Your Advice


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

tess@littleskiers.co.uk

.... and as a thank you we will send you a discount code to use in our shop

and the best overall advice for 09/2010 season will win a Trespass ski jacket of their choice.....

A big thank you to our recent contributors:

Fiona Baxter - July 09

Would recommend Chalet Heidi, fully catered chalet - very child friendly - they even did an earlier tea at 5pm or 6pm for our young ones- dinner for adults is 7pm sharp!

was in Scheffau, Austria - 90 minute transfer from Salzburg and booked it independently.  There is a crèche in the village for under 4s and the ski school for 4s and over is fab - they will even supervise over the lunchtime (for an extra charge) so you don't have to worry about getting back to the ski school half way through the day.  And with the Ski Welt area having such a huge number of pistes there is so much to explore.  Scheffau is so small it has NOTHING going on in the evening though - which with small children isn't an issue!  But nights in with fellow chalet guests after your 4-course dinner are great.

Geoff Caddick - July 09

Why not do an exercise to comapre what you can do yourself versus what the travel agents and ski comapnies offer?  The hard works is up front in researching putting together a package but this can be fun.

The rationale: If you hate sitting on coaches that often linger at airports waiting for several groups to arrive on different flights and then throw your children around on mountain roads when they do set out, often with dire alimentary consequences .... and .... the flights being offered are leaving UK at ungodly hours....... and you arrive at a resort where half of France is in residence for a with with prices set to match the pockets of rich Russian oil tycoons.... then you might want to look at ski trains or even fly drive via airports with scheduled flights.  You could be surprised by how good a deal you can get on car hire and airline tickets.  Plus there are some real little hotel gems out there.  I own up to having limited experience of catered chalets as they seem to focus primarily on afternoon cake baking versus real food provision!

Admittedly it helps if you speak a little of one or two languages but European tourist offices are very helpful and usually cater for UK mono-glots.  Plus there are some great ski resorts guides available from your local book shops and the tour operators web sites are often useful if read carefully and sceptically, especially when they say that the resort caters for all abilities.  Always review the piste maps carefully!

I have booked ski holidays this way for the last few years and really love working to a more relaxed and family specific agenda.  This is especially useful - if like me - you have 4 children and on-line booking tools don't cater well in terms of detailing hotel family rooms.

The other big plus is you can target smaller resorts with less ski traffic and more local charm if you wish.

Again, this is something I do based on ski guides and mini "reccies" of different areas when at a neighbouring resort.

In summary, I would say that this DIY strategy is worth exploring if you have the time and drive and you are willing to go beyond the single single booking transaction that gets you into an all found package in the mainstream resorts.  Good Luck!


Mr Arthur, London - July 09

Hotels we stayed at: Mont Cervin & Mote Rosa in Zermatt.  Recommend Scott Dunn travel agents.  Would recommend travelling on a sunday as excellent for the kids.

Victoria - July 09

We stayed in a catered chalet in Zermatt, Chalet Zaphir.  The company we went through was Scott Dunn skiing - excellent with children - chalet was lovey and they provided Nannies for our trip so we could leave the children with the Nannies during the day in the chalet.  Other child care options are the Zermatt Kindergarten , we have used them before for small babies, 6 months and it was great.  I believe that the Monte Rosa Hotel in Zermatt also has some kind of crèche attached to it.   Hope this is helpful for your website, thanks Victoria

Mr P Mac - July 09

Hotel recommended: Chalet Mara, Kaprun booked through Ski Esprit.  Top tip:  Fly to Salzburg for a short transfer, excellent nursery slope on the sunny side of the valley, wide & gentle, not connected to any pistes so not skied through!

Mr. Lanham Sept 09

We stayed at the Residence Les Balcons de Sirius hotel in Risoul. A great 4 star hotel with an indoor swimming pool. Swim in a lovely warm pool while watching people ski passes the window! Located close to the piste and the shops.
We flew with Crystal from Bournemouth - a great small airport without the huge number of people that you get at Gatwick - much better for the little ones to cope with.
The in resort rep was fantastic - we had a few problems and queries and he sorted them all very promptly. The only downside was the 3 hour transfer - a bit long for some children.
The resort has some nice long gentle slopes which our little skiers loved!
We have booked to go again, this time we are trying Thomson, as they are cheaper than Crystal this year!

Hope this helps.
Stuart

Louise Waite:March 2009.

We went to Hotel Alpendorf in Alpendorf Austria.  The resort was great as were the holiday company.  I think we packed all the right things except that I did not have any proper snow boots.  That only became a problem when we sledged 1.5km down a mountain in the dark.  My footwear was warm and dry but too smooth to slow us down.  Snow boots with decent grips might have prevented us picking up tremendous speed and flying off the edge of the track like crazy stunt men.  Ah well.  We didn't hurt ourselves, We had a brilliant time skiing by the way and Eliza looked great in all her Little Skiers gear.

louise waite daughter photo_1.jpg

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.  We have booked independently and a few years ago used the family ski company which were v helpful.


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. 

Tess from Little Skiers

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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Ski Jacket competition:  Emailed advice needs to be submitted by 28th February 2010 and the winner will be announced on the website and emailed directly by the 14th March 2010.


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