Anyone recommend resort for pre-schooler skiing beginner?

[Twitteratti]

I'd like to take our DS, who will be 4 in December, skiing this coming winter/spring.
But I don't really know where or how to start.
Anyone got any tips/suggestions?

Budget?

We always skied in Switzerland when DC were very small, as the standard of ski school is high, as are those of the snow clubs (where you can drop them in for lesson and also childcare, some indoors, some mucking round in the snow). But is it generally more expensive to ski there than at other destinations.

But if it is possible for you, I recommend the Jungfrau region - Mürren is good because it is a car-free resort, and the nursery slope is just behind a hotel with a terrace cafe, so you can watch from there if you want to.

Try Aldi and TKMaxx for ski gear, are plenty of tights/vests etc, plus get thin gloves to go under ski mitts

If they don't take to it, then let them stop (even if lessons/passes/ski and helmet hire are non-refundable and it feels like you've spent a lot for very little)

Thanks for your reply. Fortunately, we are not on a tight budget (which is not to say that we can max out the spending! But at the same time, we don't have to do it on the cheap).
I am willing to spend on good teaching, catered to his age group.
I want to ensure he has the best possible grounding (I realise this won't come in a single trip).

My DD enjoyed Les Gets as she likes the mix of outdoor in the snow garden /mini slopes and inside when it got too cold to play games. It does depend on the child my oldest DD took to skiing every morning 2.5hrs x 5d at age 4.5yrs my younger DD didn’t really take to lessons until nearly 6yrs but then was flying down blue runs after one week. Look at ski famillie website if you want the package as they looked very well looked after when ever we saw their little groups on the slopes.

We also skied in Obergurgl in Dec, my fussy DD loved her lessons aged 6 then, lots of English instructors but far less pushy instruction than France. More emphasis on fun however being December it was really cold. We much prefer spring skiing with kids so much easier as warmer.

Murren is lovely, but Wengen (across the valley from Murren) is my recommendation. The nursery slopes are in the centre of the village, 'car-free' village (electric hotel vehicles mostly) good hotels on or near the main street so not much walking or carrying kit around. A little childrens playground at the end of the Main Street. Excellent ski school/snow kindergarten.
Fly into Zurich or Geneva, you can opt for train transfer with some companies, which children often prefer to coach.
Good toboggan runs. Mountain railway takes you 'the mountain' - nice on a very cold day to warm the kids up.
Lovely resort for children. Not cheap though.

Much as we love Wengen , for snowsure accessible nursery slopes try Engelberg or Saas Fee. Both are also good for non skiers and mixed groups.

Thanks all.
So it sounds like I should focus on Switzerland, but also have a look at Les Gets (and in particular at Ski Famille).

Anyone recommend any particular ski schools? I am not sure how it works with ski schools. I started skiing only in my 20s and then very quickly went to private lessons (I found the British Alpine Ski School to be good, but I don't think they do group lessons for very young children). But I guess it works differently for little ones.

Try the resort Swiss Skischool although lessons for under 5s are usually shorter and at different times to main ski lessons.

When my son was 3 we skied with Snowbizz at Puy St Vincent. I researched literally every option and I think Snowbizz’s Totons is the best one for a combination of morning childcare and skischool. You can drop them off at crèche first thing in the morning, they do an hour of skiing in the middle of the morning then we picked him up and had lunch and did family things in the afternoon. The ski school is ESFs Club Piou Piou but with extra support as the Snowbizz childcare staff are out in the snow garden with them. If you book directly through ESF (or other local ski schools) iirc the lessons are longer and I felt like 1 hour was long enough for very little children who are beginning to ski.
We loved the Snowbizz ski school so much we went twice in one season, despite The adults having skied the whole area by the end of the fourth day.
The other advantage for us was that Snowbizz accommodation is SC as we hate the family chalet set up of Esprit, Ski Famille, etc where meals are segregated and you barely see your children for a week.
Downsides of Snowbizz, and Puy in general is the accommodation is basic and it’s not a pretty resort or a big area, but it’s quiet and everything is ski in/out so really convenient which I think is the main thing with little kids.
Our son is 5 now and a pretty competent skier so he just goes into local ski school and is always fine in ESF but he’s quite resilient and hardy so it depends on the child’s temperament and personality as well.
The other option i liked the look of was Kinderhotels but that was out of our budget. I’ve never heard anyone have a bad experience at Kinderhotels and Austrian ski schools seem to have a better rep vs French ones for kids.

If you do go to Les Gets/Morzine I think ESF is fine. BASS are more popular with British tourists but they may not run group lessons outside of school holidays. If you book through an operator like family ski you can just book lessons through them. I think they use ESF but check the website.

2nd snowbizz @ puy st Vincent. Absolutely fantastic with my girls - really well organised and a nice little resort with not too much walking for little ones

We love Serfaus (austrian tyrol). It's totally set up for children. We've been going since dd had just tuned 3 and we're about to return for our 4th trio at Christmas.

Look at Méribel - there are some excellent ski schools and really fun little snow zones for the small kids

I’ve taken dd to about 15 different resorts in France and I reckon at that age the actual ski gardens are all much of a muchness. No resort is better than another for a 4yo. The teaching depends on the individual instructor. Nobody can say Evolution 2 is great at Tignes, ESF is great at Morzine because it varies from individual to individual so much.

One thing you need to be careful about if not going with one of the big ski operators like Mark Warner or esprit is if you’re not going in school holiday time you may struggle getting group lessons in English. We had this in Val d’isere one year. Choice was either group lessons in French or private lessons. We went private but it wasn’t cheap and even then ESF couldn’t fit us in. We used Oxygene and they were good and I have heard good reports from other people about them but that was five years ago.

We went to Canada

Definitely another vote for Morzine.

On another note, SkiEsprit are child-based...
www.espritski.com/resorts/#all