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Prices are low, pistes practically empty and pizzas unbelievably good: Three things that make Italy fabulous for families. For light sleepers, après ski’s more about good food and wine than rowdy parties, and for little learners, huge investments have gone into making ski areas bambini friendly.
You’d struggle to find an Italian ski resort where families weren’t well catered for. But whether it’s the added bonus of short transfers, snow sure school holiday skiing or stonkingly good play areas, we’ve picked our favourite ten where all generations will have a ball.
Italy: Top 10 Ski Resorts for Families
In recent years the lovely people at the ticket office have doled out free lift passes for under tens and discounted youth lift passes too – saving the euros for a late night bottle of prosecco or a magical family husky ride. 75% of the runs are snow-sure blues and reds, giving you plenty of routes to ski together, while any non-skiing bambini will be having a whale of a time in one of the local kindergartens. When the lifts close (and you’ve torn them away from the tubing slope), Nico’s Bar is a marvellous hub for families - with the perfect pairing of stonkingly good pizzas and a games room. The icing on the cake is that the resort is mostly ski in/ski out, making the ski school run a whole lot easier.
If we had to pick our favourite time to bring the bambini here, it would easily be Christmas. December sees the town transformed into an undeniable ‘Winter Wonderland’, with fairy lights, festivities and old school winter fun (Santa’s gift of a dog-sledding experience always goes down a treat…). Stay somewhere near the gondolas and you’ll be saving their feet from too much trekking - and your arms from balancing everyone’s skis. For savings of the monetary kind, see if the ticket office are still letting under nines ski free. How you spend your ski time’s up to you: schools like Adamello Brenta run full week, full day courses at affordable prices if you want to head off and explore, or if you’d rather ski together, there are some lovely runs towards the west, on the Malga Vigo peak. Land of the slope-side café, it’s not hard to grab a cheap bite to eat for the entire family. Ski piste 50 and you’ll pass by Cascina Zeledria, a magical looking restaurant that packs a punch hearty Italian classics.
Fantaski is La Thuile’s children’s snow park that doubles up as a smashing central meeting point for learners under the wing of the La Thuile Ski School and those who’ve been exploring the brilliant Espace San Bernardo. Receiving a generous dumping of the cold stuff throughout the winter, the ski area’s fab for early and late season school holidays like Christmas and Easter, where snow might not be as plentiful elsewhere. And while school’s out in the classroom, it needn’t be on the mountains, with large ski schools and childcare facilities at hand where the only ‘homework’s a fun family ski together afterwards. With a nickname that’s the stuff of dreams, La Thuile became the ‘City of Chocolate’ in 2009 – treat the clan to a reservation at the Chocolat Café and their fondue will inevitably end in sticky fingers and toothy smiles.
To start with, access to and from the resort is simple, with a tidy hour-long transfer from Turin soon putting a stop to any ‘Are-We-Nearly-There-Yet?’s. Getting to the slopes isn’t tricky either, with Sauze’s car-free centre filled with bundles of apartments, hotels and chalets – many of which are gloriously ski in/ski out. Sportinia’s the main nursery area, where beginners can join in with ski classes, while veteran family members zip around the Milky Way, and those in need of a breather have a vino at Caffe’ Seggiovia or a chunk of cheesecake at L’Ortiche. Around the clock entertainment isn’t hard to find, in the form of dog sledding, skidooing, or even bowling if you need a break from the great outdoors.
Family skiing in Cortina’s all about wolfing down big brunches for a glorious lunchtime spent skiing. Lunch is a big part of the day here, with slopes often emptying for hours – all the better for you and yours, who can cruise empty pistes, compete for ‘best trick’ at the Socrepes Snow Park or gently conquer the basics at Tofana’s beginner area. There’s hours of fun to be had in the Mietres area, which is tailor-made for children with six gentle woodland pistes, an awesome sledding run and a couple of mountain huts (they’ll go wild for Ivan’s homemade sweets at Refuge Mietres). The 1km floodlit toboggan descent’s a great opportunity for some after-hours excitement, before heading to Il Ponte for a mammoth pizza followed by a healthy scoop of gelato – food so good you’ll soon realise why they have such long lunches.
While experienced relatives gobble up some of the world’s best terrain between Cervinia and Zermatt, youngsters will have a hoot skiing around the Wild West Playground at Valtournenche, with its cute cartoon figures and jumping castles. If the sprogs aren’t ready to call it a day, take them for some healthy competition on the ice-karting track or to Fans de Sport’s snow trail, where snowmobiles bring you up the hill and you can airboard or snowscoot back down. Lino’s is our favourite family meeting point – a fabulous eatery that dishes up English breakfasts and pizzas as well as good beer and vino, that conveniently overlooks the ice rink and a fabulous playground (complete with bouncy castle, sledges and all the snowman-making necessitates).
The nippers adore Canazei, and it might have a little something to do with the snowy playgrounds that are sprinkled across the Val di Fassa. These kitted out kindergartens provide a safe stomping ground for tots too small to ski, a gentle introduction to the slopes for those big enough and – not forgetting parents - an excuse to head off and explore the gorgeous Dolomites. Teens also have their own playground in the form of the Belvedere Park, with a big air bag, boardercross, slopestyle lines and more. That’s not to the only reason to bring the brood - the food isn’t half bad either: If you’ve had one too many of the Kaiserstube’s awesome pizzas, try the German inspired Wurstelstand Pippotto with hot dog and fries combos that’ll go down a storm.
30km of beginner trails, diddy snow parks, picnic areas with inflatable slides and a playground built entirely of snow that we all wish we were young enough for - if your clan can cope with the long transfer, Livigno has holidays with sprogs down pat. That doesn’t mean older members of la famiglia can’t have a good time: tweens and teens will love freestyling lessons at the Cassana park and with full day ski school and childcare options, a day of heliskiing isn’t off the menu for experts. While the skiing’s high (excellent for Christmas or Easter holidays), prices are low – and that includes duty free vino for well deserving parents.
Where to take that all important family photo is the biggest issue here - Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa each take turns at best backdrop (unless it’s Christmas, when Santa and his real-life reindeer tend to hold top spot). The tuition offerings are huge: sprogs can learn skiing from three and snowboarding from five and there are classes in freestyling, freeriding and all sorts of other disciplines (a guided trip over to Chamonix is terrific for experts). Back to the village, this car-free resort is stuffed with ski in/ski out chalets and oodles of restaurants with child-friendly menus and parent-friendly prices (try Brasserie La Padella for monster pizzas) and there’s also the fabulous Forum sports centre, for indoor golf, spa facilities, skating, ping pong and more.
Just like a Fiat (the company built the resort in 1934), Sestrière’s compact and efficient nature makes it spot on for families. Only 90km from Turin, airport transfers are blissfully short – meaning it won’t be long before you’re all tucking into the pizzas at Pinky’s. The network of runs is just as neat: Within easy reach of the central children’s learning area, where instructors from two main schools (fluent in English and with immeasurable patience) will see learners and improvers brimming with confidence. Neve e Sole provide day-care for even the littlest visitors, freeing you to get out and about on the mighty Milky Way. Even your job outside teaching/childcare hours is made easier by the likes of paintballing sessions and in-resort cinema.
Italy has some incredible offerings for families and these resorts are by far our favourites – but if you’d like to expand your search to include elsewhere in Europe, have a look at our top ten lists for France, Austria and Switzerland.
We’ve also listed our 10 favourite family resorts worldwide, which go above and beyond to create spectacular ski holidays for those with sprogs. They’re well worth considering for the family ski trip of a lifetime.
Italy - best family ski resorts
| Resort | Best features |
|---|---|
| Passo Tonale | Kids ski passes often discounted, snow sure ski area, largely ski in/out resort |
| Madonna di Campiglio | Plenty of slopes to explore, good ski school, brilliant at Christmas |
| La Thuile | Super kids snow park, good snow record, ski Italy & France |
| Sauze d'Oulx | Short transfer time, ski in/out accommodation, big ski area |
| Cortina | Children’s pistes, excellent restaurants, non-ski activities |
| Cervinia | Snow sure skiing, ski Italy & Switzerland, themed kids areas |
| Canazei | Top notch kindergartens, varied ski area, snow park |
| Livigno | Great beginner runs, super snowparks, duty free ski resort |
| Courmayeur | Good ski schools, car free resort, non-ski activities |
| Sestriere | Short airport transfers, big ski area, great snow record |
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