Your Advice

Please email any advice/tips/good family friendly ski resorts or hotels to .....

tess@littleskiers.co.uk

Recent emails:

Tessa from Lincolnshire:

FLUMSERBURG - is a small Swiss ski resort, 1 hr drive from Zurich.  It's a pretty traditional Swiss resort with no package holidays.  It's very quiet during the week so children are very safe.  Not a huge amount of skiing for experienced skiers but good for families.  Not sure if there is a ski school but perfect for a very young family on first ski holiday.  Lots of nice mountain restaurants & stunning views and we skied from our hotel.

FLIMS - is about 1.5 hours from Zurich and is much bigger so lots more runs.  But again, fantastic views, and very quiet.  You do have to go in a cable car from the main hotel areas to the ski area but it was well worth it.  This resort is my favourite.

Med from London:

We found Alpe D"Huez to be a good mix for experienced parents and learners. There is a  designated ‘slow zone’ good for children learning and my children enjoyed the different features like the igloos, glacier tours and snow mobiling.  The ski school was excellent with plenty of english speaking instructors.  We also had a days rest midweek, as its easy for them to get tired, and we visited the nearby sports centre with its ice skating rink and heated indoor swimming pool.  There are apartments close to the slope so you can get ski to the door (Pierre Vacances was good for apartments with 2 bedrooms and kitchen area and had downstairs bar area too at a reasonable price).  The town is bustling and has a good variety of shops, restaurants and bars.  When we went they had an evening of night skiing on the floodlit slope which looked fantastic - although with 2 children in tow we didn't partake.  The only down-side was that we went around half term, one week before our half term but it was actually the french half term so the queues for the first gondola up were lengthy in the morning and around lunch time at various lifts too - so definitely check the European holidays too!

Victoria from Chester: 

We found Les Arcs, Flaine very good and Courcheval as well.  The worst place I've been to for kids is Chamonix. Not very beginner friendly apart from at the top of the valley and you have to get buses everywhere as its so spread out.  We went in peak season as well and the queues for the first gondola up were horrendous, once waiting for over an hour - which i don't need to explain any further what it was like with 2 young children!

Melissa from London:

We are big fans of Austria and can recommend Kinderhotels in Serfaus, Lermoos, St. Johann and Obertauern.  The ski schools have been consistently of a high standard, possibly the best place for kids to learn to ski. Obertauern is quite a high ski resort to great snow reliability as well as lovely wide pistes.

 

John from Chesterfield: 

We bought our children's skis second hand from the ski club locally.  They were in excellent condition and could be still handed down.  Check the various snowdomes and dry slopes to see if they sell off older skis. 

 

Me:

I can highly recommend Hotel GrunerBaum in Bad Gastein, Austria (booked through Ski Independence).  Family friendly dinners, baby listening devices, on site kindergarten and ski-kindergarten.  Big indoor swimming pool and spa, all set in a beautiful valley.  Ski school was excellent with English speaking teachers and modern equipment for them to learn with.

Lucy from London:

"We took our young family to a less well-known resort that was much smaller than we were used to before we had children.  But it was perfect for them, less crowds with great nursery and beginner slopes as well as being so much cheaper"

Helen from Derbyshire:

"Its worth getting little ones used to all the skiing gear before you go, let them play with the goggles and helmets so they get excited about going - then hopefully no tantrums about not wanting to wear the goggles".

Susan from London:

"Try going to one of the snow domes before your first ski trip, we took our little boy to a toddler tobogganing session, which he loved, and got him used to the cold and snow".

Peter from Lincolnshire:

"You can buy plastic skis which strap directly onto their snow boots and are lightweight to transport.  We only paid £40 and they have lasted our 3 yr old the first 2 yrs of skiing, ready to be handed down to our smallest child.  Cheaper than hiring and comfortable as they wear their own boots".

Lucy from Lincolnshire:

"We tried the Ski Tip clip on our 3 year old (he wasn't having lessons) and it kept his skis in the perfect snow plough, worth buying it's a difficult skill to learn".

Lynn from Cheshire:

"We waited till our little boy was 5 before going into ski lessons, just being used to being at school at home helped him learn and  take instruction.  My friend tried at 4 yrs and he was too young as he just wanted to play"

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