Top 5 family friendly ski resorts

Are you and your family lovers of skiing and other snow play? Then this might be an interesting blog for you. As a proud new resident of the Provence, I am impressed with the easy access of the French Alpes. From Aix-en-Provence to the nearest ski station, it only takes us a drive of 2 hours. I will hand you some great options to visit family friendly ski resorts in the Alpes. As our lovestory began on the slopes of Austria, my husband and I consider our kids learning to ski, is just as important as learning to ride a bike!

1. Les Orres

It was only at the end of 2021 that we visited Les Orres after our friends were very excited about it. And I get them! Les Orres has everything you’d wish for when skiing with young kids. At the foot of the slopes of Les Orres 1800 there are two magic carpets (one even for free) and a ‘jardin the neige’ to practice the first tracks. There is a large amount of green and blue slopes on which your kid can safely extend its ski skills. Both ESF and ESI have a ski-school here for the kids to learn their tricks. The area of Les Orres contains several heights, considering the factor beauty, I would certainly recommend to stay in Les Orres 1800. It seems like the whole village is filled with tourists apartments, but it was done with style, everything is on walking distance. We booked via Infinity Mountain that runs a lot of the apartments, from basic to more luxurious with an outside heated pool with mountain view. Les Orres 1650 is a nice alternative to stay, with its terraces and its ‘Luge’, a fun rail sled. We have some experience now with skiing in France, and we consider the restaurant on top of Le Pic Vert, Resto Pic Vert, the restaurant with the best view ever! The restaurant that is just above the magic carpets in Les Orres 1800, Le Refuge Étoilé, is such a nice one to get a cup of ‘chocolat chaud‘ at the end of the day.

2. Oz-en-Oisans

A friend gave us a hint about this village in the Alpes. The drive is a bit longer, about 3,5 hours. That makes it less perfect for a weekend, but still great for a week of holidays. Oz-en-Oisans the village is located at a modest height of 1350m. That’s maybe the reason why it’s not such a well known place. But…. This cute little village is connected to the very large ski domaine of Alpe d’Huez. And this area is just amazing! It has everything you need: beginners slopes, experienced slopes and even a very cool kids fun park named Marcel’s farm (my kids love it!). The village also has a large area for kids to practice their sleigh skills. The area has lots of good restaurant options on the slopes. My favorite is La Folie Douce, which is lots of fun in the afternoon, when there is a DJ on the terrace and a true party scene arises (perfect when your kid has ski-lessons then :-)).

I can recommend you to stay in one of the many apartments of Couleurs Soleil of Capfun. The apartments are very basic, but clean and decorated in a nice mountainy way. If you want it to be more fancy, then take a look for a stay in the next door hotel Timberlodge. Villages Club du Soleil also has a very modern apartment building in Oz. Ski lessons are very easy to arrange, with ESF right in the middle of the village.

3. Risoul/ Vars

Because we are very lucky to have a friend with an apartment in Vars, we have skied there several weekends. It is only about 2,5 hours away from Aix-en-Provence. Vars is connected to it’s smaller neighbor Risoul, the villages are united in the ski domaine ‘La Fôret Blanche’. It’s a beautiful area for a family ski holiday. Especially Risoul is very kid-friendly, with the longest green slope we have ever seen. Vars has some good slopes for beginners as well, but it is as well very challenging (in a good way!) for the experienced skiers too. Don’t expect lots of liveliness in the village for an ‘après-ski’, but there are lots of good restaurant on the slopes for lunch. Diner options are numerous as well in town. There are several ski schools available. Next to the tourism office you find ESF and it’s ‘jardin de neige’. Kids from 2,5 years on can take ski lessons. In the holiday you usually have to buy a pack of 4-5 days of lessons, for half the day or the entire day. In the weekends it’s possible to get lessons for just the weekend. A good alternative to ESF is the ski-school of ESI, at Le Point Show in Vars. My kids both had 2 hours of private lessons there, and my daughter still talks about it. She gained lots of confidence when the teacher took her to the funpark of Vars (her mom would never take her there :-)!). By the way, Vars also has a very fun rail sled. The laughs of your kid are worth making the effort to go here! I don’t have other rental experience than our friend’s place, but I suggest to check out Airbnb to find your own gem, or the more lots-of-inclusive Village Club du Soleil.

4. Orcières Merlette

This family friendly ski resort is also located just about 2,5 hours drive from Aix-en-Provence. That makes this resort a very good one for a weekend escape. We have this resort on our wish list for a weekend in January, thus far only my husband has skied in this area (back and forth in one day, crazy style). He was very pleased with this resort and praised its kid-friendlyness. The station is located on 1850m, which makes it more prone to be covered in an enchanting layer of snow. The ski area is even culminating at 2725m. There are 4 green slopes for the beginners and several long, blue ones to continue your kid’s practice. And for the dare devils among your family members, there is a huge fun park present as well. From the 23rd of March until the 14 of April, kids can ski for free in Orcières.

5. Lots of other family friendly ski resorts

I just can’t choose the number 5 option, so I will share some more family friendly ski resorts that I visited or that friends have visited.

• Montgenèvre/ Sestrières: our Norwegian friends were fan of the Montgenèvre ski resort. It’s huge, it has about 400km length of slopes AND… is connected to Italy. My family and I visited the ski area of Sestrières last year with our Italian/ kiwi friends and it was so lovely. The food and drinks are just marvelous. Oh and the skiing was nice too!
• Val d’Allos: this village has 2 ski areas, both very kid friendly. It’s located on a level of 1800m and has under a 100km length of slopes.
• Praloup: on a level of 1800m you find the village of Praloup. It is connected to the Val d’Allos area and there are many blue slopes for beginners. It also has a nice sleigh area.
• Megève: I had to name this place, as we met many American families here in France that just looooove to travel to Megève. After one American friend described the place to me, it sounded like a fairytale ski resort from a Christmas movie. But then I looked at the average accommodation price and that fairytale ended for us LOL. Still, it seems like one of the most beautiful and family friendly ski resorts and has an immense ski area including the Mont Blanc.