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The idea of taking your little angels to the mountains can be very tempting! Hours of fun having snowball fights, sledding, teaching your kids to ski and to love the mountains like you do. When booking your ski holiday, you see dreamy photos everywhere of laughing kids in fresh white snow with parents looking on proudly – the reality can be far from this.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be publishing various informative articles with tons of tips and advice about taking kids of all ages on a ski holiday. Some will seem obvious, others may save your sanity!

Different ages, different needs

Even if you’ve been going to the same ski resort for years and you want your kids to love it too, it’s important to consider the different needs of kids of different ages. The resort where you and your other half spent wonderful romantic ski holidays together or alternatively up dancing all night in trendy night clubs, may well not be the ideal place for babies and young kids.

From 0 to 16 years old, kids on ski holidays have very varied and particular needs. They can’t really just tag along like they often do on other types of family holiday. Ski holidays are not like beach holidays! Seems an obvious thing to say but I don’t know any kids who are not happy playing in the sand or splashing around in warm water under the summer sun with an icecream awaiting them in a beach café. However, the mountains are a different story altogether. Being cold and wet, tired or just plain bored is simply not fun – whatever your age!

Follow our blog and read our coming articles about travelling with babies, younger children and teenagers – we hope you’ll find them useful.

Choosing the right ski resort

Do a lot of research before choosing your ski resort. You can use the search criteria “Families & children” in our Ski Resort Guide and you’ll be given a selection of resorts which are particularly family-friendly. Once on the ski resort page you will find a dedicated area giving details about facilities available for kids. Speak to friends who have already taken kids skiing, read ski resort reviews to find out what others thought of the ski resort...

Watch this space for our special article about family-friendly ski resorts…

chamonet.com

Getting there

The journey to your ski holiday destination can set the mood for the whole holiday. If everyone arrives tired, stressed and cranky, then it can take a couple of days for everyone to get back on good form! In a week, every day is precious so it’s essential to minimize sources of fatigue and stress on the journey. We’ll give you tons of advice and tips to make travelling with kids become a fun part of the holiday and not end up like this…

What to pack

The packing list is a long one for ski holidays, especially when small children are on the guest list. Depending on how you plan to travel, every centimeter is precious so we’ll give you some ideas for space and weight saving when packing.

Alternatives to skiing

And what if one of your children simply doesn’t like skiing! It’s difficult to imagine that someone with the same blood as you might not have the same passions – but it happens often! If this is the case, then compromises will have to be made and maybe one parent will have to find other activities to keep the little one entertained. However, once you know you have a “non-skier” in the family, but missing the annual family ski holiday is just not an option, then consider taking the all-inclusive route – either in a residence or chalet – where children’s activities or childcare is laid on.

You can also read our article about "Activities for non skiers".

We hope to help you and the whole family, have the best ski holiday ever…

Join us on Facebook or leave a comment here if you’d like to share advice or tips about ski holidays with kids.

The idea of taking your little angels to the mountains can be very tempting! Hours of fun having snowball fights, sledding, teaching your kids to ski and to love the mountains like you do. When booking your ski holiday, you see dreamy photos everywhere of laughing kids in fresh white snow with parents looking on proudly – the reality can be far from this.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be publishing various informative articles with tons of tips and advice about taking kids of all ages on a ski holiday. Some will seem obvious, others may save your sanity!

Different ages, different needs

Even if you’ve been going to the same ski resort for years and you want your kids to love it too, it’s important to consider the different needs of kids of different ages. The resort where you and your other half spent wonderful romantic ski holidays together or alternatively up dancing all night in trendy night clubs, may well not be the ideal place for babies and young kids.

From 0 to 16 years old, kids on ski holidays have very varied and particular needs. They can’t really just tag along like they often do on other types of family holiday. Ski holidays are not like beach holidays! Seems an obvious thing to say but I don’t know any kids who are not happy playing in the sand or splashing around in warm water under the summer sun with an icecream awaiting them in a beach café. However, the mountains are a different story altogether. Being cold and wet, tired or just plain bored is simply not fun – whatever your age!

Follow our blog and read our coming articles about travelling with babies, younger children and teenagers – we hope you’ll find them useful.

Choosing the right ski resort

Do a lot of research before choosing your ski resort. You can use the search criteria “Families & children” in our Ski Resort Guide and you’ll be given a selection of resorts which are particularly family-friendly. Once on the ski resort page you will find a dedicated area giving details about facilities available for kids. Speak to friends who have already taken kids skiing, read ski resort reviews to find out what others thought of the ski resort...

Watch this space for our special article about family-friendly ski resorts…

chamonet.com

Getting there

The journey to your ski holiday destination can set the mood for the whole holiday. If everyone arrives tired, stressed and cranky, then it can take a couple of days for everyone to get back on good form! In a week, every day is precious so it’s essential to minimize sources of fatigue and stress on the journey. We’ll give you tons of advice and tips to make travelling with kids become a fun part of the holiday and not end up like this…

What to pack

The packing list is a long one for ski holidays, especially when small children are on the guest list. Depending on how you plan to travel, every centimeter is precious so we’ll give you some ideas for space and weight saving when packing.

Alternatives to skiing

And what if one of your children simply doesn’t like skiing! It’s difficult to imagine that someone with the same blood as you might not have the same passions – but it happens often! If this is the case, then compromises will have to be made and maybe one parent will have to find other activities to keep the little one entertained. However, once you know you have a “non-skier” in the family, but missing the annual family ski holiday is just not an option, then consider taking the all-inclusive route – either in a residence or chalet – where children’s activities or childcare is laid on.

You can also read our article about "Activities for non skiers".

We hope to help you and the whole family, have the best ski holiday ever…

Join us on Facebook or leave a comment here if you’d like to share advice or tips about ski holidays with kids.

137 - Winter - Nikki

About Nikki

Being lucky enough to have parents who were crazy about skiing, my love for the mountains started when I was 4 years old on our first family ski holiday to Austrian ski resort of Obergurl. One ski holiday a year was never enough and tears rolled down my face as I looked out the back window of the car on the drive down the valley on the way home!