Choosing where to go on your family ski holiday is always tricky. There are so many choices and every resort claims to be the best for families.
But one way to narrow down the choice is to think about the whole holiday right from leaving home.
Most families enjoy a stress-free start, and end, to their holidays from a quick flight into a small airport with a small transfer at the other end, and arriving at a friendly, moderately sized ski resort. This tends to be better than flying in to a big airport then facing a long transfer to a huge, anonymous ski area. So, the short answer is to head to the Austrian Tirol.
Ski areas in the Tirol not only tick all the boxes on easy of access from the UK, but the resorts themselves work very hard to make sure that they offer a great holiday destination for families.
So, expect family-friendly accommodation options; great ski school and kindergarten facilities, usually with dedicated on-snow fun and learning areas for younger kids; fast, comfortable lifts that are easy for families to use and lots to do off the slopes for families too.
The extra good news is that the pound will most likely go further in Austria than in many other ski nations. Young children don’t usually pay for their lift tickets at all until age six or seven in Austria when four or five is the norm in many resorts in other countries, and child discounts often continue up to age 16 or 18, whereas, again, other resorts in other countries often make children pay adult prices from age 12 or 13, as do airlines.
Here are some of the Tirol’s top family-friendly destinations:
Tiroler Zugspitz Arena
It’s fair to say that the Tiroler Zugspitz Arena is not that well known in the British market so far, so this is truly a hidden gem waiting to be discovered and a good choice if you don’t want to spend your holiday surrounded by Brits. It’s also a good choice if you’re looking for the best value for money, as prices on everything from a lift pass to a cup of coffee are lower here than at better-known resorts.
The resort encompasses six different skiing areas, all on one ski ticket, and offers skiing across the Austrian and the German side of the Zugspitze mountain, Germany’s highest.
Each separate ski area has about 30km of slopes, most of them rated easy blues or slightly more challenging reds, meaning your family will enjoy an intimate, friendly ski area but have the choice to try another area every day of the week. There are gentle runs with stress-free carpet lifts serving the beginner slopes as well as more challenging skiing for older children and parents.
Each ski area is easy to reach, most of them start right in the centre of the villages and are within short walking distance of your accommodation. Free ski buses link the villages, which each offer excellent childcare facilities and ski schools.
Off the slopes, there are lots of indoor activities including an indoor climbing wall, swimming pool, tennis courts and a family leisure pool with slides, water jets and a baby pool. You can also try outdoor activities such as free winter hiking tours, snowshoeing or hiking with torches, tobogganing and horse-drawn sleigh rides.
Finally, you’ll find a great choice of family-oriented dining options, loads of family-friendly accommodation and, for the icing on the cake, the Tiroler Zugspitz Arena even organise many family-orientated nighttime activities to enjoy.
Ötztal
You may not be familiar with the name Ötztal, but it is home to Austria’s most-visited ski resort, Sölden, as well as one of the most snow-sure resorts in the Alps and a long-standing British favourite, Obergurgl-Hochgurgl.
Sölden is a busy party town, but Obergurgl has a strong reputation with families. It’s small, easy to get around and has lots of slopes for beginners/intermediates, great fast lifts with no queuing, excellent English-speaking ski schools and for the youngest guests, the wonderful Bobo Ski Club. The resort has a relaxed, low-key atmosphere and is very quiet in terms of traffic as it lies at the top of a valley, while the road to Italy is closed in winter. Several hotels offer in-house childcare and specialist British families tour operator Esprit Ski have two chalets, an afternoon club and crèche and Snow Club.
Off the slopes you can try snowshoeing, ice skating, curling, tobogganing or indoor horse riding, or visit the Aqua Dome in Längenfeld, a popular indoor pool complex.
If you’re looking for a quieter, more intimate village still, Hochoetz is the Ötztal’s best-kept secret. There’s a good mix of slopes here with quaint mountain inns and a homely atmosphere. If you just want the simple things on a holiday where you can enjoy true “quality family time”, this unique alpine valley could be the one for you.
SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser Brixental
If the “getting there” aspect of going on a ski holiday is the most challenging part for your family, look no further than the SkiWelt, one of Austria’s largest ski areas with more than 284km of pistes to explore, as Innsbruck, Salzburg and Munich airports are all within an hour’s transfer.
It’s the perfect family resort with wide, gentle slopes, many blue runs and great childcare facilities at the valley or top stations, not to mention an incredible choice of 77 family-run mountain restaurants for plenty of pit stops on the slopes. To help keep prices down, there’s a special young family lift ticket and during certain low-season periods known as Family Ski Weeks. Here, children aged 15 years or younger ride for free with a paying adult and there are also big accommodation discounts too.
There is a choice of nine villages in the region – all connected to the same big ski area. The most popular villages for Brits include Söll, which has its own family and beginners’ ski area and Kinderland ski area on the local slopes, and the ski schools run programmes for kids. Off-the Slope attractions include KiKo Söll, an adventure farmyard open all year round, and a meet-the-huskies day every Friday.
Ellmau meanwhile has nursery slopes right in the centre of the village. There are also gentle tree-lined runs that are great for beginners/intermediates but connected to SkiWelt, so there are more challenging slopes available for the more advanced skiers in your party.
Off the slopes, Ellmau offers husky rides, snow tubing, tobogganing, horse-drawn carriage rides, ice skating, winter walking and snow shoeing. It is also home to the great Kaiserbad swimming pool, which features “Ellmi’s friends” children’s area and an indoor climbing wall.
Ski Juwel Alpbachtal Wildschönau
The Ski Juwel ski area was created a few years ago when a new lift linked the Valley, home to the resorts of Niederau, Oberau and Auffach, with the neighbouring Alpbachtal, home to Inneralpbach and Alpbach, which has been voted the most picturesque village in Austria.
Wherever you choose to stay, the human scale and traditional values of the authentic Ski Juwel villages, as well as the beautiful, family-friendly slopes and friendly local service providers, make it a great place for families to learn to ski or board together.
There are dedicated children’s areas on the slopes and local valley lifts, so you can ski close to home if you wish, and there are good-humoured English-speaking instructors to teach you. Bobo the Penguin and the Dragon Club are there to teach the youngest skiers, and a family lift pass discount is on offer.
The chocolate box resort of Alpbach is one of the closest resorts to Innsbruck Airport, only 50 minutes away, has great beginner-level skiing and offers great value for money in terms of accommodation, ski schools and lift passes. There’s a wonderful Children’s centre, a great ski school for kids and special offers for the family over Easter.
Niederau in the Wildschönau valley is another traditional Tirolean village, full of charm with a friendly atmosphere and great nursery slopes.
Children will have fun in Bobo’s Kids Club or in AKTI’s adventure land and can also have a great ride down the local toboggan run.