Upcoming Easter holidays once again see the usual influx of anklebiters of all ages, necessitating kiddy-friendly activities both on piste and off.
Local ski instructor Alex Chapman, who also runs the English-speaking childcare service Snow Angel Nannies in 2Alpes and Alpe d’Huez, recommends both resorts for family friendly holidays and fun for all ages.
The various ski schools offer a range of snowsports-related deals for kids of all ages, from snow kindergarden for teenies through regular ski and board lessons to race courses and freestyle classes for speed merchants and budding park rats. Check out the ESF, the European Ski and Snowboard School and the Ecole de Ski St Christophe for further details.
Outside organised lessons and play sessions there is plenty to occupy your offspring. The ice rink and swimming pool are both open daily from mid afternoon, and both included in the price of your pass as long as it runs for two days or more. Given the forecast for a return to sunny spring weather over the weekend there could well be poolside sunbathing opportunities for harassed parents as well.
Round the back of the pool complex and under the Jandri Express lift, there’s a designated sledging spot protected by inflatable barriers, though you’ll have to wait and see how much snow there is left on it by the time you get here at the weekend. We have had a few extra flakes this week though, with a bit more predicted, so you never know.
Next to the Jandri, the Avalanche Simulator is always popular, though not with me because those things make me terminally seasick. Your little boys will love it though, even if it does make them feel queasy.
Smaller children may well prefer the gentler attractions of the traditional merry go round whose owner has been doggedly plying his trade in the main square outside the central ticket office all season, earlier Arctic temperatures notwithstanding.
A visit to the donkey farm in the Veneon valley is also likely to be a crowd pleaser, not least because it includes a trip down into the valley in the Venosc telecabin. Pat the donkeys, visit the llamas and marvel at a brace of yaks, ordered from a catalogue and posted to 2Alpes direct from Tibet. No, I didn’t know you could mail order yaks either, but there you go.
Screen-addicted teens will appreciate the two videogame arcades, one in the main street and the other round the corner from the swimming pool. And if you fancy a family-oriented evening of friendly competition, try the bowling alley in the Place de Venosc.
The tourist office’s animation team has got stuck into the seasonal spirit with a family Easter Egg hunt and egg-painting workshop on Easter Monday in the Maison de Montagne. Open to children over four – first find your egg and then decorate it as you see fit. And presumably stick it in your packed lunch on Tuesdy morning.
