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Question for the STW collective - are there any good summer chalet holidays out there?
My kids are quite young, so fun activities are more important than biking trails.
TIA
We've not had a bad summer holiday in the Alps. I think Jnr was 6 when we first went to the mountains in the summer. We've been to Alpe d'Huez, Oz en Oisans (twice), Maurienne Valley and Wagrain in Austria.
I would recommend staying in a wide valley so you can get plenty of sun. Being up in a mountain resort can be a bit cooler and changeable - also it can take quite a bit of time to get anywhere else if you are up at 1800m.
Lots of places have pools/swimming lakes, lots of outdoorsy activities and museums.
We've had a look at Schladming in Austria as Jnr is now 14 and wants to tackle the downhill there. On looking there's a fantastic Schladming summer card which is given free if you stay in some accommodation, gives free or discounted access to loads of activities.
We went up to Valloire for the day last summer, there was plenty going on. Probably one of the busier mountain summer holiday villages in France. Good base if you want to ride up the Galibier too.
Marked. We're debating doing this, albeit without kids so any suggestions would be gratefully received.
@hammerite - thanks for the tips - did you go with a company or DIY?
I'm thinking about catered if poss as we've done the self catering option pre-kids.
We've done AdHuez too. How do you rate Austria vs France?
found this when looking for my hols, didnt book in the end as ended up going for the morvan national park region.
my daughter lived in annecy for a while, lovely place.
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/8135808
I think Les Contamins is perfect for your needs
[url= http://http://en.lescontamines.com/ ]Les Contamines[/url]
We've been three times now and it has the perfect mix of walking, mountains, biking and lots of activities for kids.
the resort has a swimming lake at the top of the valley, zip wires, tennis, archery, horse-riding etc.
Restaurants and cafes are nice and chamonix is about 45 minutes away.
there are some challenging but do-able walks for smaller kids (6+) an the cable car runs through to september meaning you can get high and walk down following an alpine chalet lunch. Absolutely love it there.
When we go we stay here:[url= http://http://lescontamineschalets.com/ ]http://lescontamineschalets.com/[/url] which are three small chalets owned by an english and french couple.
We much prefer Austria. No need to drive up long mountain roads, excellent value to eat and drink, holiday areas tend to be real towns/villages and not just for tourists, it seems a bit more compact, friendly locals...
We always DIY and go self catered. But the Austrian hotels are geared up to provide fully catered/all inclusive for summer holidays.
Done this a few times.
We are off to Zel am zee at the end of the month. Nice all inc. hotel, this is with extended family -in law. Inlaws paying so Great, can't wait. Hopefully a bit of riding shall be done, will have to be careful as the last holiday we went on with them I got taken to hospital after an off in the Grizedale Forrest...
Also been to Chamonix in the summer, brilliant place to be at any time of year. Easy to get to, flying or driving. Loads to do, cable cars, walking, glaciers to look at, railway to ride, BASE jumping, rafting, everything. I'd love to live there.
Stayed with Valleyfever.com in March, they were great.. A car is useful in Chamonix BTW.
EDIT. Also Serre Chevalier and surrounding area is lovely in summer.
The Italian Alps/Dolomites is also worth a look. The weather is often much better than in the other countries and much warmer. The Italian culture is much more orientated to children, too. Austria is also good but you have to deal with much more changeable weather but many of the resorts offer lift passes included in the price for your accomodation (Leogang/Saalbach for example).
following up these links - thanks everyone
Roter Stern - Leogang is our third option this summer. Currently tossing up between - Schladming, Wagrain and Leogang. All have bike parks. We prefer Schladders as a town to Leogang and plus the Schladders summer card is pretty impressive.
Wagrain is a lovely little town too, but we went there last summer.
We love Megeve in France as it's close to Geneva airport and has plenty to do in summer. The swimming pool is excellent and there's a luge track as well as all the usual mountain biking etc.
Anyone stayed in a catered chalet in the summer?
Mountains is pushing it, but the Longleat Center Parcs site sits on a large crater! 😆
Is there actually a market outside of specialist holidays for catered chalets in the summer?
Gites and tables d'hôtes would be more useful if you don't fancy looking after yourselves and would give you more freedom, but more of your holiday to organise.
Don't forget the pyrenees. The tree line is higher, so even around higher ski resorts, it looks less barren. Not Austrian chocolate box, but very pretty all the same.
We stayed at this campsite in France last year - [url= http://www.camping-indigo.com/en/indigo-divonne ]clicky[/url] - it's in the Jura, not far from Geneva.
It's great site for kids, has self-catering chalets to rent plus cabins and tents too. It's a great area for road cycling too and there's loads to do. If the weather is rubbish just go into Geneva
true - seems that chalets are full or part full of bikers. Not such a good mix with kids 🙂
We much prefer Austria. No need to drive up long mountain roads, excellent value to eat and drink...
You weren't in Kitzbühel, were you. 😐
I'll just leave [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/need-help-selling-a-family-alpine-holiday-to-the-wife ]this[/url] link to my post here.
Pimpmaster - not for a summer holiday. But I have been to Kitzbuhel for winter holidays. Eating and drinking there is still reasonable. Didn't pay more for a beer there than I have in most other places in Austria €3.50-4 usually. Typical Tirolean fayre is reasonable there too.
Granted there are also some very expensive places (hence the Lamborghinis and Feraris parked up in town), but the expensive places are easy to avoid.
Considering Kitzbuhel is one of the glitziest mountain tourist areas in Austria it is a lot cheaper than French equivalents.
Another vote for Austria here (I am biased though).
Zell Area (Zell, Saalbach, Hinterglemm, Leogang) is a great base.
Leogang itself hasn't really got a centre as such, really like Hinterglemm.
Also worth checking out Maria Alm. 15 mins up the road and very pretty.
I need to update it but my website has some info about the area
[url= http://www.apartmentamade.com ]Apartment Amade[/url]
Another vote for Zell am See here, only been in winter but it's beautiful and on a lake obviously. The summer sports and facilities look great and we're considering going this summer or next.
@jeff IME catered chalets don't run in the summer season, not enough business. If you want fully catered you need to look at hotels imo.
Not been yet, but have high expectations of this place we and brothers family+parents are going to this summer hols:
https://www.homeaway.co.uk/p1033692?flspusage=fl
Near Tolmin in Slovenia.
I rode with Ride Slovenia last Sept and fell in love with the place. Very friendly, warm and sunny (of course that might change!), cheap, mountains galore, bike trails, a beautiful capital, and the rivers are so so clear. Outdoor'ist mecca. Its also very close to Italy, Austria and Croatia for day trips (Venice which I've always wanted to visit + Flow trail in Petzen/Austria for the kid friendly 10km DH pump track!)
@superfli - I can vouch for the quality of Slovenian A+E departments 🙂
Think we might be going to Austria this year...
Hi Jeff, yes that's my place
Considering Kitzbuhel is one of the glitziest mountain tourist areas in Austria it is a lot cheaper than French equivalents.
Actually that is true. I worked in both Kitz and Cham, and Cham is undoubtedly more expensive. I was a little shocked going back to Kitz in 2012 while on a roadtrip just how expensive it'd gotten, but, to be fair, we didn't venture massively outside Kitz while in Austria to do a comparison.
I rode with Ride Slovenia last Sept and fell in love with the place.
We drove through Slovenia on above roadtrip on way back down to southern Croatia; we planned to stop but ran out of time. It's still on my list. Driving through over Austrian/Slovene Alps and not using the toll roads was absolutely stunning.
Question for those that have been - could you get away without having a car for a week in one of the Austrian resorts?
My experience is busses and trains are great, Jeff. I trained to Leogang from Kitz with bike to ride the bikepark with no problems at all.
Interested to hear others' PoV TBH.
jeff - Yes you could - especially if you do lots of walking and have things like a pool/swimming lake within walking distance. We have our van with us though as we drive and take bikes and far too much stuff with us - means we can spread our wings further if we want to.
The Postbus service is usually excellent. You could also choose somewhere with a train station if you want to head further afield.
@jeff we stayed in the Saalbach and you could easily do without the car. The town has a big outdoor pool and a couple of supermarkets. All the lifts are in the town. Hinterglemm is a few miles away on a bike track.
If you wanted to go to Leogang or some of the other outdoor activities, there are buses but obviously a car is more convenient. We drove out there so it wasn't an issue for us.
The train line from Munich (via Kufstein or Worgl) comes through Leogang into Saalfelden then Zell. The train from Salzburg comes through Saalfelden and Zell, so there's options there for a day out in Salzburg. There are regular buses from Saalfelden to pretty much everywhere in the area.
In Summer, unless we are driving up to Leogang from Maria Alm, we use our bikes to get everywhere. There's a few rental places in Saalbach/Hinterglemm. Check out Bike n Soul.
If you were interested in staying in Maria Alm, our friends (Skifix.co.uk) could probably sort you a catered chalet and cheap bike hire.
going to book Saalbach this week - thanks all 🙂