aileenw

Hi,
We are a British family of 5. husband wife, living in Houston , Texas for the last four years on extended assignment with my husband's job.
Our three kids, daughter(17) , son (16) and son(15 early feb) are at boarding school back home.
We would like to go skiing and snowboarding in february for a week in Europe. The dates will be Sat 18th to Saturday 25th feb 2006.
Please could anyone give me some help as to where would be goodfor us, (none of us are experts and all are beginners on a board) good ski schools etc.
from a personal point of view, I have voted that it is a hotel(my holiday too!). Yje kids and I haven't skiied for about 6 years. They all want to snowboard and we probably will too as both my husband and i have done a little.
My husband and I skied in Austria at Alpach years ago which was beautiful. He has skied also at Kitzbuhel in Austria and Ortisei in Italy.
We would probably like to go to Austria or Italy as we think they have such character with the buildings etc.
if any of you have stuck with this ramble and are still reading I would be really grateful for all advice and help.
Even if anyone just wants to refer to a specific tour company that would be a start, but personal reccommendations on Fodors have never let me down yet!
many thanks,
Aileen

ngso

We have been skiing in Europe for the past 10 years. My youngest is nearly 18. As we are Australians we usually ski in January
and the snow is fairly unreliable in the lower areas. Our favourites
France...Courchevel (Mirabel) and Val D'Isere
Austria.....St Antons and Lech

Most English spoken and very good lesson in English would be Val D'Isere at Snowfun Ski School. Cheapest way is to get an apartment and you will find a few on the internet. Make sure they are close to the ski lifts as Val is quite spread out.

pretycute

i like courchevel too, i've been there is 2004 jan, very skier-friendly. i stay in courchevel 1600, almost step out for ski. but the town is quiet, no night life.

Georgine

Hello,

Given the altitude, you would have good ski conditions in the Galtur Valley of Austria. No worries about poor snow conditions as can be the case at Kitzbuhel and the ski areas surrounding Innsbruck.

Ischgl is particularly impressive, with all levels of ski terrain, and good ski and boarding classes.

I find the Galtur less demanding and less crowded than the St.Anton/Lech area.

They sell passes that can be used at any of the resorts in the valley.

We also enjoy the atomosphere of the Austrian resorts as compared to the "planned block building appearance" of the French resorts.

Have a wonderful ski holiday!

Tulips

We have been going to Megeve, France for years, and the snow is usually good in February. It's easy to get to, only an hour from Geneva, and skiing is good for all levels. It's an old village (no new high-rises) with lots of small cosy hotels, and if you stay in the village, there's a ski lift that takes you straight to the ski school.
Let me know if you need any info on hotels.

aileenw

Thanks for all these replies. We have a lot of friends who swear by france and we all speak french to varying degrees, but there is just something about the purpose builtness and high rise etc that doesn't appeal to me.
megeve sounds lovely though and any info on hotels would be hugely helpful,
Also Austria and if there are any hotels to reccomend in the Galtur area that would be fantastic too.
We pretty much always have done self catering ski holidays in the past and this time I just want to be taken care of!not the most expensive hotels, just something like a nice inn will be fine. As long as i don't have to cook or worse.. clean!
I won't at all discount france though and will check out Courcheval .
Any advice on Italy?
Thank you all for taking the trouble to help us. Her in Houston they don't really do ski brochures to look through .

Xenos

Aileen, Mark Warner are a well-established ski company who you will probably remember seeing brochures for when you were back in the UK. They have hotels in both Austria and Italy, so you might find something to fit the bill there - http://www.markwarner.co.uk/ski_holidays

Tulips

In Megeve;
www.c-h-m.com Particularly the Coin du Feu and the Lodge Park
http://www.hotel-chaletstgeorges.com/
Also; Hotel le Manege
And have a look at www.megeve.com for more. There are lots of small hotels, that I can't remember the names of. There's also an old-fashioned family hotel just opposite the Mont d'Arbois lift called Ferme Hotel Duvillard.

travfirst

For the past 5 years we booked packages in all inclusive clubs for the same week you are planning your trip (President’s day holidays; also schools are off in England and France during same week). We went twice to ClubMeds in La Plagne, France and Avoriaz, France and three times to Club Valtur in Sestriere, Italy.
Sestriere will be the home of the men’s and women’s slalom and of the men’s technical races during 2006 Olympics and we found great improvements (new lifts, hotels and so on) when we skied at 2004 and hope to visit it again in a few years.
From Avoriaz you can ski in both French and Swiss Alps, and the area is absolutely beautiful, some slopes were divided for skiers and snowboarders; but it’s better to find different accommodations, the Club Med there was not that great.
http://www.avoriaz.com/
Club Med in La Plagne was the better of the three clubs, food was fantastic and the slopes were nice. http://www.la-plagne.com/uk/welcome.html

aileenw

Thank you all again. I have now checked out both Mark Warner and Club med but sadly they are coming in at a bit too pricey for us as two of us have also flights to Scotland from the Sates before we meet up with the kids.
So i think it will be local hotels if possible in Austria or Italy with good ski schools.
We aren't bothered about night clubs(well no doubt our kids would be but they can do that when they go with their own friends some time!) and would prefer to be in a nice town with local restaurants.
thank you ahain everyone, this is really very helpful and I am enjoying looking up all the suggestions on the net.

Steve_James

Aileen - My usual recommendation for Italy is Val Gardena, but I see you've already been there (- Ortisei). As a ski area - and scenically - I believe it's hard to beat.

If not there, how about somewhere else in the Dolomites?
Corvara? Cortina? Madonna di Campiglio? Or one of the smaller resorts ...

Steve

furs

The Dolomites in Italy - it's a no-brainer!! Check www.dolomitisuperski.com for complete info.

aileenw

Dear Steve and Furs,

Thank you both. I was thinking that maybe people had nothing more to say to me !
Actually it was my husband who has been to Italy and that was over 20 years ago(pre wife and family) so i shall most definitely look at all reccomendations this afternoon.
It is nice to sit here in sunshine and plan a ski holiday!

SueMcL

Hi Aileen - are you the same ~Aileen that asked for the Banana bread recipe? Just wondered!
I see you are hoping to go skiing. We are a family of 5 too. This is probably way off the track of what you want to do in February but I thought I would share our experiences with you. We were recently (2003) in France in a little village called Risoul. It's not Italy or Austria and it didn't have cute buildings, but it was charming. We were there to ski and board so we didn't really think about the architecture a lot. We went with a British company called Neilsons (sp?) We stayed in a compact apartment very near the slopes - I think they were called Foret. They were basic but comfortable - recommended by Scottish friends. I see you would like to be in a hotel - good girl! There were some good ones there too.
We were there in February and the snow was superb - I'd have to add that it needed snow when we arrived - we had over a metre in the first day. It was full sun all the way after that. It was truly safe for the kids too and there is a special area for snow boarding. There was a boarding competition on one night.
The local restaurants were lovely - to suit all budgets. If you would like more info about them let me know. The ski school were very helpful and English was widely spoken. We speak some French - I got the kids to practice in the bakers asking for croissants etc. It really helped their French to come on as well.

We have also been to Bormio - a lovely spa resort. I ended up in plaster so I know that the medical services are great there too. Got to watch the snow there I think - the record isn't that good although they do have several snow machines now i understand. In Austria we were near Mayrhofen - a village called Hippach. There was extensive skiing there too - same old problem with not enough snow at times though. Where ever you end up make it really high I would suggest - but that's just my thoughts! Sorry to go on and on!
Good Luck with your planning. Sue

SueMcL

Sorry forgot to say, Bormio is in Italy! Sue

aileenw

Dear Sue,
Thank you for all your helpful info! I would love more advice if you have any!
Risoul sounds ideal for us. Do you have teens too?
Poor you with the plaster incident. funnily enough i have a friend who also ended up in plaster years ago there!!

SueMcL

Hi Aileen. Yes I have 3 teenagers - 17,15 and 14. Girl and 2 boys. We took the boys skiing as our daughter was away with my parents in Madeira in the sun. She had opted to help mum look after my father whose health was failing. What would you like to know about Risoul? www.neilson.co.uk is worth a look www.risoul.com too. In the past we have kept an eye on previous snow records which may still be available on www.skiclub.co.uk. We found the info there very helpful. There will be other companies go. I can probably help you there with suggestions if you wish. It's fun looking that's for sure - there is so much choice.

aileenw

Dear Sue,
Sounds like you were looking for same as us as we have three teens , daughter 17, son 15 and son 14 (though he will be 15 when we go).
So I shall check all your and everyone's helful sites etc out this weekend .
BTW i am indeed the same Aileen who requested then baked the banana bread recipe! Can highly reccomend it!

SueMcL

Will make the bread at the weekend - thank you.