All this snow, and some inspired riding of tea trays :), has got the kids wanted to go ski-ing again. Took them to Meribel a few years ago, but too young to learn really (2 and 4). Now 10 and 8.

I can ski okay, my wife wants to go somewhere that has stuff to do if you don't ski (which she doesn't do much of), but we want to find a place that does good lessons for the kids.

Probably only got a week off, so US not realistic. Where's good in Europe nowadays for mid Feb? Ta.

You could try Montgenèvre. Massive range of beginner runs, but part of the Via Lattea (Milky Way) ski area, so if you want to go play, there's loads out there (Including Sestriere).

Les Arcs was pretty good from memory as well.

Neilson are great with families, so have a look here;
http://www.neilson.co.uk/Snow-Holiday-Search.aspx

Basingstoke

Vallandry, it's a little village and attached to les arcs.

It's quite low at around 1600 meters and offers really lovely tree lined runs back into the village, a little nightlife (couple of bars and restaurants) and a few good stores, it has some lovely walks for the non skiers. It's easy to get down to Borg St Maurice (if you hire a car) which is a nice little town and about as busy as your going to get in the Alps. Vallandry has a great little ski schools for the kids and for the adults there is the whole of Les Arcs and Le Plagne to play in.

Ski lessons and Passes are cheaper than elsewhere in France and a major plus is it's not packed with people so no queueing!

I have skied all over and I find myself always going back there, it's a lovely little spot. As an added little bonus it's around 15 minutes to the Restaurant l'Ancolie in Peisey Nancroix which is just fantastically good food.

NOT FRANCE.

My wife and friends have always struggled with the control the French have on the ski lessons.
Also found the runs quite inconsistent.

Try Switzerland. Saas Fee was ace, always snow (Glacier at top), nice wide open runs and trees at bottom. Nice relaxed bars as well. Only problem is the price.

Weve just back from Valmorel in the Franch Alps which I would heartily recommend. Easy slopes and the tuition from ESF was very good. Myself and the kids of 14 and 11 had never skied/snowboarded and we all loved it. My partner is quite a good skier and there was enough there to keep her interested

I went a couple of years ago to Neustift in Austria and had a great time. It was my first time snowboarding & I found it fine. Plenty of varied runs.

The Stubai glacier is about a 10 min drive away, which is where we went everyday.

Thanks all. I've actually been to the Stubai with some German friends, and it was a nice low-key resort. My eldest did have lessons in France and found it pretty difficult (but she was only 4.5).

I'll have a google round later and see what's what. Trying to convince my wife that we should take kids out of school rather than go in half term.

This is the school I was thinking of.

http://www.skinewgen.com/vallandry/children.html

English guys which is obviously better for the kids.

I think the ideal for young families is ski to the door accommodation, and ideally with the classes starting outside the door too. Saves a lot of faffing about.

Worth thinking about somewhere like Soldeu in Andorra. Heavily geared towards learners, v English speaking friendly in the classes (A lot of the instructors are British, Australian etc), and it's relatively cheap due to being duty free. Kit hire, lessons, lift passes etc are also all relatively cheap.

In some of the bigger resorts you'll be paying for access to a relatively large area which you'll not see much of until you can ski better.

If you end up going back to the Stubai glacier, I thoroughly recommend staying at this place:

http://www.schoenherrhaus.at/winter/

rightplacerighttime – Member
Basingstoke

Brilliant….. 🙂

Hi,

I would also say avoid France. The school ski system is very limited. i.e. you must sign up for a full weeks instruction. Only other option is private one to one instruction which is very expensive. Also they are akward if you want to switch classes to a lower / higher / slower / faster standard.

Italy have lots of smaller family friendly resorts.

Canada? You get cheep deal to the Banff area. Great service and a little town. Maybe a bit of a long flight but a short transfer at the other end.

Iain

Seefeld in Austria, Only 30 mins from airport,great for families.

I wouldnt put any of my kids in a French Ski school either, not that i have any !!

A ratio of 12:1 does not seem like a good idea to me, best trying to find and english ski school which may be difficult in France but easier in Switzerland, only problem is Switzerland is pretty pricey at the monment.

On the other hand I would really recommend ESF & both my kids are very competent skiers as a result. Think it really depends on the resort.

Alex – mail me if you like.

French schools are OK, your perception will depend on the quality of your instructor, if you are lucky enough to find one with a good rapport with your children they will have a fantastic time.

In my experience France has great Skiing and like CFH I have skiied in Montgenevre and Les Arcs. Both great but I would say little to do if you dont ski.
Austria is better IMO for non skiiers. Although little experience of "not" skiing! Ski schools in Austria pretty good as well.

Most of the above posts about French ski schools are nonsense.

Firstly, to lump them all together as "French" is just daft. All the big resorts have a number of ski schools to choose from, including some British-run schools. Different schools will, of course, have different policies.

Secondly, the ESF has taken a lot of stick in the past, but they've changed beyond all recognition. We live in just a wee French resort, so the local ESF is the only option for group lessons, but they're excellent. Switching between classes if you find the one you're in too hard/easy is not a problem (subject to availability, of course). Yes, it's hard to book group lessons for less than a week, but come on, seriously, you think it's feasible for them to schedule all sorts of different 2/3/4 day over-lapping group lessons at all different levels? That's just daft. Group lessons are either 5 or 6 days and will start on either a Sunday or a Monday. That seems to provide more than enough flexibility for most people.

As surfer says, at the end of the day it will come down to the individual instructor and how well you/your kids get on with him/her.

For what it's worth, Sainte Foy is a great place to learn to ski. Small, friendly resort. No queues, ever. Wide, uncrowded pistes. Oh aye, and some of the best off-piste in the Alps… 😈

Couple of days ago:

Andora , the ski school at Soldeu has won loads of awards .

Another vote for Soldeu, I went there a few years ago. Ski School is very good with most instructors having English as their 1st language

Prices for the school also tend to be cheaper than resorts in the Alps, lift passes cover the Grand Valira area so good choice of slopes

Bormio in Italy is also worth thinking about. It's like a kid's drawing of a mountain – a big pointy one. Great food on and off the mountain, and the town itself is stunningly beautiful with plenty for non-skiers to do.

Soldeu/el tarter great for families and kids.

Kronplatz, northern Italy is excellent for beginners, – great ski school and child care facilities at the top of the mountain so kids have a great time in the snow and feel a bit more involved.

My best recommendation would be:
http://www.neilson.co.uk/Snow-Austria-Katschberg-At-a-Glance.aspx

Awesome family resort. good hotel, lots to do. lots of Austrian Jolliness as well.

Agree with Captain Flasheart on the above.

I might be biased, but as an Ex Neilson seasonaire/UK Product person, I'd say Neilson are tip top for families. mail in profile if you want any more info…..

Support what stevemcg said.

We have went to the smaller French resorts the last few years (Le Corbier, Vars, La Clusaz and the ESF were good, and good with the kids). French tend to be tougher with kids that the brits generally are but that can be no bad thing sometimes and they learn quick by following peers down more challenging slopes.

French skiing is also better quality than Italian in my experience.

Have never been to Austria but have heard lots of good things for apres-ski there with a much better village life. French resorts tend to be very purpose built.

woooah thanks all. Don't have time to read all this now, but will this evening and be in touch with those who've offered help.

Much appreciated, thanks alex

Alex – Try snowheads. com. It's the skiing version of STW.

Alex – Try snowheads. com. It's the skiing version of STW.

Sanctimonious, pedantic, self-important… yeah, you're probably right… 😉

Alex

Go with stevo (www.whiteroomchalet.com) at Sainte Foy..brilliant resort for family and we took Jake and Holly there last Xmas. We would have gone this Xmas as well, but Eurostar had other ideas.

I also support the ESF is not crap view. My kids are testament to this, both of them highly competent skiers..ESF taught from first steps to gold level.

Give me a buzz if you want to know more.

I have to agree with all those that diss France. The less loud-mouthed drunken louts without a clue on the slopes the better. There was a report on drunken Brits causing trouble on piste on FR3 over Christmas. Cairngorm is the place to be (or so I've heard), failing that somewhere in Switzerland as I never ski there. I had hoped that the exchange rate and recession might have reduced numbers but it would appear the average hooray Henry on a board still has cash enough to flash.

Jimbo, can you please make sure my discount for my summer holiday is big this year? 😉 Lemnos or Sivota looking top at the moment.

Oh, and say hi to Mark!

look at some of the smaller resorts in the Bavarian alps if you're only going for a week. Garmisch is a good starter. germany's highest berg and home to its only glacier. enough runs to keep you busy for a week with your kids in tow. lots of runs at the bottom plus an awesome powder bowl at the top. not so in-your-face as some larger french or austrians resorts. also VERY quiet during the week as the germans are at work then, whereas resorts in austria or france are often busier during the week than at weekends.

flights to munich, train from there takes about 1.5 hours.

Schushhh Alpin! Can't you promote Vail or somewhere!

I kind of find talking about hidden-gem ski resorts is a bit like when I used to play rugby. People get all secretive about line-out codes, backs calls, etc. but really you could just turn to the opposition and shout "We're going to throw it to the big guy in the middle, OK?" and they'll never listen to you anyway…

You've discounted North America but I'll try anyway. 😀

Banff in Canana.

Based on previous two years the door to hotel time of travel between London to Banff and London to Tignes were about the same. Once you land in Calgary everything seemed faster / closer which offset the longer flight. You do have jet lag to cope with though.

Banff is also a summer resort so has plenty of other stuff to do. Hot springs, Husky rides, Snow shoeing etc. The ski resorts tend to be quieter and are more compact (i.e not as big) but if you are learning not such a problem.

Potential cons:
The exchange rate is rubbish
It can be cold (but not always)
Nothing is ski-in / ski-out that you would want to stay in.

I don't agree about Banff, with children the transfer times to Sunshine and Lake Louis are too long everyday.

My lot, 3 kids and both of us have skiied at Flaine for 3 out of the last 4 years, the other resort we went to was La Plagne. Ski from the door and the ski school meeting place right outside the hotel. We went with http://www.crystalski.co.uk half board and the hotels were satisfactory and child friendly, mostly run by gap year students. There are 2 ski schools in Flaine, ESF and International and we have used both and had no problems. They tend to see how the kids ski on the first day then rearrange the groups into abilities the following day. The language difference hasn't been a problem with the instructors and they are good fun. You can book lessons at the resort for less than a week (6days) as that's what I did to learn. Not sure if you can do this online tho but I'm sure you can. Spouse is taking 2 of the brood to Chamonix end of March but they won't be having lessons this time and I think the logistics for accessing lessons near to accommodation are more difficult at Cham, Argentiers

We have always taken ours out of school and not had a problem.

Teagirl.
The costs are almost prohibitive during school holidays and this year we have decided not to go but now the season is upon us I may need to revisit that decision!!
Only trouble is our Skiing buddies are both teachers!
How did the school react to taking them out?

surfer : they didn't say anything, all at primary at the time and we filled out the form and had the holiday authorised. You are allowed to take them out of school for 2 weeks holiday in North Yorks if you fill in the official form. I did emphasise that it was an educational holiday, learning how to ski and learn French! However, this year we've booked and will have to take one out of High School for 4 days as the school hols that our chums have are different to ours.

I empathise with the buddy situation, lots of our chums are teachers so we don't go with them, just another bunch (mountain biking and climbing lot).

Contact me if you need to know anything else 🙂 The kids'll be hooked so be prepared to do it every year!

Flaine is indeed excellant for children. However Alex's wife would be struggling for 'things to do'.

I learnt in Saas Fee a couple of years back, it was a great place for it IMO, and there were plenty of kids about (I may have used some groups of them as mobile breaking zones, but that is besides the point!)

Good bars, nice wee place and all very scenic.

The other option that springs to mind is where I learned to Snowboard earlier the same year (get my jetset lifestyle)… June Lake. Really nice wee village up in the Rockys. It's part of the Mammoth Mountain group, but a lot more relaxed and quiet. There are some nice cabins that can be rented for not too much cash. We stayed here, not too far from the village with it's decent bar (with good food and micro brew ale), and with excellent views over the lake. Top place.

[/quote]CaptainFlashheart – Member
Jimbo, can you please make sure my discount for my summer holiday is big this year? Lemnos or Sivota looking top at the moment.

Oh, and say hi to Mark!

I'd love to, but I've been out of the neilson office for three years now (that went bloody quick). I assume you mean Tennis Mark? I still see him from time to time – I'll give him a nod from you!

Oh, I miss my 5 years at Neilson, happy times! 🙂