 Poster: A snowHead
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I have a bit of a dilemma. I turned my back on skiing/boarding in Europe after my first trip to Lake Louise in Canada. The main reasons were that LL was just so much quieter than the French resorts I had been to (3 valleys, deux alp, alp duez to name a few) and with it being smaller also I really got to know what was on offer and didn't feel that each day was a trip..
Anyway, now that we have kids(5 and 2) I don't relish the idea (and expense) of the long flights out to North America so looking closer to home. We are looking for a family friendly resort, hotel or resort itself must have a pool for the kids to play in, good child care for the younger one etc. I called esprit as they are raved about on this site, but the sales person on the phone couldn't really offer any advice on which resorts would be the best suited. A complication is that we will be flying from Glasgow or Edinburgh so, for esprit anyway, that rules out Austria and Italy as there are no flights from Scotland.
So, over to the collective knowledge and experience of Snowheads, I'd really appreciate resort and if possible also hotel/chalet suggestions.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Have you thought about Club Med? Some of their hotels have pools, I think.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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ac505, would you be prepared to do a DIY holiday, either booking flights and accommodation separately or driving out (a bit far from Scotland with young kids)? That would give you huge scope. But if you can afford a package with Esprit - not cheap - you will get a lot of very useful help with childcare. They go to "mainstream" resorts, as do most of the British tour operators, and they will tend to be at the busier end of the spectrum.
Will you be able to go out of school holidays? If so there are plenty of quiet resorts where you won't find the crowds. Plenty of apartments with pools, too. If you look at the Peak Retreats website, for example, they have a number of properties with pools, including at least 2 in Les Saisies which would be an ideal resort for you.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Can recommend the Crystal childcare. Cannot advise ref the flights from Scotland. Some of the family hotel chain hotels are great if pricey.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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ac505, try Club Med Pragelato in Italy, some friends of ours went there and loved it and re-booked, pretty sure they said there were lots of Scots there too so flights must have worked out.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Jet 2 fly Edinburgh to Salzburg, which opens up Salzburgerland and the eastern side of Tirol.
Many Austrian hotels have pools and 'wellness' complexes (spa, sauna, steam room etc) and quite a few offer childcare too. Some of the ski schools have crèches, 'Bambini' groups for under 4's and then ski kindergarten or ski school for 5's and upwards. Not many of these are on the UK Tour Operator schedules but are easily organised as DIY trips. Contact the local Tourist Offices for information or use their online services.
As an example: Saalbach has an excellent website (www.Saalbach.com). Snowacademy has the children's programme as above. There are at least a dozen hotels with pools and wellness (Saalbacherhof, Alpinresort, Bauer, Panther and others) as well as some self-catering apartments that have pools. You will find numerous similar resorts - Zell am See, Bad Gastein, Wagrain, Elmau, Westendorf, Flachau and many more all easily accessible from Salzburg by shuttle-taxis.
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ac505, Following on from what quinton says re Salzburg. If you want to go with a tour operator, I can recommend http://www.familyskiholidays.com/.
We stayed with them last year in the Zauchensee Hof. Its not particularly cheap, but the hotel is great, and has a fantastic Kids pool which my lot loved. The good thing about Ski Hillwood is if your 5 year old doesn't take to the skiing, you can be flexible with them going into creche or not as the week goes on, and its included in the price. The child care is provided with British Nannies if that appeals or not, and the only other children will be ski hillwood children, similar to Esprit in that way.
They do not use any Scottish Airports for their flights, but offer generous discounts for you organising your own.
Its a small very friendly company, and I can highly recommend the resort of Zauchensee too. Not too busy, and some great skiing.
Happy to answer any questions if I can
Jon
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ac505, you have a PM
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Thanks everybody for all the comments and suggestions. I'll start trawling through the sites this week. 
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Flachau, Wagrain - that area. We have been going there for several years now - since the children were 2 and 4. Ski school was great, very child friendly. Good swimming pool in Wagrain, and also Therme Amade. Easy transfer from Salzburg and very reasonably priced. We have always stayed self catering, we find it easier with the kids, several of the chalets have had play rooms as well. Have a look at http://www.central-flachau.com
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Is there a smoking ban in Austria yet?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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if you're prepared to DIY a bit, Villard de Lans is a very good family resort in my opinion. don't know about the childcare element as ours ski with us (7&5) but there's a good fun pool, it's a proper little mountain town/ ski resort, it's got 120km piste, it's virtually unknown outside france and it's less than an hour from grenoble, 90mins from lyon. as others say though, there are some fantastic family resorts/ hotels in austria. it's just that when we skied in austria, we did it on day trips or weekends from munich and pre-children, so i know very little about child friendly specifics there. but i do recommend VdL, we're back there in Feb.
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FAQ
But there were people smoking at a table near me last week in Obertauern - as only the Umbrella Bar was open, I was not surprised!
Mind you it does mean that we are not so crowded! 
