the kindergarten?

Going to watch this with interest. We are in the same boat but looking to go Christmas week. Can't believe how expensive the family packages are as we've always done DIY but having other families and kids around this year a big priority for our 4yo. Happy to pay for childcare but also want to ensure that other kids knocking around for informal play in the evenings.

Yes, the kindergarten was fine - most of the staff spoke English. I think it helps that my boys have been used to nursery here, and they had each other for company. When we were there it was outside of school holidays so there weren't many English speaking children. They always came out with paintings and craft, didn't seem to help them pick up the language though!

Hi, we have just booked to go to La Tania with Magic Ski at Easter and got a free place for our DS who will have just turned 5. They offer catered chalets and provide child care and will sort transfers etc so all you need to do is book flights. Seem to be well priced and La Tania is linked to Courcheval for a bit if height. Fingers crossed it all goes well, but seems good so far.

We went to Andorra last year during February half term. We went for a week half board in a five star hotel and it cost less than £2k including flights ski hire lift passes etc. DSs were five and three and loved it. We flew into gerona and got a taxi to Andorra.

Given the ages of your children, I would take them out of school this time and go out of season. They really aren't going to miss much at 4.5 ! If you write a nice letter to the school you may get authorised absence - remember to write about the benefits to be gained from ski lessons, a different language and culture and the geography of the mountains. Worst case they don't give you authorised absence and you take unauthorised instead. ( Unless you are a teacher in which case you really are stuck with school hols).
Until your youngest is 4 I wouldn't DIY ski. If you go off season then most of the family friendly companies will give you a reasonable deal. We have been with Ski Magic and their off season prices are very competitive - and childcare cheaper and more flexible than Esprit.
We are DIYing for first time as our eldest is now at senior school so we are stuck with school hols. Our youngest is now 5 so old enough for ski school.We are trying Austria as they do ski school from 10am - 3pm with lunch which still gives us plenty of time to ski.

There are also a few nanny companies in the French alps. So you could book a private nanny to come to your self catering appartment. As you have 2 children then it might be worth it.

try thr peak retreats website. they do self catering appartments, and will allow you to book your own transport, but will help with childcare/lessons etc. we went to la norma, which was excellent. very french, but very family friendly. we didn't book childcare (only lessons for kids) but there is a creche there which would suit you, if you didn't mind it being mostly french kids.
It's a small resort but you can try other resorts in the valley (such as aussois which is also supposed to be terrific for kids).

If you're willing to do DIY then I'd look at flexing your dates slightly, do you actually need to go for Sat-Sat?

For example EasyJet Gatwick-Innsbruck is £329 per adult for Sat-Sat (your dates) but £150 Sun-Sun or £136 Mon-Fri (OK, only 3 days skiing). Fly to Munich and you have a much bigger choice of flights & cheaper. I would recommend Austria as many hotels have in house childcare.