Thousands of tips to make it heaven, not hell.
There's no better family holiday than a skiing holiday. It’s a fact, believe us.
Just check out some of the photos below and it will give you an idea of what we mean. The family that skis together stays together!
If you have a baby you have the freedom to leave your little loved one in a nursery you trust and finally get some time to yourself. A holiday at last.
If you have a toddler there’s nothing quite like watching your toddler take to the snow like a duck to water.
When you start skiing round as a family as equals laughing, speeding, lunching and falling over together there’s nothing quite like it.
Then comes the inevitable day when your children become better than you and you feel an enormous sense of pride (tinged with regret though!).
Family skiing is fantastic, however it can also be stressful, expensive and a complete nightmare if things go wrong.
The editors of planetSKI, James and Kisia Cove, have 3 children (now 17, 15 and 12 and they all started aged 4 years old. The kids ski around 4/5 weeks each winter and have been to the Alps, The Pyrenees and the Rockies.
They started off in crèches as babies, progressed through various ski schools and now doing race camps.
We have experienced pretty much all the problems there are and in this guide pass on our own personal advice. It comes from experience!
For a list of our favourite family resorts look in the which resorts section of planetSKI.eu.
Babies
It’s perfectly possible to take a baby on a skiing holiday and we took our first child when he was 12 months on a Mark Warner holiday to Courchevel. You will need to have complete trust in the nannies and there is obviously a lot of kit to take with you.
The family ski market has developed hugely over recent years with many companies offering special services. For example Crystal organises supplies of nappies in resort recognising that it is a difficulty for parents of babies to bring them out.
However, if your child is having trouble sleeping through the night or there are any problems it won’t be that much fun so you do need to be pretty dedicated to go sking or snowboarding with a baby. Another option is to go with the grandparents, which for us was a preferred option and they helped look after the kids in Wengen and Les Gets.
Alternatively you could go in a group with some other parents with children of a similar age and share out the childcare.
There’s nothing to stop you going with a baby, we did on many an occasion, but be warned you will not have the type of ski holiday you once had. Limited après ski!
Top Tips
– You MUST have good child care
– Don’t use the resort crèche, but go with a British specialist company
– Choose a resort with short transfer from the airport
– Take a sling or backpack as pushchairs and snow don’t go together
– Remember your luggage allowance
Babies
It’s perfectly possible to take a baby on a skiing holiday and we took our first child when he was 12 months on a Mark Warner holiday to Courchevel. You will need to have complete trust in the nannies and there is obviously a lot of kit to take with you.
The family ski market has developed hugely over recent years with many companies offering special services. For example Crystal organises supplies of nappies in resort recognising that it is a difficulty for parents of babies to bring them out.
However, if your child is having trouble sleeping through the night or there are any problems it won’t be that much fun so you do need to be pretty dedicated to go sking or snowboarding with a baby. Another option is to go with the grandparents, which for us was a preferred option and they helped look after the kids in Wengen and Les Gets.
Alternatively you could go in a group with some other parents with children of a similar age and share out the childcare.
There’s nothing to stop you going with a baby, we did on many an occasion, but be warned you will not have the type of ski holiday you once had. Limited après ski!
Top Tips
– You MUST have good child care
– Don’t use the resort crèche, but go with a British specialist company
– Choose a resort with short transfer from the airport
– Take a sling or backpack as pushchairs and snow don’t go together
– Remember your luggage allowance
Toddlers, 4 - 6
This is the age to start a child on skis, as they will have the strength to ski and boundless enthusiasm. The ESF in France takes children from 3 years old and the Swiss Ski School starts children at 4. Our youngest child, Max, started at 3 and a half with the EV2 ski school in Tignes.
Many of the specialist family ski operators will have teams of nannies on call to look after them, take them to ski school, build snowmen and generally keep them fed, well looked after and entertained.
The family market has expanded greatly in recent years with Tour Operators making all sorts of special arrangements for families and young children.
For example Crystal, the largest tour operator in the UK has a dedicated crèche at Chambery airport. "With long check in times at airports we decided to have a dedicated crèche for families to use as flying with young childen is stressful enough without all the hanging around at airports,"' says Marion Telsnig, the company's marketing director.
Once in the crèche you can then see and ski with them as much or as little as you want.
Personally we preferred to let the nannies look after them in the mornings so we could ski but then always returned at lunchtime to have a bit of a ski with them or just muck about in the snow.
You need to be very careful about the ski school you choose as it could put them off and if they are not happy then you will certainly not be either.
We found a ski school that has a separate ski area complete with magic carpet and all sorts of toys and games is best. It needs to be in a sunny location and with a crèche so they can go in if the weather is cold or if they’re not in the mood. Here they can play in the warmth or simply have a hot chocolate.
You may also want to consider taking them out of school if you want to save some money. Contrary to some people’s belief you can take them out of school with the permission of the head teacher.
This is an area that really is up to each individual parent.
Some think missing a week of school will harm the children’s long-term education, while other parents most certainly don’t. Personally we took them out at various times when they were aged 4 – 8, usually at the end of the Xmas term or when half terms didn’t coincide, but wouldn’t dream of doing it now.
All we can say is that it doesn’t seem to have harmed their education one little bit and in general terms skiing has made them more confident, self sufficient and well-rounded individuals.
TOP TIPS
- Choose accommodation near the slope
- Use mittens not gloves and connect them with a ribbon or elastic running though suit
- Choice of ski school is critical. We recommend a British one and if you’re in Zermatt or Verbier you’ll get a 5% discount from Europeansnowsport if you book here
- Don’t forget to pack your patience and sense of humour
- Consider taking them out of school for a week
- Get second hand or cheap gear – they will soon grow out of it
- One piece suits are best for very young children
Kids, 6 - 10
If they have been skiing from an early age this is where the fun really starts as you begin to ski around as a family.
There will be tears and tantrums, but there will also be enormous fun as you all go playing together in the snow.
Again what we tended to do was put them in ski school in the morning (even if they didn’t particularly want to go) and then ski with them every afternoon.
Sometimes it was hard, especially on a powder day, but we found skiing with them in the afternoon was essential and more often than not worth the sacrifice and the effort.
You will see a huge improvement in their skiing or snowboarding over this age period.
Top Tips
- Go to a resort with free/discounted lift passes
- Snow park is essential
- Use an instructor with English as a mother tongue
Kids 10 - 14
If your kids have been skiing from an early age then this is when they may well get better than you. You have been warned. It’s a deeply satisfying and totally depressing moment in equal measure!
They will also probably not want to go to ski school anymore but if you want them to be good skiers it’s worth persevering, though expect a few arguments about it.
An idea now might be to find a ski school that has a racing class or perhaps one that focuses on learning a bit of off piste, freeride or going into the fun park.
Europeansnowsport in Verbier has a special section called the ES Falcons for those kids who have grown out of ski school, but still want to progress in a structured teaching environment.
My kids are joining in this season so I’ll let you know how they get on. With a bit of luck I may get them to write it themselves! Again, book your ES Falcons lessons here and get a 5% discount.
Teens, 14 and upwards.
This is the tricky age as they will probaly be better than you by now or at least want to go much faster. Maybe they wont even want to be on the same slope as you :-(
Then there is the lure of the apres ski........
The teenage market is a pretty under-recognised one, especially in Europe, but things are changing slowly with resorts doing more things for teenage children.
As an instructor I’ve taught many teenagers over the years and seen many a different relationship between parents and child. Some excellent, some a bit strained and others well little short of disastrous.
First of all if they’ve been skiing for a while they will probably not want to go into ski school.
Race and freeride camps yes, ski school no.
So try one with a theme to it if you want your child to have instruction.
This is not a web site about how to deal with the teenage years but my best advice is just let the teenagers do what they want to do (within reason) and if you’re lucky they’ll want to do it with you sometimes.
Especially if they want the bills paid!
If you think teenagers are a problem you wait till your child is intent on doing their third 'gap year' season and you worry that they will ever get a job in the “real” world! All that education and all they seem to want to do is hang around ski resorts.
Top Tips
- Snowpark is essential
- Drinking age is 18 in the Alps but some bars are pretty relaxed!
- Let them off the lead and hope they have picked up some mountain awareness over the years
Big Kids - You!
The people often forgotten about in family holidays, especially when the children are young, is you. The Parents.
First of all you must remember it's your holiday too and ensure that you enjoy yourself. There will inevitably be stress, arguments and you'll feel frustrated not being able to have a carefree time on the slopes that you once had. Not to mention a heavily curtailed nighlife!
We’ve had problems aplenty, but the trick is to move on swiftly.
When you have young children chalet holidays with friends are pretty much ideal as once the kids are tucked up in bed then you can relax and enjoy a good meal washed down with some wine.
Also the kids can run around making noise and mayhem without disurbing too many people. For them it's just a week long sleep over.
We found that in a hotel we spent the whole time trying to get the kids to behave like perfect children and this became stressful for us.
Don't spend the whole time running around after your children but put yourself first a few times.
Do bring out some homework and books but don't bring loads as you will only spend the whole time trying to get them to do it with the inevitable frustrations and arguments.
Same with toys.
TOP TIPS
- Only one; put yourself first a few times!
