Ski holidays with young kids

International travel with young children in tow is stressful at the best of times. Throw in heavy bags, ski equipment and long transfers up twisty mountain roads, and you risk serious tantrums… from the adults as much as the kids.
Arm yourself with no-nonsense advice, though, and you’ll make sure your family ski holiday runs as smoothly a well-waxed ski on a fresh piste.

Travel

Don’t be too ambitious. Flying transatlantic to the Rockies with small kids is expensive and logistically tricky. Head for the Alps, Pyrenees, Eastern Europe or Scandinavia instead, where flight times are much shorter. 

And remember that ski packages are far more expensive during school holidays. If you can travel during off-peak periods, your bank account will thank you.  

Airport transfers are a major consideration. Aim for resorts close to airports, such as Chamonix, Megève, Morzine, Les Carroz, Le Grand Bornand, St Anton and Verbier. The last thing you need at the start of your holiday is a four-hour car journey up tight hairpin bends, with travel-sick children in the back seat.

Daniel Elkan is founder of Snowcarbon, an independent guide to ski travel by train. He suggests the train as a great option for families heading to the Alps.

“The kids can move around on the train,” he says. “They can walk up and down the aisles. You always see children having a great time. It’s like a big, metal baby-sitter.”

The simplest train option is Eurostar’s ski train, which links London St Pancras to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, with a simple platform change at Lille. One of the easiest resorts to reach is Les Arcs, which connects to Bourg-Saint-Maurice via a seven-minute funicular.

There is also a train connection from London to the Alps via Paris, but this requires a station change in Paris.

Accommodation

Ideally, ski-in, ski-out accommodation will make it easier to get the kids straight to the lifts each morning. No parent likes to carry three sets of skis. 

Opt for hotels with childcare facilities and kids’ entertainment. If you’re staying in a chalet, ensure there’s a kitchen – you’ll save a huge amount of money on meals.

Also bear in mind that little ones can suffer more from the altitude. A mountain-top hotel may not be the wisest option.

Equipment hire and clothing

Buying equipment for young kids is a total waste of money as they grow so quickly. When hiring boots, look for buckles that are easy to manipulate. 

Some brands offer boots with fewer buckles or zip-up fastenings. The Rossignol Comp J1 and the Lange L-Kid, for example, feature large cuff openings with only one buckle at the rear.

When it comes to clothing, heat retention is your main goal. For little ones, think about lots of thermal base layers, all-in-one ski suits, extra-thick socks, snoods beneath the helmet and mitten gloves which attach to their sleeves. It’s amazing how easily kids lose items of clothing on the mountain. 

Teaching the kids

Sarah Mallock’s children were just four and two years old when she and her husband first took them skiing. Despite being only toddlers, they both adapted quickly. But she remembers it being quite the ordeal.

“Oh my God, it was madness!” she says, looking back on her first family ski holiday 15 years ago. “We all loved it, though.”

Sarah, a musician from Surrey, believes there’s no reason you shouldn’t get your kids skiing as early as possible. “As long as they’re ballsy enough,” she adds. “After all, that’s what parents who live in the mountains do.”

Having bought a holiday home in the hills of Slovenia, Sarah and her husband opted for one of the country’s largest ski resorts, Vogel. And since they were both strong skiers, initially they decided to teach their kids, Tammy and Billy, themselves.

“This made sense as they were so small they could only do snowplough turns,” Sarah explains. “Later, after they got older and stronger, they started doing parallel turns, and that’s when we got them lessons with a proper ski teacher so they would learn the proper techniques.”

Sarah stresses how parents must have strong skills themselves to coach their little ones. Either they ski behind, holding a ski pole horizontally in front of their child, which acts as a handlebar while the child skis in front between their legs in the snowplough position. Or, they ski in front, but backwards, in a reverse snowplough, still holding the ski pole as a handlebar. The children themselves don’t require their own poles at this stage.

Once Sarah’s kids had gained a bit of independence, they were skiing freely, without the need for the handlebar. At this point Sarah had two key instructions she would call out to them: “Pizza!”, which meant they should adopt the snowplough; and “Chips!” which meant they should push their skis into the parallel position.

“It stopped them skiing too fast like lunatics,” she adds.

Food

Small bodies tire much more quickly. For that reason, Sarah recommends you have plenty of sugary and high-carb snacks in your bag to keep the kids going.

“We always had sweets ready in our pockets,” she says. “And if we saw them getting too cold, we would stop at a restaurant and give them a plate of chips.”

Hot chocolate is another great remedy. A big thermos flask of the stuff carried in the rucksack will help parents avoid unnecessary tantrums.

Ski lifts

Busy chair lifts can be tricky for adults to negotiate, let alone little kids. “Make sure you’ve got at least one adult to each child,” Sarah says, warning that two or more kids can pose problems as you’re stressing to get aboard a chairlift. Fortunately, chair lift operators are used to young skiers and will usually lend a hand. 

Other activities

Sarah warns other parents not to be over-ambitious. Even if youngsters ski well, they simply don’t have the energy or patience to handle more than half a day on the mountain. 

“They get knackered,” she says. “Imagine what it’s like for their little bodies in the cold.”

So, opt for a resort that offers other activities in the afternoon. Tobogganing or ice skating can be fun. Many alpine resorts now have large spa centres with swimming pools for younger swimmers.

“Sometimes we would just get the sledges out and play snowballs,” Sarah adds.

And it’s a valid point. Above all, family ski holidays should be about having fun. “The great thing about teaching children young, is that they learn the ways of mountain life early,” Sarah concludes. “I now ski with two super-fast teenagers who absolutely love every minute of it.”

Here are five of our favourite ski resorts for parents with young children

Avoriaz

Cars are banned at this family-focused resort in the Portes du Soleil ski area, and you’ll see plenty of horse-drawn carriages about town. You can even send the kids out to fetch croissants on their own in the morning.

Best of all, though, is the Village des Enfants, a leisure centre and ski school all rolled into one – dedicated to kids aged between three and 16 years old. Run by the ESF, it offers half-day and full-day packages that include ski lessons, meals and other activities.

Avoriaz also has a great water park called Aquariaz.

Ischgl

This traditional Austrian village, with its lovely wooden chalets, has a reputation for some pretty wild après-ski. But it’s very child-friendly, too, with a ski kindergarten for three- to five-year-olds, every day except Saturdays.

“Our trained, child-friendly guides teach your children how to be safe on the slopes,” the nursery operators explain. “They learn through play and are introduced to behaviour on the slope in ways appropriate to their age.”

At the Silvretta Therme spa centre, there’s also a swimming pool (where babies are allowed) and an ice rink.

Levi

Dog-sledding with huskies, reindeer safaris, barbecues on the slopes, snowtubing, snowmobiling, spotting Northern Lights… all these activities and more are available for kids and teenagers at this Finnish resort. And if you visit at Christmas, you’re guaranteed to meet Santa Claus – after all, this is Lapland, his home territory.

The skiing facilities are perfect for beginners and youngsters, with loads of blue pistes and an entire section, called Leevilandia, dedicated to nursery slopes, with its own covered carpet lift. 

La Plagne

Part of the vast Paradiski ski area, this French resort has all the child-friendly ski facilities you’d expect, including multiple ski schools and no less than six beginners’ areas.

But it’s thanks to its non-skiing activities that it really excels. There’s an ice rink, a bowling alley, a bobsleigh run, dog-sledding and an excellent aquatic centre called Espace Aqualudique Paradisio. Plenty to keep the kids occupied after skiing.

Engelberg

Children up to the age of 15 pay around a third of the adult lift-pass price at this Swiss resort in central Switzerland. The Brunni mountain area is best for kids and beginners thanks to its gentler slopes and often warmer south-facing aspect.

There are plenty of kid-friendly activities including an ice rink in the Sporting Park, a snow-tubing and sliding area at Truebsee Snow Park, and a great swimming pool at the Alpenresort Eienwäldli.