2010 Ski hol with children ... where to go ...

Hi guys, some advice needed please will try to be as succinct as I can to explain how the hol. needs to try to best fit our situation.

Went in Feb this year to 'N' and had great time with the extended family. Small resort ideal for the mostly beginners that our group were and red ski school fantastic, couldn't fault it at all and would certainly consider going back.

Next year will more than likely just be myself, wife, and 3 girls ages (by the time next year rolls around 9, 6 and 4). So apart from myself everyone else will be second timers apart from the littl'un who will be in ski school for the first time (so point 1 - need ski school for kids that take 4 year olds!)

Second point our middle child has just been diagnosed Coeliac and for this reason self-catering would be by far the easiest option for us. (And yep The Auhof in 'N' is already being considered if we decide to go back to Austria and 'N' in particular).

Thirdly cost also comes into play though on-mountain eating isn't a huge issue (as again for food reasons am sure we'll be having to prepare things to take out ourselves because of the Coeliac situation) - is just that with five of us going, there (unfortunately!) isn't a never ending supply of holiday spends, especially once ski passes and ski school have been factored in. So maybe in the cost category Austria and Italy would win out over France and Switz. Not totally discounted Andorra, and won't even mention Bulgaria ) but with Andorra the transfer times come into play which is a 4th point, short transfers with the kids would be great!

There you go, would welcome any input whatsoever as close to those guidelines as possible and all replies genuinely welcomed. Thanks in advance for any pointers. And am doing plenty of research myself too so am not being lazy but view points from people who have visited certain resorts with children always come in very handy with the view straight from the horses mouths so to speak! Cheers :-)

Hi Jenno, I have said this many times but I regard Seefeld/Austria as a good place for children, lots of other activities for them as well as excellent ski schools. But I think I am right that there are not too many self catering places there. Inghams have a place, a block of appartments, very nice and well situated. From memory a lot of the hotels do cater for special diets, I know the one we stay in caters for Coeliac. I also remember seeing GF foods in the supermarket. Juvela GF products are readily available in most European countries. There are cetainly German brands of GF food that we use in this country. If you need any specifics on coeliac I know a fair amount, deal with it every day, did a thesis on it, have a nephew with it and a Sister who is secretary of the Coeliac society.

http://www.bookofyum.com/blog/gluten-free-travel-in-europe-german-and-austrian-reformhaus-product-reviews-including-gf-beer-and-croissants-1187.html

Hi Rose

Many thanks for the swift reply - if it seems am still a bit naive when it comes to Coeliac then it's true I am! My daughter's only had the results come through on the blood test re: the antibodies so we're still waiting her gut biopsy to confirm things for sure so am still coming to grips with availablity of GF foods etc (already starting to religiously read labelling though we can't do anything about her diet till the biopsy's done for risk of a false negative!) though am sure everything will fall into place once we meet with dieticians etc. And The Coeliac Society have been great already in forwarding some stuff to us. And regarding hotels catering for special diets that's one thing we weren't sure about at all as to how numerous or far between they were. Thanks for the great link too - hadn't even gotten as far as seeing how easy it was to find GF foods abroad, you're a star! As I say still pretty green with this GF lark, far more research needing to be done on my part!

Jenno wrote:Hi Rose

Many thanks for the swift reply - if it seems am still a bit naive when it comes to Coeliac then it's true I am! My daughter's only had the results come through on the blood test re: the antibodies so we're still waiting her gut biopsy to confirm things for sure so am still coming to grips with availablity of GF foods etc (already starting to religiously read labelling though we can't do anything about her diet till the biopsy's done for risk of a false negative!) though am sure everything will fall into place once we meet with dieticians etc. And The Coeliac Society have been great already in forwarding some stuff to us. And regarding hotels catering for special diets that's one thing we weren't sure about at all as to how numerous or far between they were. Thanks for the great link too - hadn't even gotten as far as seeing how easy it was to find GF foods abroad, you're a star! As I say still pretty green with this GF lark, far more research needing to be done on my part!

My nephew has been coeliac since 4 he is now 30, never stopped him doing any-thing or going abroad. You just get used to sending them to birthday parties etc with their own food, not so easy for the impromptu Mac D's or fish and chips, but it can be done. GF loaves of bread are horrible, get bread flour, on prescription and buy a bread maker........the nicest bread you can have, even nicer than normal. Watch out with easter coming up, most easter eggs that providing dont contain biscuit products are generally GF but the actual shells of egg are not, they neglect to tell you.

You should take a look at Serre Chevalier, less than 2 hours from Turin or Sauze d'Oulx 90 minutes tops from Turin. Both have lots of lovely open pistes and forgiving slopes.

RoseR wrote:

Jenno wrote:Hi Rose

Many thanks for the swift reply - if it seems am still a bit naive when it comes to Coeliac then it's true I am! My daughter's only had the results come through on the blood test re: the antibodies so we're still waiting her gut biopsy to confirm things for sure so am still coming to grips with availablity of GF foods etc (already starting to religiously read labelling though we can't do anything about her diet till the biopsy's done for risk of a false negative!) though am sure everything will fall into place once we meet with dieticians etc. And The Coeliac Society have been great already in forwarding some stuff to us. And regarding hotels catering for special diets that's one thing we weren't sure about at all as to how numerous or far between they were. Thanks for the great link too - hadn't even gotten as far as seeing how easy it was to find GF foods abroad, you're a star! As I say still pretty green with this GF lark, far more research needing to be done on my part!

My nephew has been coeliac since 4 he is now 30, never stopped him doing any-thing or going abroad. You just get used to sending them to birthday parties etc with their own food, not so easy for the impromptu Mac D's or fish and chips, but it can be done. GF loaves of bread are horrible, get bread flour, on prescription and buy a bread maker........the nicest bread you can have, even nicer than normal. Watch out with easter coming up, most easter eggs that providing dont contain biscuit products are generally GF but the actual shells of egg are not, they neglect to tell you.

Will bear that in mind certainly thanks. And the breadmaking idea sounds good, the mother of a lady here has it too and she does all her own breadmaking and like you says it's far nicer than normal off the shelf stuff (and yep have heard GF bread is foul!) Have checked Seefeld out and the Inghams site (travelled with them to 'N' and couldn't fault them) and certainly ticks all the boxes self catering as the apartments take 5 which is ideal - and Tony will check out Serre Che and Sauze d'Oulx too thanks.

Stick around Geneva lots of resorts, short transfer times, and kid friendly ski school :wink:

We just came back from long weekend in Les Gets without the nippers and agree with Wickers - resorts around Geneva are a good idea - short transfer, easy slopes, good facilities. So may well be going back with young ones. And prices, cf New year trip to Val d'Isere, are sensible (ish).

We stayed at excellent La Marmotte hotel - but there are heaps of SC chalets and apartments.