Club med ski holiday

[SurreyArmyWife]

Does anyone have any experience of club med skiing holiday?

We’re hoping to go away over New year (2 adults and 2 kids). Currently looking at Serre Chevalier, as the kids clubs look good and we’re not fussed about the nightlife.

Any tips or advise?

Thanks in advance

Bumping :-)

DH and I went to club med in Feb and had a brilliant time, though we were in a different resort. We went without kids this time, but would be happy to take them next time. We have friends who went club med serre chevalier at half term and they said it was great.

For us, the food was great, ski in ski out, everything so easy and convenient.

My only concern would be that it is very French and my children might be the only English speakers in their lessons, which is what would worry me as my kids are still very little and haven’t skieed before. If you’re going in the holidays though I would think you’d be fine.

Thanks Applecrumbleyum

Good point about the potential language barrier. We really like the package concept and hope that it will help integrate the kids.

We’ve been and it is more international. If you go in U.K. holidays it’s full of brits though.

We have been this year, our child was the only English child in her group however this wasn't half term in England, in fact I didn't hear any other English kids there.
I have booked again for next year this time in our school holidays and hoping there will be a few more English kids there.
The ski in ski out was brilliant, we liked the whole club med experience, I don't think I would do it without kids though, the facilities for kids are great and must be factored into the price, I would begrudge this if I wasn't with kids.
If you do have kids as much as it is a pain, do go along to the welcome meeting to find out where you have to be and when for the lessons. We somehow missed this instruction and it was a stressful start to the ski lessons.

We went for the first time this year. It was great with kids. As above, I wouldn't pay for it if I didn't have children though as I wouldn't see the point. It really removed all the hassle of having the get yourself and the children ready for skiing and meant that I wasn't worried about being late to pick them up as I knew the kids club would take care of them. There was only one other English child in the group I think but it wasn't an issue as most of the time is spent eating or skiing!

Thanks for all the advice, I think we’re decided on booking with Clubmed over New Year. The child friendly aspect is a top priority, as we have two active primary school children. I’m attracted to the all inclusive offer, which reduces my metal load!

Can I ask which resorts you stayed at Icedblondelatte and Wormshuffled? We are most interested in the alps - Serre Chervalier looks like an affordable option, but we’re happy to look at other sites.

Thank you

We went to Alpe d'Huez. Really enjoyed it.

We always go skiing with the club med every January. It’s the best! Kids spend their days at the kids club- skiing lessons/games in the evening/performance at the end of the week. We bump into them at the restaurant at lunch and they’re always sitting with a massive group of kids with the animators supervising everything. If you even need to find your child and not sure where they are the front desk will always track them down for you, even if they’re on the ski slopes.

Cant speak highly enough of club med especially with kids. Makes everything 100% easier. We alternate between resorts in the French Alps and we always go first week of January because it’s usually a little less crazy than the Xmas period.

We went to Samoens and whilst we enjoyed it we would chose one of the other resorts instead next time even if it means a longer transfer. We spoke to lots of people who had been to other resorts and I think most agreed that it wasn't their favourite either.

I've not stayed there but the new Club Med in Tignes looked amazing.

@Icedblondelatte can I ask why people said it wasn't their favourite?

I can't actually remember. I think many of them had been to bigger resorts previously so this one was a lot smaller and it's quite an isolated hotel. Some people complained about the lifts in the hotel but our rooms were in a great location and we used the stairs so we had no issues there. I don't think I spoke to anyone who disliked it though. It worked well for us as it was children's first time skiing and the nursery slope and green slopes were right outside the door and I hadn't skied for over 10 years so it was a really good location for starting out again. Short transfer was good too! We've booked to go with club med again this year.

@wormshuffled i’ve been looking at the Alpe D’Huez club med. Is it high enough to easily get across to the DMC lift before the chairs out of the Bergers areas open?

We quite like doing an early run of the Sarenne before it gets cut up but that means being on one of the first couple of cable cars up Piq Blanc which we couldn’t do if we waited for the chairs from Bergers to open.

We're going back to Samoens this season but staying in one of the chalets. Hopefully some of the niggles from last year might have been ironed out by now!

The ski out takes you down to the Bergers lifts.
There is a bus stop right outside the hotel (behind) that may take you straight up.

@wormshuffled thanks. We like to get one of the first DMC lifts so that won’t work if you’re dependent on the chairs from Bergers to get across as they don’t start until 9 or after.