Booking a ski holiday with children

We recently decided that we would book a ski holiday for the February half term week seeing as we live so close to the mountains then we thought we should take advantage of it! It wasn't an easy decision though as it can be so expensive, especially during this week and working out what to do with two young ones makes it quite a bit more complex to organise as well.

There are quite a few components that you need to think about when booking a ski holiday. Accommodation, ski lessons and child care. 

Firstly, accommodation. In previous years we've stayed in catered chalets which are really nice as all the cooking and cleaning gets done for you so it's a nice break. The downside is that they are expensive and in holiday weeks the prices double. I started searching for some places and was amazed to find nearly everything booked up. I knew people booked in early but I didn't think this early! A few more calls and I find out that all the English speaking ski schools are booked up for lessons and that all but one of the nanny agencies didn't have availability either. 

So, my key piece of advice is BOOK EARLY! A lady at a ski school told me all the enquiries started happening in September this year so I'm guessing this is a good time to book if you want your pick of the accommodation and ski schools.

A really helpful company I found was Family Friendly Ski. They have catered chalets and provide nannies at a very reasonable price, around £200 for full time care for the week which is great value. Unfortunately their catered chalet prices are more expensive so this is a trade off I guess. There are quite a few self catered apartments to choose from but again you need to get in early. On the official website for one of the ski resorts they had a link to apartments for rent in the area, about 50 or so and only 1 was available. We eventually found a self catering apartment on HomeAway that should work out well so we decided to try out this option. 

Your childcare options are either a nanny or a creche. A nanny is great in that you have lots of flexibility and they come to you rather than having to get the kids all ready and get them to the creche. Nearly all ski resorts have creches which is a good option but they only go up to a certain age, usually to 5 years old. Some of them can pick up your child from ski school and take them back to the creche for the afternoon.

In summary, when booking a ski holiday you need to book early and make sure that there is availability in all the things you want eg, childcare and lessons before confirming your accommodation. Last year we made the mistake of booking accommodation first and then realising that all the child care was fully booked and that you couldn't do group ski lessons for part weeks. But I'm glad we're all booked and looking forward to getting up into the mountains!

MP