 Poster: A snowHead
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Afternoon all,
We have had a few brilliant weeks skiing this season in Austria with our young children (nearly 5 and 3) who definitely have the skiing bug now! My wife and I are both confident intermediates who have skied a lot, so really happy the kids love it.
Our next chance to go will be around February half term 2023. We would like to try Italy or around Saas Fee/Zermatt areas of Switzerland, as all seem family friendly and decent transfer times - plus we have done Austria a lot before the children too. Looking around 2hr transfer from Milan Malpensa (happy to hire a car, but would need to be sure of Italian winter tyres) to a resort which is snow sure, has decent progression (our 5 year old is starting to snow plough turn easy blues well) but also an excellent ski school for them both. The hotel will ideally be very close to lifts/ski school so we can easily drop them in the morning, then head out ourselves before meeting for lunch. An outdoor pool would also be ideal, as we all love swimming.
A quick look suggests Montarosa may be a good option, but not sure which village would suit our criteria best. Cervinia also looks good, but does it close a lot in mid February? I have heard good things about Champoluc too, but not sure if it works on the "easy blue" criteria. Is it a mad idea to drive over to Saas Fee from Milan, given the time of year and the pass? I have driven a lot abroad including in snow, but this may be another level. We are not too keen on trains etc because of all the luggage.
Any suggestions of villages, hotels etc gratefully received 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Does it have to be Malpensa?
We're annual visitors to the Aosta valley and Turin is a far better airport both in terms of transfer and at the actual airport.
Cervinia is our go to resort but we were in Aosta last week for 10 days. Did 6 days in Cervinia/ Valtournenche/ Zermatt then did a day in Pila before heading to La Thuile for 3 days. La Thuile is our new favourite. Lovely wide open pistes, loads of lifts, very quiet, great scenery, linked up to La Rosiere in France (albeit the return is via a very tricky drag lift)
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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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Madesimo
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Thanks for the recommendations. Unfortunately there are no flights Manchester to Turin, so Malpensa is looking the best airport option
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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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Just spent a week in Valtournche (below Cervinia) with my 8/10 year olds. we skied all over Cervinia and Zermatt - fantastic. Though as you say weather play a factor in Feb as its very high, though Cervinia bowl very well protected from the wind.
Rassa, lovely village below Alagna worth a look
La Thuile also great as above.
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@bigalan, EasyJet usually do Sunday flights MAN -TRN, but Ive always done MAN -MXP as there are daily flights and the choice of car hire was better and they had winter tyres available. It’s an easy 2 hr drive from MXP to Courmayuer, autostrada virtually to the door. You need to get a lift up to ski in Courmayuer, and there is a crèche and beginners area in Plan Checruit. It’s a very compact ski area so could be ideal with kids if you needed to get back to them quickly. We have always stayed in an apt but there’s loads of good hotels some with indoor pools, there is also a municipal indoor pool in Pre St Didier, flipping cold water though.
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Can't comment on Montarose but our first ski trip as a family was Cervinia (youngest was 6yrs). Children had had lessons in a local snowdome but were really only snow ploughing at the start of the week. We skied all over Cervinia, and went across to Zermatt one day too. Lots of long cruisy blues to get confidence, not-too-difficult reds to progress. Majority of accommodation is very close to the slopes. We actually drove from Geneva both times (we went back the next year) so approached in the opposite direction, but it was an easy drive up to the resort. We're just back from Courmayeur (flew to Milan Bergamo) so have just done part of the journey you'd do - passed the turning for Cervinia - would say its an easy drive.
I don't know of a hotel with an outdoor pool but Hotel Europa has an indoor pool and in very close to the slopes / ski school meeting point.
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