Val d'Isère for Families

Val d'Isère for Families

We rate Val d’Isère highly as a place to come with your family, so much so that we scored it top 3 in our Best French resorts for families guide.

You will certainly be taken care of in Val d’Isère with lots to do and a good choice of places to eat. Improvements to the base of the slopes in recent years has further enhanced the environment for families with most facilities close together and the village centre pedestrianised.

There are also plenty of off-snow activities for anybody too small for skis, or for little legs tired out by big days on the piste. There is a great sports centre with a swimming pool and other activities are available like sledging – check out our off the slopes guide for more info!

Children aged from 6 months to 13 years old can sign up at the Holiday Village (Rond point des pistes; +33 (0)4 79 40 09 81) which is open daily except Saturday and can be booked by the half day, or up to a full week with or without lunch.

Brit Tina Eliades runs a nannying service operating in Val d'Isère called Jelly and Ice Cream (+44 1483 338 601 / +33 6 79 76 95 95). They specialise in private nannies and babysitting. In addition a list of registered babysitters is available from the Tourist Office (+33 (0)4 79 06 06 60) and there are about half a dozen registered child minders working in the village.

For kids ski school we recommend Supreme Ski & Snowboard School, for its small group sizes and excellent standard of teaching; or Progression Ski, run by a friendly Scot, Ken Smith who's lived and worked in Val d'Isère for 15 years, and counting.

The Ecole du ski Francais (ESF) accepts children from 3 to 12 years old and operates two fun snow gardens located in the village (+33 (0)4 79 06 02 34) and at satellite centre la Daille (+33 (0)4 79 06 09 99). The French national ski programme is used so levels and progression will be consistent if your kids have already started to ski with ESF in another resort – great for kids working to collect all their badges! From 13 years old the kids can join adult groups. Most of the village’s other ski schools offer classes for kids too. 

Tweet