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Ski and snowboarding

For ski chat, join the Mumsnet Ski forum. Check out our guide to the best resorts in Europe and our family ski holiday packing list.

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Original poster

Please help first timer!

29 replies

Crispautumn · 31/08/2025 19:19

Two DC age 10 and 7. We have never been on a skiing holiday and DP and I have never skied other than the odd dry slope as kids.

Ideally I would like to book a short ski holiday where we can all attend ski school, but we don’t need all the bells and whistles that seem to come with the big resorts. Happy to self cater, as long as we can access supermarkets, and happy to relax in accommodation in the evenings. Would like to make it as inexpensive and low demand as possible, rather than spending a fortune on a big fancy ski resort type holiday, in case we all hate it.

Does anyone have any tips please?

OP posts:

TheWonkYes · 02/10/2025 08:12

Crispautumn · 04/09/2025 12:06

Thank you for all the tips! Lots of seasoned skiers here - I’m in awe!

@TheWonkYes your Center Parcs type suggestion for Winterburg is actually really interesting. That is the sort of thing we need - a holiday which if we all hate skiing, isn’t a huge waste of thousands of pounds. I’ll look into the CP type places near Winterburg. Do you know if I would be able to book a few days of Ski school there, for adults and DC, English speaking instructors?

@StaringAtTheWater yes that’s exactly what I’m looking for/picturing. More than happy to do Easter, and not adverse to taking DC out of school either. The locations you’ve suggested I could probably only dream of on the budget we are aiming for (ie very little!).

Keen to drive to keep costs down too and make taking stuff easier!

Hi - I'm theWonk with a name change.. I know this is ages ago, hadn't checked in on this. Yes to instructors in Winterberg we booked one for kids - instructors and 80% of clientele are Dutch. Winterberg is only a couple of hours drive from the Netherlands. So they speak impeccable English.

brightgreenpepper · 12/10/2025 21:08

If you are trying to keep costs down…

If you’re happy to take DC out of school for a week, then look for a cheap chalet/half board package out of school hols. For a first trip a package takes sooo much stress out of it, as it can all seem a bit overwhelming when you are new to it.

If you really just want to dip your toe in the water without a big commitment I can recommend a long weekend in Oslo where there are beginner friendly ski slopes accessible via public transport from the city centre. You can get some private lessons and play about on the nursery slopes. If you like it, go again the next day, if not then you can enjoy Oslo!

If you want the full decent-size resort, full week of ski-school experience relatively cheaply without taking DC out of school - we went to Montgenevre self-catering this year. Beginner friendly resort, retains snow late in season so Easter is viable. You can get public transport (train + bus) to the resort from Turin keeping the costs down and as Turin isn’t a big ski-hub airport flights weren’t pricey. I to can confirm that (as others have said) the food shopping options in resorts are dire (esp end of season, almost no fresh produce), we basically ate pasta and sauce every night.

Havanananana · 13/10/2025 08:18

Re: Food shopping in resorts.

Austrian resorts such as Zell am See, Saalbach or Hinterglemm are regular valley towns with plenty of retail options, including excellent supermarkets.

The places where there are fewer choices tend to be mountain villages or purpose-built holiday complexes in France and Italy that are miles from the nearest large town and that have little happening outside of the ski season.

angelcake20 · 15/10/2025 15:25

Very late to the party but, if anyone else is looking for something similar, look at Snowbizz, a family company in a small French resort, with their own instructors. It’s self-catering with restaurants handy if needed and they offer self-drive.

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