Researching our first family ski holiday with the expert help of my brother who has six years experience working in various ski resorts in France and Canada and now works for a specialist ski travel agency. He’s shared his recommendations for the best value ski resorts for families, the best time to go skiing (weighing up the snow conditions with price), cheapest way to travel to the ski resorts and even tips on saving money buying ski clothes and ski passes.
My hubby and I used to love going on ski holidays prior to becoming parents. The feeling of flying down a snow covered mountain with cool air whooshing past your face is utterly exhilarating and completely addictive.
We’ve not yet taken our boys on a family ski holiday but at 4 & 7 they are now approaching a great age to try out skiing for the first time so it’s something we’ve been seriously considering.
A family ski holiday is undeniably not a cheap holiday, especially for the first one where you have to kit out the whole family in ski clothes, hire out ski/snowboarding equipment and pay for ski lessons. On top of these initial costs you have to folk out for all the regular ski holiday costs such as ski passes, travel, food and accommodation. But help is at hand. I’ve asked my brother to share his expert tips for saving money on a family ski holiday. I hope you find his tips as useful as my hubby and I have!
Table of Contents
Expert tips for saving money: Booking a family ski holiday
First and foremost shop around and consider a shorter break than a week if a week is working out too expensive. It’s obvious really. Don’t go with the first quote you get. A great way to find out about family ski holiday discounts is to subscribe to the mailing lists of all the major family ski holiday operators. This way you will be informed when they have flash sales and hopefully grab a great deal.
Ski operators hugely incentivise families to travel outside of the school holidays. (This of course is a personal preference and depends on your child’s school holiday policy). You can pick up deals such as ‘kids go free’ which often includes ski hire and ski passes. Other great deals to look out for include discounts on child care costs.
Expert tips for saving money: Buying ski equipment & ski passes
I would recommend you buy all of your ski equipment prior to leaving the UK as it’s expensive to buy in the resorts. I’ve picked up some great ski clothes and goggles at both Lidl and TK Maxx. Bargains can also be found searching for second hand ski gear on sites such as Ebay. (Shocking I know but not everyone falls in love and becomes addicted to skiing!)
A great tip for petite ladies and gents is to look out kids ski clothes in the sales. As ski clothes are made to be baggy you can pick up some great deals by buying kids rather than adults.
Ski passes are generally a set price whether you buy them from your ski operator or when at the resort however it’s worth grouping up with others to buy family passes between you. (I.e if you have an extra child place sell to another family). Also make sure you check out age restrictions on ski passes because the child age can change from resort to resort and this will effect the overall cost of your family ski holiday.
Cheapest way to travel to the ski resorts
Driving can be the cheapest method of transport depending on date and group size. Driving also gives you the extra flexibility of taking your own ski/snowboarding equipment without worrying about the cost of restrictive baggage allowances. If you’re self catering, it also gives you the opportunity to stock up at a supermarket before you reach the mountains (if you have space in your car!). Note – Groceries and alcohol in the resort supermarkets can be very expensive.
Extra costs to keep in mind for your first ski holiday, if you do decide to drive, are a roof box (to fit in all your equipment), winter tyres and snow chains (which are a legal requirement in many parts of Europe). This initial outlay may save you folking out for expensive flights for any future ski holidays.
When weighing up the cost difference between flying and driving you need to take into account the transfer cost from the airport to the resort and back. Obviously a 60mins drive to Portes du Soleil or Grand Massif is much cheaper than a 180mins transfer to Espace Killy.
Generally the ski train from London St Pancras works out about the same cost as flying, although if you live close to London it could work out cheaper.
(I travelled on the ski train years ago and still rave about the experience now. It’s so much fun and definitely an experience you need to have at least once in your life! It’s worth looking at the times your train gets into the resort compared to the flight and transfer arrival times. We found that we arrived very early into the resort and had the slopes to ourselves on the first day and again on the last day as we departed late, giving us two extra days of skiing for the same cost as flying!)
Best time to go skiing (weighing up snow conditions with the cost of a family ski holiday)
The most expensive time to go skiing is New Year and the February half term holidays. (Flights alone can cost £500 pp for the February half term holidays). My top tip is to consider the Easter school holidays, the first week of the Easter holidays can be as much as £500 cheaper per person than going in the February half term holidays. The second week of the Easter holidays is even cheaper. Generally a Christmas ski holiday is alot cheaper than a New Years ski holiday.
Of course the Easter holidays is very late in the ski season so it’s important to travel to high altitude ski resorts (see my recommendations below). Some resorts don’t open this late in the season but the ones that do offer brilliant deals at this time in the ski season.
Best value ski resorts for families
Val Thorens, located in the Three Valleys (Trois Vallees) in the French Alps, is the highest ski resort in Europe, at an altitude of 2300 m. Due to its high altitude it has one of the longest ski seasons and great deals can be found here for a family ski holiday, particularly at the end of the season i.e. Easter school holidays.
Val d’Isère in the French Alps, near the Italian border is another great option particularly for a Easter family ski holiday. With nearby Tignes, it’s part of the Espace Killy ski area.
Both of these resort have glaciers, meaning you could actually ski here in the summer!
Cheapest place to go skiing
In Europe the most expensive ski holidays are generally in Switzerland and Austria. The cheapest ski holidays can be found in Bulgaria although I wouldn’t particularly recommend for family ski holidays. I’ve found when pricing up family ski holidays that Switzerland is the most expensive followed by Austria, France, Italy and Andorra. The ski resorts in Italy and Andorra are less expensive in general… lift passes, ski hire, meals out and drinks are all cheaper than in Switzerland, France and Italy.
Best family ski resorts Europe
My number one tip for a great family ski resort in Europe is La Rosière in southeastern France. It’s located between some of highest and best ski resorts in France and Italy. It’s long and gentle slopes on the French side are perfect for beginners and therefore a safe bet for a first family ski holiday. The more challenging slopes on the Italian side are great if any family members are already established skiers. You can nab a great deal on a family ski holiday in La Rosière and with a new chair lift being installed this summer (2018) skiers are going to be able to get to even more slopes from this winter season.
La Plagne is the perfect choice for families who class themselves to be improvers or intermediates . La Plagne forms part of the huge Paradiski area (along with Les Arcs and Peisey-Vallandry). The three resorts combined have 130 lifts and 425km of runs including lots of blue runs that are really long and help build confidence on the slopes. Travelling by snow train is very convenient as the trains stops close by. The resort offers lots of different kids ski schools and as the area isn’t massive on the après party so it’s safe on the slopes. (You really don’t want big groups of snowboarders flying past your children whilst they are trying to learn to snowplough!)
I hope you’ve found my brothers expert tips for a saving money on a family ski holiday helpful? I know I have! If you have more tips to add I’m all ears. Just pop them in the comments below!
*This post may contain compensated links. All words and opinions are my brothers and my own.
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This year we went skiing as a couple and next year I would love to take our daughter so these tips came in really handy – thank you!
Hi are they no photographs of non snow facilities in the ski resorts of family resorts. Just interested to see other activities pastimes other than the slopes 😉