Beginner ski holl advise pls!

[vontrappliesl]

Please save me from any more internet research! Feel I've spent a year of my life trying to find the perfect holl!

Looking for a beginner friendly ski in and out resort for 2 families somewhere lovely and traditional with great kids ski school (4 beginner kids aged 10-14) and other snow activities to do.

Would like hotel with spa 4* plus and must be short transfer from airport (under one hour) with direct flights from Manchester/ Leeds/ Bristol

Too much to ask??!! Would love Norway or Finland but can't find direct flights. Maybe Innsbruck?? Please help!

[InTheRainOnATrain]

You can’t do ski-in/ski-out as beginners. If you can’t ski you can’t access the accommodation that way, and sometimes you find the walking route can be long, longer still in ski boots carrying your skis. Look for the shortest walk (not ski!) to the ski school meeting point. IDK about short transfers, we always go to France and I’d take a longer drive from Geneva which is a functioning airport over a shorter drive from somewhere like Chambery which is always a shitshow that will keep you captive for hours. Club Med are v v good for beginners and older kids, they have a number of European resorts.

[hothotheatbag]

Have a look at Zell am see in Austria, and hour and a bit from airports, lots of accommodation options and fab for beginners with English speaking ski school. You could also look at getting a private ski tutor.

Ski in ski out won't work for beginners but there are hotels close to the lifts and ski areas.

Lots of chalets and ski trips are catered chalets, that may be worth looking at over "spa" style hotels you get meals cooked, and you don't spend lots of time inside hotel or accommodation so a catered chalet with a hot tub would be fab.

Also meribel France is a good all round resort.

[MumOfStarWars]

You can fly to Oslo direct but only from Gatwick or Heathrow which I’m sure you’ve discovered! BUT Trysil, Hemsedal, Geilo all easy access by coach transfer (not within your 1hr window but v few resorts anywhere are. Mayerhofen in Austria possibly but that’s not a resort for beginners) and honestly we couldn’t have chosen a better place for our kids to learn to ski. We do self catering but stayed in the SkiStar apartments in Hemsedal which are literally at the bottom of the slopes, a beautiful log cabin in Geilo, and a ski in/out apartment in Trysil (heading there again this Easter) Hemsedal apartments also offer half board I believe . You can also stay at Radisson 4* hotels in both Hemsedal and Trysil. All these places and they are amazing for families. Quieter slopes, usually better and definitely more reliable snow due to much lower daytime and overnight temperatures (-20 overnight anyone?!) I can’t recommend Norway highly enough for a family friendly ski holiday if you can get yourselves to Gatwick or Heathrow. Look at www.skistar.com SkiStar manage most of the resorts in Norway and you can find everything you need to know, and you can book everything on their website. Good luck!

[cheezncrackers]

Yeah - that's a big wish list, particularly in terms of 1-hour transfer time. There really aren't that many resorts that have such a short transfer from the airport, particularly ones that are also good for beginners and have 4* hotels with spas.

• Ischgl is about an hour from Innsbruck, but isn't ski-in, ski-out. It has loads of great hotels and a good ski school.
• The Grand Massif (Flaine, Les Carroz, etc) is about an hour from Geneva airport. I think most of the accommodation there is apartments and small hotels, but there are ski schools in all the different villages. Not sure if there is ski-in, ski-out accommodation or not.
• Les Gets in the Portes du Soleil is about 1 hour and 10 mins from the airport and there are other resorts in that area that won't be much more - Morzine, Avoriaz and small places like Ardent, which is served by the Family Ski Company. No ski-in, ski-out AFAIK. Les Gets is a proper, working village, but it has an ice rink and some other stuff to do.
• Personally, I wouldn't go to Finland with beginner children. It is SO cold!! We went to Levi in Feb a few years ago with our kids and it was -27°. I'll never forget how cold it was on the top of the mountain. I know your kids aren't babies, but you don't move very fast as a beginner and you fall a lot - I'd rather do that in -5° than in -25°. Not ski-in, ski-out, but there are lots of non-skiing activities.
• The best ski-in, ski-out place I've stayed with great ski schools is Arc 1950. You can go there on the ski train to Bourg St Maurice or fly to Chambery (about 1 hour 30 mins, but regularly closes due to bad weather and flights are £££), Grenoble (about 2 hours) or Geneva (2.5 hours). There's a toboggan run, but no ice rink, no cinema, there are a couple of nice hotels. TBH, if you're prepared to go for a longer transfer, I think this would meet your needs best.

[vontrappliesl]

Thanks so much all this is really helpful! And yes I see your point about not being able to ski in and out as beginners! I will look into all the above. Good point about Finland too, I’ve been a couple of times and it was down to minus 30 but we didn’t have kids in tow and weren’t skiing!

[nomeslice]

Saalbach-Hinterglemm in Austria is a lovely resort for beginners. The Glemmtalerhof, Hotel Hasenauer,
& Unterschwarzachof are 4* all very close to the beginner slopes and a good choice of ski schools. There are lots of activities in the resort for non skiers too. Its a bit further from Salzberg than your brief but not outrageously so.

[hothotheatbag]

I think Austria maybe your best search.

[RhubarbFairy]

Rauris, Austria.

Stay at the Carpe Solem resort. It's pretty much directly on the nursery slope and next to the lift that takes you further up the mountain. Two fantastic ski schools literally steps away. Pretty, traditional Austrian town.

Direct flights from Bristol to Salzburg and around a 90 minute transfer (as said above, most resorts are over ab hour transfer).

Theres a 2k toboggan run there, too. Between that, skiing and the pool, the kids will be set. Theres a Kids Room, too, with fooseball and a climbing wall.

The Carpe Solem is an aparthotel, so you get your own space, but with all the facilities of a hotel. We loved it.

[Prizefighter]

Les Gets is what you want.

[Whataretalkingabout]

Check the amount of snow at the resort you want to go to before making your payment. Right now there is virtually no snow in the Pyrenees nor French and Swiss Alps. If you are planning for a holiday in March there may be new snow. But right now it has hardly snowed since Christmas anywhere in these areas.

[abricotine]

@Whataretalkingabout

Check the amount of snow at the resort you want to go to before making your payment. Right now there is virtually no snow in the Pyrenees nor French and Swiss Alps. If you are planning for a holiday in March there may be new snow. But right now it has hardly snowed since Christmas anywhere in these areas.

This post is nonsense. Can’t speak for Pyrenees but it snowed yesterday across the Alps. It snowed a lot early season so while there were hard pack conditions the base is good. And now a lovely top up for half term families.

[RhubarbFairy]

@Whataretalkingabout

Check the amount of snow at the resort you want to go to before making your payment. Right now there is virtually no snow in the Pyrenees nor French and Swiss Alps. If you are planning for a holiday in March there may be new snow. But right now it has hardly snowed since Christmas anywhere in these areas.

Utter nonsense.

@vontrappliesl What time of year are you thinking of going? As that will influence answers.

[RhubarbFairy]

This is Arc 1950 (as mentioned above by @cheezncrackers ) this morning.

Although I have recommended Rauris, I also completely endorse the 1950 suggestion. Les Arcs is fantastic. Only 48 days until I'm back there.

[NoAprilFool]

Where are you travelling from?
can fly direct from Edinburgh to Oslo. Not a 1 hour transfer to the resorts, but a scenic train journey which (for me with car sick kids!) beats a coach on windy, mountainous roads.

[Beetlewings]

@Whataretalkingabout

Check the amount of snow at the resort you want to go to before making your payment. Right now there is virtually no snow in the Pyrenees nor French and Swiss Alps. If you are planning for a holiday in March there may be new snow. But right now it has hardly snowed since Christmas anywhere in these areas.

I am in Les Arcs right now and I can tell you there is plenty of snow 😂

[cheezncrackers]

I just checked out the website for Family Ski Company, to see if the chalets in Ardent are ski-in, ski-out and they are! This might also suit you, if you and the other family are happy to share a chalet, rather than stay in a hotel. It ticks your boxes for short transfer, ski-in, ski-out, good for beginners and good for kids. https://familyski.co.uk/resorts/portes-du-soleil-ardent/

[vontrappliesl]

Thanks so much everyone! Really helpful. Just to explain a bit- the direct flight from Leeds is request from the other family and we would fly from Bristol (but can do London). Train etc would be fine- just one of the group has a health issue that makes long car transfers difficult- an hour and a half prob fine. Chalets or hotels fine we just would like some other nice snow activiites for the kids to do (in case they hate skiing!) and a pool/spa for the adults ideally. Thanks again I’m going to check out all the suggestions above!

[3WildOnes]

Look for accommodation as close to the nursery slopes and where the ski schools meet, as possible.

[vontrappliesl]

@cheezncrackers

I just checked out the website for Family Ski Company, to see if the chalets in Ardent are ski-in, ski-out and they are! This might also suit you, if you and the other family are happy to share a chalet, rather than stay in a hotel. It ticks your boxes for short transfer, ski-in, ski-out, good for beginners and good for kids. https://familyski.co.uk/resorts/portes-du-soleil-ardent/

This looks ideal! Do you know if there is much else to do in the area? Thank you

[Whataretalkingabout]

Well aren't we lucky, it finally snowed yesterday in the Alps and Pyrenees after 2 months of virtually no new real snow! Unless you count artificially made snow on the slopes. I personally do not like to ski in that.
If I were paying a lot to go skiing, travel, hotel, lessons plus lift tickets, I would want excellent conditions, not just enough snow to cover 40% of the slopes and during high season with twice as many people.

So believe who you want, but do check weather conditions and accumulated snow conditions wherever you are thinking of going.
Happy holidays to all.

[SilkFloss]

There is around 4 metres of snow at the top of Arcs at the moment.
I think that should suffice.

[Havanananana]

Fly to Salzburg from Manchester/ Leeds/ Bristol.

A 90 minute taxi transfer along easy roads (no hairpins or scary narrow mountain roads) will get you to Zell am See, Rauris or Saalbach-Hinterglemm as pp^^ suggest. Excellent English-speaking ski schools in all of these resorts, good easy pistes for beginners and good quality accommodation.

You can easily organise this yourselves, but as first-timers perhaps look at a tour operator such as Crystal or Inghams who will do all of the legwork for you and organise the coach transfers, ski rental, ski school etc.

A hotel like the 4-star Alpinresort in Saalbach has everything you need (available through Crystal) - a pool, spa and "wellness" area, central location, in-house ski school and ski rental, all-inclusive meals and drinks. There are loads of other accommodation options in these resorts, from small but immaculate B&Bs or cosy apartments to full-on 5-star hotels.

[cheezncrackers]

@vontrappliesl

This looks ideal! Do you know if there is much else to do in the area? Thank you

Ardent is at the heart of the Portes du Soleil ski area, which is huge. If you pull up a piste map you'll find it just below Avoriaz. I'm assuming the adults in your party can ski? If so, you'll have a fabulous time. Ardent is small though - just a hamlet really, but it has a bar, a bar/restaurant, a ski hire shop and a bubble lift up the mountain, which is all you need really as a family!

[cheezncrackers]

https://www.seeavoriaz.com/news/top-things-to-do-in-avoriaz-for-non-skiers-702425

[vontrappliesl]

@cheezncrackers

Ardent is at the heart of the Portes du Soleil ski area, which is huge. If you pull up a piste map you'll find it just below Avoriaz. I'm assuming the adults in your party can ski? If so, you'll have a fabulous time. Ardent is small though - just a hamlet really, but it has a bar, a bar/restaurant, a ski hire shop and a bubble lift up the mountain, which is all you need really as a family!

Only one of the adults can ski!! Hence the spa! 😅 We would like to have lessons for the adults too..