 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi,
I'm new and hoping to thrash out ideas for our next trip here and with all the expertise here will help.
We are a family of 4 (2 adults a 6 year old and a 23month old) hubby and I are intermediate snowboards happy on reds through France. Eldest has been to the three valleys last year and a few times to the snow dome and loving it can get down wide blue runs okay. The smallest needs childcare. We used to go on chalet holiday with the likes of ski familiae, but this year out of school holidays they are coming in around £5500-6300, which is just a bit of a stretch and I really wasn't impressed last year with the chalet food (childcare was fab).
Any other gems I can investigate......?
Our other options are snow bizz , but I'm not sure I'll find that a 'holiday' with th self catering aspect, but prepared to if it is a good set up and it means we can get away. Or do I suck it up book a kinderhotel (waldhof) in Austria a tad cheaper but not much and have the best of both world for us and the kids?
Thoughts welcome as I'm going round in circles!? 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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Try Chilly Powder in Avoriaz Prodains but if not the Kinder Hotels are hard to beat for an all round happy family holiday- Ballenspitz in Galtur or Lowen is Serfaus are tiptop.
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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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Thanks I should have said the quote I've had for chilly powder is the same as ski familiae unfortunately as we love that area.
Thanks for the Austrian suggestion I'll take a look we have never been so great to have some suggestions than my aimless Google searches!
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@100acrewood, I am afraid small children + skiing = money. For the youngest that is all day care. The older one is unlikely to have the stamina to ski all day so you will need to decide if you need some childcare there as well, or you limit your own skiing and provide a leisurely lunch/tea after lessons with a bit of gentle family skiing if they are up for it and the conditions are suitable.
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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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@100acrewood, You should also be able to find Kinder Hotels in South Tyrol/Dolomites in northern Italy. The prices of these will likely be similar to Austria, but you may find that other aspects of your holiday are a little bit cheaper, and you're unlikely to have any issues with food quality.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@100acrewood, welcome to Snowheads. You'll find an incredible amount of help and advice here from a great bunch of people.
I'm not able to offer much help I'm afraid other than to say that I used Esprit in the past, sadly they have ceased trading. However, Inghams mention them on their webpage. Might be worth checking out?
https://www.inghams.co.uk/about-us/esprit-ski
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Welcome to Snowheads 
You could try this:
https://www.action-outdoors.co.uk/activities/snow-sports/skiing/family-weeks/
If you went at Easter by car it would save a bit. But the train is also a good option.
The UCPA+ at La Plagne on 19 April looks like it would come in at about £3000 (accommodation, food, ski pass, lessons and equipment hire) plus additional costs for transport to/from resort and childcare for the 23 month old.
You would need to ask if they can accommodate a 23 month old at the centre.
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I can wholeheartedly recommend Kinderhotels in Austria. Facilities, food, childcare are all top notch.
We have stayed in three different Kinderhotels in Serfaus/Fiss. Our favourite to date was Hotel Baer in Serfaus, which has large rooms, with separate kids room and vast amounts of children's facilities: kid's club with supervision from 0 years old all day, pool with large water slide, soft play area, climbing wall, and a very mellow nursery slope right outside the hotel for sledge rides.
The ski resort itself has loads to offer for families: lots of special fun trails for kids, amazing toboggan run and an evening show up on the mountain.
From a skiing and snowboarding perspective it is a great resort with around 200 km of slopes. The majority are red, but they are on the blueish side of red. Overall it is a very family focused resort.
If you wanted a resort with more wide blue runs, then Saalbach-Hinterglemm would be a great option. As they have about 140km of blue pistes alone, most of them wide and accommodating. And you can access almost the entire resort just by blue slopes. There are also quite a few Kinderhotels in Saalbach/Hinterglemm.
Here is the site for searching Kinderhotels (though not all of them have nurseries): https://kinderhotel.info/
And here is the website for the Baer hotel (and its sister hotel Loewe): https://www.loewebaer.com/en/hotel-baer
When was it you were thinking of going?
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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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Snowbizz is self catering, fantastic childcare, so good we went with them 11 times. The ski school in with Snowbizz are fantastic, all fluent English speakers.
A couple of lovely restaurants in PSV1600 if that suits you in the evening.
Great pistes for all abilities.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Why not rent an English girl for a week and take her with you and stay in a chalet you have rented. Get the right one and she will do childcare and help cook too. £500 travel, £1000 fees for her (don’t stint; she’ll love you and work hard for that) and an extra £500 on your chalet for another room. Provided you treat her as an employee under an English employment contract then she won’t need a French work permit as she will come under the French domestic staff exemption. (Doesn’t work in other jurisdictions.)
Bet that’s cheaper than any chalet holiday with childcare. And you’re in control and have 100% of her time.
It could be a boy too ofc.
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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've not been to any of the places mentioned so far so I've no idea how it compares, but the Hotel Del Clos at El Tartar, Andorra (which is run by Neilson Holidays) has childcare from 4 months and they'll take the older children to ski school. The food was great as were the staff and the hotel in general, we couldn't fault it at all. The hotel is just across the road from the EL Tartar gondola where you have access to Grandvalira and 210km ski area. They do family rooms and the price includes half board, the flight and transfers.
https://www.neilson.co.uk/ski/andorra/soldeu-and-el-tarter/neilson-hotel-del-clos-el-tarter
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I have 2 kids aged 6 and 12.
I can recommend crystal childcare if you want to do a package holiday. I have used them for x4 trips.
More recently we have come to use club MMV properties that have childcare available. Some of which you can get food included.
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You know it makes sense.
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Heard good things about family ski chalets too. But I’d imagine similar price to ski familie!
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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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@100acrewood, Family Ski were excellent (but not been with them for 5+ years now so no direct recent experience). However i expect the price would be comparable to Ski Famille.
You say "out of school holidays", what exact dates though? Costs vary a lot, e.g. the weeks either side of school hols tend to be more than ones mid-term.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Thanks for all the ideas, am costing them out this weekend.
'out of school holidays' is anytime really we have absolutely no plans for 2025 so can really go anytime, except the first week of school in Jan. I know we are not meant and will be fined but this year both of us can't get leave at the same time during holidays.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Even with the fine, you'll save money. We took ours out of school for a week the week before February half term. Flights dropped from £3000 to £300 and accommodation halved. Lessons/passes/hire stayed the same, but it was well worth the fine. Which as you've only got one school aged child, will be a mere £120.
The suggestion of a holiday nanny to go too isn't a bad one. I used to work as a nanny and agencies would ask us if we were available for holiday cover.
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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Did your nippers also pick up the German language at all? 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Snow&skifan, Unfortunately not. Though it is for good reasons I suppose. Most childcare staff we encountered spoke excellent English and many of the other children also spoke English very well. In general we have encountered a good mix of nationalities in Austrian Kinderhotels with many Dutch, British and German families.
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| ski_free wrote: |
| @Snow&skifan, Unfortunately not. Though it is for good reasons I suppose. Most childcare staff we encountered spoke excellent English and many of the other children also spoke English very well. In general we have encountered a good mix of nationalities in Austrian Kinderhotels with many Dutch, British and German families. |
We never did that, we went with Snowbizz in those years.
But in Austria since I’ve seen stunning/cozy kids complexes in lovely hotels. Often a few paces from ski to door pistes.
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