 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi,
We usually go to Champoluc with Ski2, and have booked to go again for the first week of Easter next year. We have three children who next year will be aged 3,7 and 10. I am looking at booking somewhere else earlier in the season, and working around teacher training days/taking kids out of school (??). We enjoy skiing in Italy with the kids, and would ideally like our youngest to get a taste of skiing (he will be 3 1/2 when he goes at Easter). We have been before to Obergurgl with Esprit - but it is eye wateringly expensive!
The set up with Ski2 with childcare, their own ski school, and the lunch vouchers (!) means we don't have to worry too much, and don't spend that much when we are there. My eldest daughter is now quite a competent skier, and is desperate to progress, hence the reason for the trip with the kids. My husband and I are competent skiers, and would like to extend our skiing a bit on holiday.
Can anyone suggest anything somewhere other than France that wouldn't involve selling a kidney on eBay to fund it?
The deal breaker my be childcare for my son as he will need looking after when not skiing, and we are. We have done tag team parenting before, and it's fine, but just not much fun skiing by yourself!
Any ideas?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Might be worth looking at a Kinderhotel, they are independently run and are all child friendly - https://www.kinderhotels.com/en/home.html.
We've stayed at Das Galtenberg in Alpbach and last week at Pitzis near Imst. Both very good for kids and have inclusive childcare, etc. Das Galtenberg is higher end, more convenient for the slopes and of the 2 would be better suited to the age of your kids.
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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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We went to Mayrhofen with our friends and they thought it was great for the kids. Reasonably priced, and they loved the childcare. Very efficient and from memory not too pricey - the wonderfully named Wuppy's Kinderland http://www.ski-mayrhofen.com/family-leisure/child-care/ Been a long time since we visited, but the skiing should suit everyone too.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thanks @simonbaddeley and @Rhoobarb for your helpful suggestions.
How did you get to the resorts and where did you fly to?
BTW I am trying to tag people on Snowheads, so i hope that this worked! 
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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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@gaschick, our kids learned from age 3 in Hinterglemm, with Snow&Fun, and we've returned each year since in half term. They're now 10 and 7, and competent & confident skiers of blues and reds. They start in a dedicated area, progress to the nursery slopes with poma lifts in the centre of the ski area once they can control speed and direction, then to the top half of the Zwolferkogel by cable car. Snow&Fun have a large number of English-speaking instructors, mainly Dutch with some Austrians and Germans, and the instruction has been fairly good in our experience. The area is excellent for experienced skiers as well as those in ski school, and it is possible to drop the kids at 0945, ski the circuit, and get back to pick them up at 1530 as long as you take a shortish lunch. Snow&Fun also do lunch tokens, with supervision included, and the kids usually eat in dedicated rooms.
If you are happy to self-cater, there are a number of places in Hinterglemm which are either ski-in/ski-out or which have very short walks to the slopes. If you want catering and on-site childcare then there are some options but they will of course be more expensive. We stay in apartments on Haidweg, which has a short slope alongside with a T-bar which gives access into the main area and allows us to ski back to within 10m of the house. If you want recommendations for places, drop me a PM and I can send on some details. If you are sure that you want childcare so that your son can have some days off and just play with other kids, then a kinderhotel or familienhotel (family-orientated) would be good options.
Transfers are 1.5 hours from Salzburg in a taxi or hire car, 2 hours on a coach, or you can do it partially by trolleybus then train to Zell am See and then a postbus or taxi onwards. Salzburg is served by EasyJet, Ryanair, Jet2, Thompson/Crystal and BA. Alternatively, you could fly to Munich and hire a car, with a 3 hour transfer time if the traffic is OK - but if you were doing that, the Ski Welt resorts (Ellmau/Scheffau/Soll) are an hour closer and just as good.
Regarding childcare, it will depend very much on how your youngest copes. Both of ours were tired at the end of the sessions when they were 3, but at 4 they had more than enough energy to warm up with us for 30-60 minutes in the morning by doing laps on the nursery slope before ski school meet-up at 0945, then again from 1530 to 1630 so we had some time with them to reinforce the lessons, work on them 1-to-1 to build their confidence and help them improve, and most importantly, get them to ski home rather than walking. As soon as they were OK with the poma lifts, we got them on the T-bar so they could ski to their lessons, and ski back. If you'd prefer to leave them after breakfast and collect them before/after dinner, you'll need a hotel and it won't be cheap - take a look at http://hotel-egger.at/en/ or http://www.hotel-johanneshof.at/de/ or http://www.ellmauhof.at/en/family-hotel-salzburg-austria .
BTW, the tag feature works by clicking on the name of the previous poster, which automatically puts their name in bold into your post 
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Thu 23-02-17 15:45; edited 1 time in total
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@gaschick, We did a Neilson trip to a chalet hotel, so transfer was included. Think we went into Innsbruck, but was nice and easy.
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@gaschick, yes, Snow&Fun is the ski school - http://www.skischule.com/html/englisch/home.html . Lessons are 1000-1200 and 1330-1530, and you can book the whole week, or any number of days to allow a break. Kit hire is thrown in as part of a package, and the 3 year old gets a free lift pass in Saalbach-Hinterglemm anyway. Some of the best slopes in any resort are reached by drag lifts - the slopes are quieter because some people avoid the lift, so don't be put off. The lift infrastructure in the Glemmtal is up there with the best in the world, but there are of course some older lifts as well as the heated 10-man chairs with bubbles.
If Mayrhofen looks of interest, have a look at Finkenberg and Ski School Sunny - https://en.skischulesunny.at/kids-club.html - they'll take them from 3 on request, or http://www.mayrhofen-total.com/en/kids-lessons.html may also do it and they have a crèche area on Penken. We avoided the area when it came to our kids as we remember the scrum at the Penken lift in Mayrhofen (now resolved by the new lift, I believe), and although we love Finkenberg the learner slopes are a long way up so bad weather can cause problems, plus the area isn't great as they graduate from the learner area with only a few easy blues and two of those are narrow roadways.
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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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@gaschick, both times we took a flight to Munich and hired a car, 1h45 to Alpbach and 2h45 to Imst. Innsbruck is closer and both hotels offered free transfers, but more flight options to Munich and can be cheaper (about 1/4 the cost last week!).
If you're trying to fix around teacher training days and days out of school are you thinking of a long weekend or a week away? Our Alpbach trip was a long weekend, straight to the airport from school for a 17:45 flight to Munich and arrived at the hotel at about 23:30, after 3 1/2 days skiing we were on a 4pm flight - there is a later one which would give a full day skiing on the last day but is less child friendly! Our kids were aged 7 & 4 at the time, the eldest had 2 days away from school.
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@simonbaddeley, That's a really good idea! Some tour operators have been offering 5 night deals for the first week of january, which is when our school often has it's Teacher days. I have emailed them to ask about their plans for next year. Due to my rota commitments as a Consultant Anaesthetist, we can only half one half term off a year, and I have taken the last two Feb half terms off, so I am unlikely to get this off again. Also, the kids REALLy need a holiday in October. They are usually crawling the walls by then. i have't had a full October half term off for ages!
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Fri 24-02-17 10:16; edited 1 time in total
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@gaschick, if you need to go skiing in October then this place is open from mid September http://www.pitztaler-gletscher.at/en/skigebiet/skigebiet
We had 2 days there last week and it's an absolutely stunning location. I've no idea what the weather or conditions are like at that time of year. Otherwise we had our first family sailing holiday in Greece last oct half term and had a great time!
Esprit often have good discounts if you can wait to the last minute or avoid the peak weeks. Our first holiday with them should have been to Obergurgl on the last week of the season but we were moved to Belle Plagne, we've since been to gressoney and st anton with them - all been good holidays.
@ousekjarr, Salalbach-Hinterglemm has been on my list for some time, need to find away to get away more. I'd agree about Mayrhofen - was there one Christmas before we had kids and it looked fairly grim at the Finkenberg, that said my kids probably wouldn't notice and would have been better snow than the afternoon slush my son had to learn on in Belle Plagne.
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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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@gaschick, Have a look at Kappl http://www.kappl.com/en/active/ski-area-kappl/ski-school-kappl-active Spent 2 great holidays there and whilst our kids were no longer needing ski school etc, we always thought it would have been a great place to have taken the kids when they were younger. The kids area is mid mountain, with crèche and kindergarten for young kids skiing. Outwith that the runs are great, even though only 45km or so in Kappl itself - much more in Ischgl along the road. The main lifts tend to have a blue, red and sometimes a black, all of which meet up at the Sunny Mountain venue (where the crèche is located etc) - so really good if you want to check in on your youngest.
Our youngest was 3.5 when he was in ski school at Oberlech, but that holiday was serious dosh, albeit was probably the best holiday ever. Took the family the following year to Stuben and again ski school could accommodate very young kids.
Only 'problem' is that Kappl is south facing BUT you will be skiing at a fair height, so should not be too much of an issue
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@boabski, Thanks for the tips about Kappl - the childcare looks really, really god VFM!! Where would you stay in Kappl?
@simonbaddeley, Pitztaler looks pretty snow sure, but it says that there are only 45km of runs???
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You know it makes sense.
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@gaschick, you mentioned October half term and it'll be one several glacier resorts that will be open then. The glacier resorts tend not to have a lot of km's because they are limited size due to being at around 3000m and higher. If I was going for a week at that time of year I'd look at as a holiday in the mountains with a bit of skiing. In the main season it'd make a good long weekend destination, there was a large learners area in the vallley which would probably suit your 3 year old but we didn't look at the childcare there.
From researching a few ski holidays over the years most Austrian ski schools offer all day lessons with optional lunch time care from 4 or 5 years old, many also have some sort snow and play type care for younger children which would include a bit of skiing. If you've an idea of when you want to go, how you'd travel, how long for and the type of accommodation it'd narrow down your options!
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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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@gaschick, Gasthof Alpenfrieden. Right on the piste and great value. You would need to ski down to the gondola with your youngest, so if that was not really viable, there is a 4 star hotel at base station on the valley floor - which is not really part of the village as such. Highly recommend the Alpeenfrieden though - great value and great food
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