 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi everyone
Now I have a new child, next year will be skiing with a 1 yo and an almost 3 yo. In an attempt to be a "proper" father, I am looking at getting the skiing sorted for 2018 well in advance so that we can book exactly what we want with maximum of choice.
I was considering my usual French resorts near Geneva, mainly as I like the short transfers and they seem (to me) better geared up for younger children - more specialist chalets, council creche or British nanny companies. However, the timing of the French holidays has made me worry about the snow in some of these resorts if I go in March. Plus, if I'm honest, I prefer Austria for everything other than the childcare.
With that in mind I have snared flights from Gatwick to Salzburg 24 Feb to 3 March and now commence the search for a resort.
Vague requirements:
- Max 1.5hrs away (don't want to mess around with car hire, bringing car seats/hiring them etc - just want an easy private transfer)
- Decent size ski area with modern lifts
- Nursery slopes in the town, not a bubble up to the ski area
- Provision of self catered accomodation (kids too young for half board)
- Aparthotel would be good, if it had a pool
- Council/town creche (long shot)
- Nanny availability
- Flat(ish) town centre (non skiing grand parents might come)
I've always wanted to do Saalbach and Zell/Kaprun. Maybe Schladming as well, but don't know much apart from them maybe ticking points 1 to 3. Heard good things from colleagues about Soll, Obertaun and Obergurgl, too. To be honest, I'm just guessing really.
Welcome all your collective advice!
Cheers
BB
EDIT: On review, I don't think I've emphasised the childcare enough - decent childcare, creche or nanny service, is absolutely no1 priority!!
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Fri 24-03-17 10:45; edited 2 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Badbobby, I would highly recommend looking at Esprit. We first used them when ours were 1 & 4. Though they can ski from 3 which my youngest did when she turned that age. Both loved skiing from day one so don't let others put you off!
Esprit sort everything for you, all childcare, getting them to and from lessons, and meals early for them at a time which suits children, nursery, and baby listening service in the evening letting them sleep at normal times and you go down for evening meals.
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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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@NickyJ, thanks - I used them last year in St Anton. It was very good with just one kid, but I wouldn't use it for 2 as you spend a lot to get extra space. I priced it up for this year with my dad and the one baby and it was prohibitively expensive for what you get, plus I want some peace and quiet in the evening.
Also I'm not happy with their changes to allow older kids to eat with the adults.
I have booked the flights so I am committed to DIY, which I much prefer anyway.
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@Badbobby, The nursery slopes in Schladming are really over on Hochwurzen. For convenience you would need to stay over that side which is then not convenient for Schladming town. The slopes down into Schladming itself are reds/blacks.
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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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@cad99uk, bosh. Schladming crossed off the list!
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@Badbobby, Sorry about that. Keep it on your list for when your children are older.
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Not sure how flat the town is but Flachau may fit the bill. I'm sure nursery slopes are in the town. About an hour from Salzburg. Good size ski area with modern lifts. Not sure about creche/nanny though!!
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@cad99uk, nothing to be sorry about! Narrows my search down!
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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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@Badbobby, I see you mentioned Obertauern as being on your list. Quite a long time ago(April 2009) but we went there and put our 18 month old daughter into the crèche and we couldn't find any cause for complaint (http://www.kinderbetreuung.cc/ ) and they responded to emails prior to the holiday very promptly . Our other daughter (5 at the time ) went with CSA ski school and loved it .
Very easy to get back to the town centre quickly if need be and its only 1 hr from Salzburg.
Its fairly flat in the town itself but there's not much to do if your not skiing, though there is the bus option to get to Mauterndorf for a change of scenery I suppose.
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@Hamish, Thanks for the info.
What do Snowheads think about Kitzbuhel?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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O
| jimmybog wrote: |
| Not sure how flat the town is but Flachau may fit the bill. I'm sure nursery slopes are in the town. About an hour from Salzburg. Good size ski area with modern lifts. Not sure about creche/nanny though!! |
Flachau is flat as a pancake. There are nursery slopes at the space jet end of town. There is a creche associated with Fun Pro ski school at the same place. I think there is also a creche at the Central apartments in town but its not near the slopes.
Lots of self catered apartments near there. I would avoid Reitdorf at that end otherwise you will be reliant on the bus. Happy to advise on the location of anything you fancy
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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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i have been to Saalbach twice in the last two years and stayed at Hotel Theresia/Johann in Hinterglemm. I have kids aged 3 and 5 and although the setup is not as slick as Esprit, it is a good alternative.
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| Badbobby wrote: |
@Hamish, Thanks for the info.
What do Snowheads think about Kitzbuhel? |
I skied there for a day a couple of weeks ago. The skiing was massively disappointing. It seemed to be a series of slopes linked by roads (which I struggled to keep enough momentum on even on skis - it was much worse for my other half on a board). Having spent the previous 5 days skiing in the SkiWelt, with a day out in the Ski Juwel, it came as a bit of a culture shock to transition from the other skiers being families, and generally under control, to lots of young folk, often less under control.
Have you had a look at the Ski Juwel area? We had a great day out and thought it looked great for families.
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You know it makes sense.
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[quote="sugarmoma666"]
| Badbobby wrote: |
@Hamish, Thanks for the info.
What do Snowheads think about Kitzbuhel? |
The skiing was massively disappointing. It seemed to be a series of slopes linked by roads (which I struggled to keep enough momentum on even on skis - it was much worse for my other half on a board).
+1 - I went a few years ago and it was horrible. It was made all the worse, when at around 3 pm a liftie said to me and my group that to return to Kitz we would need to take a particular sequence of lifts, the last of which would be closing in 30mins. I made it, but my wife and the rest of the group took a wrong turn and ended up 2hrs later in Kirchberg, having skied down in the dark and about -20C.
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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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What about Dorfgastein or Bad Hofgastein?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Maria Alm has a small mountain right in town called Natrun .Very small kids can learn there ,there's also a chondola to the top with a couple of blues and a black run.The alpenparks hotel have some 3/4 bed modern apartments in town .Theres a decent supermarket and bakery ,a couple of bars and a few decent restaurants.The main area (Hochkoenig)is reached by a ski bus from town that takes less than 5 mins.If the snow is good you drop the kids off take the chondola to the top and ski off the backside down to the gondola to Aberg and you only knew need to catch the bus home which terminates at Natrun..Really flat town .Your non skiers can get the train to Zell or Salzburg for a day.Also only 8/10 mins from the gondolas at Leogang into the ski circus .
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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So Kitzbuhel doesn't have many friends here!
Just to be clear, I only would like a nursery slope in town so I can mess around in the snow with the kids in the afternoon - it's not to actually get the older one on skis as she'll be just shy of 3.
For my purposes, as a mile muncher, I'd like as large a resort as possible.
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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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Saalbach-Hinterglemm would be ideal, especially Hinterglemm which has a flat centre and the north-facing nursery slopes are near the centre and easily accessible. Skischool Activ offers a kindergarten, see http://www.skischule-activ-saalbach.com/en/ski-courses/children , or if you aren't wedded to self catering then there are a number of family-friendly hotels which offer childcare as part of their package.
Saalbach also has a kindergarten at http://www.snowacademy.com/en/kids/45-kindergarten_en plus there's a local council kindergarten but I suspect they don't take visitor kids as this is a year-round facility for the locals. Saalbach's nursery slopes are south facing so can get a bit soft and lumpy, and the town centre is on a slope so not as easy to get around, but it would still be a good option especially if you could get a place near the Turmweise slope such as on Skiliftstrasse.
Also, +1 for the comments about Kitzbuhel - I was very disappointed in it, though with the Allstar pass we accessed the Skiwelt via Brixen which was better but even then the main Skiwelt village slopes (Ellmau, Scheffau, Soll, etc) are generally not in the centre of the village so a bus would be required to get to the lifts.
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@ousekjarr, excellent. I've been drawn towards Saalbach so would be nice if it would work out.
I've found the hotels are good for kids, but only after 4/5 years when they can go to the clubs.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Tatman's Tours, I knew you'd be along fairly quickly - I teed up the Skiliftstrasse location for you, all you had to do was knock it in the hole 
Though personally I prefer Hinterglemm 
@Badbobby, since your kids are too young for ski school, it may be better to have a location which is away from the louder bars and the bustle of town, but close enough to go in for a meal and for shopping. If you get somewhere near one of the outlying slopes, you can do ski in/ski out and then you can play with the kids in the snow beside the slope with a sledge or making snowmen or whatever. Anything right next to the nursery slopes will of course be more expensive on average than somewhere 400 yards away beside a blue/red piste which is linked into the nursery area which may actually be larger and easier for you - as an example, we're long-term visitors to an apartment on Haidweg in Hinterglemm which is literally on the other side of the road from a piste, so you can ski to the bottom of the piste then take the T-bar to the top and drop into the main nursery area of Hinterglemm to access the ski schools and the U-bahn and Westgipfel gondolas plus the new Zwolfer Express lift for onward access to the rest of the circuit. On foot, the east end of the centre of Hinterglemm is about 80m away, but down a fairly steep road. The Spar shop is at the other end of the pedestrian area, about 300 metres away, with lots of bars, restaurants and shops in between.
Skiliftstrasse in Saalbach is similar except right next to the main slopes and a similar distance to the centre.
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@ousekjarr, good advice. Ta
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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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@Badbobby, I wouldn't discount Schladming completely. The easier/nursery slopes aren't on the main Planai hill, they're in a place called Rohrmoos, the slopes there are wide and very gentle (it's called the Rohrmoos plateau I think). You can stay in Rohrmoos itself (most places are ski in/ski out or a very short walk) or you can stay in Schladming but start your day at the Planai West lift for ski schools. If you decide to stay in Rohrmoos there are a few bars and restaurants or you can get the very regular bus in to Schladming that runs all day until fairly late. It takes just a couple of minutes.
Flachau and Saalbach-Hinterglemm would be great options too.
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What do we think about Kaprun?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Badbobby, Kaprun has its good bits - guaranteed snow, the Maiskogel run in town is actually quite good for beginners and can be fun when the conditions are good, compact village, nice bars and restaurants, the excellent Tauern Spa on the edge of the village for high-end water-based relaxation, easy to get to from Salzburg, and has Zell am See on the same pass for a bit of variety albeit you have a longish bus journey to get to the Areitbahn which can have long queues if the day trippers are out in force.
On the down side, the glacier is high (3000m) and fairly featureless, the lifts up to it take an age and IIRC the lift pass allows you to use the lowest lifts only once per day, so no nipping down for lunch or forgotten items and back up again, and if it is snowing or windy then it will be -20 up there and whiteout conditions. Plus there are a lot of T-bars as they can't build chairlifts on moving ice.
We did several long weekends in Kaprun during the 00s when Ryanair were doing a 0700 flight out on Friday and a 2100 return on Monday, and for most of them we ended up skiing in Zell almost all of the time as it was a more pleasant experience except when the sun was out and the lower slopes in Zell were soft, when the glacier was lovely. Now we'd not consider it since we discovered the Ski Amade area, as Flachau is closer to the airport and easier to get to, has a bigger area, and is still relatively snowsure.
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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 were in Flachau this year and found it really good for the kids, will definitely be on our radar for the future.
We hired 9-seaters and drove down from Munich because we couldn't get good flights into Salzburg and we did find the car useful for ferrying the kids about but then we did have quite a few people to move around in our group (20+)
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@ousekjarr, thanks for the detailed info.
@Richard_Sideways, thanks, too. Will investigate Flachau.
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You know it makes sense.
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| hammerite wrote: |
@Badbobby, I wouldn't discount Schladming completely. The easier/nursery slopes aren't on the main Planai hill, they're in a place called Rohrmoos, the slopes there are wide and very gentle (it's called the Rohrmoos plateau I think). You can stay in Rohrmoos itself (most places are ski in/ski out or a very short walk) or you can stay in Schladming but start your day at the Planai West lift for ski schools. If you decide to stay in Rohrmoos there are a few bars and restaurants or you can get the very regular bus in to Schladming that runs all day until fairly late. It takes just a couple of minutes.
Flachau and Saalbach-Hinterglemm would be great options too. |
The monsters won't actually be skiing (they'll be 1yo and just under 3yo when we go), so I just need to be able to be on the piste with them to play about. So I'm just looking at avoiding getting a bus or bubble up to the main ski area. i.e. avoiding a Mayrhofen, Ischgl or Samoens type of set up.
Cheers BB
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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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@Badbobby, ah ok if it's playing in the snow, sledging etc... then Rohrmoos is pretty good. Lots of kids playing around there after ski hours.
Flachau and Saalbach probably a better option though.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Another vote for Maria Alm here
Check out SkiFix
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@ColP, thank you. I have emailed SkiFix to see what they can do.
EDIT: On review, I don't think I've emphasised the childcare enough - decent childcare, creche or nanny service, is absolutely no1 priority!!
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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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Although I've already provided @Badbobby, with this information, I'm posting it on here for the benefit of any other interested parties. Child care, including kindergarten/creche for children aged 3 months to 3 years, and ski lessons for 3 year old upwards, can be arranged with the Snow Academy ski school here in Saalbach. See http://www.snowacademy.com/en/kids-en
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Bit of an update.
Whilst we prefered the idea of self catered, too few resorts in Austria had any creche facilities for younger children and the ones I found seemed to be in inconvenient locations or too expensive. I'm also a bit apprehensive about getting a random nanny through the tourist office rather than through a proper company.
After doing a lot of research and using the inputs on this thread, we found a few hotels that offer childcare from a young age. Depending on your budget there are lots of options. In particular, we found one that is half board, inclusive childcare and baby monitors that reach all rooms.
So we're going to be staying at the Hotel Felsenhoff just outside of Flachau. Ski bus into Flachau, which is fine - I'd rather have on site childcare then a bus than a walk to the lift and the childcare.
Looking back at my list of requirements, I think I've probably compromised more than I thought, but that's life! Having just come back from a week with my 2 yo daughter in Morzine, I know how much keeping the kids happy is #1 priority vs everything else.
Will report back in March 2018 once we've returned - now to wait 11 months!!
Cheers
BB
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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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@Badbobby, So, that's right in the middle of Reitdorf, as long as you are happy with the ski bus and don't intend to go back and forth through the day (unless by taxi or hotel shuttle if they have one - the ski bus goes to the lifts in the mornings and back in the afternoons) then it ticks your main boxes.
Have a great time!
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@holidayloverxx, yes, our plan is to drop the kids off then get the bus (stop is by the hotel) into Flachau and return c.2-4pm, depending on how we get on.
So we won't be going to and fro during the day - apparently the hotel take the kids to lessons, not that ours are old enough for that. Just noticed that you'd recommended not staying in Reitdorf!
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@Badbobby, only because there is nothing there and because of the bus, but for you it sounds fine
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@holidayloverxx, thanks - that's reassuring Yes, nothing to do = no apres drunks/noise!
I'm quite used to taking buses around resorts in recent years, so it's not a practical problem for me at all. If it's a disaster then i can just get taxis if I have to.
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FAQ
, can I just mention that we're on Skiliftstrasse, alongside the Turmwiese nursey slopes. The smaller Kreuzkappelle nursery slope, ideal for children and total beginners, and also the Snow Academy children's area are just the other side of our garden fence - you can wave to your kids from the sofa 
(oh, yes, I remember those 
)