Resorts for beginners with other facilities like an ice rink, pool etc

[Snowqueen22]

Any country! Planning our first family trip!

In Austria many hotels and even holiday apartment blocks have pools. Ice skating is also pretty easily available, either on an outdoor rink, or some places such as Zell am See have an indoor rink.

Don't be too concerned about there being loads of post-skiing activities. As beginners you will probably be too knackered at the end of a day to do very much more than just have a meal and a drink and then flop into bed.

And now read this - my favourite Mumsnet post from a first-time skiing family >www.mumsnet.com/Talk/skiing/3893018-First-time-skiing-how-does-it-work
and the post from @TeetotalKoala about 9 posts down.

Thank you so much! Dh & I have never skied & are very eagar for the dc to learn as are they! We may even sit out the lessons & let the kids learn on their own. I'm much more of a winter hol person & have been to ski resorts before (sans skiing!).. I'll read that thread now tks for link!

Not that the average child is going to get to this level in a week, but here is a 2-year-old in Canada having fun on skis:

Seefeld

I'll try the video again: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijhosCcV83A&ab_channel=ThatMountainLife

Not a good plan!! Once they've had a couple of lessons they will want to practice in afternoon, and they'll need you to be with them. Give it a go yourselves - honestly it's not worth just the kids doing it and not you. By the end of the week you'll be cruising the blues and able to access mountain restaurants etc together. It's a great thing to do as a family, not a spectator sport.

Hi,

We think Montgenevre in France is a great resort for beginners as it has a really lovely long easy green run. In France they have the extra category of green runs which are the easiest and this is a real plus as other countries only have black red blue and some of the blue ones can be quite tricky for beginners.

There is a hotel with a pool, and many of the apartment blocks have them too.

Enjoy!

Definitely have lessons yourselves. The kids will learn more quickly but it’s such fun to be in the mountains together and ski together. Depending on the resort you go to, you will be able to travel to different places/restaurants and see the resort from different perspectives. My advice would be to go to a small resort with a few things going on. Depends on how much budget is a factor, but smaller places generally cost a lot less (think lift pass, hire, lunches, coffees). Check out Les Orres in France. Lots of other activities there and plenty of skiing for beginners.

Dh & I are 45 & 46 so the prospect is very daunting 😩

Dh & I are 45 & 46 so the prospect is very daunting

Bah, humbug..! The oldest people that I've taught are two guys in their 70's who decided that after they had retired, skiing was on their bucket list. They got on just fine - modern equipment makes it far easier than it used to be. The key issue holding people back usually sits just under the top of the helmet - between the ears of the student. 😎

I now live near the mountains. My oldest ski-buddy is 95.

I’d look at price of lift tickets for beginners we went to Les Gets when kids & DH learning as a small resort short transfer from Geneva the lift ticket price was cheaper than big resorts. It’s a huge part of the cost and if your only skiing one two slopes because your beginners it’s not worth spending £200 a pass for the whole mountain.

Also seriously worth taking them out of school and going in March as it’s alot cheaper with more sunshine and quieter slopes.

DH and I learned in our 40s, at the same time as our DC. I really struggled at first, and honestly didn't enjoy it for the first couple of trips. I preserved because I could see how much the DC were loving it, and the physical confidence it gave them. I could see how much fun family holidays on skis might become for us, and I kept at it. I'm still not a great skier, and I never will be, but my DC are very, very good, and I now love it. DH and I go for weekends on our own or with friends, and we also go with the DC (who are now 18 and 20).

I agree with PP - give it a try!

I've done beginners ski school 4 times 🙄and there have been people a lot older than mid 40s in the group. The age had no bearing on how quickly it got picked up.

I'm apparently unteachable... but it had nothing to do with my age, a lot to do with my lack of limb coordination! One year I was the youngest in the group, and only one not to get it...

Fortunately DH does the skiing with the kids (and ironically is a trained instructor. )

As for resorts... weve done Austria Italy and Andorra. Austrian ski school was all day (10-3, with an hour for lunch) so might suit you if you can't take the kids out yourselves.