Skistar (Sälen)? Family of beginners

[Barumbarum]

Apologies for the repeated scenario but we are a family of 5 complete beginners looking to ski in February half term 2027, and have been slightly lost in all the information. Half term falls a week earlier for us in Wales so we figured the usual issues around costs and crowds may not be so bad.

The children (8-16) have done taster sessions and enjoyed it, and they're generally sporty. My husband and I have no clue about skiing but are pretty active. We'd definitely do a couple of lessons before going to figure out how to put skis on at least.

We've been looking at Sweden/Norway: we hate long transfers, and the Scandanavia Mountain Airport seems ideal. Sunweb have good prices with ski passes included, and the ski lessons look a bit less intense. Specifically we've been looking at the Skistar Lodges in the Sälen area.

Ideally we want something that isn't full on. It seems like 6 full days of ski school where families don't see each other is normal when skiing in Alps resorts? Ours would be just as happy with snow-based activities like toboggans, huskies, ice skating etc. so Scandinavia potentially seemed more suitable.

There is less info on this area compared with other ski resorts though so wondered if anyone has experience?

I don't have experience of Scandinavaian resorts but plenty of Austrian, German,French and Italian.

IME the best ski schools are Austrian - really keen to get you hooked on ski-ing! The French have a more take it of leave it approach with the Italian somewhere in the middle. Go for age group ski-ing classes, not as a family - too big a range in ages and stamina to keep everyone happy

There are short transfers in both Austria and France, about an hour, eg Innsbruck to Scheffau, Geneva to Les Huches or Flaine.

Don't under estimate the pull of the slopes ! I suggest you delay booking the huskies, and the ice skating during the day until you've tried it. You will want to practise your skills gained in the morning so you can progress with the rest of the group the following day. Usually there are other activities late afternoon and evening after the ski-ing has finished. And be prepared to be knackered, especially you and your youngest - early nights all round.

I suggest an hotel with a spa and a pool too. Just had a look at Salen and although the apartments look good, the whole area does seem rather soul-less and lacking in atmosphere.

Thanks for this, Austria seemed to be coming up as pretty expensive even outside the usual half term dates once we factored in equipment and ski school? Maybe because the Scandinavian ski schools seem to be 1-2 hours a day rather than 3-6.

Yes would definitely be going age specific lessons, just find the concept of everyone being completely separate for 6 mornings a bit odd for a family holiday. But this seems to be how ski holidays work!

Weve been to Salen and absolutely loved it. I wouldnt recommend if you plan to Snowboard as the mountains are not mountains in the same way as the Alps (think more Scottish highlands type of scenery) so there can be a bit a traversing across flat and there are quite a lot of button/drag lifts which are not easy on a snowboard. However for beginners on skis it is great as there are a lot of blues and greens. Its a very family friendly resort and they have a really cute little forest trail you can ski which has a magical forest theme the kids love. At 4ish they put on kid friendly entertainment in the lodge for the families while the parents have a pre dinner drink! Will you be staying in the lodge or self catering?
One warning - it can be VERY cold. It was -25 during the day when we were there, couldnt take gloves off for even a second and my hair froze if it escaped my helmet!

Thank you @tootiredtobeinspired that's really good to know! Forest trail sounds right up our street, and I liked the idea of kids entertainment too, our youngest loves a mini disco on holiday 🙈

Yes we were looking at the Skistar Lodge Lindvallen as it has the Experium attached which looks Centerparcs-ish. However I hadn't realised there are multiple Skistar Lodges so not sure how to decide between them as they seem similar. I suppose it depends which part of Sälen looks more suitable (hard to know with no opinions on skiing!).

We’ve been too and loved it. It’s brilliant for beginners. I wouldn’t recommend it if any advanced skiers in the group, but perfect for you all to learn together and nice and compact. You don’t need swathes of runs like in the 3 Valleys etc.

We stayed at the Skistar Hundfjallet lodge so I cant comment on Lindvallen facilities wise but Hundfjallet was great. It has a spa with a pool which you need to book and a couple of restaurants. In terms of skiing you can ski both Hundfjallet and Lindvallen, there is a (very long!) button/ drag lift between the two or you can get a free bus between the areas so you will be able to explore the whole ski area. Its very much a family vibe and it goes quiet by 9pm so if you are after a party apres scene you would be disappointed but if you like an early night after skiing (like me!) then its perfect 😁Checkout the Skistar website and think about booking direct, I found it cheaper to just book direct (you can book accommodation, meal package, ski pass, ski hire and lessons all on the website) and then they run a transfer bus from the airport you can book as well so might work out cheaper? (The airport is tiny so there are no taxis unless you pre-book). Have an amazing time! Im jealous, mine are off to Uni this year so we cant go as the holidays dont work out so well for us.

That's perfect thanks both! Hundfjallet does look nicer and we like the proximity to the forest. From the pictures and few reviews we've seen it definitely seems like the sort of atmosphere we'd prefer. The only thing that has made us hesitant is the extreme cold but I think it's just accepting it as part of the experience...

Will definitely look at booking separately, Sunweb had passes included so was quite a good deal but as the flights are only easyJet it may well be cheaper, thank you.

If you do book direct, make sure you are covered via other insurance if Easyjet decide to stop flying the route. They have chopped 5 weeks off the end of the 2027 schedule already, and I've lost 349 euros cancelling the accommodation.

We are a family of skiers and have booked Salen this year for Jan, we have been to Trysil-Norway and Ruka-Finland before and think scandinavia is great for kids. The alps is fab when you can ski well, but at feb half term its busy and you will have busy pistes, big queues and £££. We have had problems with people skiing over our kids and pushing them befofe.

Trysil is fab especially the higher part of the mountain, we stayed at the skistar lodge through Sunweb and its great and the spa(pay extra) is amazing for the evenings plus kids can go in too.

We have booked the apartments in the woods next to Experium this year as they are ski in/ski out (Timmerbyn) as this was much cheparer than skistar lodge. Love the fact the bus transfer is 20 mins!
I think it would be perfect for a family of beginners.

Ski Scandinavia do good packages for families - half day lessons and quite a lot of other bookable activities. We stayed in a Skistar resort with them - really liked it.

I think the thing that would put me off as a beginner is the cold. There is a lot more standing around and I think you’ll get cold. The days will be very short too. Half day skiing would be fine. I think ski school you should split up into age groups but it may be more cost effective to have private lessons as a family group. I’m a fair weather, southern facing alps girl so it wouldn’t be for me.

@Waymarked7 that's so helpful thank you, we looked at Trysil originally but got slightly swayed by the shorter transfer to Sälen.

@Bacha1910 thanks for this, have just emailed them for some more information!