Austria/Swiss w/ 3yr and 15mo old twins? Need kid friendly hotel, day-care, & Snow!

[comish]

Mrs. Comish wants to visit the Fam in Germany so if we are going to the trouble to fly across the pond with my expanding posse, we will likely go make some turns for a week or so in January. We are rather fond of the Arlberg and know it well, but considering opening our horizons a bit because of the added complexity of finding day-care for the the 15mo old twins. (St. Anton's ski school won't take them till about 2.5yrs old). Will be driving from Germany so France and Swiss/French areas are out.

Specifically looking for suggestions of a place that gets a bunch of snow, has either a Kinderhotel/kid friendly hotel, and daycare for babies?

Looking at Solden because their ski school will take babies. Skied the glacier a decade or so ago. How does their snowfall amounts compare to the Arlberg? The mountain? My memory says there is tons of off-piste rather easily accessible, is that correct? Anyone know of a decent kid friendly hotel? Would prefer half-board as its vacation and we will have enough logistics to deal with getting the whole family to ski school in the morning!?!?

We have been all over the alps so I don't need the typical "follow the snow" (because you can't do that too well with 3 kids <3.5yrs old) or the "go to the little areas that rock" suggestions. I know TGR isn't usually oriented toward the baby realm, but you never know...

[Franz Klammer]

I can't give any recommendations for kid-friendly hotels, we always stay here (http://www.central-soelden.at/), but that's definitely not kid-friendly.

Soelden is great IF it snows. There is tons of off-piste both right next to the groomers where most skiers will stay as well as stuff that's accessible after a little bit of hiking or on the backside (PM me for specific suggestions -- the backside, particularly in the early season, can be quite dangerous). The best part about Soelden: it's not the Arlberg/Verbier/Chamonix/any US resort where everything that can be seen from a lift will be tracked within half a day. In fact, it's perfectly normal to have first tracks 3 days after the last snowfall. So, all in all, quite different from Mammoth.

However, you can go a long time without seeing much snowfall ... and then it's groomers' delight! I have tons of powder photos from Soelden, but I no longer have my Flickr account up, so you'll just have to trust me on this.

[comish]

Franz, I know you have been elsewhere in at, any place else you would suggest?

[DasBlunt]

Just hire two ski instructors (dating pair?) to nanny/teach on the hill for you. Cheaper than a half day daycare+ski-school maybe?

Rad trip, sounds amazing, enjoy!

[snomaster]

too bad la nina isn't friendly to that side of the pond.

[Ripzalot]

my wife and i went to solden over christmas about 10 years ago. it was pretty grim all over and i wanted something with altitude so that i could at least pisten carve. luckily it dumped while we were there, for 3 days straight. i'm no expert on the region but i would guess that it favors a southernly flow which might be favorable again this season. there was plenty of easily accessible offpiste and zero competition. we stayed in a nice small apartment, family owned and run, the people spoke zero english and were uber nice. i wish i still had the contact info. i had a look at the solden accomodations map, and if i had to guess, it was this one: Mühlau, Appt. Mühlauweg 6450 Sölden. click apartments, north end of town, right side of the main road.
http://www.soelden.com/main/EN/SD/WI...tiv/index.html
i remember i did a really late booking over the web, just picked whatever was available, and got lucky.

2 centimes

[patxi]

Alphubel in Saas Fee

We have stayed in this place twice with young kids. We were worried about the kids but they had a great time as they keep them pretty entertained. There is a good beginner area at the base for your 3 year old and there is some fun terrain to be found up top for the rest. The hotel had quite a few families so it shouldn't be too stressful if your kids decide to act normal at dinner.

Take this car train to get from the Berner Oberland to Wallis.

No promises on the snow.

[klar]

Is a holiday appartment/ house rental not an option? plenty of those in sölden. the ötztal is one of the driest areas in austria so average snowfall does not even come close to what the arlberg has. a lot of really nice terrain when they do get snow. i personally think the town of sölden is one of the more unpleasant ski towns in austria but ymmv. if you like the arlberg style apres ski you'll like it there too. obergurgl is a bit quieter, 15 minutes up the valley.


Sölden currently looks like this, 100% more snow than the arlberg has right now!



PB193368 von klar01 auf Flickr

[cookinggames]

I hope to visit this place two, seems to be a perfect place for snowboarding.

[TRIMIXCH]

hi, in lermoos i have a good holiday in http://www.hotelalpenrose.at/
have a nice vacation pierre

[Hicks]

For the full kiddie package asked for you need to stick to the big resorts with the biggest hotels. Even then the choices are pretty slim here in the old smoke, it's not like in NA. Be ready to shell out big $$.

What we did back then is what Klar suggested - renting a large appartment at a quiet place like Galtür, taking the grannies with us to look after the baby one and put the 3 year old daughter in kiddie ski school for half a day (it's useless doing full day at that age), then spent the afternoons reunited. After a week we took her with us to Ischgl. Which didn't give us too much skiing for ourselves but the great times with her was well worth the trade-off. Separate day care is available though in case the grand parents aren't around.

Good thing about the Paznaun valley is the snow records are pretty much on par with the Arlberg but the villages above or below Ischgl are largely frequented by families. Some great apres ski at Ischgl - gaper place I know but sittin' at a bar and watching all the rednecks skiing back to town shatter and wreck themselves in front of the entire mob can sometimes provide an entertainment on it's own. Bring your score cards to allocate extra style points

[klar]

it just occurred to me that serfaus / fiss/ ladis very much caters to families, there should actually be several Kinderhotels around there.

[comish]

Klar,

Yep, Serfaus has a bunch of Kinderhotels and is a good suggestion. Been there for a week previously with the inlaws. My issue there is the snow record isn't good.

I was pleasantly surprised by the terrain and could definitely have a really good time if the place got any snow. There was probably 30cms natural so we were relegated to the very crowded pistes. We managed to catch a bit of fresh down a few gullys, but it was really thin. When I look the skiclub.co.uk's historical snow record, it seems as though the place really never gets a truck load of snow.

The snow record of St. Anton/the Arlberg, especially in relation to the rest of Austria is one the main attractions to me. We went from Serfaus to St. Anton for our 2nd week of that trip and rolled into town to snow banks in town and >1m of snow on the mountain. As has been our usual case, we scored deeeeep snow for most of the week and had a blast. Considering I'm booking this trip in advance, I want to give myself the best shot at getting skiable snow and preferably fresh snow, which statistically for Austria seems to be the Arlberg.

What about Warth?

[klar]

you don't seem convinced that opening your horizons is a good idea. warth is pretty much just the other side of the arlberg, you can ski over but not drive in winter. quieter than st anton. currently the only skiable snow is on the glaciers, and areas that blow millions on snowmaking like obergurgl and ischgl. ischgl is huge and has good terrain.

[hutash]

Ischgl would be my suggestion for something different. I don't know of kid hotels, but it is big enough to have some, and there is a lot of terrain and it pretty high to catch some snow.

St. Anton is probably your safest bet, and is a good place with lots of options.

[Franz Klammer]

currently the only skiable snow is on the glaciers, and areas that blow millions on snowmaking like obergurgl and ischgl. ischgl is huge and has good terrain.

I would echo everything that klar said. The only thing that I would add is that the snow situation won't be as bad in January as it is now.

I don't have a personal preference for Soelden (the town is awful), but I have a family-related obligation to ski there at Christmas -- luckily this year my parents are coming for 10 days of skitouring in the Eastern Sierra!