BIGGER CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS

Bigger children, once they’ve turned 5, are much easier. They can now cope with a whole day on skis, leaving you with the choice of how much time to spend with them. Some of the ski schools will provide lunch, but need much persuasion to confirm it for any given date.

Morning or afternoon group lessons can be great with an inspired instructor. (Afternoons tend to be warmer, cheaper and less subscribed, but your child may be more tired if he or she has skied with you in the morning.) Prices for group and private lessons for various ski schools are listed on the Ski Schools section of this website, under the heading ‘Skiing’. They vary hugely, per child, per hour – and sometimes five children in a private lesson in one school works out cheaper than a group lesson at another.

When you ski with your children, you’ll find lots of long, exciting circuits they can manage, all on green and blue runs. Rapid chairs, such as the Marmottes six-seater, have made the Verte and similar runs much more child-friendly.

There are no child discounts for whole chalet bookings but if children are booked into Chalet Hotel les Chardons, or into a chalet when split we give the following:

YSE Child Discount 5-12 years: £100 off per week in standard beds but note that children can only be booked into Les Chardons and split chalets on school holiday dates which are: 15, 22 and 29 December 2024, 5 January, 9 and 16 February, 30 March and 6 & 13 April 2025.

There are no child discounts on any Special Offer holidays sold last minute.

Teenagers
Teenagers who have been perfectly behaved for months at school will be desperate to let off steam. During the day this seems to mean dressing with their crotch around their knees to ride snowboards and glare at anyone over 21.

After dinner, of course, it means sampling every forbidden pleasure possible out on the town. Under-18s often gain illicit entry to nightclubs, but sometimes don’t. The former might worry parents, the latter drives teenagers crazy. At night during school holidays Val d’Isère echoes to young voices fortified with chalet wine discussing how to get into Dick’s T-bar through the fire escape! And that’s just the 13-year-olds… Still, they’re going to test the limits, and Val d’Isère is a fairly benign place to do so.

If you are bringing youngsters to a top chalet, please bear in mind that the smarter the chalet the easier it is to damage and the more the damage costs to put right. We have to repair any damage for subsequent guests, and have to ask the parents for the money, which is never easy.