 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi,
First post, so please be gentle!
We're trying to plan a trip for the 08/09 season which will introduce our son - who will by then be 3 1/2 yrs old - to skiing.
We've got one other good skier in the group, plus a non-skiing adult and another child who will be coming up to 2yrs old so not skiing either, but giving the 3yr old the best introduction to skiing is the priority.
What we're looking for:
1) Short transfer time, preferably less than 1hr
2) Slope-side accommodation
3) Hotel that has an indoor pool and offers either adjoining rooms or a suite as we don't really want to be going to bed at the same time as the kids.
4) Reliable snow but not too cold - we haven't decided when to go, but probably late January or early March
5) I think we're looking at Europe, and probably flying but Eurostar might work
We're not necessarily looking at taking a package holiday here but again we're open to suggestions.
The closest i've got so far is the Chanps Fleuris hotel in Morzine, but they don't seem to have connecting rooms...
Many 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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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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wjules, lots of hotels in Austria have connecting rooms. indoor pools, sauna ( if you don't mind nudity ), fitness rooms, excellent food, playrooms for the kids with daycare, etc etc. On the whole the quality is excellent. Generally speaking you can arrange accomodation yourself. Look into here or here at the resorts listed under Tyrol, Salzburg and possibly Voralberg ( for Lech ).
Fly into Innsbruck you have a large choice of resorts with 1-2 hours transfer with reliable snow. Fly into Munich and you are with 2-3 fours of the same resorts. As to which resort, that depends on what your level is. I can highly recommend St.Anton/Lech/Zürs, Kitzbühel & Kirchberg, the whole of the Schi-Welt (Brixen, Hopfgarten, Söll,Itter etc.), various places in Zillertal such as Mayerhofen and Hochfügen, or Saalbach-Hinterglemm, or Ischgl / Samnaun, or Serfauss, or Obergurgl, or Sölden... I could go on.
You have an agony of choices 
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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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wjules, I'm in a similar situation but without the extra child, but for this year.My wife is a timid skier who's not likely to be skiing much and we have a 3 3/4 yr old (who wants to go skiing after a taster lesson last year!).
We were stuck with 2nd week of april and this year we've plumped for Obertauern,mainly because it's a short transfer and it's got a good rep for late season conditions and the skiing is near all the hotels. It's also got a good variety of skiing although it's a relatively small resort.
The ski school are very informative (decided on CSA Grillitsch) by email and we've also gone for a hotel with a swimming pool (the Schneider).
I have to confess to being a bit worried about what we'll do if the little one doesn't cope too well with ski school as there's not a great deal to do in Obertauern other than ski, but we'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it. there's always sledding and snowmen!
For my other half the only thing you can really do if you don't ski is get pampered in the hotel. Usefully the package hotel we've gone for gives some pampering freebies so I'me siure she'll be trying that out, and Mauterndorf is quite a picturesque town 20mins by bus.
I'll post how we got on when I got back.
I think your best bet however would be to go with a specialist company like Esprit if possible, maybe somewhere like Selva. They deal with the kids of that age really well - we would have done this year but can't afford it !
Hamish
forgot to mention - fly to Salzburg, 40 Euro return transfer by taxi
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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HI
Can i just recommend Scheffau in Austria, with Ski esprit - we took our 3 1/2 year old in jan this year
He had a whale of a time, the ski instructers have a fenced off childrens area at the top of the gondola
The esprit guys & girls never leave them on their own for any reason, even turning up on days off
He learnt to ski controlled "pizzas", and had a whale of a time - on the last day we were a bit late
and he was on the little bus in his socks with one ski in his hand before we realised - shouting at us
to get his stuff.
Scheffau, is a reasonably large area, has good all round skiing, with plenty of scope for all but the very best ( ski or snoboard)
there are lots of facilities at the hotels as well - pools etc.
We stayed at the alpin, which was a good hotel nice rooms ( sizeable as well).
it was so good , we have tried ( in vain ) to book again this year, but have decided to go ski esprit to st anton for the last week
( as much based on a small voice asking to go again as anything else )
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gazza2, we went there last year - yes recommended.
It's just a bit of a pain getting the bus to the gondola though, and not much of a village for non-skiers (1 shop, 1 bar I think). The all-inclusive drinks in the hotel works well though 
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Hi
We have stayed at the Hotel Sporting Morzine for the last 3 years, great family hotel, indoor/outdoor pool and has family rooms, lovely food, great staff.
1hr transfer from Geneva, We have booked the hotel direct and got good flights on Easyjet, the hotel organised our transfer for us but we are a large group 28
Skiing is fab, is a low resort but does have a good snow record, there is a good thread on here with lots of info, sorry no link, not that clever!
Hope this helps.
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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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| Quote: |
| For my other half the only thing you can really do if you don't ski is get pampered in the hotel. |
? I can think of several things I'd rather do than get pampered in a hotel. For example, go for a walk, get up a lift, and sit at the top of a mountain with a good book and a large drink. It's nice to do stuff you can't do at home. If that's too dull, go for a tandem parapente ride. Magic.
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wjules,
The Sunstar in Wengen has all the things that you seek, and is very family friendly. If you fly via Berne with FlyBe the transfer is about an hour. 50 metres to the cable-car and nursery slopes. Lots to do for non-skiers - the whole area is accessible by trains & cable-cars, and you can get a special non-skier lift pass for this purpose. Excellent facilities for very young children.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Just got back from Alpe d'Huez and can highly recommend, although we did have great weather and conditions whislt we were there.
Also a very familty friendly resort with a wide range of terrain for all levels. Went with First Choice this year and their kids facilities / clubs etc were excellent and gave the adults more time on the slopes, and a chance to relax at night. There hotel - Hotel Royal Ours Blanc also had an indoor swimming pool and was next to the town outdoor pool.
Excellent resort.
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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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Wjules welcome to  Austria is definatley your best bet,I would recomend Mannis, Strass hotel or Nehaus in Mayrhofen, Short transfer day tours to Salzburg for non skier and rail link to Innsbruck. SMT ski school is great for kids as is skiskule 3000.
Saalbach amazing for everything and Zell EM Zee is only down the road Hotel Kristal is great as is the Panther b ut the pool is outdoors.
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| reded78 wrote: |
Just got back from Alpe d'Huez and can highly recommend, although we did have great weather and conditions whislt we were there.
Also a very familty friendly resort with a wide range of terrain for all levels. Went with First Choice this year and their kids facilities / clubs etc were excellent and gave the adults more time on the slopes, and a chance to relax at night. There hotel - Hotel Royal Ours Blanc also had an indoor swimming pool and was next to the town outdoor pool.
Excellent resort. |
Agreed, but be careful where you stay - it's spread out and on a hill, so if your accomodation is down at the bottom it's a pain to "pop back for something you've forgotten"
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You know it makes sense.
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Can I suggest a way of making this a wider choice? We've always shared a room with our kids, starting very young, and this makes life much easier. Obviously you wouldn't make the first time you do this a skiing holiday, but it doesn't take long for them to learn to sleep through all your noise, probably 2 or 3 nights at most. If you carry on doing this on holidays it gives them benefits for life, being able to sleep better with noise around. We've never found them waking in the evenings because of the noise or having the lights on. They still sleep with us at night in hotels, the biggest is 14 next week, and it's reversed now, he stays up watching tv while we sleep through it.
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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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I would definitely recommend Les Gets, got back yesterday (1 hour transfer from Geneva), great skiing for all levels. There is an excellent nursery for 6 months to 4 years olds, my 2 year old was happy there in the mornings and the ESF is brilliant. My little boy (5) has just done his first week and was happily skiing blues, doing jumps and wanting to go off piste! There is a skating rink, and areas for sledging and a little train that runs around the village - which I had to go on every day just beacuase the kids wanted to. Not sure about accomodation in les gets as we opted for an apartment. There is a spa with a swimming pool not sure if any of the hotels have got pools. You might be best going for a slope side catered or self catering chalet then you can put the kids to bed and stay up (although I bet you won't be staying up too late, skiing with the kids is harder than skiing all day and staying up till 2 am! Les Gets is also very pretty - nicest looking resort I've been to. If you fly on an easyjet flight (we got flights from East Mids for next to nothing), there are loads of companies doing transfers - if you stay in the resort centre there would be no need for a car.
I've been told the Crystal Family Hotel in Morzine is good but we didn't go into Morzine itself.
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