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Catered chalet in France with very young family

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Hi

We are looking to go away next March 2020 for a week. France is our choice but resort is flexible. We are looking for somewhere that could fit the following:

Catered chalet for 6-8 adults and 3-4 babies around 1 year old
Exclusive use
Ski resort doesn't have to be big just suitable for intermediates
Will most likely drive down

Firstly does anyone have any recommendations?

Secondly has anyone done a trip with a young kne at 1 years old and can offer any advice?

Thanks
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@hammy050, when we did trips when our first was that age we went with sister in law but went self catered - think you are wise looking for catered Happy

When we had two, and youngest was that age we went with Esprit - and found having the childcare all part of the set up, absolutely fantastic. Think they may offer a self drive now? Others that have had good reviews on here (haven’t used) are Family a Friendly Skiing and Snowbiz in Puys St Vincent (may have their name spelt wrong there!).

If you aren’t after nursery / crèche we are staying wit Pinewood Chalets in Serre Chevalier and they have a few exclusive use places which are the right sort of size for your party, which they can cater for you. Haven’t been with them yet but looks nice.

As to tips - take a pack of balloons, kids love playing with them and they take up no space in luggage.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Hi, we run a chalet in Chatel in France and what works best we find with groups like yours is to book the chalet fully catered for the group and then book an in house nanny for the babies. For example, we use chatelchildcare who charge 1000 euros a week for qualified childcare for 3-4 babies 9-5 for the week which is complrtely flexible. She looks after the babies in the chalet and then you come and go during the ski day and can meet for lunch etc.
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As @NickyJ, quite a few friends highly recommend Family Friendly Skiing. Not tried them ourselves though as more diy.

We've taken our two children from that age and didn't find it difficult, all but one trip has been driving which suits us with the things you need to take. Prepare to be adaptable is probably the most organised you can get, things don't always turn out the way perceived and how you work through that can bring about a good trip.

Ski area, just from a hugely convenient point of view regarding not having to make complicated arrangements for skiing activities, Ste Foy in Tarantaise valley is very very easy to use.

You don't have to make decisions about where to go, meet up timing etc as it's all centred about the village. Alot of young family there as you can ski back to village so readily for very good group integration. Many kids out tobogganing playing around on snow etc and the skiers can ski various routes returning to base. It's difficult to extol the virtues in a few words, but it's very inclusive for families which you'll see if you visit.
Lift pass cost is good, plenty of intermediate skiing to progress, plus going into much more serious levels of adventure. Very friendly, relaxed and usually warm in March. Some of the best conditions then with southern aspect, it's a great place for mixed group.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Thanks for the replies!

We have been to Puy st Vincent before but not keen to return just yet. We’ve had fantastic experiences there but feel it’s time to branch out and try somewhere new.

Thank you for the suggestions above. It’s great to be able have a start point and go from there. And to realise this is doable and not just a pipe dream. We’ve realised it won’t be anything like previous trips but it’s so exciting to think it could be the start of the little ones love affair with snow (hopefully)
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@hammy050 for the first time it might worth going with Esprit. When our friends and I went skiing with our boys at that age that is who we went with. We were not exclusive as were only 2 families but the chalets we were in only had a couple of more bedroom so would be ideal for you.

We stayed in Les Arcs and Les gets the first 2 times and it all worked out great. After the first couple of times we did our own think but the first time it's probably worth it.
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@hammy050, Check out Ski Magic who have a couple of 4 roomed catered chalets in La Tania - Matisse Haut and Matisse Bas (same building on different floors).

They do independent travel if you want to drive and in house childcare. As a bonus they offer half price childcare on 7th, 14th and 21st March.

We used them when our son was 3 and he enjoyed his time there. There were just two children in childcare, my son and a baby, with two members of staff to look after them all day so he got lots of attention.
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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!
The first couple of times we went with our kids we used Esprit and found them to be absolutely brilliant - so well set up to deal with the kids. Ours were 7 and 9 when we first went but i think they are even better setup for the younger ones!

If you check their website they periodically do their BAT (Baby & Toddler) weeks which always seemed like a great idea to me. They cater to different ages in appropriate ways and leave you with as much or little time to spend with them as works for you! They have loads of activities - some based on the snow and others in the nurseries - which will make it a fantastic holiday for them as well.

Our kids absolutely loved the Esprit staff - they still talk about them now and remember all of their names so this really made the holiday for them.

We went to les Arcs with Esprit on both occasions - once to Peisey and once to Arc 2000. Peisey offered the best chalet but meant you were more on the edge of the ski area (albeit by the Vanoisse Express Cable Car which links it with La Plagne) and Arc 2000 was right in the middle of the area, nice and high for guaranteed snow! They do offer loads of different locations though and I can't recommend highly enough - just a shame that ours are now a bit too old to make the most of it any more!
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Ski Famille are ideal as the childcare is just for your group, in chalet, which is hugely superior to more centralised childcare, especially when you’d rather your group’s babies didn’t catch the bugs handed out by everyone else’s (or vice versa). Their set up in Les Gets is perfect for the littlest ones.
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We've used Esprit and Family Friendly for our two regularly from age 6 months to 8 years. Esprit have plenty of chalets I bet you could book out for your party size and then use their creche services (e.g. we stayed with them in Peisey and there they have half a dozen adjacent smallish chalets with the creche being in one of the chalets). Family Friendly has bigger chalets but when we used them last the childcare came to the chalet. Family Friendly were not a package operator so set up for driving down, I think the Esprit self drive discount was a bit derisory but I wouldn't totally discount flying with them as out of school hols you'll likely get some good prices that could match or beat self drive.
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Meribel.

Don't head too high with sealevel babies (altitude).
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