If you were me…

[Lovemelovemydoggie]

where would you go?

Skiing for first time, 2 adults and a 9 year old (who is intermediate on a dry ski slope - no idea how this will translate to snow!). Planning on going end of March.

Looking to go somewhere with a picturesque interesting town, as not sure if skiing will be for me and want a back up option. Also good beginner schools, children’s ski school and slopes.

Finally, want a nice hotel with swimming pool and spa (again as back up if hate skiing).

Does all this exist, if so would be so grateful for some ideas on where to look. Budget is c. £5,000.

Courchevel 1850 could be good. If you stay in the Jardiniere Alpin area, the skiing is suitable for beginners or you can take the gondola to the village. There are other things to do, such as walking, swimming and pony rides.

Or Scheffau in Austria is nice, good children’s ski area and plenty of easy blue runs. The Hotel Waldhof is at the bottom of the gondola.

Kitzbühel is also lovely but has got more expensive recently I think. It’s a nice town with (expensive) shops, and a nice swimming complex.

That's a healthy budget for three people.

Intermediate on a dry slope will translate well on snow as dry slopes are trickier.

Alas, I'm not sure my regular recommendation of Rauris in Austria will hold up here because it's the end of March. Would have ticked all your boxes otherwise.

Are you looking to drive or fly?

This is where we're staying there. Is this the sort of hotel/spa you have in mind?

www.alps-resorts.com/holiday-resorts/details/carpe-solem-rauris

Sorry, that should say ‘Jardin Alpin’ above.

For prices and options you should look at the various tour operator websites.

For example - Crystal has a week dep. 25/3 to Saalbach, staying at the Alpin Resort Sport and Spa Hotel, including flights and transfer, and meals and drinks are all inclusive, for £3,836 in total. Add ski rental, lift ticket and lessons for all of you and the total will be c. £5,000.

Saalbach is picturesque, as is the neighbouring village Hinterglemm. Zell am See is just down the road (20 mins by bus) where there is a spectacular lake and a bustling town centre. As a non-skier, you can still ride up on the cable cars and meet the others for lunch on the mountain or find a sunny terrace and a deck chair and admire the views.

Thanks so much for the responses and suggestions. Rubarb- that resort looks lovely.
Thanks too for the Crystal option, I’ll take a look.
Can I ask how ski school would work for DC, are they all in the same place or would we have to drop him off and then try to get to ours? I’ve seen that the Clubmed resorts have child care and sort ski school out for you - that would be ideal but sadly outside our budget. Are there any other operators that do similar?

We used Adventure Rauris ski school there and we would drop the DC at 0930 and then meet our instructor at 10am. He was very good about getting us back to where the DC were stopping for lunch in plenty of time. The meeting points were literally round the corner from each other, so we had time for a cup of tea in between, but also had plenty of buffer time in case we were running late.

Typically the ski school meets at a designated place in the village (each school has its own meeting place) and everyone goes off from there. What you are describing as the Club Med offer is basically the same as all Austrian ski schools offer. Once the travel company rep has taken you to the ski school on the first morning, everything is plain sailing from there.

In Austria, kid's ski school is usually morning and afternoon. The kids meet at 09.30 and the instructors take them off for the day, supervising lunch (you give the kids their lunch money) and delivering them back at 15.00-15.30 to the original meeting place. The kids will be skiing all over the mountain, and very likely not necessarily where you might be, but in smaller resorts where there are fewer mountain huts you might bump into them at lunchtime. In a well-run school, the adult lessons begin at 10.00 and return back in time to collect the kids in the afternoon. Private lessons run at whatever times you want but are usually 2-hour slots from 10.00 - or earlier if the instructor/school agrees.

There is time to ski with the kids after ski school, provided you can tear them away from their new friends and provided the parents are not too knackered and haven't found a deckchair and a beer. Austrian deckchairs have magnets in the seats that make them difficult to get up from once you've sat down 😎

I concur with the Austrian deckchairs. I took this of DS1 when sat in one one lunchtime.

We had ours in ski school all day but opted to meet them for lunch everyday, so we'd ski to wherever the instructor told us they'd be, keep them with us for the hour, and then return them to their instructor at the end of that. Other parents did the same. Some parents opted to take their children out of lessons after lunch so they could ski or toboggan together. The school was pretty flexible about this. One morning DS2 didn't want to ski as he was tired and wanted a morning off. I just let the instructors know when I dropped DS1 off that morning.
He and DH then met us for lunch and DS2 joined them after that.

We'd generally play on the nursery slopes after ski school, with us all showing off what we'd learnt. Including memorably, DS2 skiing the whole thing backwards 'because that's what Luuk (instructor) does'. I skied with him making sure he did it safely.

There are some gorgeous recommendations here, @Havanananana I think I saved a previous rec of yours for Saalbach, I'm determined to try it next year! 😍This year we got roped into Val d'Isere because friends. First world problems I know, but I am soooooooo sick of the 4 hour transfers from bloody Geneva bloody airport