Family Ski Holidays in France

It’s the sunny position, great skiing and incredible views that make family skiing holidays to La Rosière such a joy. With our impressive selection of family chalets in La Rosière, the choice is yours.

Esprit ski La Rosière chalets dominate the area close to the nursery slopes and opposite the main lift system. This prime location makes family ski holidays a joy! The children’s ski classes muster outside the Grandes Alpes chalets, from where their instructors lead them to the appropriate slopes. Parents need only cross the adjacent car park to reach the lifts and be skiing.

The resort dominates the Tarentaise Valley, and one sweep of the eye takes in the ski areas of Val d’Isère/Tignes, Les Arcs and La Plagne. La Rosière is an established Esprit Ski family favourite and is certainly one of the friendliest of Tarentaise resorts. There’s a real feeling that the visitor comes first, and the resort’s family orientation is highlighted by their motto: ‘The Resort Where Children Are Royalty’.

La Rosière has an impressive family ski area straddling the French/Italian border, with high altitude slopes and a good snow record and child-friendly slopes. It is a wonderful choice for intermediate skiers with significant off-piste options. The pistes run to the resort centre – indeed virtually to the doorstep of most of our family chalets – and hold their snow well, even in prolonged warm weather, because of the height of La Rosière.

Just three lifts followed by a seven-kilometre piste take you over the Petit St Bernard pass, across the Italian border and into La Thuile with several steeper, more challenging drops.

The ‘Espace Killy’ ski area, combining Tignes and neighbouring Val d’Isère, ranks highly in any keen skier’s top ten world resorts, and deservedly so. Completely snowsure, with over 300kms of pistes, plus easily the same again in off-piste terrain, the area offers well over a mile of vertical drop, from the guaranteed snow at the peak of the Grande Motte Glacier down to the picturesque old village of Tignes-les-Brevières.

Our accommodation, child care facilities and children’s ski area are all conveniently close to one another, and with runs back to Le Lac from both sides of the valley for skiing parents, this is an easy resort for the day to day logistics of a family ski holiday. Furthermore, our partner ski-school has an excellent reputation for caring for English youngsters.

Our ski chalets are conveniently situated at 2,100m at Tignes-le-Lac and is ideally located for family skiing holiday in Tignes. Lifts head up both sides of the valley, with the Aeroski gondola giving immediate access to the Tovière ridge and the slopes of Val d’Isère, and the Chardonnet drag and Palafour chair heading up the Aiguillle Percée side of the huge Tignes bowl.

Tignes-le-Lac is also home to Les Marmottons – one of the best ‘Jardins de Neige’ for children in the French Alps and used for our Spritelet classes.

The resort centre offers an ample choice of shops, bars and cafés, and the other main Tignes centre, Val Claret, is easily reached on the regular free shuttle service, which runs throughout the day and night for the perfect family ski holiday.

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Reduced under occupancy for families of 3 and 5, in all twin chalet rooms in Les Arcs!
Just *£129 per empty bed!
(*e.g. Chalet Himalaya 16th Feb 2014 was £393 Now £129)

Les Arcs, high above the Tarentaise valley, is the descriptive name for four purpose built ski resorts at the ascending heights of 1600m, 1,800m, 1,950m, and 2,000m.

The doorstep skiing of Arc 2000 is a major plus for skiing families. The whole family can put their skis on practically outside their front door and be off on the slopes together. Our family ski chalets are all situated in the best of the four – Arc 2000 at the foot of the Aiguille Rouge, in a secluded snow-sure bowl close to the guaranteed snow of the Glacier du Varet.

Les Arc 2000 offers virtually doorstep skiing with unparalleled views of Mont Blanc and its surrounding peaks. The ski area of Les Arcs and its connected villages of Vallandry and Peisey-Les Arcs include some of the smoothest and longest runs in the French Alps, as well as some of the most exciting.

The innovation of the “Vanoise Express” cable-car has connected Les Arcs with the further 200kms of wonderful skiing at neighbouring La Plagne, adding yet another exciting dimension to this simply superb family ski holiday area.

The amazing ultra high altitude skiing of the legendary Espace Killy almost guarantees the very best conditions from late November to early May, whilst the superb modern lift system whisks you rapidly to a world of varied family skiing, Val d’Isère really does have something to offer for the perfect family skiing holiday.

With most of our child care situated in our Chalet Hotel Ducs De Savoie, just minutes from the slopes, we make Val d’Isère ideal for families. It offers the best of both worlds, with a convenient location and excellent children’s ski area for the youngsters, whilst parents can take off into the vastness of the Espace Killy area, while the children are safe and happy in our care.

Val d’Isère has surprising charm too, with it’s attractive old village surrounded by sensitive development using lots of stone, slate and wood. Explore the partially pedestrianised centre and discover why the après-ski is just as famous as the skiing!

The Espace Killy links Val d’Isère with Tignes, connecting some of the highest peaks of the Savoie Alps with guaranteed snow such as the Pissailles and Grande Motte Glaciers . A family skiing holidays to Val d’Isère provides never-ending; snowfalls and a reliable six-month season, the longest in Europe! Extensive investment has kept it ahead of would-be rivals and it is hard to fault the facilities available for every grade.

Plan-Peisey is a quiet little ski village, which has proved a huge hit with Esprit ski families ever since its introduction, due to its lovely chalets and superb location, right on the link between the Les Arcs and La Plagne ski areas.

Plan-Peisey is ideal for family ski holidays, as initially the children’s lessons will be held in the ski garden just behind the base of the 6-man chairlift, just 50m from our chalets. The numerous blue runs through the forest surrounding the village will also make a day out ‘en famille’ at the end of the week a delight.

The combined ‘Paradiski’ area with the guaranteed snow of the glaciers du Varet, Bellecote and de la Chiaupe is one of the biggest and best in Europe, and Plan-Peisey lies right at the most perfect spot, directly at the Les Arcs side of the ‘Vanoise Express’ cable-car, which whisks skiers across the valley between La Plagne and Les Arcs.

The village is linked to the adjacent village of Vallandry just 5 minutes walk away, which extends the range of shops, bars and restaurants available, and there is a free resort shuttle service running all day between the centres throughout the season. The original old village of Peisey itself is also easily reached via the Télévillage lift.

Setting out from Plan-Peisey to ski each morning, you will have the tantalising choice between the 6-person high-speed chairlift straight up into the Les Arcs area above Arc 1800, or the spectacular 4-minute cable-car ride across to the Montchavin slopes of La Plagne. Both lifts depart just 75m from our ski chalets.

With 425km of integrated lifts and pistes,  3 glaciers, 2 summits over 3,000m, and more off-piste than you ever dreamed of,  it is no surprise that the name of  Plan-Peisey is on every skier’s lips!

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Lying at the heart of the world’s biggest inter-linked ski area with its endless variety of terrain, Méribel has plenty to offer all ages and all levels, a perfect location for your next Esprit family ski holiday!

The Méribel valley offers a combination of cruisy glades and open boulevards, which enjoy both morning and afternoon sun, and the huge state-of-the-art lift system allows guests to access the full 600kms of slopes with ease. Certainly Méribel’s location in the middle valley is a major benefit, putting both Courchevel on the one side and the guaranteed snow of Val Thorens and the Glacier de Péclet on the other within easy reach.

Families who want to ski together are spoilt for choice in the Méribel area, with a good choice of blues and reds. These same slopes make ideal terrain for Sprite Beginners and Improvers, whilst the Intermediates may well head further afield with their instructors, and the Spritelets area is just above the Alba. For all families however, of whatever standard, the slopeside location of our Chalet Hotel Alba is a major benefit.

Méribel is one of the most picturesque in the Three Valleys area, with attractive chalet-style buildings of local stone and wood bringing a true village ambience.

Our Esprit family Chalet Hotel Alba is convenient both for the skiing, as you can see from the images, and for the resort’s amenities, and has been carefully chosen to provide a comfortable and relaxing family base from which to enjoy all that Méribel has to offer.

Courchevel 1850, considered by many to be the ultimate ski resort, offers guaranteed snow on the Peclet Glacier and so attracts all who search for the very best in their next family ski holiday.

Courchevel 1850 offers real French charm in the wide variety of chic shops and fine restaurants and thoroughly deserves its top-flight reputation. It is renowned for having one of the longest ski seasons and the best snow cover in the whole of the Alps, and has headed skiers’ list of prestige resorts for many a year now. 1850 is located in a wide bowl, where the skiing encircles the resort, with runs leading to virtually every corner of town.

The blue slopes of the Pralong area are alongside our Chalet Hotel Crystal 2000 and therefore provide an ideal location for the whole family to ski together and children can take the opportunity to show their parents their newly honed ski skills without having to travel far to find appropriate gentle slopes.

Les Gets with its winning combination – a rarity in France – of a delightful ‘real’ village and the luxury of 650kms of superb skiing to enjoy! It’s no wonder Les Gets has proved a popular addition for Esprit ski families.

Les Gets offers an ideal ski area for mixed ability family ski holidays, and children love Les Gets’ little mini-train, which runs between the main ski-lifts and the Mont Chéry area. Around Les Gets the friendly family skiing terrain is perfect for beginners and intermediates to potter about on. There is a fabulous dedicated area called the Grand Cry where adults may only venture if accompanied by children, where the theme is Trappers and Indians, and the family can enjoy skiing small bumps and bends and visit an Indian tepee.

Les Gets appealing mixture of old chalets in distinctive Savoyard style, which blend to create a charm and character coupled with a warm welcome from friendly locals. There is a colourful main street, enhanced by winter lights and music, with lots of reasonably priced shops, bars and restaurants, an ice-rink, a lovely old church, and a square which hosts a lively weekly market.

Just a convenient 1 1/4 hour transfer from Geneva, Les Gets is a popular part of the fabulous Portes du Soleil ski arena with high altitude skiing, and is the largest international interconnected area in the world, and offers ski families direct skiing access into this huge twin-country skiing area between Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc.

Alpe d’Huez is the main hub resort of the fabulous ‘Grandes Rousses’ ski area, offering plenty of family skiing opportunities over the 250kms of wonderful piste, and endless acres of off-piste powder. Neighbouring Les Deux Alpes is also covered for 1 day on the same 6-day lift-pass, combining to create the ‘Grande Alpes’ area, with 468kms of pistes.

The main children’s ski area is at the Rond Point des Pistes at the top of the ‘Telecentre’ lift, which starts only approx. 50m from our Chalet Hotel, and is known affectionately as ‘the yoghurt-pot lift’! As children progress, there is a huge range of green, blue and red runs which fan out from here. There is plenty for families to enjoy on top of the skiing here too!

Renowned for its sunshine as much as for its excellent snow record, Alpe d’Huez is at the same height as Val d’Isère, and the ski area soars to virtually a whole vertical mile above, at the Pic Blanc summit and the guaranteed snow of the Sarenne Glacier. From here, you can take on the challenge of the Sarenne descent – the longest black run in the world – fully 16kms from top to bottom!

For children skiing and less gung-ho parents however, it is the huge main snow-bowl immediately above and around the village itself which is the main attraction. The plentiful wide open pistes here offer the perfect mix of confidence-building blues and gradually more challenging reds, making this an excellent resort for making steady progress. With the children safely in Esprit child care, parents can also enjoy skiing all the way to Vaujany at one end of the system, or to Auris en Oisans at the other.

Belle Plagne has everything skiing families could ask for – a purpose-designed Chalet Hotel on the slopes, a convenient children’s ski area with enthusiastic and sympathetic English-speaking ski instructors, a pedestrianised village centre, and for skiing ‘en famille’, a plentiful range of wide gentle blue runs surrounding the resort.

Of the ten ‘villages’ which combine to make up La Plagne resort, Belle Plagne is not only one of the two highest, but also by far the most attractive, with its characterful buildings of local wood and stone, pedestrianised village centre and friendly atmosphere.

At 2,050m, it also boasts an enviable snow record, with the added bonus of 100% guaranteed snow on the Bellecôte glacier. Belle Plagne has also received French Tourism’s coveted ‘Family Plus’ accreditation, endorsing its family-friendly credentials.

From the piste which runs past the hotel, you can ski down on easy runs to Plagne Bellecôte for a choice of five lifts heading up the Roche de Mio side to the Bellecôte glacier, across to the Plagne Centre bowl, or over towards Les Coches and the Vanoise Express cable-car link to Peisey and Les Arcs.