Ive just had a look on various websites and it looks prohibitively expensive to get a package deal even to places like Andorra etc. So now looking for ideas of where to go on a budget and how to get there. Somewhere suitable for a 10 yr old beginner with loads of nice and easy runs and decent ski school etc.

Where do you lot go???

Start in a fridge. Hemel, CasVegas, etc. Make it fun! If she’s had a head start before getting to ‘proper’ snow she’ll get better quicker.

Then, go to Serre Chevalier. Obviously. 🙂

Morzine. Easyjet to Geneva and its only 75-90min transfer. Try and stay on the the first row of hotels on pleney slope, as they are ski-in ski-out. In the late afternoon all kids play at the back of the hotels sledging, snowman building etc.

We did Slovenia and the kids loved it

CFH knows about CasVegas! How about PonteCarlo across other side of t’big road?

Joking aside starting in a fridge is better than nothing but they will progress far faster once they get on real slopes – at least our two did.

What Cas is good for is keeping their eye in every month or so – a year is a long time for young skills to be remembered.

Finally Snozone (Xscape) is cheap at the moment as it’s low season.

+1 for Slovenia. Been twice now with my eldest. first trip he was 5. Really cheap, great ski school for kids. We did 4 nights including flights, car, lift, ski hire, 10hrs ski school for him, hotel food and drink for £800 all in for both of us.

Morzine is great but has had some pretty awful seasons of late. I was in Avoriaz in March and Morzine was all but a grassy field and the only snow was on the trails with man made snow on them. If part of the experience is being in the snow I’d head for somewhere a little higher or more snow sure. All depends on what time of year you plan to go (Christmas, half term or Easter?) and if we finally get a great year in the Alps this coming winter or not.

igm – Member
CFH knows about CasVegas!

I am omniscient. 🙂

Spent some time working in the ski industry. Got around the fridges a bit! 😀

Lessons in a fridge or even a dry slope first, really useful.
Then for a resort, try Obergurgl. It’s high and so is snow sure, lots of blue slopes and generally a lovely place to spend some time. It’s just over an hour from Innsbruck airport, you can often find cheap flights to there, then it’s either a hire car or a train and bus combo to get there, both very easy to do.

Blackflag – have you been before (and often)? If so you’ll want somewhere with reasonable skiing for you, the amount of skiing available for your daughter doesn’t really matter. She’s likely to spend the first couple of days on the nursery slopes even if she’s had lesson in a fridge, then spend the next few days exploring the blues with her group.

Never been to Bulgaria, but it’s cheap and good enough for a beginner to learn at – probably not a lot for you if you’ve been skiing more than a few times.
Andorra is good for packages (ski school packaged with lift pass and ski hire).
If you’d prefer Austria/France I’d look for somewhere relatively small or with a low lift price cost. I find Austria more reasonable for eating and drinking.

puy st vinvent, with mountvacation.co.uk, fly to marseille or geneva. really nice compact resost, great ski school our kids have been twice now and love it. Cheap resort and the apartmetns they are using next year have a small indoor pool in the pirce. We have paid max £1500 for everything for a family of 4

We did our first skiing in Zell Am See, Austria. Great for beginners and plenty for better skiers too. Kaprun just up the road too which I think is a glacier resort so reliable snow – and I think they filmed a Bond film there too.

puy st vinvent +1

2 hour drive from Turin.

Or go in the other direction and head to Pila. Give Interski.co.uk a call if you want English instructors etc.

Totally advise a short series of lessons in the fridge in order to get her familiar with wearing boots and doing basic snow plough stuff.

If you want a long weekend only then a small but pleasant and easy to access place is Seefeld near Innsbruck. It’s at about 1200m so don’t go beyond mid-March but nice it’s a nice town 25 mins from Innsbruck airport and because it’s not a big resort the slopes and lifts are quiet. It is spread across two (three if you include the simplest nursery slopes) sides of town but there are free buses that run around. It’s got an ace leisure pool too if skiing gets a bit much.

Scuttler – we’ve spent 4 or 5 Easters in Austria staying at 700m and had plenty of skiing. Where as the other end of the season (Christmas) we’ve skied but it’s been pretty much man made snow the last 3 years.

If you want to go to France think about La Mongie in the Pyrenees. Cheap flights to Lourdes.

Cheaper lift pass and much cheaper food than th Alps. Lots of beginners runs but also some good skiiing for the more advanced (and a lot of safe powder between the listed runs).

If you want to be looked after, look at the family weeks from Action Outdoors – based at the UCPA centers so the price includes lift pass, tuition and gear hire as well as FULL BOARD.

If you don’t mind cooking yourself, consider Snowtrex. Their apartment prices usually include lift passes. Look for the less well known resorts if you want to go to France (i.e. ignore all the shouts of “morzine”), but do remember that Austria can be considerably cheaper than France (and the ski schools seem to get better feedback)

Alternatively, drop Rod a line and see if you can go with them to Sainte Foy @ Easter

Everywhere will have a good easy area. When is also key – early season can be cold, so later is more pleasant.

+1 for Snowtrex. We used they a couple of years ago and were very pleased.
The resort we stopped in was Chamrousse and is aimed at families.
We hired a car (Fiat 500L – comes with snow tyres as standard + snowchains had been left in boot) at the airport, bought all food for the week at a supermarket near the airport where it is a lot cheaper.
ESF ski school for total beginners was very good, and they ended up on some of the easy reds. Week enjoyed by all.

I think you need to decide when. Given that it’s your daughter does that mean half term? If so I’d be avoiding the big French resorts as your lessons could be delivered by anyone.

Outside of that time those resorts and ESF could be good for a first timer. Obviously suggesting ESF is going to be divisive but even at it’s worst it’s a load better than Bulgarian instruction.

If you’re not tied to half term and don’t have hugely strong opinions on where to go just wait and pick up a deal. Most places will have a sufficient variety of accessible blues but if you’re not sure ask at the time of booking.

Italy is generally cheap and friendly and very family oriented. I like Passo Tonale as a beginners resort as it has wide, open pistes that finish right in town so its a short walk back to the hotel (or to a bar). With a lot of the Italian resorts you can get a cheap flight to Milan or Turin then a cheap hire car for the drive to resort. I much prefer this option to a bus that seems to go to every other resort and hotel before they drop you off and insist on leaving the resort at 3 in the morning, 12 hours before your flight.

Small family resorts in Austria are pretty reasonable. St Johann near Kitzbuhel is lovely.

Just to confuse matters, I’m going to recommend something completely different 🙂

Why not combine a ski and sun (and possibly even MTB) holiday in Spain? I believe Motril is a good base for MTB and is less than 1 1/2 hours from the Sierra Nevada and similar distance from Malaga for cheap flights.

My in-laws live a couple of hours from Sierra Nevada (Spain, not USA), so I took my lad up there for a day. Granted kit hire and ski passes for one day is not cheap, but it was a good taster for him in Easter sunshine, whilst off the mountains it was shorts and t-shirt weather. It’s not a huge resort, so probably won’t be enough for good skiers over the course of a week, but if you want to take your daughter for the proper mountain experience and some beach time and potentially some MTB, it’s worth considering.

Italy is generally cheap and friendly and very family oriented. I like Passo Tonale as a beginners resort as it has wide, open pistes that finish right in town so its a short walk back to the hotel (or to a bar).

Another vote for Tonale, I used to take a lot of mixed ability groups here back in my ski repping days. Nice mix of stuff for most abilities, could possibly get a little boring for the more experienced though you can get down to Ponte di Legno (narrower & steeper than Tonale) and up to the Glacier for a change of scenery.

I also always found the food better and the people friendlier in Italy.

I learned to ski in Tonale in 1998, and went back in March this year. I concur it would be an excellent choice if you would like a specific recommendation. drop me a mail if you want the gen.

Definitely get a few of the full day lessons at a UK indoor ski centre.

After that I would say it doesn’t matter where you go. Having said that I would add another vote for UCPA. I went as a solo traveller to the UCPA centre in Tignes earlier in the year. It was just great, and very cheap when you consider the amount of teaching time you get.