Help with booking first family ski trip

[Slowhorses1]

I’ve skied before but not for a long time, rest of us have never skied before.

Have we left booking a half term break too late? We’re on a bit of a budget. I don’t even know where to start looking. Thank you!

if you have skied for a while it’s probably easier to go with a package deal. Why don’t you price up a couple. Can you drive? Chose less well known, smaller places. Ski passes, hire and lessons will add up.

Nb will be cheaper at Easter… is that an option?

If you go at Easter, go high! The snow at lower resorts will not be good.

Start looking at the package companies - Crystal, Nielsen, Heidi, Inghams etc - to see what they have available and to get an idea of prices. You could also try a specialist ski travel agent like Alpine Answers. You will do best to book a package holiday where everything is taken care of and there is a rep in the resort to help you - so ski rental, ski school, lift tickets, transfers to resort etc are all in place. If you are nervous about committing, come back to MN and the experienced skiers amongst us will give you some feedback.

Consider Italy, France or Austria for half-term and look at smaller resorts - or for cheaper options look at Andorra, possibly Kranska Gora in Slovenia or Špindlerův Mlýn in Czech Rep. You're a bit late for the best deals, particularly for half-term.

Easter would normally be a good alternative, but Easter falls very late in April 2025 and many resorts will be closed long before then because the snow is getting less reliable each year. Even somewhere like Saalbach, one of the largest areas in Austria, will close on 7th April.

Club Med is a really easy option for first timers because everything is included- lessons, lift passes, ski hire, food, booze, transfers, childcare so you don’t have to think about anything except the clothing! Easter will be cheaper than HT but you’ll need to go high to ensure snow.

Start with a few lessons at your nearest snow dome in the next few weeks
Nothing worse than a child who hates skiing after just one morning. Or a spouse for that matter

And you will all get more out of your holiday than a week on a beginners slope. Even a few lessons will enable you all to ski a lot of most resorts

Amazing advice , thank you all! I will
be back I suspect.

Lessons aren’t great IMO

and it’s certainly not budget

easter works better for beginners and it’s late this year so I’d say check out Tignes. Not too hard to book an apartment, lessons with someone like Evo or New Gen, and ski set or similar for your skis and boots.

For your first family ski holiday I'd definitely recommend going for one of the package operators. Particularly if your kids are young and you'll need childcare.

Snowbizz in puy st Vincent were our favourite but if you're going at Easter you'll need to be higher, somewhere like Tignes as a PP recommended.

Ski esprit last minute deals may be worth a look. Great with children.

Ski Esprit closed at the end of the 23/24 season.

Look at snow bizz. Small resort but they had their own lessons and kids clubs. Apartments were basic though.

Ahh shame ski esprit no longer going. We have also been with snow bizz and they were great.

What a shame ! brilliant company - so many good memories

We used Ski Famille for both our first family ski trips and I’d thoroughly recommended, we went to La Plagne at Easter 2021 and had an amazing week and Les Menuires last Christmas which would also be fine for Easter as it sits at 1800m. It’s not cheap but breakfast and dinner is included and much cheaper than ClubMed.

We’re trying Snowbizz this Christmas as our budget is much less so driving and self catering. We really wanted the ski school and afternoon childcare option for our youngest as she’s not up for a whole day skiing.

We enjoyed the set up at snowbizz. You could order a hot cooked chicken from the shop and the apartment had a balcony overlooking the slopes for enjoying French cheese wine!