Tips on affordable family ski holiday

[MrPickles73]

We go skiing with 2 other families. All 3 families have 2 children. In the past we have been with mark Warner because of the childcare. However the children are now a little older (youngest is 6 and oldest is 12). We usually go to France.
However we recognise demand will be high in 2022 and wonder what suggestions people have for doing a cheaper holiday? Self catering apartments? All day ESF ski school? Bulgaria? What would people suggest? Adults are all decent level of skiers but in our 40s so looking for plenty of reds and wine but not necessarily nightclubs and blacks ;-)

If you can do some of the legwork yourself, this means you're not paying the tour operator for their efforts and are thus saving on their mark-up (or the hotel/ski hire/ski school might give you a discount, especially for cash, rather than paying commission to the TO).

There are hundreds of resorts and properties that are not featured in the TO brochures, so finding a good one is easy enough if you use forums such as this one or Snowheads where you can ask relevant questions.

If you've been using Mark Warner, then you will probably have been going to the expensive, well-known resorts, so there will almost certainly be less expensive options. [Not a criticism of MW, who are by most accounts very good, but if you no longer need their particular services such as childcare, then other options might make more sense].

You mention full-day ski school. This is the norm in Austria and Italy, where the kids tend to ski from 10am-12 and then 13-15. They can always miss a day or an afternoon if it is too much or if you want to ski a bit with them.

TeetotalKoala has an excellent post on this thread describing a typical Austrian holiday: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/skiing/3893018-First-time-skiing-how-does-it-work

Self-catering is almost certainly a cheaper option than hotels. British catered chalets are going to be very hard to find/very expensive next season as Brexit has made that business model unviable, if not impossible.

Some places to look at: La Rosier (FR) Kronplatz (IT) or Saalbach-Hinterglemm/Leogang (AT), Zell am See (AT) Maria Alm (AT), Ellmau (AT). Start with the local tourist office websites for ideas about accommodation, transfers (should be easy enough for 12 pers.), ski school etc.

Places I'd avoid - Bulgaria, Slovenia, Romania. There is a reason that they are cheap.

Action Outdoors do family ski weeks at the UCPA. For skiing holidays, they seem very cheap.

I personally would only book through an agent etc for the time being so that I'd be entitled to a refund if necessary so I'd pay extra for that so as not to loose it all further down the line

The most important tip is to not go in February half term. Most of Northern Europe is also on holiday then so prices for flights, rooms and lift tickets etc are far higher than at other times of the season.

As the OP travels with children this is probably difficult to avoid, but skiing at the end of March or beginning of April can also be a good option. Days are longer, the sun is higher and warmer and the pistes are far quieter than in February. Choice of resort is important at this time of the season, but there are still plenty to choose from.

Tbh we usually go at Christmas rather than February half term.

If you usually do Christmas, then just go with a travel company or book yourself, stay in a hotel and let someone else do all the Christmas preparation, cooking etc. Christmas is probably the one week of the year not to do self-catering unless someone is really up for cooking for 12 people (and the apartment(s) has a kitchen that is large enough to cook for 12).

Austria does Christmas really well, so somewhere like Saalbach, Zell am See, Mayrhofen or the smaller resorts such as Maria Alm, Westendorf or Hopfgarten would be good options - and less expensive than the up-market resorts that Mark Warner go to.

We do self-drive/self-catering in France; in the past we've gone with other families, all staying in different s/c apartments within same block or short distance of each other. Kids then have company for skiing and adults can take turns looking after them if they want to do other activities in the afternoons.

Easter is a cheaper time to go, but pick your resort carefully - you need high altitude at that time of year, especially in 2022, as Easter is particularly late. We always book accommodation via an agency in the resort and sort out our own Eurotunnel, stopover hotel, lift passes, ski hire etc, but other companies, such as Erna Low and Peak Retreats specialise in self-drive to France and are worth a look.

I would suggest booking self catering in France where a lot of luxury self catering residences with pools/spas have been built in the past 15 years or so. You do not have to do much cooking. You can have lunch in mountain restaurants (kids will probably be happy with a plate of frites and a chocolate viennois) and hire a fondue set in the evening for an easy meal or order "Cook" type meals from a company called Huski that delivers high quality frozen meals (although check the size of the freezing compartment before ordering too much!)
I think Christmas and Easter are the best school holiday weeks to go as the slopes are less busy than New Year/Half term and the apartments considerably cheaper. If you are driving you can also avoid going at the busiest time. This year some accommodation is Sunday to Sunday at Christmas and New year due to Christmas Day being a Saturday.
We have usually done morning group lessons with the ESF. You could then ski as a family/group in the afternoon before retiring to the pool or other family orientated apres ski.
For Christmas definitely pick a high altitude resort. Les Arcs and La Rosiere are good high altitude family options. Arc 2000/1950 would be a good base as the Christmas celebrations in Arc 1950 are good (you can easily pop down there by gondola from Arc 2000) For Easter I'd recommend Val Cenis, Montgenevre and Flaine as well as the well known Tarantaise resorts.
Peak Retreats and their subsidiary Ski Collection are good for self drive.