First family ski vacation

A snowHead

Hi all,
I was wondering if you could help us as we are real newbies! We would love to go skiing first week of February, ideally not as a package holiday as we are not flexible with dates at all. We have 2 children, 3 and 5 years old, and my husband doesn't ski! Not really sure where to start looking. There are flights we could take to Turin, they work the best, but also Geneva or Innsbruck might be ok.
Is there any specific place that you would recommend that would have ski school for older child, ski school/fun snowy childcare for younger child, activities for non-skiers, and easy runs for me?
Appreciate any input!
Thank you!

A snowHead

@Not Yet a Skiing Family, welcome to the forum.

The issue for you is to find childcare you are happy with, and non-ski activities your husband is happy with. But with Turin an easy flight why not look at Sestriere? There is a nursery slope right next to town, non-ski walking to a coffee stop, and a good range of runs (not sure how easy you mean by "easy", I imagine you will take a few lessons yourself and expand your range during your stay).

Just sticking to Turin gives lots of decent options.

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

welcome to Snowheads, @Not Yet a Skiing Family. It's a big adventure and you'll get loads of (mostly sensible) suggestions here. When you say "first week of February", what do you mean? You will find that anything other than a Sat/Sat or sometimes Sun/Sun holiday, whether package or not, will be far more complicated to arrange.

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It has to be Monday to Sunday sadly, but we would be happy with self-catering accommodation if that's what's available to us, as long as we can find suitable childcare.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Hmm. That does hugely complicate things. If your final sunday is 6 February that's the start of the French school holidays. If you're looking at paid childcare, you presumably have a decent budget? A child-friendly family hotel might be a better bet than self-catering. There are apparently some good ones in Austria, though I know nothing about them.

Are you thinking of driving or flying?

Will your husband want to start skiing and therefore be in lessons for the week?

We need lots of information from you, to provide the best advice!

Cutting out that last Sunday, and leaving on Saturday 5th February will make everything easy. You'll have a great choice of apartments for Sat/Sat but obviously if you arrive Monday you'll only use it for 5 nights.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Arriving Monday, first day skiing Tuesday, will complicate ski school - and private lessons are obviously more expensive

But if you can throw enough money at it, it's all doable.

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

Yes, we are hoping to arrive on 31st and leave on the 6th. I guess we could leave earlier, but hopefully we will find something suitable? Budget is not huge, we were hoping to spend around £1-1.5k on accommodation, plus flights and lessons and food and stuff. We definitely want to fly. Hubby will not ski, he tried a couple of times and hated me for it! So has to be decent entertainment for him, mind you he is happy with a book in a coffee shop. Would be great if the accommodation had a swimming pool or one nearby, and also other snowy activities available, as not quite sure how kids will take to skiing (the older one did quite well when I took her 2 years ago, but she would have forgotten it all).

After all it is free

@j b,
Thank you, I was actually looking at Sestriere as an option! Seems there is a ski school that offers 3-5 days option and also one for the little one, that ticks a lot of boxes already Smile

Would your husband be happy to do the kids drop-offs and pick-ups at ski school? That would make life much easier. And he wouldn't need to take so many books that way.....

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@Not Yet a Skiing Family, a suggestion based on our own family use of child facilities, plus decent conditions for you, along with really good cafe/lunch restaurants, and likely to be in cost constraints (well decent chance as location has good balance cost v facilities) Geneva airport and Morillon 1100 location.

https://www.haut-giffre.co.uk/plan-my-trip/your-family-holiday/nursery-ski-school/ ultra convenient for family, friendly atmosphere, very good nursery, good child lesson with esf at that location and just really easy to have direct ski slope access with mixed family schedules.

Nearly all self catering accommodation there, really really good lunch food options in cafes too. Some of the residences have a pool too, "Jardin de Alpin" one of them I think https://www.peakretreats.co.uk/winter/ski-resorts/grand-massif/morillon-morillon-1100/jardin-alpin as example.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

For less cost accommodation https://www.peakretreats.co.uk/winter/ski-resorts/grand-massif/morillon-morillon-1100/le-buet is one of the most effective in that location (they are all just walk out onto the snow there) with their cost layout including cross channel driving fare, you have to remove that (in site notes) to get final price.

The people at peak retreats may be worth calling as they're pretty helpful if you wanted to check options. I've no connection to them other than long term customer in many different locations.

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@pam w,
I'm sure I could convince him to do that Very Happy

@ski3,
Thank you, I haven't heard of Morillon before!

You know it makes sense.

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

@Not Yet a Skiing Family, Samoen, is the same area, but a better village/town. The French designate this a monument historique. We have stayed at the Neige et roc hotel. This is a hotel as well as having self catering rooms.
It also has a pool.

A snowHead

@Not Yet a Skiing Family, as you're looking away from the usual Sat to Sat/ Sun to Sun, you'll probably find you'll need to get your accommodation via somewhere such as Airbnb or Vrbo.

Here's an example for your dates in Avoriaz:

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/20723647?adults=2&children=2&check_in=2022-01-31&check_out=2022-02-06&previous_page_section_name=1000&federated_search_id=e0d02cd1-223a-4020-8443-2b98b749c040

Now whether or not the owner accepts the booking is another question...

Avoriaz is close to Geneva, 1.5hrs transfer roughly. It's a car free village, there's horses and carts to ferry you round the resort if you so wish to use them, there's a great looking swimming pool (Centre Parcs style), and a few other bits and pieces. For your husband, if Avoriaz doesn't have everything he wants, he can jump in the Prodains lift down from Avoriaz, hop on a bus and in 20/30 minutes he'll be in Morzine which is a bigger town and has more things for him to see and do.

A snowHead

Not Yet a Skiing Family,

Welcome to Snowheads. It's a pity that hubby won't give skiing another go, as he is set to miss out on the ultimate shared family experience that you could jointly enjoy for the rest of your lives Sad

.

In the interests of equality we should all be recommending resorts with spas and good shopping, as is usually the case when the Mrs doesn't like skiing... wink

Good luck with your trip.

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

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For your family I'd advise against staying in Samoens - it's a proper town, and pretty, but down in the valley and a schlep up to the lifts and would be an absolute ballache to do ski lessons drop offs and pick ups for the kids. Finding accommodation within really easy walk of the ski school meeting place is a priority. Kids are likely to be tired, and taking them "home" for some familiar lunch, perhaps watch a video, and slob around in their base layers, is a nice thing to be able to do. Having them sitting in a crowded restaurant waiting for a very expensive plate of chips is not ideal.

For kids, it's also great to have snow just outside the door - they can play happily with some beach-style "buckets and spades".

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Not sure if the budget will stretch but there is https://www.clubmed.co.uk/r/grand-massif-samoens-morillon/w - in that area. For self-catering accommodation in Chamonix, Les Arcs & St Gervais - try -https://www.myfrenchchalet.com/en/home. Les Carroz has good options as the 3 yr old can go into Piou Piou - which we used and it is very good - https://www.ski-school-lescarroz.co.uk/nordic-skiing/club-piou-piou/. Other half can handle the drop offs as it is all walkable, then he can go back into the village for a cuppa/mooch or trip to village pool etc. Come back and meet you all afterwards and then get a foot ticket for the telecabine and head up the mountain for lunch. LC is within an hour of Geneva and has lots of self-catering options. It is also part of the Grand Massif mentioned above.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Puy saint vincent is a great family resort and not to far from Turin. There is a shuttle bus or car hire (this will be quicker with little ones)
I live 20 mins down the road from PSV, feel free to get in touch with any questions.

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

If you want to fly to Turin why not look at Pila, it is an easy transfer, very nice family oriented resort and lots of convenient self catering accommodation and also some hotels. We went in Feb when my kids where 5 and 8 so a bit older, but we all had amazing time! The ski school was good and it also had a kids club attached. Restaurants and cafes are nice and cheap. Can’t remember if there was a pool but there was a fun sledging play area for kids

After all it is free

I've not been to Pila, but always thought it sounded very family-friendly.

I have only been to Pila for a one day visit, but I agree that it seemed a good place for families and beginners.

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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Sure you would get an Airbnb or similar for non "standard" days. We've done 5 days and 8 days in Italian Airbnbs before. Sestriere is nice for beginners and your husband can be in a cafe at the foot of the nursery slopes. La Thuile an option also, a non skier can get the gondola up to the middle of the slopes and meet you for lunch etc and the nursery slopes are really accessible for non skiers.

snow reports

@pam w, fair point re Samoen

With covid & such young kids, I would skip it a year, but make sure you save the money for next year.
Or look at a trip to lapland and play in the snow.
Im sure even the 5yr old would prefer playing in the snow than going to ski school, feeling intimidated because of language barriers & pissing themselves because they not used to the cold.

You know it makes sense.

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

A snowHead

Thanks everybody, so much info here, absolutely invaluable!
Lapland won't work, no good flights for us. Older kid was in ski school for a bit 2 years ago when she was 3, and loved it, even managed some "proper" runs with me on a real lift, so i have high hopes now she is older! Obviously 2 years have passed and she is a whole new child now, but still. Covid is a worry, but we will attempt of getting everything with free cancellation.

A snowHead

@Not Yet a Skiing Family, good luck, with your group I would concentrate on finding a nice place right near the snow - you don't need lots of challenging skiing. If Turin is good for transport there are quite a few suitable resorts, the issue becomes finding transfers and accommodation (and lessons) to suit your dates.

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

is that 1k to 1.5 k for everything you're saying or that's just for digs?

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@Not Yet a Skiing Family, I have found when I was exploring some non sat / sun dates, that Air BnB and VRBO would return stuff as available but when I contacted owners they weren’t accepting those different days. Nb you could pay for the extra days you aren’t there I suspect.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Yes, but paying for two weeks rental would be a bit steep!

You'll need to Register first of course.

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

How about Westendorf or Brixen in Thale? Somewhere between Innsbruck & Kitzbuhel.
You will probably have better luck finding a Sun-Sun accomodation in Austria & be prepared to swallow the expense of a lost day.

If you can fly into Munich or Salzburg, then Zell am See. I would say it is more important to find somewhere with enough to do for non skiing person & for you yourself for skiing.
Anywhere would be 'good enough' for kids that age.

Any idea what non skier would want to fill his day? would he be happy to travel between villages on his own? or would everything need to be 'in resort'?

After all it is free

Thanks everyone, I booked the flights to Turin now, couldn't resist the low price and convenience! Will have to marrow down my research to places around it.
I guess I wouldn't mind paying for an extra day if I had to, but hoping since it's out of school holidays I might get lucky? How much should I expect to pay? I think spa/pool for my husband is a must (was kind of a selling point wheb I suggested the trip!) Shopping not so much Very Happy

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First family ski vacation

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