Just wanted to recommend Serfaus, Austria

[sowhatitsonlysnow]

That's it really, just wanted to pass on a recommendation for the resort of Serfaus, Austria. DS(7) and I had a 4 night trip there the week before Christmas. Lovely small village, good snow, great children's ski facilities and a decent ski area. Booked direct and flew to Innsbruck then got the train (45mins) to Landeck and the PostBus (50mins) to Serfaus

Looks lovely. We are keen to try Austria next year. Did you/your ds have lessons?

Yes he did. Be aware that Austrian ski schools tend to only offer all day ski school, 2 hours morning and afternoon. It's a long day for them but to be fair DS has only skied in Austria and even at age 4.5 managed the full day.

Ds is 5.5 and has just managed a week's skiing lessons of 5 hours a day (2.5 morning and afternoon). With ESF. If he can cope with that I reckon he can cope with anything!

Where did you stay?

We stayed here.

We've stayed at the hotel Bär before - it is part of the Kinderhotel chain. It was fab in terms of childcare, skiing lessons, food, spa and overall value for money. Especially good for small children as the hotel has its own little baby slope outside the hotel. We too booked the hotel and flights direct (Munich).

shoobidoo - I have the Bar & Lowe on my radar as have stayed at other Kinderhotels. Couldn't really justify it this time round but I did check them out (Bar was shut as pre season).

It depends on how much of the 'child friendliness' you are going to benefit from. We went when our two were 3 and 5 and that was great, as the 3 year old was taken to the slope outside the hotel for a couple of hours in the morning (then had lunch/playtime in the kids club) while our 5 year old came up on the mountain with us and went to ski school there. The kids also liked the kids club in the evenings, which was nice as dh and I could enjoy the rest of our dinner in peace .

However, now that they're 5 and 7 we don't need so much childcare as both kids now go to ski school all day. So we tend to go to 'normal' albeit family friendly hotels (at least with a playrooom that they can go to by themselves in the afternoon/after dinner).

Which Kinderhotels have you stayed at before? Any that you particularly recommend?
We're thinking of spending a week in the summer in Austria.

We've stayed at the Galtenberg, Alpbach and Der Unterschwarzachhof, Hinterglemm (marketing via Family Select Hotels rather than Kinderhotel). Both very nice and I would return.

For a small, family friendly, hotel in a lovely location the Lindenhof in Ramsau am Dachstein is great. We stayed there both winter & summer a few years ago. It has a small playroom (table tennis, table football) and you can use the indoor pool at the next door hotel. Much, much cheaper than a Kinder style hotel. Worth paying for a Turm-Suite with 2 bedrooms.

Thanks for those suggestsions, sowhatitsonlysnow. Will check them out.

Another one that we're considering for this summer is the Brennseehof (in Feld am See) (sorry, can't do the link...)- it's right on the lake (albeit a very small one), and offers loads of sports as well as all kids club and spa facilities... Anyone ever been?