 Poster: A snowHead
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I am trying to build up a selection of ideas for next years trip en famille,so thought i would pose a few questions on what are the criteria for a good family holiday for say a family with kids aged between 4-10 yrs old?
For us it has to be convenience, good instruction with english speaking classes,reasonable ski area say 60 km +,good resort height 1500m+decent vertical drop,good variety of runs with something to suit all family members,reasonable prices,sometimes the smaller relatively less well known areas have good family friendly resorts.Above all it is the position of the accomadation in relation to the slopes/lifts/ski school that can make or break the holiday,the ability to just be able to nip back to the apartment/hotel for lunch or a couple of hours in the afternoon without having to de-camp off the mountain is in my opinion vital to the success of skiing en famille?
bearing this in mind have you found the pefect resort with the perfectly located accomadation?
flaine p+v apartments flaine foret
puy st vincent monalisa apts
have been good for us over the last few years but its time for a change any ideas?
hedley
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brian
brian
Guest
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Ahem, I hesitate to mention this in the presence of the pimp police but have a click on the . in my sig. If our apartment is too small for you there are larger ones for rent in the building.
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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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hedley, I thought Flaine Foret was fine but utilitarian! We tried the MGM at Aime La Plagne last year and were blown away by the space and quality. It was on the slopes (but not directly for ski school), had swimming pool and leisure suite free of charge. Any inconvenience of taking children down the hill to lessons was outweighed by the proper holiday comforts of the apartment.
It also had a ski shop and bar in the basement and a panorama view of Mont Blanc and Beaufortain hills. I know MGM is a bit of an Ikea formula but it works. We are trying Les Arcs this year with the same chain. I think rob@rar has a place in the same development.
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If you like PSV you will love la Norma it is lot better laid out resort than psv and has a the advantage of easy motorwayaccess and a shared lift pass with Valfrejus and aussios giving over 150kms of piste for £80 mega value.Vist the web site for La Norma which is excellent and Earna Low do good apartments there ,by the way i have had 3 great holidays in Puy and intend going again at Easter for the English ski races so i have an idea of what you might be looking for.
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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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We found Banff excellent with kids aged 5 (just) and upwards; we went for 6 years on the trot. It doesn't meet your close to the slopes accommodation criterion, but we didn't find that a problem. When the kids were 5, they could have a mixture of lessons and creche, from 6 on they were skiing all day and wild horses wouldn't have stopped them. In fact, with a car nipping back to the hotel at lunch time for a couple of hours would be feasible, but obviously more of a pain than if the hotel is right by the slopes. The car can be used as a repository for extra clothes, changes of clothes, that sort of thing, so they're readily accessible (not that we did that - it requires far too much pranisation and forethought). If you go for a couple of weeks, you can have a day off, but we only did this once or twice.
If you don't fancy Banff, look elsewhere in N.America for ski in ski out. The tuition is in my experience excellent and enjoyable, and very flexible, and is in English, or something close to it, and there are the well rehearsed advantages of N.America, many of which apply in spades if you have kids along.
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hedley, Les Arc 1800,we stayed in Les Alpages du Chantel an mgm property,good size appartments,pool etc. it's two buildings the top one (not sure if it's 1 or 2) is ski in/out easy (Erna Low)
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Hedley - look at La Plagne. The resort villages are not the prettiest but huge ski area, plenty of doorstep skiing accomodation and all the ski schools have English speaking classes. It is also lift linked to Les Arcs but the area is so large you will not have to cross over.
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hedley, I'd say anywhere you can ski in/out would be fine.
That's in my experience anyway.
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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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The availability within the resort of non-ski activities like swimming, bowling, ice-skating, internet access etc have all added to our holidays at various times.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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La Tania is pretty good for families, easy access to ski school, enclosed so the kids can run about, slide etc in the evening without being able to get lost. Bit small but good free buses to courchevel various parts 
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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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If you're considering North America then Big White in Canada ticks all the family boxes. It regularly gets voted #1 family resort in NA. True ski-in/out village and the ski school specialise in teaching/entertaining kids. Only downside is the long haul travel.
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The MGM apartments that sproggski and LIAMJ mentioned are very nice, and located directly on the nursery slope so ideal location for skiiing. However, New Generation (the British ski school) in Les Arcs is based in Vallandry rather than Arc 1800, so a bit of a trek to get your kids there (and impossible for a 9.15 start). MGM also have a new development in Vallandry to the same standard (pool, high standard of accommodation, ski in/out, etc) which will be ideal for getting kids to ski school. It meets all of your criteria except for being one of the smaller, less well known resorts (as it's very big, and quite well known  ).
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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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hedley, does this count as pimping  (www.alpinevue.co.uk) Small friedly resort with English speaking ski shool.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Crystal des Neiges apartments in Les Saisies would give you ski in/ski out with the kiddies ski school right outside the door. However with the resort at 1650m you wouldn't get 1500m vertical - the whole area tops out at 2000m. Having said that, its a great family resort, not besieged by tons of anglais, nice town without rip off pricing and in normal years more snow that Val D and truely spectacular scenery.
If you wanted height but with a bit less charm then there is always Plagne Soleil (la Plagne which gives you the height, apartments round a snowy central square which is good/safe for kids and is well linked to other areas of LP....From memory the appts are not on the large side though
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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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The ultimate family hotel has to be the Bellevue - Maerchen hotel in Braunwald (a small resort 2hrs by train from Zurich), the owners are so family orientated that it was a real children's playground .
From the animals in their petting zoo to the step in reception so the kids can see what is happening, they are so child-orientated. There was a swimming pool with monkey bars over the top + slide into it, a huge games room (for kids of all ages), another room with bouncy castles, if your kids didn't want to ski, there was the free use of a nanny in the hotel to look after any non-skiing kids in the mornings. My children loved the fact that there was a slide from 1st to ground so they didn't have to go down the stairs, there was a storytime (by the hotel owner - in English and German), and the thing my kids really loved was that at breakfast you got your milk by twisting the udders of a full-size wooden cow in the dining room. The hotel laid on free use of a horse and cart to take the kids the 500m to the ski slopes (there and back). The details are here , in case anyone is interested.
As it was 4*, it was good for the adults too, including a wellness centre and excellent food.
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Ray Zorro, sounds amazing. Are adults allowed to use the slide from 1st to Ground?
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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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rob@rar, my bum is too big 
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hedley, amazingly enough, I've yet to find anywhere (and before everyone protests, I mean anywhere that fits all your criteria - people have an understandable tendency to fit their favourite resorts into others' requirements while conveniently forgetting a listed criterion that would automatically count out said resort ). I have similar criteria and once you demand British ski schools, you're stuck. "English-speaking"? Well that depends on your definition! Closest fit to all your criteria I've found is indeed Vallandry, but I suspect that somewhere Swiss might also (haven't skied enough resorts there to give you definitive info but each time I've been, I've been impressed by their standard of English).
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hedley, What about the Hochfilzer in Ellmau, Austria, great hotel, good food family run, 2 minutes to the slopes with access to the whole ski welt, great ski school, shortish transfers, ive been twice and it was brill- heres a link to the Hotels website http://www.hotel-hochfilzer.com/en/default.asp Its expensive through the TO, booking direct is much cheaper.
Good luck, where ever you choose to go 
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Go with some friends who have similar aged kids. All kids need is fun IMHO.
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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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Just worth mentioning though, that imho standard of English required for smallish kids, while good, is not as high as that required for someone learning more technical stuff, so if it's only the kids' instruction that's important, then lots more resorts would start to figure.
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hedley, We like the MGM apartments in Morillon - they are just off (ski down to) the wonderful Marvel run which you possibly know. The lifties were amazing, & stopped all chairlifts bottom & top for kids.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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slikedges, as my kids are now getting a bit older 8+10yrs,and have been skiing 3/4 times now the instruction is maybe less of an issue,but as i am sure most parents appreciate a good english speaking instructor,in a well balanced class of say 6/8 max,where the children are streeetched whilst making the learning process fun,(bumps ,trees ,little forays into the soft stuff in the margins,etc),means happy children who progress well every ski trip as mine have done with SNOWBIZZ in puy saint vicent.However for family skiing its time to spread our wings a bit so,
I suppose without getting into the specifics/criteria too much,the whole point of this thread for all is to build up some suggestions for resorts and specificly accomadations that have been ultra convenient for your familiy holidays.
once again thanks for all your input so far,
hedley
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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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hedley, funny, I'd've thought instruction would be becoming more of an issue in your situation...
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| Liam wrote: |
hedley, What about the Hochfilzer in Ellmau, Austria, great hotel, good food family run, 2 minutes to the slopes with access to the whole ski welt, great ski school, shortish transfers, ive been twice and it was brill- heres a link to the Hotels website http://www.hotel-hochfilzer.com/en/default.asp Its expensive through the TO, booking direct is much cheaper.
Good luck, where ever you choose to go |
I agree about Ellmau generally. Hochfilzer is good for kids but a bit of a schlepp to the nursery areas. I found the ski school to waver between great and not-so-great. A bit of a lottery depending on what instructor.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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hedley, tremblant quebec small and freindly great ski school ski in ski out short airport transfer great safe traffic free village can be a bit disney but kids will love it
no good in january though can be v cold 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Neilski, do you live in nantwich or nantwitch
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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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Hedley your lucky my kids have overtaken me !
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Ray Zorro, We returned from the Maerchen Hotel last weekend and it was everything you've said and more, a complete childrens paradise. It cost 1750CH per adult but the children were free. We stayed for New Year so this was an expensive time. However the gala dinner had the BEST seafood I have ever experienced an amazing spread. There are (I think) just 8 lifts and the one up to Gommen (SP) has been closed as its now 50 years old and considered unsafe (never had an accident though) so you now have to take a snowmobile taxi up to the restaurant and ski back down the (now unpisted) black which was sort of fun   There will be a new chair next year. English was spoken by only four (of the ten) instructors and they seemed very relaxed about prebooking prefering to see who turned up then to change the instructors round to suit the languages needed, all very nice though. Met Swiss,German,Italian,French and a Portuguese familys who have all returned many times, only one other Brit in the hotel. Childcare for the morning until 1230 was included but if your children are under two I would advise you check they are ok with looking after them as they were only just about ok with ours at 26 months. They will then look after the children from 1600 to 2000hrs whilst you have dinner the children do drawing comps, make outfits, do fashion parades,jump for hours on the full size indoor bouncy castle (!) just all sorts of great stuff and you have NEVER seen a dressing up box like the one they have there !
New this year above the nursery/playroom is an Xbox 360 room ....erm for the children of course
Tip, click on "Bilderbook" on Rays link
This is a place I would def visit in the Summer too, my guide told me about a climbing park on the mountain that is set up for almost any age/level of climber.
I'm not saying anymore as I would'nt want to spoil the surprises....
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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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hedley, I'm relieved to hear they haven't caught up with you yet - mine are 6 and I keep being told how in 3 or 4 years they'll be waaay ahead of me!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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It may not fulfill all of your criteria, but I think Les Gets is probably the best family resort out of the 40 or so I've visited.
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I can't see why a family wouldn't enjoy a holiday in any of the resorts I've been to, which have different characteristics. We've had great times in a few places that fail on several of the criteria given above. I think presence of other kids of the same age is a positive factor, which is pretty well independent of the resort.
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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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tomf, la norma may fit the bill,any reccomendations for apartments you have used ?,trying to avoid the tired looking ones with the green/orange bathroom suites  did you drive there?,how long is the drive from calais/geneva as i am weighing up the pros /cons of driving versus flying?any info greatfully receieved
hedley
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Hedley we fly in to Chambery with Jet2.com ,my sister stays in Pickmere and used Jet2 out of Manchester on the early morning flight with the return flight returning at @6.30pm giving an extra day on the slopes.We used Euorpecar booked through Erna Low and had the use of a brand new VW touran which was excellent with masses of space,the car rental office is 10 yards from the airport terminal.La Norma is an hour and twenty minutes from the airport straight down the motorway towards Turin whiich is far quiiter than the road past Albertville.
As i said i booked the apartments through Erna Low and they are called Les Balvons D`Annais ,the apartments are large and modean we booked the 3 room 6 person for £350 for X-mas week and the only exras where sheets and tourist tax.Car parking is free and is available directly outside.The resort is 3 miles past the large town of Modane which has plently of shops and supermarkets, icannot stress how easy it is to reach ,it has the best resort access road i have ever come across and the shortest.The centre of La Norma is car free and flat ,its not large but if you liked Psv La Norma as a village is far better laid out and more convenient than anywhere else i have been and that includes Val morrel.
The ski aresa has similar sking to Puy although not quiet as large,however For 126 euros you can ski both Aussiois and Valfrejus both are 15 minutes way.The resort is North facing and hold the snow well however it can be cold which is when the advantage of Aussios becomes usefull as it is south facing and is best for mornings in the sun ,the retaurants are good both on and off the hill and affordable with no huge inpersonal self service eateries.We didnt use the ski school but my sisters family did and want to return again next year saying Esf was fine.
I have driven down in the past using P and o from Hull to Zeebrugge which was fine however be warned it will an 8 hour drive at least to La Norma,self drive is better for 2 weeks as it a long way from the north of England .Better to fly at x-mas be warned Frech airports are manic at christmas Chambery was well overcrowed.La Norma is popular with Dutch and the Belgians so English is widely spoken.As said in my last post Erna Low give fantastic service the last 3 holidays i have used them and the service cannot be faulted.The Maurienne valley has 1600 kms of psite according to tourist office so their plenty to explore and the kids love the excitment of trying out unknown quiet ski areas.
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