 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all, total newbie to skiing who's under a lot of pressure from my family to make this holiday a success with so little time to plan it.
So it's our first self drive ski holiday around march 18th for a week. (Have driven to south of France on a few occasions so not phased by long journeys and kids love it)
We are a family of 6:
2 adults - will of had 10 hours private tuition each and also 10 hours of alone practice each by time we go. My husband has also skied in Canada and Austria but that was 20 years ago.
4 kids who will have a few dry slope lessons before they go (ski school and nursery planned for when in resort)
Ages - 10,8,7,2 - will be 3 on march 31st.
Budget: as a family of 6 we are trying to keep the cost down as we are planning on a 2 week holiday with 1 week spent skiing - not sure yet on other week lol. We are looking at spending £2000-£2500 max which will be for accommodation, ski equipment, lift passes, ski school.
Areas: France and Austria (have yet to look but I'm guessing Austria will be out of our budget?).
Resorts that are coming up great value - les orres, les coches. What's people's thoughts on these places or could you suggest others?
Resort size, this doesn't matter a great deal to us, we obviously don't want anywhere club 18-30 type resorts, would like some things for us as a family to do in the night etc, but tbh I expect us all to be shattered.
Any tips, info etc would be so much appreciated
Xx
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
| Resorts that are coming up great value - les orres, les coches. |
Coming up as great value where? For what?
You have a car that can take all 6 of you plus gear?
Cheapest option would be to drive in one car, self cater, etc. Just not sure about childcare for the 2yo.
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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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Hi thanks for the reply.
Les orres and les coches seems to best price for accommodation, ski pass,equipment, although have yet to have price on ski school. Les orres is by far the cheapest but I'm unsure about it being so far down south etc.
Yes we have a 7 seater jeep with roof box so plenty of room thankfully.
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On that budget I would plan on going for a week long ski holiday rather than 2 weeks. Are you including the cost of getting there in the £2500? Self drive will be the cheapest way.
I would not recommend Les Coches. The La plagne lift pass will eat into your budget. There are cheaper smaller resorts that will be just as good for what you need. I also think there are better places than les coches for your kids on their first ski trip.
I went to les orres 25 years ago and from what I can recall it would not be a bad option. However it is a long old drive down there and there are some other places that might work out better. Have a look at Val Cenis or Aussois self drive with Peak Retreats. We have been to Val Cenis with them and I'd say it would be ideal for you. I haven't been to Aussois but it seems to be somewhere suitable for families with young children and on the cheaper side.
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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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You could look at Andorra, they do 'deals' with accommodation and lift passes https://hoteles.grandvalira.com/en/ski-holidays.html check where they are as some of them are a bit outside the village centers. Which may not be a problem with a car, I did a quick check and for a week 18-25 march you could be looking at around 1700 euros self catering. Ski lessons would be on top of that but they are not huge money and the ski school is very good with a huge number of English speaking instructors. I also believe they have a snow kindergarten for your youngest as they are not old enough for ski school.
I have never driven to Andorra, so it may be way too far and you should budget for winter tyres as well.
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Ok.....I'm sure it can be done on that budget but it may be at the behest of your week elsewhere, although with work I reckon you could get it all for under £2k. This is how you could do it - I've planned many trips for my family (of 4) but the principle is the same. We always loved
1. Look at France.
2. Drive via Eurotunnel or Ferry with a stop near Troyes on the way down overnight and stay at a Formule 1.
3. Resort options: although this is very subjective, these are a few that have good ESF's and/or independent ski schools and good progression ski areas and are good for kids too: La Rosiere, Valmorel, Val Cenis, Les Contamines, Avoriaz, Alpe D'Huez, Le Corbier. AlpeD'Huez has a lovely big network of wide confidence building runs but it has the most expensive lift pass. ADH and La Rosiere will be bathed in sun as are south facing but could be a bit slushy in resort in mid to late March but they are lovely kid friendly places with great family skiing. Le Corbier is part of a massive region off the beaten track with English punters (the Les Sybelles) but accomodation is good for families and cheap, the lift pass reasonable and the skiing good
4. Book self catering apartments for all France through HomeAway.com, Pierre et Vacances, Odalys or France Location and enjoy the restaurants in resort and mix it with home cooked meals
5. Booking skis is easy on line for most resorts
6. Remember big ski areas have, in most cases, bigger lift pass costs and there is waste as, will you ski it all at the levels you're at?
7. All ski areas have beautiful mountains and breathtaking scenery - even if the resorts are more practical and have high-rise buildings to house families more cheaply
Good luck - I used to love planning my trips independently and this year have me, my eldest daughter and her partner going to Alpe D'Huez to a lovely apartment - can't wait. Also, remember this is to try and help and skiing holidays are like Marmite, some like the freedom of self catering in big French resorts and some love little chalets and chocolate box expense. It is each to their own but if you are on a budget and want the best for that money, this could be a way to facilitate a great week.
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Although I go there a lot I agree Les Coches may not be the best use of your budget. Although they have good apartment + lift pass deals that can ease the burden.
But one time we went to La Norma for example where we paid less for an apartment and a lift pass.
I've heard good things about Val Cenis though I've not been there.
Wouldn't go to the Les Contamines with this group/set up.
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It's a bit of a drive, but Bad Kleinkicheim (sp?) is offering children's lift passes for €6 when bought with an adult's.
If you are holding on until the last couple of weeks in March it is probable that some resorts will be offering completely free children's lift passes. We've had free passes in Saalbach, Ski Amade, Ski Welt and Les Arcs during the last week in March/first week in April. Going to Austria means you miss out on the French motorway toll fees - saving a bit more money.
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Just a quick reply because I'm just putting kids to bed then it's ski holiday planning and going through all the messages on here.
Hammerite - I've seen people mention Austria but I haven't properly looked at it because when I searched on sun web prices came in £2k just for accommodation including the lift pass. My husband would love to go there - last time he was there was 15 years ago it's all he bangs on about tbh!
Problem is we are self employed with a seasonal business, so last 2 weeks of march is the only time we can see us being able to close the business before the customers start flocking to us in April 
How do u know in advance that the places are offering free ski passes? Do u leave it last minute to book yours - is that what people do?.
We went to south of France last year so know only to well how much the tolls cost, so I suppose the fact that driving to Austria and less toll fees sounds good.
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@rm1982, check out the resort websites. I just googled Ski Amade free lift pass
http://www.skiamade.com/en/winter/ski-pass/offers you're in luck in a few ways... they have a family lift pass. The third child skis for free or their Easter offer starts on 18th March (good timing!)
Rather than looking on Sunweb have a look at AirBnB, Booking.com and the resorts own find accommodation pages - you should be able to find something that suits. Sunweb is great, as is Snowtrex, but with the bundled lift pass for all 6 you don't know how much of that cost is the accommodation and how much is the lift pass.
If you are planning on having a proper holiday which includes eating out occasionally then Austria is often much cheaper to eat and drink out than France.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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Gosh that all sounds great, we do like eating out as a family when we are away. We planned to definitely eat out all together at lunch time and see how tired we are after ski lessons etc as to whether we eat out at night but I don't mind chucking the slow cooker on tbh.
Another person said to do things separately as well which I have no problem doing.
Il check out that link x
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@rm1982, one thing to consider if Austria does become your preference, the ski schools tend to operate all day group lessons. That will mean family lunches become difficult. When we've done this you usually buy a voucher from the ski school for the kids to use to buy their lunch at a mountain hut, or they charge a set fee for a kids lunch. I think last time it was about €10 a day. As we still wanted some family ski time together we tended to book 3 days of lessons (so 3 days all skiing together) and bookended the lessons skiing together before 10am and after 3pm.
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You know it makes sense.
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| hammerite wrote: |
| @rm1982, one thing to consider if Austria does become your preference, the ski schools tend to operate all day group lessons. That will mean family lunches become difficult. When we've done this you usually buy a voucher from the ski school for the kids to use to buy their lunch at a mountain hut, or they charge a set fee for a kids lunch. I think last time it was about €10 a day. As we still wanted some family ski time together we tended to book 3 days of lessons (so 3 days all skiing together) and bookended the lessons skiing together before 10am and after 3pm. |
I don't think that's always the case, supervised lunch is an option but not compulsory
E.g Zell am see http://www.sport-alpin.at/ski_kinderkurs.php?lang=eng
Or this is Rauris , which is a nice small family resort, ideal for little uns and beginners?
https://advrauris.skischoolshop.com/en/mobile/category/?category_id=4954
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Tue 17-01-17 21:20; edited 1 time in total
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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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@pieman666, "I have never driven to Andorra, so it may be way too far and you should budget for winter tyres as well."
I have, several times. Long bloody way and the route in through France can be awful in winter. Wouldn't attempt it with young kids.
You can fly to Barcelona inexpensively though with Ryanair and Barcelona and rent a car from the airport or book this bus service which takes you to the door (about 3 hours and the route is easy) https://www.andorrabybus.com/en
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Poster: A snowHead
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@t44tomo, this is why I said "tend to". Most we've experienced have, but not all. For all day lessons as the children start to improve the instructors often like to go out for the whole day so they can travel about a bit and cover a lot of varied ground.
Jnr loved this aspect of his holidays when he was younger, I think he felt a bit more grown up.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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La Plagne.
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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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Well I'm trying to look for ski school prices and lifts and it seems impossible, not as easy as pricing up the French ski schools.
In the resorts you've all mentioned how do you get back and forth. Some accommodation is showing as being 1-2 mile away from then centre, do u take busses, taxis or do we drive, if this is the case we will have to be up at 5am to organise ourselves lol
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Well I'm trying to look for ski school prices and lifts and it seems impossible, not as easy as pricing up the French ski schools.
In the resorts you've all mentioned how do you get back and forth. Some accommodation is showing as being 1-2 mile away from then centre, do u take busses, taxis or do we drive, if this is the case we will have to be up at 5am to organise ourselves lol
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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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@rm1982,
http://www.sunweb.co.uk/
Do pretty good self drive deals that have enthusiastic followers on  's
I would agree with the comments of going to a smaller resort as being a bit cheaper for most things. The 2/3 year old is probably too young for ski school , plenty of resorts have kindergartens /play centres which incude playing in the snow in good weather. I would check wherever you go has this facility.
With four children too organise I would try and book a place near the slope which should not be too difficult in a lot of French resorts.
A lot of the above suggestions are good a personal favourite of mine out of them is Val Cenis which has great family skiing and a pleasant French atmosphere.
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.@rm1982, a lot of resorts have a ski bus (free usually / with the lift pass) if accommodation isn't walking distance. Some hotels have a shuttle bus but obv not self catering places.
accommodation website should tell you somewhere on it how accessible to the lifts / gondola station they are, if not drop the an email and ask. with 4 little ones you want that handy. in a lot of places you hire your skis etc from near the lifts / resort centre and you can leave all your skis and boots there for free overnight, so the transfer to the lifts is done in snow boots etc, not ski boots, which makes it easier
price are on website for ski school, and then go to main resort site for ski passes.
@hammerite, yeah we did that with ours as it was easier as we were learning too, and yes when older often they were up a mountain somewhere at lunch anyway so meeting up wasn't easy. With beginners it will be fine as will be near meeting point or resort centre
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@rm1982, Ski buses are usually pretty good.
I'm not saying this is necessary, but an option is to drive to the lifts might make your lives a bit easier. Especially with the number of children you have to cart skis and poles for, saves walking around in ski boots. A lot of valley lifts have pretty big car parks next to them. Downsides - car defrosting/snow clearing (limited at the end of March) and that it limits the apres drinks!
It's usually possible to find accommodation closer than 1-2 miles though.
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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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@hammerite,
Where did you find the info on ski passes for €6 in bad k?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@hammerite,
Where did you find the info on ski passes for €6 in bad k?
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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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I'd vote for Val Cenis as @snowymum, has offered. We've, family of four, been in that week for the last two years and find it a great place for family skiing.
We've booked both through Peak Retreats as you get a Eurotunnel ticket in the cost of self catering apartments, and via Ski-france.com site for just straight apartment only. This one may get you something like €30 off each lift pass booked through the site.
As somebody earlier pointed out, lift passes for some of the biggest french ski areas may cost you alot even if the kids don't use all the scope of that. Val Cenis starts at more reasonable cost anyway.
We stayed at Lansvillard area and also Val Cenis Haute. They are next to each other, right on the piste with nursery slopes right there. Also some really good places for either lunch or evening eating out, again they are better cost than some of the other areas.
Our two kids like it so much we'll probably be there that week again this year.
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@rm1982,
| Quote: |
How do u know in advance that the places are offering free ski passes?
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I don't know about other resorts, but, for at least the last decade, Saalbach has offered free passes for children and young teenagers (born 2001 or later) after the middle of March (this year 18th March). It's a very worthwhile saving, especially for a larger family.
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You know it makes sense.
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Absolute no brainer. Risoul. Well worth the extra miles. Took my kids on their first ever ski holiday there. Nothing comes close for a young family IMHO.
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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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Hi All
Just a massive thank you to you all for all your advice and suggestions, I've spent the past two days going through them all and I'm absolutely frazzled!!!!
Cheapest French resort is working out as Val Cenis coming in at £2000 for accommodation, ski pass, ski hire and ski school. Self drive costs on top of course.
Austria well this is a dream of my husbands to go back as he was last skiing there 20 years ago, it's also somewhere we never thought would be in our price range, so to see it coming in as the same price as France is fab.
Can I ask some questions about Austria though:
1, skiwelt - the free kid lift pass offer states that it's used for Wilder Kaiser Brixental Region. So is it that there are 9 villages (as stated on skiwelt website) and we can ski at any of these areas with this lift pass?. Can anyone recommend a good village for families?.
2, I really get the feeling we're leaving this last minute to book as a lot of accommodation that comes up trying to keep between £400-£600 states that they are 1-2 miles away from the town centre? Is this a problem? We will have our car so driving to car parks to ski lifts etc is no problem.
3, ski schools for adults. How much do we or don't we need?. Myself and my husband (who has skied 20 years ago) will have 10hrs private and 10 hour practice and also a full day recreational skiing at a snow dome before we go in 8 weeks. I'm so determined to crack skiing and to be as good as my husband lol. But realistically will we still be classed as beginners which is ny guess, if we choose the adult beginner classes will this just be repeating what we've already done, or will we need this recap?
4, Ski schools for kids. My 3 older daughters age 10,8,7 start ski lessons Sunday. I thought they would have 8 weeks of lessons but The ski school has said they won't need many lessons before they can just turn up and practice skiing by themselves??, so what level does that leave them at when we go on holidays. Again if they go to beginner are they classed as not being beginners.??
Sorry for all the questions all this different things I have to sort out to do a DIY holiday is stressing me totally!.
Xx
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Poster: A snowHead
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@rm1982, Good to hear Val Cenis is a possibility. I forgot to mention that it has a very long green run called L'escargot which would be perfect for your kids.
The week you are thinking of would probably be a really good time to go there as it will be quiet post French school holidays and should still have good snow cover.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
| I really get the feeling we're leaving this last minute to book as a lot of accommodation that comes up trying to keep between £400-£600 states that they are 1-2 miles away from the town centre? Is this a problem? We will have our car so driving to car parks to ski lifts etc is no problem. |
On your first holiday when you are having to do ski school meet up it's an unnecessary hassle IMO. Far better to have somewhere ski/ski out and close to the ski school meet up.
Regarding ski schools, if you explain to them the amount of experience you have they should find the right group for you. And if during the week it becomes clear you are in a higher or lower standard than you need, or if you learning far quicker than others in the group, they should try to move people up or down to get a better fit. This works the same for children or adults. The first time I went skiing I'd done some dry slope but got put in a sort of beginner group. But apart from one person the group were fast learners and really keen so it didn't matter. The one person who was struggling got moved to a different group for day 3.
Which ski school are you using?
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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.
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Agree with cammeronphillips about Risoul. We don't have kids but are just back from there & saw loads of families there. From what we saw, lots of children of all ages in ski school & a Piou Piou for the little ones (don't know exact ages but they looked from small from the chair lift!!). All lifts leave from a central bowl so really convenient for everyone to go their own way for the morning school then to meet back for lunch. This time we had a really good deal with Rocketski but we have in the last stayed in the Sara Appartments which were great. A very French resort - None of the main British companies go there anymore so not many Brits there. Not a huge resort so quiet apres but with a few good places to eat out - La Marmite is our favourite for the evening. All the shops you need for meals in as well with the butchers, bakery & a Spar!! L'ecruil & Le Tetras are good for family lunches. Plenty of options for you to move on from there for your second week holiday as well. Hope you find something suitable & have a fabulous time 😀
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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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@Scarletgirl, I always thought of Risoul as the British part of the hill and Vars as the French side
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I looked at accommodation that's left for risoul, bit shocked as only 3 places available on booking.com and all extortionate price and v.v poor standard. I think the area is a little to quiet for us as a family reading online reviews :/
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What time do your children normally go to bed at night, and how do they react when tired?
Everyone's different, but I find a ski holiday more productive when everyone has a good night's sleep and is fresh the next morning. Multiply lack of sleep by 3 days, and by day 4 we can be screaming at each other and everyone hates existing, no-one is in any mood to go rushing up the mountain "early" to get to lessons on time. So I don't plan ANY apres, we have a nice lunch together, quick bowl of pasta or cheese sandwich in the evening, and girls (now aged 8 and 10) are in bed by 8.30pm. May treat ourselves to a meal out once every 2-3 days. Don't try to do everything, it's well-intentioned but can be counterproductive, in my experience.
Driving to lift - easy but beware of a big dump overnight blocking you the next morning. Can't say I'd look forward to it. It seems some Austrian places have skibus stops every 200m, that sounds far better to me (it's what we did in Banff).
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If you really want to go to Risoul you could book the MMV Antares residence there directly with MMV. However why drive all the way down there when Val Cenis is a really good family resort and has ample choice of accommodation at a reasonable price.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Orange200,
My girls are in bed by 8 approx, later on weekend for the older ones. They can handle lack of sleep really well if I look back to last year driving to south of France they where to excited the whole 3 weeks how they kept going I don't know!. They also aren't ones to have a lie in the morning their all roughly awake 7.30-8 at the latest it's just that it takes us so long to get everyone ready and get out the door lol.
So with your children who are the same age as my oldest girls, do you do ski school all day when you first started going, or did you just stick to half days etc.
The plan is to go skiing to Canada/USA in December so this will be a good taster for us.
X
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@snowymum,
I agree Risoul isn't really for us, after looking at les orres we didn't really want to be that far south and although we only want to pay £400-£600 for accommodation there does seem to be a good standard in every other resort I've looked at compared to risoul from what's left on the web.
Val cenis is looking more of a option at the moment. I'm not sure I have the time or concentration to plan a trip to Austria with such big areas and what looks like obstacles in our way.
The Val cenis esf ski school I spoke to seem absolutely lovely which is a relief as that's something I can sort, accommodation is close by I just need to look more at the resort - I seem to have left that part out :/ . Not that I know anything about skiing and snow conditions but Val cenis march 2016 had a lot more slow than Austria, all I keep hearing is reviews talking about sloppy slush around the time that we go, where as Val cenis that doesn't seem the case at all. We can also do a big shop at lidls on our way down (although haven't looked into that yet), was relieved to see a familiar shop when we went to south of France last summer- French supermarkets we struggled with.
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FAQ
