 Poster: A snowHead
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We are looking to go skiing next Xmas/New Year and we want a catered chalet. This suits our two family needs = 4 adults. 2 infants, 2 toddlers, 1 twelve/thirteen year old.
Would you recommend a chalet that you have stayed in that is suitable for two families? Which travel firms should we look at or are there good sites that provide a catered chalet where we arrange our own travel?
Not sure booking it all separately is that much cheaper but I would appreciate your comments.
I have not been online here for a year or so and we have not been skiing for over a year as the family was growing so my apologies for lack of contributions recently. 
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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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I would recommend Chalet Alpenland with Skiworld http://www.skiworld.co.uk/ski-resorts/austria-ski-holidays/lech/alpenland . We had a fabulous time here and the rooms are perfect for your party. Adjoining rooms with kitchen between each pair. We didn't need childcare which might be an issue for you (?) but if the Chalet is your main driver then you could do a lot worse. Zug is a small hamlet 5 mins from Lech on the free ski bus. The Ski in- Ski Out can be a little challenging depending on conditions so the bus (or Horse darwn sleigh) might be better. Worth a look.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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We've been using Family Friendly Skiing (www.familyfriendlyskiing.co.uk)in La Tania (Courchevel/3 vallees) for the last 3 years, ever since our youngest turned 1. If you want a family set-up (as opposed to top-end/luxury) then I'd recommend them. You organise flights (usually to Geneva), they organise transfers and everything else in resort.
I'm not normally someone who repeatedly goes back to the same resort, but the catered family set up with Family Friendly works for us and makes it easy going with infants & kids. Besides which I really like the Courchevel ski area and the La tania end is cheaper and more family oriented.
My opinion/low down - Accomodation & catering is standard catered chalet stuff to be honest though most of their chalets (though we've only stayed in two of them) have sauna and/or hot-tub and all are close to piste. We've always found food good (think home cooked/rustic style not top-end restaraunt), wine plentiful and the chalet hosts & staff to be very friendly and hard working (I think the staff and their attidude reflect a lot on a company and I think they've always been excellent in our 3 trips to date). The big plus, as the name suggests, is they cater for families, so stair gates, cots, baby monitors, baby meals, toddler meals, etc, all sorted. They were also one of the few companies I found who would provide child seats or boosters for the transfer minibuses (or would ensure a minibus with seatbelts if you take your own car seat). Chalets have games/toys/art stuff etc and they provide nannies who come to your chalet to look after kids/toddlers/babies at your chalet if required (much less faff than getting them to a creche/nursery). We've always used the childcare service and it has always been good and we've always felt comfortable leaving ours with them. This year our eldest is at ski school 2 hours a day so they will do the drop off and pick up and care around the lessons.
To be honest if you are after 5* perfection or top-end luxury then it's probably not for you, but if you want a standard style catered chalet deal but with family oriented services at reasonable value then I personally think they do a good job at what they do and I would definately recommend.
We're back with them in Jan for our 4th year, which says enough. I must admit I also like using a small family run company as opposed to the big companies.
Anyway hope that helps, might be suitable for you depending on what you are after.
If not, Ski Famille, Family Ski Company and a few others offer similar services, and a few other companies offer catered chalets with creches. Ski beat, Le Ski, and of course Esprit spring to mind.
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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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Thanks again Gazzza for your replies in both threads. Ski Famille looks good but pricey without a flight included.
When do the airlines release xmas flights for 2012 and how much would they possible cost from Birmingham or East Mids to Geneva?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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From looking previously I ve generally found FFS the cheapest out of FFS, Ski Famille and Faily Ski Co. Esprit can be decent price if you book last minute. But then again you are looknig to go prime time so it's going to cost you and if you want childcare and your other wishes you will probbaly be better bokoing early to get what you want or you run the risk of not getting what/where you want or childcare not necessarily being available.
Sorry not sure about chrismtas flights - I've never had to go over a christmas and new year period.
I tend to book my family January trip around Aug/Sep time so flights are obvisuly on sale by then. I suspect next christmas flights will be up early in the new year if not already but Im sure someone else who does the christmas/NY weeks can advise.
I typically pay 100-125 per person (25-30 for an under 2) return to Geneva on BA from Gatwick or Heathrow for decent flight times boths ways. I guess you will pay more as you want christmas/NY, plus E.Mids/Brum may be slightly more than Londres. Keep checking kayak or skyscanner.
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Esprit are very good. Have been with them the last four years, to Kaprun (no longer offered) and Obergurgl.
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Esprit are supposed to be very good, but kids (? under 13 ?) cannot eat evening meal with adults unless you book the whole chalet. This put us off booking with Esprit. Of course, you may not want to eat with the kids in the evening!
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I would thoroughly recommend ski famille. we went with them several times when ours 3 kids where little and couldn't ski all day. They had a fab time. Nannies come to the chalet in the morning. get bigger kids ready for ski school, kit, suncream helmets etc then take them off while you finish leisurely coffee. they pick them up after ski school have lunch and a bit of quiet time, then an afternoon activity (sledging, hot choc on the mountain, igloo building!) they where very flexible for us a s our older one (11yr) wanted to ski some afternoons with us so we just popped back and picked her up about 1ish. The middle one was (9) and was torn between fun with the nannies and skiing with us so he split his week or we took him out for last hour before lifts closed. The youngest(6) loved the nannies and wouldn't dream of going skiing with boring parents when she could go on a bear hunt and have hot choc. Food was great> the eldest when she was 12-13 wanted to eat with the adults later and that was easily arranged with no fuss. All in all a real stress free holiday kids happy adults happy. les gets great ski area, fab mountain restaurants great runs for all levels. Worth every penny!
consider driving down. we set off at 10 pm form sheffield kids sleep all the way to reims at about 7 then breakfast, DVD, coffee, Dvd, lunch, DVD and your there easy! £200 for 5, whole drive 12 hours door to door + food/rest stops, time change usually arrive in resort about 14.00.
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We used FFS in La Tania a couple of years ago and thought they were great - stayed in Chalet Abigail. Also try Ski Magiac in La Tania who run a similar operation. Neither company has a separate creche - the nanny comes to the chalet which worked well.
Snowcrazy also have an in house nanny - haven't used them yet because we love La Tania so much ! But we are trying their sister comonay Skibug this Easter in La Plagne and they are providing a nanny for us.
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