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Another family holiday thread - advice needed

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
hi all and happy new year. Looking to book for around 6th Feb 2016 for a week, but starting research. now and will hopefully book asap. Family of four, my wife skis, I ski and board, son who will be six happy to ski on greens and blues, son that will have just turned four in Feb '16 will have next to no time on skis apart from some dry slope action over the course of this year.
Terrain wise, both my wife and I are happy to cruise, the holiday is for the kids so easily accessible greens/blues etc are the order of the day, close proximity to the lifts etc. The chalet/hotel/whatever either must have a pool or the resort have a pool nearby, some form of childcare would be nice too to fall back on if necessary. Country, I'm open but would ideally prefer to stay away from the super busy resorts, but that is preference, not a must. I'd greatly appreciate recomendations on resorts/hotels, the Grand Paradiso in Passo Tonale, looks to fit the bill quite well, just wanting to open the search a little with the experience and knowledge of the forum members. Thanks in advance.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Les Gets.
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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?
Passo Tonale is a bleak and not terribly attractive place. There are dozens of places which would be nicer for a family; too many to list. Throw a few out from your shortlist and I'm sure lots of people, me included, would be happy to give you a view on their suitability.
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To get the ball rolling, have a look at Aussois; a smallish traditional family resort with a good ski area for intermediates and very inexpensive. Not many Brits there either. You would need a DIY arrangement as I'm not aware of any TOs that go there which to me is an advantage and very easy to arrange. Just a start, however!
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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thanks so far. No short list just yet. I've looked at Ski Esprit, Belle Plagne, however the main problem I see with this is the kids evening care is split by age 3-5 and 6+. Esprit don't offer any flexibility here across their resorts (I've checked) I would much prefer the boys being together whilst we have dinner, so unfortunately I think that knock Esprit on the head.

Im not too concerned about how nice the resort village is to look at, after a day on the slopes it will be pool, food, bed for the kids.
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forgot to say we would be flying from Glasgow or Edinburgh, so that limits destination choice quite considerably. If it came to multiple flights, then I would lobby for Canada as the destination (I love Lake Louise and think it would be an amazing place to teach the kids.)
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If you want good childcare, maybe look at Mark Warner? The Chalethotel Val d'Isere has a pool, and Val has some great beginner slopes. You will probably need to download each day but that's not the end of the world.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Mark Warner = no flights from Scotland Sad
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If you're considering Canada, remember that Lake Louise can be extremely cold(-25 not unusual) and maybe not ideal therefore for younger kids. I would recommend Sun Peaks or Big White if Canada is a possibility. The kids ski school at Whistler is second to none and while WBS is not my favourite Canadian destination having the kids catered for would definitely be the case here.
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Our preference is Europe, I don't particularly relish the idea of dealing with two bored, hyperactive kids on a long flight then jet lag. You're right with the temp however, I'e always been to LL in March so significantly warmer... Snow Schools in Canada seem to be a mile ahead of the 20+ long processions we see in France. Not sure what Passo Tonale has to offer in terms of lessons, my job for this evening...
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You're right about class sizes. The snowschool I taught in a couple of seasons ago had a maximum of 6, any more and another instructor was assigned. Frequently there would be 2 or 3 kids in a class. The down side was that you would rarely get the same instructor on consecutive days, even from morning to afternoon. It puzzled me a bit as you would develop a good rapport then change classes.
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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.
Another thought for you might be Soldeu in Andorra. Fantastic ski school for the kids and depending on your budget quite a few hotels with pools. There still seems a sniffy attitude to Andorra which in my opinion is misplaced. Soldeu is a lovely intermediate ski area and has as I said a top top ski school uniquely (I think) with a separate English Director for the English speaking part of the school.
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@ac505, would your just 4year old realistically be still up to a kids club type activity after 7:30pm? We've done Esprit 4 times (5 times this next week!) and we've not used - or rather our boys haven't used the Cocoa Club once, they are in bed by our dinner time and then we use the "baby" listening service that's been offered at the hotels and never had any problems - they have a number of staff on each floor listening to a number of bedrooms and you can ask them to go in and check or just ask them to listen at the door. The one year we stayed in a chalet, a baby monitor would have done if we'd have had one. Our boys are now aged 5 and 3.5 and are still in bed and out for the count by 8pm and with the mountain air, I don't see them being any different this trip.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
The Grand Paradiso is a nice hotel. Ski in, ski out via a flight of metal stairs which can be a bit treacherous if you use them. Food was very good. Pool is small but is fine after a day on the slopes. Tonale is not a massive ski area but we really enjoyed our week there. I would recommend the hotel but the ski area is limited. Went to Avoriaz as well this year and whilst it may no be to everyones liking we loved it - much bigger ski area. Also has a nice public pool which the kids would like.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Club Med? Usually have flights from lots of UK airports.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
If you are happy to organise your own flights to Salzburg (only one hour away) or Munich and transfer/car hire, I can highly recommend the hotel Lengauerhof in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria - http://www.lengauerhof.at/index_english.htm. It is really family friendly (great-sized family rooms) and they offer a separate children's dinner time (if you want it) plus an evening kids' club. Ski school will collect from the hotel in the morning and keep them all day, including lunch, if you wish. You collect them at the end of the day and take the ski bus back to the hotel.

The skiing is really cruisy and covers a big area. We have been several times at New Year and never found any major queues. The lift system is excellent, with lots of gondolas from the valley and fast, heated chairs up the mountain. The hotel is on the free bus route (stops right outside) which runs to all the valley gondola stations. There is no pool in the hotel, but a nice big indoor one in the village, which we have used on ski holidays. The hotel also offers its own sleigh rides each evening up through the forest to a mountain restaurant - the kids will love it.

We have had many successful ski (and summer) holidays there when the children were younger and will no doubt be back at some point.

We have also done Esprit ski holidays. Their hotel in Belle Plagne is very nice and has a lovely pool area, including a level for adults only with outdoor hot-tub, sauna, etc. A shame they won't be flexible on the boys being together in the evenings.

Good luck with your search. Blush
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Have you thought of Austria? We travel from Scotland and Easyjet to Munich is a good option. Lots of good family cruising resorts within 1.5 to 2hrs from there. Zillertal, SkiWelt/Kitz spring to mind but you are spoilt for choice. Don't worry about the altitude early Feb. I don't have any experience of being there with small kids but there seem to be a lot of young families about, in Skiwelt Westendorf seems popular with younger kids. The local ski schools are very friendly, speak excellent english and get good reports for the kid's classes from people we have met out there.
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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?
I have heard that Obergurgl is a great place for kids, according to a mate who skied there for several years. Hotels are of a decent quality too (well, the one he went to was....)
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Col the Yeti wrote:
Have you thought of Austria? We travel from Scotland and Easyjet to Munich is a good option. Lots of good family cruising resorts within 1.5 to 2hrs from there. Zillertal, SkiWelt/Kitz spring to mind but you are spoilt for choice. Don't worry about the altitude early Feb. I don't have any experience of being there with small kids but there seem to be a lot of young families about, in Skiwelt Westendorf seems popular with younger kids. The local ski schools are very friendly, speak excellent english and get good reports for the kid's classes from people we have met out there.


+1 for Westendorf, lovely village, massive very safe kids area and easy basic progressive lifts (carpet/drag and very slow easy short chair) and green runs all right in the centre, with dead easy access to the wider area for adults as and when they want to explore.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
thanks all for all the really useful input. Passo Tonale remains in front presently, coming in the "cheapest" at £2800 - flights, transfers, accommodation, half board. I'm trying my hardest not to remind myself that it wasn't that long ago that my wife and I did a ski trip to Canada for £1300........
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Ski Welt is good. Ellmau has the excellent Kaiserbad for pool fun relaxation. Good varied skiing. The only downside I can think of is that it can feel a bit fragmented for beginners with two separate beginners areas in town and another up on the Hartkaiser. You can get up and down the Harkaiser on the funicular train though so beginners can get up high and get down again at the end of the day without skiing down.
Westendorf also good and friendly.
So many pretty scenic places in Austria. Somewhere like Alpbach perhaps
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
I had a similar dilemma last year. I needed to book a trip for the four of us - I was the only one who had skied before. We have 2 boys who at the date of travel were 3 & 5. I wanted a resort with a reasonably short transfer time, somewhere with a village feel to it & a few shops in case my wife didn't take to skiing & a hotel with a pool. I also wanted a ski school that would take both boys in the same class rather than my youngest having to go to a ski kindergarten.

I ended up booking Hotel Chalet Del Brenta in Madonna Di Campiglio & Scuola Sci Des Alpes. We had a great time. Hotel room was very spacious & well thought out. The hotel had a supervised childrens play room, that our children didn't use that often actually and a pool. Children were supposed to be out of the pool by 6pm, when it was left to the adults, although invariably children were still splashing around closer to 6.30/7!

The ski school was very good & our boys still talk about Martina their instructor.

So good was our trip that we've booked again for this year.
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