 Poster: A snowHead
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Hello! My family of 2 adults (one advanced and one almost intermediate) and 3 kids (all beginners but progressing) are looking for a ski trip for first week of April. I have narrowed it down already by research on snow sure spring skiing and by hotels I have found that are available. Here are our options:
*Zermatt
*Saas Fee
*Tignes
I know they are all very different. Our priorities are easy access to slope with our kids for lessons (they are 5, 8 and 8 ), good variety of terrain so that both my husband and I are happy, as well as a bit of charm and other things to do as we probably won't ski for all 6 days (maybe 4 or 5 for a 7 night stay). Looking for any advice! We just returned from a week in Hinterglemm, Austria and loved it! Thanks!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Obertauern would be a good shout also if you could find a hotel
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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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Thank you! I think since we were just in Austria we want to try a different country 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Obergurgl ideal for first week of April - have done it. Very easy slope access, likely snow still in village, quite charming, terrain reasonably varied if you include Solden (but you won't be getting much treelined skiing in early April anyway)
And skiing in Solden (15 mins on bus on same lift pass) still excellent above midstation
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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.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Of those options I only know Tignes, which would be fine - though it's a big resort with lots of "centres" and you'd need to coordinate accommodation and ski schools. Val Thorens, in the 3 Valleys, would also be good from the altitude/snow sure point of view.
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@jen321, Looking at your preferences I know Tignes and Zermatt and wouldn't really recommend either particularly for opposite reasons.
Zermatt has plenty of charm but is highly inconvenient for beginner kids lessons and very pricey. Tignes is very convenient but is pretty charmless and has very little appeal if you want to take a couple of days off.
Saas Fee may be a good option but I've not been.
We used to go to Nendaz quite a bit at this time it has some attractions.It can be conveneint for kids but you have to be pretty careful about where you choose your accommodation. It has very attractive views over the Rhone valley and pleasant walks though the resort itself is not particularly stunning.
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IMHO Tignes has perhaps the more non skiing things to do than the majority of ski resorts: there is a good sports centre in Le Lac with swimming pool and an indoor climbing wall, snowmobile hire, ice climbing, walking and uniquely SCUBA diving under the ice on the lake. Being in a bowl means it doesn't have the staggering views of, say, Les Arcs, but it is scenic.
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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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Zermatt & Tignes?
Big resorts are expensive and pointless when with for beginner kids. Even if you are advanced you probably wont be able to ski far away or for long without heading back for pick up or some unforeseen need to make use of a big resort.
Adjust your expectations of how much you will ski, go small, save some money.
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Wherever we end up we plan on putting kids in ski school or lessons with lunch supervision. We did this in Hinterglemm and got about 5 hours of quality ski time each day without kids.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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It's possible to have quality ski time WITH kids too! It does need competent adults to field small kids around, help them on and off lifts etc, and do a rapid downhill chase when they go off on one. I don't think my kids/grandkids would much have enjoyed being left at the ski school for lunch, but they all adored skiing with us and showing us what they'd been learning.
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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 think any ski resort that has scuba diving as an attraction is struggling and Tignes for all it's other attributes is undoubtedly ugly.
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But it's scuba diving under the ice, @T Bar! What's not to like....... 
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You know it makes sense.
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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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Hi Jen321, I'm skiing in Saas Fee in the first week in April with my wife & 3 girls for our third year in a row. I'm a big fan. The ski school is good / instructors seem kind and it is snow sure. A couple of watch-outs:
1) Late in the season the beginner zones get very slushy, which is hard work for little ones. The plus side here is that when they do graduate to get up the mountain, they really love the difference in snow quality.
2) There are a couple of choke points to link bits of the ski area that can be challenging. It is possible to stay on blues all day and get up really high but only if one particular run is open - it wasn't in 2023 but looks like it is in 2024.
3) It has the longest T-Bar in the universe on the glacier. This is fine but sharing it with a small person with the bar directly behind your knees truly is a test of unconditional love...
Despite those minor points, I can't rate it highly enough. Plus connection from Zurich airport via train is not too difficult and really comfortable vs a bus transfer.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
| Tignes for all it's other attributes is undoubtedly ugly |
Surely it's all in the eye of the beholder @T Bar?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@marsalakis, welcome to snowheads. Great first post - that's what I call a useful feedback for @jen321!
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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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@jen321, early April generally means high, which in turn generally doesn't mean "charm" - so difficult. Although as per mountainaddict charm is in the eye of the beholder and besides how much time do you spend wandering around a place.
What "other things to do" are you interested in? Here is what Les Arcs offers: https://en.lesarcs.com/activities/winter
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| T Bar wrote: |
| I think any ski resort that has scuba diving as an attraction is struggling and Tignes for all it's other attributes is undoubtedly ugly. |
I don't agree. And if you really find the architecture ugly just look up. Spectacular.
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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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Sorry, but I go skiing for the snow and pistes. Don't care about charm.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@mountainaddict, @kettonskimum, @sbooker,
What I would point out is that the original poster asked specifically about charm as a criteria and looking for things to do with the kids if taking a planned time out.
Charm is relative and necessarily somewhat subjective and comparative. Personally for all its good features out of the many resorts I have visited Tignes would come very low down a ranking of charm.
All ski areas that I have visited can scrub up well under fresh snow and blue skies and when you actually get high the views of the Grande Caisse are very fine indeed . However if I was to take a ski resort to have as a film set for a dystopian futuristic film set of menace under grey skis,Tignes with its lack of features in the bowl and unrelieved by trees or visible vegetation would rank pretty highly as a location and it can be a very bleak place to ski in poor weather.
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It's always difficult when people ask about non- skiers, or " other things to do" because people vary so much. Practically all resorts will offer walks, sledging, snow- shoeing, plenty of cafes and restaurants. Many have swimming pools, some have casinos! In summer some people will rent an isolated croft in the Hebrides, others wouldn't!
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@jen321, we were in Tignes, Le Lac, last year the week of 1 April, along with two sets of grandchildren at the time 3, 7, 8 and 10. We were at something like the Montana, village, we had a large apartment but there is also a hotel in the same complex. They are all going back there this year. Very easy to access the slope behind the hotel down to where the ski schools met up. The two older are not beginners, but the 7 year old boy was and he could get around well by the end of the week.
The young one, four today, will be in ski school this year.
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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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| Layne wrote: |
@jen321, early April generally means high, which in turn generally doesn't mean "charm" - so difficult. Although as per mountainaddict charm is in the eye of the beholder and besides how much time do you spend wandering around a place.
What "other things to do" are you interested in? Here is what Les Arcs offers: https://en.lesarcs.com/activities/winter |
This is true - even Obergurgl (high and great for April) isn't THAT charming. But it's way better than nearby Solden (also good for April) which has to be one of the least charming Austrian resorts
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