For spring break 2019, we will be taking our kids on their first snow ski trip to Colorado. This will be the kids first time (age almost 6 and 8.5), my 3rd time and my husband has skied often. We are looking at Keystone, as they have multiple options that the kids are also interested in (tubing, ice skating, snow moiling, sledding, etc). I am overwhelmed looking online at the many options for where to stay - can anyone guide me in the right direction? We are thinking either a 1 bedroom suite hotel room, maybe a 2 bedroom if it's a condo? But what area? Also, how many days is enough for this kind of a trip? My husband and I are debating between 4 full days and 5 full days. Pretty much any guidance on this area in Colorado and first time skiing including kids is welcome! Thank you!!

haven't been to keystone with kids or recently, but have spent time in other ski areas with kids. Condos generally have more room and have an eating area which is helpful, even if only for breakfast. prefer to stay close to the slopes so no driving/parking. Look into lessons for the kids. Hopefully at 6 they will be substantive. (some lessons are glorified and expensive daycare). I'd go for 5 days, but not plan to ski all those. More to enjoy.

skiing and altitude will likely make the kids tired and cranky. Parents too! So pace yourselves. One thing we did when kids were young was to try to get necklace style ski passes (rather than those that attach to zippers) so parents could trade off skiing half days, especially if kids are staying home.

I don't think there is any "rule" as to how many days you must go skiing. It depends on your budget, your time, and how far you are traveling to get there, I'd say. I often just go for a day if I can drive there in a couple hours from home, or a couple days if it's an hour flight. But when I go out West for major good skiing, I ski 4-5 days at least, as I don't have the chance often and the air fare is more expensive/longer. But I will stay longer in places that are cheaper for housing, some places you can spend $300 a nioght (like Breckenridge) without even trying. I haven't stayed at Keystone, so have no idea what accommodations cost there.

There really isn't much difference between 4-5 days, I'd say you'll just have to decide based on your personal reasons. Four days is certainly "enough" for any ski trip, if that's what works for you. If your husband has skiied often, shouldn't his opinion matter as to how much time he wants to spend there?

Also, money. You can't guarantee great snow at spring break. I was there last year the last week in March (which I think is Spring Break for many), and the snow wasn't as good as I thought it would be in the that part of Colorado. Meaning it was pretty mushy around the base area and the bottom of the runs. So I left a day early because of that.

I"m sure you realize how expensive this is going to be. A 2 BR condo is probably going to run out at least $300 a night around Keystone if you book in advance during that time period, and that isn't a deluxe one. A 1 BR with sofabed will be cheaper, of course. Kids get free lift tickets there if you book through Keystone Resorts, I believe, but you are also talking about money for equipment rentals, I presume, and I would guess lessons for the kids, right? And lift tickets for the adults. That area has the most expensive lift tickets I've ever paid, they are over $100 a day for adults even when bought in advance and multiple days.

As to where to stay, I'd just be sure to stay someplace convenient either for just walking to the lifts or on the shuttle route.

This is the cheapest 2 BR condo place I saw around Keystone not too far from the lifts, it's a little over $200 a day last week in March but that doesn't include about a 20 pct tax plus a $40 per day cleaning fee.
https://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rental...cinnamon-ridge

Anyway, I haven't taken little kids on their first ski trip so don't know from that perspective but given how expensive that is, and they've never done it before, I'd probably lean towards 4 days. And I'd make those mid-week, even though it's really crowded during that week anyway, I think it's worse on weekends. But money may be no issue at all for you, in which case, since your kids want to do so many things (which I wouldn't pay those prices for, you can ice skate for free where I live in a community rink, for example not to mention sledding--but if you live in Florida, for example, you don't have those options), maybe go for five if you don't care about the money.

The length of stay was in question due to having young children and them wearing out potentially. The kids and I are clearly not avid skiers and I wanted to enjoy all that CO has to offer without wearing them out too extensively. We do live in Florida and as an adult, I have only seen snow twice and our children have never seen snow - thus the desire for all of the fun snow activities. This won't be a trip that we take often, so we wanted them to experience it as much as possible. The cost is important, though we are anticipating it will be a costly vacation, we want to be as smart as possible about it. Us Floridians don't get to the cold very often, and I feel a bit overwhelmed going into this planning

Between 4 and 5 days, I'd go for 5. The additional cost is one night's extra stay in whatever accommodations you choose. (you don't have to ski that day, and you'd have to eat in Florida, so that's not an incremental cost either!)

I've been to Keystone once a few years ago and it was with a baby so I needed the nursery. Here are my thoughts knowing that. There are two ski school locations from what I remember. My group I was traveling with had to go with a certain ski school location because I could only get a nursery reservation at that area. I think it was the newer part of the ski village. When you look for where to stay, make sure it is convenient to where your kids will be in ski school. And once you decide, make a reservation now to guarantee your location in whichever ski school especially if going at a popular time of year. And order your lift tickets now. Vail Resorts has a credit card which you stick into your sleeve of your coat and they can scan it. Give it long enough to arrive at your house before your trip. and when i saw now, i mean at least two weeks to two months before your trip. Do not feel like you are going to miss out and desperately need to book by September 1 to get a reservation. Keep an eye out at Landsend.com for deals on Children's outerwear and make sure you dress your children appropriately.

I'd do 5 days. Ski two, take a day off and ski two more. and I'd actually leave that last day free as well. I like to take a day and spend the morning relaxing in the house and then go snow tubing and do all the mountain adventures in one afternoon. You can easily fill up an afternoon or a morning doing those but afternoon is usually better as they tend to run longer than the lifts and don't open as early. If you go snow mobiling, go ahead and make reservations for that as well a week or two before your trip.

I don't know how set you are on Keystone. Make sure you look at multiple ski resort and see how much lift tickets and ski lessons cost. Vail resorts can be expensive. They've really hiked up their prices in Park City enough so that it's not reasonable for me to go there. (along with a few other reasons that are irrelevant to you) But make sure you look at Keystone, Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, and see what the costs are. That could make a ski trip a whole lot more expensive. You might also want to consider Steamboat Springs. You can fly into it directly and it is supposed to be very family friendly.

If the focus is to learn how to ski especially for the kids, then I think Copper Mt is a better choice. It is smaller and a little easier to get around and might be a little less expensive BUT everything is expensive at that time of year. Of all of the ski mountains, Copper has the best skier separation and some great learning slopes. When our kids were learning to ski I thought they had one of the best beginner program - BUT it has been ten years or more.

Keystone is spread out all the base of the mountain so just any of the accommodations require a bus to get to the lift area. And then most of the instruction is on top of the mountain so that requires riding the gondola and the earlier morning jam up there is a problem.

My recommendation for time would be five or six days. A couple of days of lessons to get started, the third day is relax and practice - maybe a half day. And then perhaps a couple of half day lesson with practice in the PM. The most critical item in learning to ski is time on the snow. Get a few of the basics and practice, practice, etc.

Let me know the areas/units you are looking at and I can tell you the length of the bus ride to the slope.