Tignes vs Innsbruck vs Gastein + child. Recommendations?

A snowHead

I am thinking about one of those resorts. I am taking my 6 year old daughter (very sporty, but only skied once. will need lessons). My priorities are. I want to go for 5 days (fly in one day, ski two days, 1 day break, ski one day, flight out that night).

1) is the transfer from London fast?
2) are the ski schools good and reasonably priced? Schools with low faff factor would be good. I also want to get some skiing done, so schools that take the child all day will be good.
3) skiing for me. I am a red man myself. Lots of long reds. A resort with a few mountain options would be great. I have been to chamonix and usually go for 3 days, and I love doing a different mountain every day.

if you have another recommendation outside of Tignes, Innsbruck or Gastein that's would be lovely too. I have read reviews and people really rave about the Austrian ski school ethos (nurturing friendly), so I thought I am tilted towards them.

Cost is not really a factor, but I don't mind paying less if you have a nice budget option!

A snowHead

Tignes Le Lac - about 3 hours by hire car from Geneva, a little less from Lyon depending on time.
Plenty of reds for you
For the daughter - these guys are independent and specialise in kids only - I have heard nothing but high praise:
http://www.lesmarmottons.com/index.php?id_page=85

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Two of these are ski resorts, 1 is a city with a number of close by ski hills and ski resorts.

If you want a short transfer - Innsbruck wins hands down as you could land get to your hotel in the morning, drop bags and be up a mountain by lunch. Lots of well priced short stay accomodation options.
There are at least 4 or 5 ski hills/resorts within 20-30 mins drive of Innsbruck, then maybe 20+ within an hour. Thats not mentioning Nordkette which has a funicular from the city itself. Would depend where you decide to ski on how many ski school options there would be.

The Gastein valley is about 1hr to 1hr 30 from Salzburg with numerous transfer possbilities, it has a wide variety of skiing at all difficulties with at least 4 different mountains/villages linked by lifts and local transport and a number of skis schools that would take your daughter for a whole day - not a pricey area at all.

Tignes is a longish transfer but would have all day ski school and varied skiing but is definitely more pricey. I guess the question should be when do you want to go really? Mid - season I would go for the Gastein Valley, Easter onwards or early season Tignes. Want a non-existent transfer, wide choice of short stay accomodation and places to ski? Innsbruck.

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Thanks both

@AthersT: yes, I deliberately mentioned Innsbruck as a non-resort, hoping to get the info you provided!

I am embarrassed to say that while I am a fully functioning adult, I have no driver's license. So, would an Innsbruck stay be doable without a car? Which resorts/mountains would you recommend for my ability there? It sounds appealing from my point of view to go to three different unconnected mountains, but that might make ski school costly (although, from looking at a few place, you get no discount for 1-3 days, but you do if you book 4-6).

Gastein looks very appealing. One issue is that it seems ski schools there are 1000-1500, which makes for a really short ski day for me. is there some standard way around that?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

My personal recommendation would be Gastein or -

Fly into Innsbruck - short transfer (1hr approx) from there to Serfaus - Fiss - Ladis, from my understanding accomodation is plentiful and as it's mainly 4*+ hotels, short stays would not be so difficult.
Ski school is normally in most places 9 or 10 till 3ish at the lateish in my experience. So unless you can find a pre-ski school type thing I would say you would to deal with the shortish days by having a quick lunch or not at all. Then collect your daughter at 3 and maybe spend some time on some nursery slopes or blues with her.

This should provide you with enough skiing.
http://www.bergfex.com/serfaus-fiss-ladis/panorama

Kitzbuheler Alpen and Ski Welt both approx 1 hr from Salzburg, 2hrs (in good traffic) from Munich.
The Ski Amade would also be very good - possbily Schladming could be the answer as it has separate mountains, minutes apart and ski schools that you would never b etoo far away from. So much choice Embarassed

Munich might be another good airport to find flights for as they do flights early morning, afternoon and evenings to and from London. There are literally 100's of ski hills and resorts in Bavaria and Austria within 2 to 2.5hrs of it with ski bus transfers and public transport to and from. Maybe skiing a different mountain every day may be a little tricky whilst your daughter is in ski school.

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Thanks. That all sounds good, except for the short ski days. I usually have quick lunches (sandwich on slope) to maximize ski time anyway.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Oops. didn't mean to post so quickly...

Yes, thanks for the info. Those options do sound very good.

After all it is free

Why 5 days? When are you looking to go?

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Can't think of a worse place to than Tignes for this kind of holiday unless your plan is to go very late season when its assured snow is an advantage.
Long journey for a short trip, bleak place for a child if the weather is bad, pretty ugly place with little to do for the day off that you plan. Busy slopes that are not child friendly.
There must be hundreds of better alternatives but one thing you will have to think about is how you arrange ski school for three non consecutive days. Not all ski schools may be happy to do group lessons as your daughter is likely to be at a different level from the rest. If not how will your daughter cope without other children and just one instructor for company?

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@amps, look at Innsbruck.

City hotel for accommodation and Axamer Lizum for the skiing or even stay in resort.
Cracking little resort just a 20 minute free bus ride out of the city.
Lots of choices in the city for down time and with some private tuition on the hill you will both be skiing together in the afternoon.
It's a perfect resort.

snow reports

Agree with Axamer Lizum from Innsbruck, and Schlick2000. Patscherkofel would also work well if you like cruising pistes. Both have ski schools, both with English speaking instructors. Depending on how quickly your daughter picks it up there are easy slopes at both that you could ski with her.

On your day off, you could have a really great time up Nordkette for the afternoon - there's a kids play area type thing, and you can hire sledges/snowbikes/etc form the ski school to play (let me know if you want more info as my mate manages the ski school office). You won't like the skiing there though, it's basically either park or offpiste.

The problem is that only Nordkette and Patscherkofel share a ski school, so if you decide to switch between the other resorts you'd have to book her into a new group or private lesson each time. I'm not aware of any school that takes kids to multiple resorts, though it's probably worth asking the tourist office.

There's no need to hire a car in IBK. Bus takes around 10 minutes from the airport to city centre (you can certianly ski same day), and a bus from there takes (roughly, depending on location): 15 mins to Nordkette (or 8 mins on the furnicular), 15 mins to Patscherkofel, 20 mins to Axamer Lizum, 40-45 mins to Schlick (around the same for Kuhtai?), and a little over an hour to the Stubaier Glacier.

You know it makes sense.

@amps,
If expense is really not a concern , I might look at Powder Byrne in Flims. It is a short transfer from Zurich and they have their own ski school for kids and facilities to ferry children to and from it which would maximize your skiing time. Very good long red runs in a decent size area too.
I think they do bespoke holidays to fit in with your timings Not cheap though I suspect.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I wouldn't write off Tignes, if you plan to go towards the end of the season (ie after mid March). It's somewhere where you have a good choice of ski schools and should be able to find accommodation very close to the ski school meeting place. And of course you will have an endless choice of your favourite long red runs, close by. There's a good sports centre, with swimming, for your day off (though why are you having a day off? wink

)

If you rent an apartment Sat/Sat it is not, of course, compulsory to occupy it for 7 nights and there are plenty of places to eat. Being alone with a small child I'd want to be in an apartment rather than a hotel where being far away from her during the evening would be a bit of a problem.

A snowHead

Thanks Clarky.

As I said, at three different schools in three different mountains.

The problem is that I am thinking like a lone adult and taking my child for the first time and haven't gotten my head around the logistics. I guess the best thing would be a central big resort area with 1 ski school, so all three days I drop her off at the same place, and I go off skiing right off.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@amps, you may be to arrange something with Nordkette and Patscherkofel at least... I really don't know, but give these guys a call and ask for Andy in the Nordkette office: http://www.skischule-innsbruck.com

As a minimum you can have a great time sledging/etc with your daughter if she needs an afternoon off skiing.

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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A 6 year old is not likely to be bothered by architecture and will happily spend an hour just playing in the snow with a small plastic bucket and spade or sliding down a tiny slope, over and over again, on a little toboggan. She will be more likely to be disappointed by staying somewhere in a pretty village with grass outside the door, instead of snow, or in the middle of a substantial city, no matter how charming.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

As a parent who has children currently 7 & 9 who have been skiing for 5 seasons and given your circs I would say/recommend:

You need a good ski school that does morning lessons.
You need ski/ski out accomodation close to the meeting place.
You should ski hard by yourself all morning and tire yourself out as much as poss. Then pick up your daughter, have a quick lunch and then have some nice relaxing skiing with her in the afternoon until she's had enough.
Don't have a day off and leave any other activities (swimming) until late in the afternoon or even the evening. IME kids actually don't want to do a hell of a lot after skiing. if anything sledging and digging in the snow for a while. We went to Tignes at Christmas. Got the bus to the swimming pool in the evening. After 20 minutes the kids were cold and bored and wanted to leave.
At 6 your daughter isn't going to want or need to switch between different ski areas. Travel time both in terms of getting there and during the holiday should be kept to a minimum.
Keep it simple.

Don't quite understand this 5 day thing. Do you mean you can only take 3 days off work? So you are a going to do a Wed to Monday trip? Won't you get fined if you take your daughter out of school?

After all it is free

@pam w, With you there.

Innsbruck wouldn't be my first choice for the OP (above I meant to say agree with Axamer/etc IF you got to IBK).

I think I'd pick somewhere like St Christoph in the Arlberg, or Fiss/Serfaus, with a short transfer from IBK.

Though Axamer would work well, as would an afternoon off at Nordkette (easy to do if based at/near Axamer).

Well I stick with my opinion that Tignes is far from ideal for a short break with a young child other than at the end of the season when it may have the best snow.
Firstly it is bleak and open, fine in good weather but if out of a maximum of four days skiing you have a couple of bad days there is no hiding in sheltered areas ,you have to indoors.
Secondly the slopes are very busy the OP,s child appears to have done some skiing so is not confined to the nursery slopes.
I see more poor out of control skiers in Tignes than anywhere else I have been, not really where I would want my young kids to ski.
I have actually been there with young children at the end of April/early May and a yobbish English would be instructor nearly crashed into my daughter leaving her in tears.The bleak surroundings may not put off the child to much but they may be less than appealing to the adult. I don't actually mind it too much and have been there a lot but it is emphatically not a place I would plan on taking a day off skiing in.
The OP also intends to ski on the last day and then travel home it is a very long day for a young child with the length of drive to Geneva and not a cheap one either.

I am absolutely certain it is quite possible to have a good break in Tignes with a child but there are so many other places with more things stacked in their favour that Tignes remains one I would avoid.

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Having stayed at Tignes Val Claret at Christmas I would agree on the point about bleakness and bad weather skiing. In recent times I have become very keen on have tree lined skiing available and to stay at 1300-1500m. We made a late switch to Tignes purely because the resort we were going to was closed. We were lucky and had excellent weather until the last day, Saturday, which was a white out. The kids struggled and we ended up bailing out at lunctime. There wasn't much open and it was cold, windy and visibility poor. If you are lower down and have tree lined skiing it can be great skiing in snowy conditions. Later in the season you may get away with it more. My favourite place to be when the weather is bad is Les Coches.

Where I would disagree with @T Bar on Tignes is regarding busy slopes, slopes not suitable for children. That was not my experience. There were plenty of open slopes and not overly busy. Certainly nothing particularly different to what I have experienced in ADH, Paradiski, La Norma, Les Contamines skiing with my children. There are always certain junctions, bottlenecks that you have to be careful and always the occasionally idiot. Just my 2p.

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@amps,
One thing is that people obviously have different opinions as to what would work and what would not. For instance I am not keen on Tignes in Feb but think it may be one of the better options in Mid April, as other places become less attractive.

You have to know what is practical for yourself and for a short break things like flight times and transfer times particularly if you are wanting to ski on one of the travel days become quite important.

I would look at the precise dates you are travelling and see what flights are available and at what times clearly, an evening flight on your last day is desirable.
Also if your break crosses a weekend certain resorts may become virtually impossible to find accommodation if you are travelling high season.

I would then use Sky scanner to check out flights for Innsbruck Geneva Salzburg Zurich Turin and possibly a few other such as Grenoble and Chambery for airports that are convenient for you.
There are probably a myriad of different resorts that would suit both a child and a skier wanting extensive red runs but some of them may be better than others at certain times of year.
Once you have sorted out where convenient flights go to and from you can sort out resorts in terms of distance and time taken for transfer and then think of what is most suitable for your particular needs.
Probably more helpful than me discussing whether not I think Tignes is or is not suitable.

snow reports

If you go to Gastein, book the ski lessons at Angertal, by far the best place to learn in the valley. My 6 year old had lessons there last year and loved it.

Kersh

I'm back!

Does anyone know anything about ski welt (conveniently located near many airports, including munich)? is there a suitable mountain there?

I have just realized why I have never gone to austria to ski. It seems that flights to IBK or Salzburg just don't work out ever.

You know it makes sense.

Would you prefer to stay in Innsbruck city or one of the villages ?
The villages are really quiet at night. And not much hotel choices.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

if its is not a probem to pay something more, then why not consider some kinderhotels somewhere in Austria???
most of them are near slopes (ski in ski out), they are specialized for kids, with own ski school transfers, etc, kids area, swimming pools etc

A snowHead

@amps,

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@amps, Try looking at flights to Munich, Friedrichshafen and Memmingen - all in Southern Germany and all a reasonable transfer if you are not from the South East. Also try looking at flights to Linz (Austria) which is about 1hr further east than Salzburg.

Manchester to Munich with Lufthansa is pretty good and regular.

Also -

Birmingham to Salzburg is every Saturday (Monarch). Liverpool to Salzburg (Easyjet). Manchester to Salzburg (Jet2). Leeds to Salzburg (Jet2). Edinburgh to Salzburg (Jet2). Bristol to Salzburg (EasyJet).

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The OP was back, but that was in February.....

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Tignes vs Innsbruck vs Gastein + child. Recommendations?

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