Weaving back down the mountain pass from Val Thorens, our heavenly-high base in the clouds for a week, a clear blue sky, I feel happy, yet so sad to leave the perfect ski conditions behind. May was less than two weeks away and yet at the highest resort in Europe we were skiing powder as fluffy as cotton wool, on almost empty runs. Just over two hours back to Geneva., our Jam Transfers Mercedes minivan speeding us back to the airport in luxury. The journey is as picturesque as any postcard; the lush green meadows in stark contrast to the snowy peaks fading further into the distance. Continue Reading
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luxury family skiing Spring skiing with family is always some of the best skiing. right sunshine, lots of eating out on terraces and the best of both worlds with warm temperatures and good snow if you choose wisely.
We are just back from Flachau. A great, small resort, fifty minutes from Salzburg airport in the Salzburgerland, it forms part of the much bigger and easily accessible area of the Ski Amade. 270 cable cars and lifts, 684 kilometres of pist, modern lifts, a great selection of runs and high altitudes with a glacier and excellent snow-making facilities if needed. It’s as snow-sure as you get for April. So, kitted out in Emmegi for the adults and the superb Mini A Ture for the kids, off we went. We skied the last week of the season and saw some wonderful snow and good weather to boot. The biggest worry- making sure that you wear high-factor sunscreen!
As you may have noticed, I’m always in Austria! It’s because they do family hotels like no other. I know nowhere comparable where you can safely leave a baby in the hotel and ski to your hearts content, safe in the knowledge that they are being looked after to the highest of standards.
The Family Hotel Felsenhof sits just outside Flachau. Run by the charming Kohlmayr family, it’s a haven for families both in winter and summer. Flachau itself offering a huge number of summer and winter pursuits too. In the hotel, top-notch childcare for age 1 and upwards from 8.30-5, six days a week and two kids’ dinners, all included in the price, it’s the best way to holiday with children.
The hotel is welcoming, cosy and relaxed but also modern and luxurious in an understated way. A stunning new swimming complex – small but perfectly formed and designed by the owner’s architect sister, it houses both a pool for adults with water jets and waterfall and one for kids with a separate family sauna too.
Focussing on wellness for all the family – there are numerous treatments for the younger guests too, the spa is exactly what you would expect from Austria. Every type of sauna, infrared cabin, massages, facials, packs, bath and scrubs, sanarium, gym, Ayurveda and lots more.
In the winter, leave the older kids to be picked up and dropped off at the end of the day by the capable teachers at Ski School Flachau. Alexander took to his group and teacher immediately. She even kept in contact with my via WhatsApp. For the adults, just jump on the ski bus directly outside the hotel and a short journey takes you to the lifts. There’s also a ski carousel and free ski hire for much younger ones directly at the hotel. Hopefully next year our two year old will be there! All just makes things easy for the parents. It’s is what they do best here.
For the youngsters left at the hotel, there’s a funky 200m2 kids arena, complete with baby lounge and ball pit. Then, there’s a climbing wall, table football, air hockey and more for older ones.
A playroom beside the restaurant is just another cleverly thought out addition. Every night the kids buffet opens early and offers healthy, yet appealing choices along with a free baby bar offering baby food and milk and everything needed to prepare 24/7 for the smallest guests.
All the equipment is there for you, including buggies, baby baths, changing mats and bottle warmers.
Outside the hotel, a massive enclosed playground with trikes and cycles, a trampoline and more. I couldn’t get my children out of there and luckily in the great spring weather, we almost felt like we were on two holidays; both summer and winter!
Free bikes for adults with baby seats already attached, summer really is as good as winter here. Access to riding for adults and kids alike plus a farm, this place is a dream! Activities are endless from golfing to archery to high rope courses. I hope that we will return one day to experience then at first hand.
Back at the hotel, there’s accommodation to suit every traveller from single rooms to ones sleeping up to seven guests. We were in a gorgeous, modern, family apartment. With a separate bedroom for the kids, super-powerful shower and double terrace, it was our little haven. Flat screen tv’s and cleverly-designed sliding doors, using all the space to its best. Wifi is free too.
A holiday isn’t a holiday without good food. The 3/4 board option is truly great value. Think groaning buffet breakfasts with choices of cold meat and cheese, eggs, hot food, cereals, mueslis and lots more.
Hot and cold drinks available all day for free, another afternoon buffet complete with a hot dish, cakes and salads for late lunches and a table service at dinner with mouthwatering choices from the daily changing four/course menu. All included in the price. Each days there’s either a dessert or starter buffet as well as a huge salad buffet. Foodies are spoilt for choice.
The week flew by. Mornings skiing whilst baby Gabriel was content in kids club, out for walk in the sunshine (suncream always applied!) fed at lunchtime, his sleep then a snack and lots of play, he really took to the lovely girls looking after him. They are a credit to the hotel.
There over Easter, the little ones all got a huge bag of goodies and an Easter Egg hunt too. It’s the thoughtful touches that really sets this hotel apart and I knew that I’d chosen well. We were genuinely sad to leave.
We dropped our skis and paraphernalia back off to the lovely Marcus and his team at Flachauer Schistadl – I highly recommend them for value and service. This lot go out of their way to help. Marcus even dropped our shoes back at our hotel to save me a journey on the first day. Lovely people!
Then it was homeward bound. Flying Monarch is a dream. Salzburg airport is also small and efficient, so you are out in minutes. The flight, ground staff and cabin crew all made the experience painless. ‘Like flying back in the 80’s’, I was told by a very helpful member of staff on the phone pre-flights, when I needed help changing seat bookings – and he indeed was right. We weren’t herded on like cattle, or squashed in and service really was with a smile and even a joke. Pricing was also much better than the competition so check them out next time you fly anywhere.
Back at Gatwick, a call to another newly-discovered, brilliant service; help-me-park and our car was waiting for us literally outside the doors of the terminal. I have become a convert to driving to the airport. Always valet parking though. You are in control of both the speed of the driver and when he turns up! help-me-park were courteous, friendly and professional and instead of meeting in the car park as many do, you are met directly outside the terminal upon arrival and departure. Bon voyage!
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Parked at the convenient Meet & Greet at Stansted and watered and fed at the gorgeous new champagne bar, Halo – a little luxury goes a long way! We are off to Germany, for a family skiing trip.
Imagine all your childrens’ dreams and some of your worst nightmares rolled into one. Sprinkle some fairy dust and voila! A brilliant, totally unimaginable outcome – a Kinderhotel. It’s magic. Continue Reading
Well, we’re off skiing. Whoopee!! I love skiing and have skied all my life. My parents went skiing on their honeymoon so I think it’s in the blood. I started at five and given that Alexander has now reached the ripe of old age of two and nearly a half I thought that it was about time to get him used to the white stuff – they say; the earlier the better.
So, you want to take a toddler on a skiing holiday. That’s pretty easy, I don’t know many hotels that don’t take them! But you want your toddler to have his own holiday experience and be catered for to the same high level that you as an adult expect on a luxury break? That, in my mind didn’t exist until a German mother of a child in Alexander’s class at school mentioned the name Kinderhotels to me and more specifically the Hotel Alpenrose in Lermoos, Austria. Okay, it’s no St. Moritz but the skiing in St. Moritz isn’t great for beginners anyway. There are also no chic shops, no hugely expensive tea rooms, no nightclubs and very little apres ski, BUT having done my research and heard glowing reviews from a family not dissimilar to our own in terms of needs and taste, a trip to the Austrian Tyrol, the Zugspitzarena and most precisely to Lermoos was planned.
The Zugspitzarena is a term used to cover the highest summit in Germany and the highest on the Austrian side too with its surrounding area. Its peak from which you can see four countries overlooks seven quaint, traditional Austrian villages all with their own ski areas, with Lermoos being the biggest. They are all however interconnected and when you buy your Top Snow Card you get access to the lifts and the buses and trains that connect them. You are also just twenty minutes down the road from Garmish, a cosmopolitan German ski resort that formed part of Munich’s bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. So, if in need of a little action, you don’t have far to go!
It’s the day before we jet off from Heathrow to Munich ( Innsbruck is a similar 1.5hr transfer away). I am at home having my last -minute, pre-holiday beautification. The lovely people at Milk Beauty who come to you when it suits you, managed to fit me in for a gorgeous OPI pedicure and the obligatory waxing (the hotel has four pools if you count Pirate Land – more of which later!). A lot of last minute rushing around, packing far too much, then packing even more and we are ready. One word of warning. DO NOT TAKE NAPPIES!! The hotel provides them in every size including the swimming ones. Yes, you read right. And wipes and cream too. I couldn’t believe it either but just one of the astonishing offerings at Kinderhotels.
For the newbies, here’s a bit about my pick of the gear. You need goggles (UVEX are good), warm snow boots (we have some really cool, stylish Italian Olang ones), ski suits of course and do not forget the sun cream (Piz Buin has been a staple of mine since very young on the slopes). On the fashion side, if looking for a suit for a toddler then the creme de la creme is Mini a Ture – the Danish company makes lux suits for freezing weather conditions with clever little details like back fastening jackets. They also make gorgeous matching accessories. Lastly, for socks and undergarments the go-to brand is Falke (very important for in-boot comfort).
I also like to travel in style too so this year, replaced my old tired carry-on with two gorgeous new pieces – a Brics Life Holdal (in fact the very same Italian leather bag that Wills and Kate are often seen carrying) and a Tumi Voyageur International which is supposed to be perfect for a two day trip and fits as cabin baggage, or for a family with a child, you just cram in the one million little things that seem to need to be with you on the plane! Either way, at least you look the part even if you lose your cool struggling to keep your two year old in check! For check-in luggage, I swear by my Samsonite Cosmolite. They literally weigh nothing so that you can cram them full of clothes without worrying about weight allowance.
At last, packed and ready to go we chose an unusual but refreshingly reasonable, easy and luxurious way to get to Terminal 5 a twenty minute black cab from Get Taxi away. They have an app of course- who doesn’t! No more smelly minicabs for me!
Out safely at the other side, a scenic transfer to the hotel and we arrive in what I can safely say is children’s heaven. Now, I am not one for lots of brightly coloured plastic and screaming kids, I am also not up for compromising and what met us upon arrival in the most picturesque valley and petite village was a luxury four star superior hotel with a huge difference – it’s a Kinderhotel or a Childrens hotel . Be aware that Austrian standards are high, very high. So a 4****s will easily feel like 5* and I am the biggest hotel snob going.
I’m not quite sure where to start because in some ways I don’t want to let everyone in on this little secret. There was hardly an English family to be seen, not that we felt out of place because everyone speaks English, but this sort of place really didn’t even exist in my dreams let alone in the British travel press so please don’t tell everyone!
The hotel itself is a mix between modern eclectic and traditional Tyrolean warmth for that added winter coziness. The two marry well. The entrance hall is filled with a huge futuristic fish tank and hanging seating pods with brightly coloured pieces of child-friendly modern art and spotless granite floors that are forever being cleaned (I love the hygiene aspect!). Move further in and you come to a (safe) water feature which the little ones love. Then comes the Tyrolean warmth. The bar and lounge area with a plethora of different seating areas from sofas to cute wooly rocking horses and sheep to raised seating areas with tables and chairs all overlooking the outside space where you can eat lunch or tea or just grab a coffee and a cake. They even have a separate dining room just for kids where there are supervised meals each day if you so wish.
The hotel is pretty enormous with ninety rooms with the smallest catering to a family and the largest to a harem. It doesn’t feel it though and despite occupancy being high, we always felt relaxed and not at all cramped for space, especially in public areas. They have Wellness Suites too which we nearly stayed in, Austria takes its wellness very seriously you know. When a hotel has a spa, you will see that it won’t just be a couple of dowdy treatment rooms hidden in the back somewhere but a go-to destination in it’s own right and at the Alpenrose is no different. Instead of our own wellness suite I opted for an authentic ayurvedic foot treatment. I won’t bore you with the detail but a quick flick through this will give you an idea of what you can expect!
I digress. Let’s get back to what is just so exceptional about this experience. So, we arrive. Our room is a small family room with south facing balcony. It has a separate kids bedroom with bunk beds. Not just any old bunk beds but ones with removable sides. This was the first time Alexander slept in a bed and he actually liked it crawling into bed on his own at night after a hard day at play. As I mentioned, everything that a family needs has been thought of and most importantly is provided at no extra cost. From baby wipes and shampoo through to a big box of Lego in the room which we had to hide at bedtime, to a step in the bathroom and children’s toilet seat. They really have thought of everything. Also, in every public toilet (decked out with automatic self-cleaning seat -yay!) there is a changing station with nappies in each size, wipes and a bin.
I had never, ever seen this sort of thing before. Maybe in some plastic kids amusement park where everything is a bit old and smelly but not in a luxury hotel where the granite toilets are futuristic and cool. The amazing thing for me though is how the hotel manages to keep a balance between grown-up and child. No mean feat. Also, as a bordeline OCD for cleanliness, I have to mention that everything is spotlessly clean- something that is of the utmost importance in a hotel where there are so many babies and children around and they know it.
Once unpacked we were off to the ski shop downstairs. I was keen to get Alexander decked out for his first ski lesson the next day. This was my real reason for choosing the Alpenrose, part of the group of Kinderhotels. They offer ‘baby ski school’. A completely unique offering; they have a snow garden complete with baby ski lift (a moving walkway up the very gentle slope), carousel, snow making machine and lessons every morning complete with Bobo the ski school penguin mascot who comes out to dance and sing midway through before snack break. I have to admit, Alexander was definitely the youngest although the age ranged from 2.5 upwards ( the older ones also had their own separate lessons on the mountain) and it wan’t easy keeping his helmet, gloves and skis on all at once but it was fun, he loved the music and got a really good feel for skiing too.
Apart from skiing, there’s the small area of babyclub, kids club and teen club to address. Childcare is free and they take babies from seven days old ( although who leaves a seven day old is beyond my comprehension!). I say small but I just don’t know where to start.
There is a whole world dedicated to kids of all ages taking up one floor of the hotel. That’s without counting the go-cart track in the underground car park. Everything in the hotel in all inclusive which means that from 9am until 9pm if you so wish you have childcare. The only way I can explain the kids club is to liken it to a school dedicated to play and fun. There’s a full sized soft play with a five storey slide, bigger than in my local leisure centre, a baby room with cradles, baby playmats and all the paraphenalia needed. Then there is a baby club where Alexander went. Every toy he could wish for, eating and changing facilities ( they give them lunch each day if you want them too) and then other rooms with a climbing wall, a computer games room, a craft room, a lego room, a story telling corner.
It’s jawdropping. Has to be seen to be believed. They even have a tagging system so that children can’t escape through the very well manned reception and two door entry system. They took him to ski school for us plus for walks with the older ones ( age 3 and upwards is mini-club territory and the slightly younger ones can join in with most of their activities too if you want them too).
Apart from inside the kids club, there is a separate theatre, dressing up room with a theatre-sized wardrobe for the older ones to really put on shows, a teen room and of course all the obligatory pool and table tennis too. We also didn’t need a pushchair because lo and behold the hotel has a room full of them in every conceivable shape and size! If this wasn’t enough to keep Alexander happy, his eyes lit up when he saw the bouncy castle (discreetly placed outside – I can’t believe that I am actually singing the praises of a hotel that has a bouncy castle let alone want to go back!), an outdoor area where mini cars and bikes can be ridden and two truly original features in an indoor Pirate Land which is basically a pirate ship water park sitting in very shallow water complete with water slides and sand area where you get to dig for treasure (that you exchange for go-cart tokens) and last but by no means least, outside on the hotel roof there is a wooden land of little houses and dragons where kids can run around and play too.
We took Alexander in his swimming costume and we couldn’t drag him away. If I’m honest, I would never step foot in a children’s pool (germs!! I know, irrational) but here, it felt so clen and it was never busy that I actually started to enjoy myself on the waterslides too.
So, despite this being a children’s hotel, what I really wanted to highlight is the way that it doesn’t feel like a zoo or like you are living in a school for a week. All meals are included and the food is of a really high standard with fresh salad buffets every day, amazing cheese(yumm!)buffets and a separate children’s buffet for lunch and dinner along with plastic plates and cups. They even provided foil, plastic bags bottled water and mini juices for packed lunches at breakfast. No more stealing from the buffet! Continue Reading
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Indulging a passion for perfection. Researching and reviewing luxury, family lifestyle.
Huffington Post blogger and freelance journalist.