Family ski trip, Morzine - hints, tips and pearls of wisdom
Discussion
JQ said:
Holy thread resurection. The preparations are going well for our trip. The kids are still doing their lessons on the local indoor slope and Mrs JQ got lots of kit off Father Christmas. However, I've reaised we'll have one evening to eat out while we're there and it'll be our intention to treat my father-in-law to a nice meal. He's a real foodie, so does anyone know if there are any very good restaurants in Morzine? Cheers.
What kind of food are you looking for? I live in Morzine for half the year(ish).A few that spring to mind:
La Ferme de la Fruitiere - do a great fondue and other savoyade stuff attached to a great cheese shop.
Clin D'Oiel - good for meats dishes.
La Ferme at Lindarets is good food and they will come and get you by snow mobile (not tried this although have eaten at lunch time).
I also have a few tucked away very french places if you would like them. Not touristy which I see as a positive! The really interesting stuff is only open in summer as they are up in the mountains.
C0ffin D0dger said:
Possibly daft question as I've never been skiing before and apologies for the slight thread hi-jack....
When my kids are a little bit older (say between 6 and 10 years old) I'd quite like to go on a family skiing holiday. As neither the wife, myself or the kids can ski can we all have lessons together or are they usually split into adult and children groups?
Id suggest hitting a snow dome in the UK to get the jist of it before you go, from my experience the instruction is excellent and you'll be under less pressure. I paid £80 for my first 6 hours of instruction (including boot and board hire), then iirc £100 for the intermediate. I look out for special offers for lift passes for my local dome.When my kids are a little bit older (say between 6 and 10 years old) I'd quite like to go on a family skiing holiday. As neither the wife, myself or the kids can ski can we all have lessons together or are they usually split into adult and children groups?
NorthDave said:
JQ said:
Holy thread resurection. The preparations are going well for our trip. The kids are still doing their lessons on the local indoor slope and Mrs JQ got lots of kit off Father Christmas. However, I've reaised we'll have one evening to eat out while we're there and it'll be our intention to treat my father-in-law to a nice meal. He's a real foodie, so does anyone know if there are any very good restaurants in Morzine? Cheers.
What kind of food are you looking for? I live in Morzine for half the year(ish).A few that spring to mind:
La Ferme de la Fruitiere - do a great fondue and other savoyade stuff attached to a great cheese shop.
Clin D'Oiel - good for meats dishes.
La Ferme at Lindarets is good food and they will come and get you by snow mobile (not tried this although have eaten at lunch time).
I also have a few tucked away very french places if you would like them. Not touristy which I see as a positive! The really interesting stuff is only open in summer as they are up in the mountains.
With regard to the out of the way places, I suspect with 4 kids (ages 4-8) the more touristy places in town may be better, as it'll be the only night we eat out and they'll get to take in the atmosphere. Trying to get a balance between somewhere for the foodies and the kids being able to enjoy the experience is always interesting.
I presume with 10 diners we'll need to book before our holiday to secure a spot at one of these places?
JQ said:
Cheers, something traditionally French would be ideal, they love all world food but eating Italian in France would likely be frowned upon. La Ferme de la Fruitiere and Clin D'Oiel look perfect. From the reviews I've just quickly read La Ferms at Lindgrets sounds more like a lunchtime place - is it worth the trip out, with 4 kids in tow the snowmobile trip would probably go down quite well, but if it's likely to be very quiet we'd probably give it a miss?
With regard to the out of the way places, I suspect with 4 kids (ages 4-8) the more touristy places in town may be better, as it'll be the only night we eat out and they'll get to take in the atmosphere. Trying to get a balance between somewhere for the foodies and the kids being able to enjoy the experience is always interesting.
I presume with 10 diners we'll need to book before our holiday to secure a spot at one of these places?
I'd definitely go for La Ferme de la Frutiere then - they have a lovely fire in the ground floor and the basement has large windows looking in to the cheese vaults. It has a good atmosphere and will almost certainly be busy - definitely book. You could do a drink by the ice rink at the coup de coeur first which has a nice apres ski vibe. With regard to the out of the way places, I suspect with 4 kids (ages 4-8) the more touristy places in town may be better, as it'll be the only night we eat out and they'll get to take in the atmosphere. Trying to get a balance between somewhere for the foodies and the kids being able to enjoy the experience is always interesting.
I presume with 10 diners we'll need to book before our holiday to secure a spot at one of these places?
Morzine Penguins ice hockey team play on a Thursday night - worthwhile checking to see if they're at home when you're there. The rink is right in the middle of the town, sort of underneath the supermorzine lift and down by the river. Definitely a good thing to take kids to - quite high quality national french league play too.
Can't comment on kids' stuff there, only there's a milka run off to the left of the main blue/green heading into les gets - got little jumps and turns through the trees, designed for small people. Also got a cow bell as you leave it that you hit with your ski pole. Or, if you're me, bend your ski pole around it trying to give it a good whack! Hadn't realised how sturdy it is....
Can't comment on kids' stuff there, only there's a milka run off to the left of the main blue/green heading into les gets - got little jumps and turns through the trees, designed for small people. Also got a cow bell as you leave it that you hit with your ski pole. Or, if you're me, bend your ski pole around it trying to give it a good whack! Hadn't realised how sturdy it is....
Ice Hockey would be fanstic but having had a quick look at their website it would appear their last game is the 6th February a couple of weeks before we arrive. Although, my French is terrible so I could be completely wrong. On the basis that February is their holiday period you'd have thought they'd be playing all the way through as there'd be loads of demand from tourists. I guess that's probably French logic for you.
We got back from Morzine on Saturday and had a fantastic week, many thanks for all the hints and tips. The main thing was that the kids loved it - we literally had to drag them off the slopes every day. I'd done loads of research into things to do in the afternoon / early evening, which was totally pointless as our days consisted of being on the first lift of the day at 8:30am and generally not getting back until 5pm, followed by food for the kids, put them to bed, then evening meal for the adults, lots of wine, then bed - rinse and repeat. We had one afternoon off and took them swimming at Avoriaz, but other than that we saw very little of Morzine as the chalet was at the bottom of the Pleney lift and ate in every night.
It was my first time in a catered chalet and it was brilliant, certainly made life a lot easier. The one night we did eat out was at La Ferme de la Fruitiere, which was great.
One tip not mentioned on here that was a lifesaver was velcro straps for the skis. At several times during the trip I was carrying 4 sets of skis - I had my own Skiweb device which meant my skis could go over my shoulder whilst the little velcro straps I'd bought for the kids skis meant they were much easier to carry.
It was my first time in a catered chalet and it was brilliant, certainly made life a lot easier. The one night we did eat out was at La Ferme de la Fruitiere, which was great.
One tip not mentioned on here that was a lifesaver was velcro straps for the skis. At several times during the trip I was carrying 4 sets of skis - I had my own Skiweb device which meant my skis could go over my shoulder whilst the little velcro straps I'd bought for the kids skis meant they were much easier to carry.
//j17 said:
Bad luck. Welcome to a world of buying new childrens ski clothes every year because they've out-grown the ones you bought them last year! 
Yep, my wallet is already weeping. Although the most upsetting element of the holiday was our youngest asking my wife if our chalet hosts could adopt him as he didn't want to go home!Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff