Holidays Explained

The overall success of a family ski holiday depends on planning.  For you to be able to ski, children need to be settled into a good ski school or child care facility and you need to be staying in the right resort, right accommodation and be wearing the right gear.

Resorts & Ski Areas

Accommodation

Ski schools & Kindergartens

Childcare 

Resorts & Ski Areas

The Easter break is going to be late in 2009, with Easter day falling on April 12.   This means you will have limited resorts to choose from if you want to go in the school holidays. Prices also increase from 4th April onwards.  To ski this late in the season you need a high altitude resort with gentle pistes or one with snow cannons - although there has to be a certain amount of snow on the piste and cold enough temperatures for these to work anyway.  

It really pays to speak to a specialist Travel Agent who knows the country you are interested in going to.  You can get very good deals by booking independently, but a  good specialist Travel Agent will be worth considering.  

But as a starting point, good late season, high altitude resorts worth considering are Tignes, France, Yllas, Finland, Obergurgl, Austria, Saas-Fee, Switzerland.

It is worth researching the ski resorts and their piste runs.  For young children you need good nursery slopes with modern equipment to teach them the skills needed for skiing in a fun way. 

Booking in low-season is more child-friendly (January, March and April but not Easter) and can reduce costs with the added benefit of less queuing at ski lifts.  March and April tend to be a lot warmer, it's even possible to ski without a jacket!

Check the snow reports and records (see links page).  Low lying resorts can end up with lots of piste closures or icy nursery slopes if there hasn't been much snow.  Check if they have snow cannons (artificial snow) for periods without snow fall, but even these often don't cover the ski school area.  It is much harder for little ones to learn to ski on ice. 

There is no doubt though, that some resorts are geared to families and others are simply not. 

Some other good family resorts to consider are:

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Accommodation

Hotels can really vary and this is where your Travel Agent can come into their own.  A good Travel Agent can advise you exactly what to expect.   Some hotels are not flexible with eating times, while others offer a sitting for children then an adults sitting and provide baby monitors so you can have a relaxing dinner. 

Some hotels have crèches and kindergartens in the complex making childcare easier for smaller children. It really is worthwhile speaking to your Agent who knows the hotel inside out and if done correctly, a hotel can give you a welcome break from making beds, cooking and cleaning and be a real relaxing holiday for the whole family.  We have had some fantastic family holidays in hotels which have been worth every penny, the advice given was invaluable.  www.skiwild.co.uk has been outstanding in advising and organising such holidays.

Chalets are a good idea if you are going with a group of families and can fill the chalet.  There will be no need for baby monitors or babysitting as they can be asleep while you relax and socialise downstairs.  Often they have big roaring fires and someone will come and cook you an evening meal and sometimes afternoon teas after a busy day on the slopes.  They vary greatly in size, some are small apartment chalets sleeping 4, with larger chalets sleeping up to 30.   With regards to location, some are close to the slopes while others are further away but transport can be organised.  Some are geared to families and have child safety equipment such as stair gates so again a good specialist travel agent who knows the areas and the chalets can be invaluable in tailoring the holiday to your party size and needs.  www.familyski.co.uk  is one worth contacting.

You need to check how far your accommodation is from the slopes and the Ski Schools, especially if you have children of different ages and skiing abilities.  The last thing you want to be doing is rushing around dropping one child to one childcare facility, catching a ski bus to the ski school and then finally getting to your nice black run, only to get one run in and having to turn back to pick them all up.

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Ski Schools & Kindergartens

Before booking, it's worth seeing if the ski schools have websites for further details.  It will be money well spent if the ski school combines play with the learning.  Look out for Kids Parks which are "learn and playground" areas for beginners and more advanced children.  They have many training aids devised from the newest technology. Only course participants of the snow schools can use the equipment such as conveyor belts (very important as little ones get so tired if they keep having to walk up the slopes, however small the slope), carousels (pulls them around like a roundabout and gets them used to the skiing position), along with brightly coloured arches to ski under or around.  Most offer weekly ski races at the end of the holiday with medals, certificates and photos.  Older children can even participate in slalom and speed races.

As standard, they should all have security bibs as they might not stay on the nursery slope. By mid week they are taken up ski lifts and onto blue and red runs.

You can book private ski lessons, group weekly lessons (5 days usually) or sometimes a few days in a group.  

To plan your skiing and other childcare you need to know exactly when they will be skiing.  Please check with each Ski School but generally the times are as follows:

Austrian ski schools are usually from 10am to 12pm, break for lunch, then 1 - 3pm.  (Lunch is usually up the mountain so you don't pick them up).

French ski schools often have the choice of morning, afternoon or all day lessons.

Italian ski schools usually start around 10am until 1pm. Often the last two days are until 4pm with races in the afternoon.

Check if lunch is included and if they have English speaking instructors. 

Do put your mobile phone number in your child's rucksack and leave it with the instructor.  It is very common, especially mid-week, for young children to get tired and therefore tearful and you can be contacted to pick them up early.  

Ski kindergartens are for children up to the age of 3 years and is basically child care on the nursery slope.  This varies greatly from resort to resort and can involve some ski practice, playing games, building snowmen and sometimes they have their own indoor playroom with toys, DVDs and art and crafts. 

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Childcare

Many tour operators, hotels and chalets offer some level of childcare, from private nannies to on-site crèches and kindergartens.  It is essential to book early and to establish if the staff are fully qualified and if they speak English.  Stories of bored children who don't understand the language have been known, so do establish what activities are available, i.e., do they go off site (some hotels have their own nursery slopes which they take the children tobogganing or just to play) and what hours do they operate? 

Travel companies such as Neilsons offer their own childrens' clubs run by experienced English speaking nannies as do the Family Ski Company and Crystal, but these are very popular and are booked up early.  Often these are grouped according to age and activities vary accordingly. Crystal's crèches take infants from 6 months to 4 years and costs around £100 for 6 morning or afternoons (lunch extra).  Its older group, The Whizz Kids, take children from 3-11 years and drop and collect your child from ski school, adding valuable time to your available skiing time.

Staying with one of the big tour operators also means they often provide baby sitting services in the evenings too.

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