 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi,
Looking ahead to next ski holiday - by which time, my kids will be 11 and 10.
Somehow we never managed to do the obvious Esprit type holiday when the kids were really young... and have ended up doing mostly self catering. (Arc 1950 this year, on recommendation from several helpful posters here)
We will probably be just our family of four next year, and a few things I'd like to try out for a change:
- Some other adult company in the evening when the kids are in bed. (I really enjoyed this the one year we did a Ski total 'chalet hotel' in Saas Fee)
- Somewhere where the kids will have the chance to make friends with children their own age
Based on points above, I was thinking of a larger chalet set-up.
- We are not especially interested in afternoon clubs and childcare though.
- As I prefer Easter to Feb half term, I guess it needs to be somewhere relatively high. (We have been to Saas Fee, Tignes, Les Arcs the last 3 years)
The obvious family chalet operators are Esprit, Ski Famille, Mark Warner etc.
As I said above, I've never used these type of company before - so feel free to correct me if I am mistaken. It's just I get the impression that:
- It's aimed at families with younger kids? (4/5/6)
- The afternoon childcare is seen as a big selling point whenever I look at their websites and reviews.
Whilst it would be nice to not have to get back for 12 noon on the dot to collect kids from lessons... with both of us being working parents, we've always wanted to ski (Or sledge, swim etc.) with the kids in the afternoon, and aren't looking for somewhere that will look after the kids all day.
So I guess my first question is what is the average age of kids in these family ski operator's (Esprit, Ski Famille, Family Ski etc.) chalets?
If you used someone like Esprit for older kids, and you skied with them in the afternoons, would you feel like you'd paid a premium in your holiday for top quality childcare you aren't using?
If most people choose esprit etc. for the pre-school childcare, is there a chalet company targeted at families with slightly older kids? (i.e. Not teenagers, but not pre-school/primary school age kids needing nursery/nanny type childcare)
Does anyone have recommendation of somewhere that would be a friendly, sociable set-up, and likely to have kids of a similar age to mine - and not just mostly pre-school/primary school age? With 10/11 year old, am I just better off saving some money that's spent on childcare training and ratios at MW, Esprit etc. - and booking in a large chalet/chalet hotel with a regular TO, and assuming there are likely to be kids around with it being school holidays? (And chances are, they might be a bit older than kids at a family ski specialist?)
Looking online, I have the impression money saved on afternoon childcare could be put towards a nicer standard of accommodation.
On a related point... I see a few family oriented chalet operators are in Reberty - (Which ticks the box for late season snow, as well as piste mileage and choice in 3V)
Anybody who has been there feel slightly out on a limb - set apart from the main resort? My kids do like one or two afternoon trips to the pool, and of course my wife like a shop or two 
Thanks in advance!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@selly_skier,
Tricky one this. In our experience, Esprit definitely seems to attract younger children, mostly U10s I think. Mark Warner a little less so. Problem is, the age profile varies and is a bit of a lottery, year by year, week by week.
The bigger areas offer more probability of kids meeting others of similar age. EK, 3V, also most likely to meet your Easter snowsure and other activities criterion.
MW chalethotels very good in these respects, IMO. Val D, Tignes, Mottaret would be obvious choices. Good chance of adults socialising with other adults too. Like most good things at peak times, it is expensive.
Total and Olympic chalethotels in Courchevel 1650, possibly Meribel valley, might be good enough at slightly lower price. La Plagne also has several possibilities. Also depends what sort of skiing you prefer.
Age based lessons for kids, and adults for that matter, another good way to make new friends. Or take me for free and I'll be skiing grandad to them from say 2pm every afternoon, until cake time starts.
Or maybe a thread on snowHeads looking for similar families? Plenty of time to choose and plan.
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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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@selly_skier,
Tricky one this. In our experience, Esprit definitely seems to attract younger children, mostly U10s I think. Mark Warner a little less so. Problem is, the age profile varies and is a bit of a lottery, year by year, week by week.
The bigger areas offer more probability of kids meeting others of similar age. EK, 3V, also most likely to meet your Easter snowsure and other activities criterion.
MW chalethotels very good in these respects, IMO. Val D, Tignes, Mottaret would be obvious choices. Good chance of adults socialising with other adults too. Like most good things at peak times, it is expensive.
Total and Olympic chalethotels in Courchevel 1650, possibly Meribel valley, might be good enough at slightly lower price. La Plagne also has several possibilities. Also depends what sort of skiing you prefer.
Age based lessons for kids, and adults for that matter, another good way to make new friends. Or take me for free and I'll be skiing grandad to them from say 2pm every afternoon, until cake time starts.
Or maybe a thread on snowHeads looking for similar families? Plenty of time to choose and plan.
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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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@selly_skier, BTW, are you from the suburb with the well known Selly Sausage cafe?
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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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@selly_skier, you don't need to use the kids clubs with both MW and Esprit. Last year ib St Anton with Esprit my eldest was 8 and there were others there the same age and older but obviously is impossible to know (except maybe asking Esprit or MW about who else is booked?)
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Hi,
I will be watching this thread with interest.
We are heading off to Reberty with Ski Famille in a few weeks. It will be our 4th time in Reberty, 6th with Ski Famille (La Plagne the other 2 years) As our kids will be 12, 9 and 7 this year we are moving towards trying something different, which will be very sad as it has always been great.
At Easter we have always found there to be kids a similar age to ours and the kids have loved making new friends and hanging out in the evening watching a DVD while we had dinner. I think in the school holidays the children tend to be older.
A couple of years ago one of the families had a 14 year old and it still all worked out fine, sometimes she ate with the younger children and sometimes with the adults depending on the menu!
We tend to book afternoon childcare just for flexibility but more and more the children come out skiing in the afternoons with us. Of course you don't have to if you don't think you'll need it. I think you can book just a supervised lunch for the kids which would give you a slightly longer to get back if you needed it.
We did go with Esprit in the early years, but find ski famille so much more flexible and friendly. Definitely recommend it. We have also stayed in the Total hotel in Saas Fee about 10 years ago!
In terms of Reberty, it's a great spot. Access to the 3-valleys is fabulous, Ferme de Reberty great for an apres ski beer, there's a little supermarket if you need it. And the resort bus down to Les Menuieres is easy if you want to go down for a swim or whatever, can't say we get round to it usually!
There's a company called Powder n Shine who I think have a similar set up to Ski Famille in Reberty, but without the focus on childcare, I've never travelled with them so can't give you a review!
Hope that's helpful. I'll be interested to hear other peoples views on the next step from the Family friendly companies.
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Club med?
Kids clubs of all ages. Amazing food.
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Club Med sounds ideal if you can afford it. We had holidays with my sister and family because the cousins loved skiing together. They are all grown up now, teachers, a doctor, a plumber, a builder and they'll all be skiing together at easter for the first time in ages. We did both (cheap) chalets and self catering, but the key was the fun they had playing together. Not all families will have cousins on hand but getting together with other families with similar aged kids, maybe through Snowheads, could be ideal. Kids with similar ski abilities could go to ski school together in the mornings.
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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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May be a Snowheads family bash....
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we 'graduated' from using esprit when the kids pretty much no longer wanted the child care element and would mostly ski all day, so about 8 & 6 yrs. from then we started to go with a group of friends who had similar ages of kids and took a whole chalet and with 3/4 sets of adults it wasn't a problem if some of the kids didn't want to ski all day...we shared them about
Some of the guys used lunch time clubs organized through the ski school for their youngest, so they were collected from lessons by child minders and lunched for collection early afternoon...leaving
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Club Med sounds ideal if you can afford it. We had holidays with my sister and family because the cousins loved skiing together. They are all grown up now, teachers, a doctor, a plumber, a builder and they'll all be skiing together at easter for the first time in ages. We did both (cheap) chalets and self catering, but the key was the fun they had playing together. Not all families will have cousins on hand but getting together with other families with similar aged kids, maybe through Snowheads, could be ideal. Kids with similar ski abilities could go to ski school together in the mornings.
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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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We have kids of 13 and 10 (and are also off to Arc 1950 in a few weeks!) We are going with about 6 other families, have all got our own apartments but are hoping the kids will be able to go swimming/sledging etc in the late afternoon/evening together. Not sure how it will work as previously we've done the same but with big chalets. We are hoping to get apartments in the same block.
We did do Ski Esprit 2 years ago (Obergurgl) when daughter was 11 and son 8. We only used the ski school in the morning and lunch but skied with the kids in the afternoons. It was a trade off really for being able to go with friends who had much younger kids so to some extent we felt we paid more than we needed to but were happy to do that.
We did Plan Peisey last year on our own and the kids did New Gen in the mornings and skied with us in the afternoons. It had a pool so the kids found plenty of other kids to play with. We were right by Mont Blanc or could go into the village and have a drink while the kids had a sledge and a mess around. Worked well for us. Never tried a chalet with people I don't know, guess it could go either way!
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@selly_skier, we stopped using Esprit etc when our oldest was 9 and started on self catering. The main reason was that the kids were able to ski with me most the day so we no longer needed child care and we were looking to reduce costs.
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You know it makes sense.
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Try the Hotel Staffler in Niederau, Austria, they do lots of "hosting" for their guests around the Ski Welt, and are also home to Elite Snowsports with whom the kids can train.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@selly_skier, Chalet les Mélèzes with Mountain Sun
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Poster: A snowHead
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I'll watch this one with interest.
+1 for Snowhead family bash. Easter?
My four are aged 13 - 8, and always enjoy any holiday more when there are other children for them to talk to. Having a large family prices us out of the big TOs in peak season. We shared a catered chalet last year - one other family we knew, two other families we didn't, but adults and children all appreciated having company in the evenings.
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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 a look at Hotel Telemark with family friendly skiing. In La Tania so massive area but you'd have to go to courchevel for pool (free bus). Only been in Jan with v young kids but from that visit I think there's likely to be a big mix of ages staying in the hotel and its bar is vv good, one of the best and most popular in LT so easy socializing in the evening. When we were there we had meals with a Scottish lady and her teenage daughter, a French gentleman on his own and an English-Polish couple with a similarly young child. Loved the food and wine too. As restaurant cleared, bar got busier and turned into a great 'night out' but downstairs from bedroom. 50m from green run into village so great access for all levels of skier. Great transfers and a really helpful company. IME considerably cheaper than esprit etc. Rooms in hotel are small but company v honest about this and will direct you into the most suitable. Will be able to tell you if there are similarly aged children staying with them if you aren't organised and book later.
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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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@selly_skier, We've had a very similar debate for the past 2 years. We've used Family Ski, and each year we wonder if our daughter (now 11) will be the oldest child. We've been at easter twice, and the week before (most) UK half terms 3 times. There have always been similar age kids in our chalet, although our choice of chalet and resort has been partly dictated by this for the last 3 years as I ring them before booking to find out what families are already booked. This year, there was a 14 year old in our chalet; apart from that, 11/12 is the oldest we've seen. Our daughter still loves the social aspects of the childcare, and has ended up skiing on her own with an instructor in the afternoons, so for us it still works. But if we didn't want the childcare, I think we'd just find a good chalet and save the money (or put it towards a nicer chalet, or an activity).
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FAQ
