Hi, we went to Are in Sweden over half term for our first ever skiing trip with our four children:
Family stats: Myself and dh (intermediate skiiers but hadn't been for 10+ years), four children, ds1 (9), dd1 (7), dd2 (5) and ds2 (2) and my mother as our childcare provider !
Where you went: Are in Sweden
Which company you went with or DIY: We went DIY, we had booked the Holiday Club in Are and flew with KLM to Trondheim (changed in Amsterdam) and hired a car (under 2 hour drive to resort). All our lessons, ski passes etc were all booked through skistar.com who can also arrange accommodation.
Best bits: Fab pistes, very quiet, ski school was excellent although only 1.5 hours long and the children did not have lessons at the same time. The instructors were lovely and spoke great English, my children did not mind being the only English speakers in their group (although note, even the Swedish 7 year olds had pretty good English !). My children loved being taken off to ski through the forest and do various runs which I would never have been able to find (or do !). The pistes also have little BBQ areas all around which you can take burgers etc to cook on and there are little huts and bigger cafe type areas with microwaves etc to self-cater on the slopes too. It was all very friendly.
The accommodation was amazing, we had a lodge with two bedrooms and full kitchen and sauna etc - I think Swedish accommodation is generally more spacious than Southern Europe, the hotel had a big pool complex, bowling, mini golf, children's area, ski rental shop and hairdressers etc and evening DVDs.
What could have been better: Our flight was cancelled leaving Heathrow on the way out due to the storms which made for a very stressful outward journey with less than 15 minutes to make our flight connection. We did not find it too cold but apparently it has been very mild this year, it was a bit windy and snowy on a couple of afternoons but on the whole we were very happy with the resort. It was also not too overpriced although we self catered.
Top tip: Our children had a couple of private lessons at Hemel Hempstead before we went and this meant that they literally hit the ground running (note, group lessons above level 1 are not so good there in my opinion). I also bought most of the children's ski suits etc from ebay, my dds Poivre Blanc snow suit only cost me £4.50 :-) I would also recommend hiring a car in Are as it is not ski in ski out and the skibus only runs every 45 mins at best.
Note, we don't really have much to compare it too as my previous French Alps and Swiss holidays were pre-children in very pokey, but ski in ski out accommodation. We had a fab time though and would love to go back next year. I also think that if you book accommodation through skistar and even do a package deal, (you can also fly direct from Gatwick to Trondheim with Norwegian although flight times are not ideal) then you could do a reasonably good value deal to Are - particularly if your children are 7 or under as then lift passes are free.