Young family first time skiing - advice appreciated!

Hi, 2 adults, 2 children - 6 and just 4 - fairly limited budget, complete novices. Looking at Westendorf or St. Johann, Austria. I have a few questions!
1. Would you recommend either of the areas? Hotel Post in Westerdorf is just beside ski lift which I think might be better with small kids. Hotel in St. Johann is 10 mins walk away, which at the end of the day might be too much for them. (There is a bus though.)
2. Beginners ski pack includes 2 hours tuition in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. I think 4 hours a day will be too much especially for the 4 year old. Do you know if the ski packs can be amended to switch between creche and tuition depending on need? Or would we have to pay extra for a creche if we needed it? Do you know if the creches are beside the slopes, include playing in the snow etc? Are the creches attached to a travel agent etc or are they independent? Could you just use them as you need or do you have to pay for all week?

Thanks!

Hi White100,

I can't give an opinion on the specific resorts as I've not been to them, but in terms of location I would pick the one next to the ski lift (all else being equal). Ski buses can get pretty rammed at certain times of day and then it's a bit of a scrum to get on and off. Not sure I'd fancy doing that and herding two little 'uns at the same time.

The kiddie ski pack/creche question - no idea. I reckon you'd be best off asking your TO about that as I bet it varies from resort to resort etc. I've seen plenty of Kinder classes going out in the afternoon too though. The kids seem to be fine, even the really small ones, although how much of that is to do with the instructors popping jelly bears into their mouths at regular intervals I'm not sure :lol:

Emma

The morning & afternoon ski lessons is about my only problem with skiing in Austria (anywheer else i've found it's morning or afternoon but not both).

We had adult beginners in our group last week and they opted for private lessons in the end rather than ski school groups as they wanted to have the afternoon to work on what they had learnt in the morning rather than charge on. They did ask the T/O about only doing mornings in a group but were told that they would end up way behind the rest of the class.

I took my children for the first time when they were slightly older than yours and while the eldest coped ok, the youngest was defeintly out of sorts by the end of the day - not only that it left little time on what was supposed to be a 'family' ski holiday for us all to actually try and do anything together.

The couple of years after that we skiied in France so we only had the half day lessons.

Might be worth taking a look at Italy, a better apres atmosphere than France - and generally much cheaper, refugios to die for and half day ski school in the resorts we have stayed in.

Hope you get it sorted and have a great family trip.

Rustyinn

Some resorts in Italy also give free lift passes to under 9 yo

Could always look on the Neilson website, i am sure they do a learn to turn package which you may find useful?

Also you could do three days of 4 hour ski school lessons and then have the last 3 days to ski as a family once everyone has found their skiing legs

Hi,
I haven't been to either of the resorts you are looking at , so can't comment on their suitability for you.

However, I have taken children of that age skiing and it was hard work!

My daughter was 4 when we 1st took her and we went to Schladming in Austria.
The kindergarten was a bus ride away and it was really hard work as the bus stop was a 10 minute walk.
As she was so small we had to carry her skis, she wore her normal shoes and she carried her boots in a backpack. My son who was just 7 was able to manage his own.
So, I would avoid having to walk far - the bus was ok.

I gather 2 hours morning and afternoon could be the norm in Austria - the creche was all day 10 -4 and they skied for 2 hours morning, 2 hours afternoon.
They had lunch at the kindergarten too. You paid for all day whether they stayed all day or not.
If I did it all over again I would make sure they were in a creche where there were other English speaking children. There was only one other and she wasn't in my daughter's class. She cried a bit when we left her - you have to be quite tough and actually I am really glad I don't have to do it again!
Sometimes we would see her with her class and she was fine once we had gone. The instructors always had helpers to wipe noses and pick them up.

Are you hoping to go with a tour operator? If so, give them a call - they might be able to advise you.

There are some English operators that provide nannies and creches - you might be lucky and get a late deal with one of them in term time. Missing school at that age won't do them any harm.

A friend of mine went to Les Gets with ski famille and said it was very successful.

Take a video camera - We love watching footage of them when they were small - before they got better than us!