I am a terrible skier. I learned to ski at 20 something (also in France, by the way) and continue to be insecure about my abilities and afraid of picking up too much speed. Husband on the other hand is a good, confident skier that seamlessly goes from red slope to black slope to apres- ski drinks.

We skied together in Austria pre- baby and loved the Kitzbuhel area. We went outside peak school holiday periods and managed to get a good deal at a Kempinski hotel. Despite my terrible skiing record, I fell in love with skiing and Austria again.

Then, once baby hit the two year mark, we went for a New Year ski holiday in Borovets, Bulgaria. Mr L was still too young to try out skiing but we got him used to the snow and took him out sledging every day. We found Borovets to be a strong, budget- friendly option for skiing in Eastern Europe and shared our experience here.

I knew that France was one of the countries where children can officially start ski school at 3 years old. These ski schools ( or rather kindergartens) are organised by the ESF (Ecole de Ski Francais) and are tailored to the needs of small children, allowing them to get used to the equipment and skiing sensations in a controlled, outside environment. As Mr L turned 3 in December, he was just old enough to be enrolled before we left on Christmas holidays. However, you should consider minimum age as a guideline more than a hard rule. A couple of friends managed to register their daughter in the same class and she would only turn 3 at the end of January.

At first, we had some doubts on the ability of a three year old to be outside for 2h30 min each day, walking around in heavy ski boots. At the end of the week, we realised they were unfounded. It went much better than expected and, two weeks on, we still get questions from our LO about the mascots that accompanied their lessons ( a huge yellow chicken). All instructors were going out of their way to make things fun and entertaining for the children.

If you are considering a ski resort to introduce your little (or older) kids to skiing, we can warmly recommend the ESF Piu Piu Club and the resort of Les Eucherts.

Do not be put off by the language barrier. Instructors spoke both French and English and there were many German, British and Dutch families around us. You have the option of selecting the main language of your child when booking online. This was another great plus as avoids the arrival day hustle of getting all sorted for the first day of skiing.

With LO being sorted out for the morning, I enrolled in adult intermediate skiing class. Again, you get to choose between English and a French speaking instructor. I was pleasantly surprised of the small size of the group (4 on the first day, then 6 for the remaining 5 lessons). The morning classes were aligned in schedule with the kiddy lessons and one could pick up the child from kindergarten once the lesson was finished. However, on most days the lessons would go on a bit longer than the scheduled time and I would ask my husband to pick up Mr L. This is also when he managed to snap a few photos of him sliding down his first hill, in full ski gear.

As I mentioned that ski lessons were booked online, is good to keep in mind that equipment hire and ski passes can all be easily arranged online too. We ordered our ski passes here and had it delivered to our accommodation. The ski equipment we booked here and also got a small discount. All was close by the ski lifts and organised in such a way to facilitate the life of families with young kids.

Top tip: the top priority when looking for family accommodation in a ski resort is the location. With small kids, you want to be as close to the schools and lifts as possible. It will save precious sleeping time in the morning and frustration of being stuck in ‘rush to the slopes’ traffic. Also, you will have to haul your equipment and that of your kids a few times per day so it really pays off to have everything within walking distance.

Ski in ski out options are ideal ( we loved this in Austria). In Les Eucherts we were approximately 50 meters from the ski school and the lifts, in Hotel Le Panoramic. It was as good as we could get in terms of location.

Rooms were clean and functional but rather basic. It is a family run self catering accommodation where most studios have 2-3 bunk beds for the kids and a small kitchen. It has a heated pool and playroom on first floor that are great fun apres-ski options. For those not skiing, they wee organising weekly Pilates and aqua gym classes. We found it to be good value for money considering we were in an ideal location and staying over New Years. The biggest plus: the views from the balcony were simply out of this world.

The financials

An important part of organising a ski holiday is getting ready financially ( and morally) for a rather expensive week, especially if several ski lessons are booked. This sport is not cheap, even less so in high season.

One way of keeping costs down is through self catering as eating out in French ski resorts carries quite a price tag ( more expensive than Austria and double the prices in Bulgaria). Below is a breakdown of our family costs. Please keep in mind this was the week of 29Dec to 5 January which is high season but not very high season. The latter is during French school holidays.

Costs breakdown:

Accommodation: 1400 Euro

Food 260 Euro ( one take- away pizza dinner,one restaurant dinner and the rest self catering). We stocked up on food and drinks in the Lidl at the base of the mountain (Bourg St Michel).

Car rental : 300 Euro

Ski passes: 250 Euro

Equipment: 350 Euro

Ski schools: 360 Euro

Flights to/from Geneva: 300 Euro with EasyJet.

That brings the total at 3120 Euro for the week. Driving down to France might save a bit more on transport costs but you will have to add the French toll roads (peage).

We loved this fist family real skiing trip and hope to do it again soon, maybe even as a weekend trip option, in the Vosges. We just need to make sure there is enough snow. To conclude our little story, a photo of the proudest penguin, with his Ski school graduation medal pinned to his chest. Priceless!

Leave us a comment if you have other great family ski resort recommendations.

Thanks for reading and happy travels!

CGK