Choosing Your Family Ski Holiday

Benefits of Ski Holidays

Skiing with the family is a great idea. If your children are young they will love all that a ski resort has to offer, the snow, sun, learning to ski, the whole adventure of it. If your children are teenagers they will also enjoy the ski holiday and if they are good enough will be able to go off skiing with other teenagers, only to meet up with you later.

If you already take family ski holidays then you will know what a fantastic time you can all have. From experience you will also find that family skiing breaks are something even teenagers will still want to do with Mum & Dad too - and you all still get space!

Types of Holiday

You'll know there's a wide range of different types of family ski holidays out there. From having young children and babies through to 8 or 9 year olds that would like to get a bit more of a social scene out of their skiing. Choosing the right resort, facilities and lessons will be crucial to a great time.

You also need to consider that family skiing holidays can vary in the type of accommodation that you go for. Whether it's ApartHotels, Hotels, chalets or even apartments, the right ski accommodation is vital to ensure your family holiday goes to plan.

For example, booking a large chalet (whether catered or not) can give your teenagers a bit more privacy if you choose well. For small children a large apartment may be enough to give them their own room and a bit of space in the evenings when they have gone to bed.

Ideas for Resorts

La Rosière in France is a good option. It’s a quiet ski resort with a transfer from Chambery of just under two hours. There’s a good choice of accommodation here from chalets, ski hotels and apartments. It has been accredited with the Famille Plus award and you can see why. There are 33 wide short runs for beginners and plenty of blues for them to progress to.

For more experienced skiers in your family you can head out to San Bernardo and La Thuile in Italy.

Travel only an hour from Geneva and you are in Flaine, another great choice for families. A traffic free resort designed purposefully to be ski friendly and it works! We wouldn’t call it the prettiest resort in the world but if it’s family convenience you are looking for then it’s a good choice. It sits in the middle of the Grand Massif ski area so experienced skiers in your family have access to Samoens and Les Carroz. The ski schools here are very good, with English speaking instructors. The nursery slopes are good and then there are comfortable blues for children to progress to. It’s also pretty snowsure with a top altitude of 2500m.

Avoriaz is another top choice for families. As a purpose built resort it offers good ski in ski out accommodation which is great for children. The transfer from Geneva is about 1 hour 30 minutes. It’s car free, another plus for families and has been voted the best family resort. It’s not hard to see why.

In addition to what we have already written there is the central children’s village, the Aquariaz water centre providing endless fun for children and it has what is called a ‘beginners pass’ meaning that children can find their feet on the beginner slopes without having to pay for a lift pass. Easy access to the Portes du Soleil also means that experienced family skiers can access an additional 12 resorts in France and Switzerland.

Austria is also a popular destination for British families. Our pick would be Obergurgl. There is little traffic, a quiet Tyrolean atmosphere, lots of ski in ski out accommodation and only a one hour transfer from Innsbruck which makes it really accessible. The ski schools are good with a ski kindergarten on hand and some nice blues higher up the mountain to progress to.

What About Crossing the Atlantic?

If you have the time however why not look further afield and take the family to Canada?

Our pick would be Mont Tremblant. The resort is car free and many have described it as Whoville! In terms of travel time it’s one of the nearest resorts to us and is only an hour from Tremblant airport. For families the resort is unusual as there are mixed runs everywhere so you are never that far from each other, even if you are skiing with people with very different abilities. Children love the zone called the Tam Tam zone, a 6km gentle descent back down to the village.

For fun off the slopes there’s an eight lane tubing hill, dog sledding and of course a play pool. If you add into the mix the legendary service on offer in Canadian resorts you may never want to ski in Europe again!

Who Do You Take?

Another aspect of family ski holidays top consider is whether you take grandparents with you to include all generations. They may not however ski or want to do much too overtly physical off the slopes so check out resorts like Chamonix and Zermatt.

Chamonix for example is a pretty large town. Only about an hour from Geneva spo a quick transfer. But for older people there’s enough to do here with winter walking paths, cinemas, bowling alleys and a great leisure centre. There’s also the famous Montenvers rack and pinion cog railway which takes you to the Mer de Glace France’s largest glacier.

By Will Smith