It’s always tricky planning a family ski holiday. For most of us the two elements to get right are booking a complex holiday and getting all these details right and doing so at a total price that doesn’t break the bank.
It’s 25 years since I organised my first family ski holiday and in that time my wife and I and our three sons have enjoyed, or sometimes endured, over 100 different family ski trips to dozens of resorts on three continents. That’s us all above in Revelstoke, BC, nearly seven years ago.
We’ve tried every sort of ski accommodation, most sorts of childcare and ski school, and travelled by plane, train, bus, car, ferry – even a hovercraft way back when…
I have to tell you that however hard you plan, and however experienced you become, things can still go wrong – the weather, and the moods of various family members, including yourself, at different times are key random factors.
But that’s not to say we mustn’t try our best… “The family that skis together, stays together” and some of our best collective moments of the past two and a half decades have been on the slopes.
Your best chance of success is indeed to plan ahead, so you know what you’re like to have to pay out and so you can avoid stress points which can blow out of proportion and ruin an otherwise good holiday.
One idea is just to book with a tour operator, particularly a family specialist, whose job it is to have thought of everything for you. These have reached very high standards over the years and should now be fine-tuned to perfection. Companies include Ski Famille, The Family Ski Company and Esprit Ski. The UK’s largest operator, Crystal, also has a special families focus and has created their own online family guide to the mountain.
If you want to try to keep costs down the best bet is to travel outside of school holidays, not a problem if your children are below school age, but in England a big problem of course with the current governments attack on skiing families, with fines and other penalties for those who try to get their kids fit and healthy and immersed in a foreign culture and their families happier together. Hopefully sanity will prevail before too much longer and there’ll be a change of direction there – the new sports minister is a keen skier after all.
In the meantime the best bet for keeping costs down us usually to self-drive to the mountains and stay in an apartment. Specialists in this area include Peak Retreats, Ski Independence and Erna Low.
Looking back I have tended to find that we had our best family holidays most often in smaller, friendlier, intimate resorts rather than the giant areas – even though many of these now have state-of-the-art kids’ ski areas and nurseries.
Here are some of the best ski resorts for families:
Les Gets, France
Les Gets is widely recognised as a first class choice for families, thanks to its relaxed ambience and its excellent facilities. Although part of the huge Portes du Soleil ski area is has an intimate feel and its own separate ski area. The resort goes to great lengths to organise a full program of fun packed children’s activities and kids can enjoy the cinemas, bowling, skating rink and the unique mechanical music museum as well as my personal favourite – sweet and chocolate making classes with resident chocolatier Isabelle. Operators specialising in les Gets include Chalets 1066.
Kimberley, BC, Canada
Another personal favourite, everything seems to come together perfectly for families in Kimberley. There’s a large modern accommodation complex – Trickle Creek Lodge – right at the base of the slopes (it’s the building left of picture), complete with spacious condos, shop, restaurant and spa. The ski room is on the ground floor and you simply get kitted up, walk out through the automatic doors and you’re next to the children’s snow nursery area and the base of the lifts up the mountain. Those lifts are fast, comfortable chairs serving wonderful long family friend runs, with the option to head off to steeper and deeper terrain moments away. The original town of Kimberley is a mile down the road and a great place too. It’s simply the perfectly designed family resort.
The Lecht, Scotland, UK
Many children and adults alike have learned to ski in Scotland over the years. I’ve always liked The Lecht as a family base as it’s very self contained and the ’new’ base building, open some years now, has rentals, ticketing and a restaurant looking out over the slopes all in one place – with car parking and ski lifts all steps away from each other. Costs are very reasonable too. Once your children are old enough and confident enough to ski by themselves, and perhaps have more energy than you do, you can take a break in the café and still keep an eye on them! My two oldest, 14 years ago when they were 6 and 11 are pictured at The Lecht below.
Ruka, Lapland, Finland
Actually I think we’ve enjoyed our trips to pretty much all of the half dozen Scandinavian resorts we’ve visited as a family. But Lapland does have that extra magic – a better chance of seeing the northern lights, dog sledding and reindeer safaris, the oddness of limited daylight in mid-winter and the dream like quality of everything floodlit, and above all the great excitement of Santa living nearby which infects children and adults alike. The ski areas are generally small to moderate, intimate places where you can happily ski together on predominantly family friendly slopes. I remember cost was a factor in the past but fortunately that has dropped by about a third in recent years. We visited Santa at three different houses in Lapland over the years, all were good but Santa’s Secret Cottage near Ruka was by far the best.
Galtür, Tirol, Austria
Galtür has a quiet, pretty, compact centre and it also boasts an impressive sports centre with indoor pool that the kids will enjoy, along with activities like tobogganing and sleigh rides.
The largely child-focused ski area has been designed to be super family friendly in to various fun zones suited to different levels, tastes and abilities.
Smugglers Notch, Vermont, USA
North America really leads the ski world when it comes to childcare quality and Smugglers Notch, or ‘Smuggs’ for short, located on the other side of the mountain to Stowe in Vermont, leads North America.
Why so good? It works on every level of those key aspects of a successful family ski holiday, and then it takes it to another level by a commitment to family ski fun perfection. OK I know this is starting to read like an advertisement but it is coming from personal experience.
Smuggs has a compact base – everything within a short walk, including the ski slopes. It’s pretty much car free, the ski area is compact so it’s all very manageable on and off the slopes. The accommodation is largely in spacious, comfortable, well equipped condos – again, top marks for family suitability. Next we have dining and apres ski – think lots to do, lots of laid on events, big family feasts but all either inclusive top your package on very low cost – so you don’t end up blowing a fortune on in-resort costs. Then there’s childcare and ski school – again a creme-de-la-crème reputation for being the best. It really was a stand out choice.
Avoriaz, France
Actually part of the same huge Portes du Soleil ski region as Les Gets, Avoriaz scores high for families on a number of levels. Firstly it’s a rare full pedestrianised ski resort, all access is over snow with no vehicles to worry about and most accommodation ski-in, ski-out; secondly it has a 40 year reputation for its pioneering Village des Enfants child care and ski school facilities originally conceived by the great Annie Famose and thirdly there was the recent opening of a tropical water park on the mountain, because Center Parcs are part of the same group that run Avoriaz. It’s called Aquariaz and its excellent.
