Are the Alps or the Swedish mountains best for a skiing holiday with children?

A skiing holiday with children in the Alps or in Sweden? Short answer: The Alps offer better skiing for those who are already proficient and more reliable snow conditions at higher altitudes, whilst the Swedish mountains offer an easier day’s travel, accommodation that can accommodate the whole family, and ski schools in the children’s own language. With school-age children who have been skiing for a few seasons, the choice is open. With pre-school children, logistics are a major factor, and the balance tips in favour of Sweden.

This article isn’t about which type of skiing is best, but about what makes a week work when the youngest children are four and six years old. We’ll go through the journey, the ski school, the slopes, the accommodation and those days when nobody wants to ski any more. Are you already looking for accommodation for the family in Sälen the distance to the lift is by far the most important factor – more on why further down.

Quick answer: what’s the difference between a skiing holiday with children in the Alps and in Sweden?

These are the differences on the issues that matter most to families with young children:

• Day of travel: The Alps mean an airport, checking in your kit and a transfer – Sweden means packing the car at home and unloading it at the front door.
• Ski school: The Alps have very high-quality schools, but lessons are taught in German or English – in Sweden, lessons are taught in Swedish.
• Beginners’ terrain: Alpine areas often have good high-altitude plateaus for beginners – the Swedish mountains have unusually wide and long practice areas.
• Accommodation: A two-bedroom flat versus a house where the children can have their own floor.
• Bad weather: The Alps offer village life and restaurants – Sälen offers a water park, dog sledding, bowling and a spacious house to stay in.
• Cost: Children pay for flights, luggage and transfers in the Alps – but there’s no extra charge when travelling to the mountains by car.

Travel day: the airport, transfers and luggage with children

This is where the biggest practical difference lies – and the one that parents most often underestimate. A trip to the Alps with two children involves getting to the airport well in advance, checking in ski bags and boot bags, going through security with a pushchair, the flight, waiting for oversized luggage, a shuttle bus up through the valley and, finally, a walk with luggage to the holiday flat. Door-to-door, it often takes twelve to fourteen hours, and that last hour is spent with children who’ve been awake since four in the morning. The drive to the mountains takes about four and a half to five hours from Stockholm; you pack at home in peace and quiet, stop whenever someone needs the toilet, and unload right outside the front door. You can bring the children’s own ski boots, helmets, sledge and that soft toy bag without paying per kilo. That’s not just a minor consideration – it’s the very reason families choose Sweden year after year.

Ski school, language and group size

Austrian and Swiss ski schools have a long tradition, a high ratio of instructors to pupils, and instructors who work full-time – the quality should not be underestimated. Lessons are held in German and English, often with English-speaking groups set aside specifically for international guests, and many children cope with this very well. But a five-year-old whose toes are freezing, who is scared and wants to explain why, cannot do so in English. In this respect, the Swedish ski school has an advantage that is hard to ignore: the instructor understands exactly what the child is saying, and the parent understands exactly what the instructor reports when they come to collect them. We describe the range of courses and age limits in Sälen in Ski school and childcare on site. Book early, whatever country you’re in – places in the youngest age groups sell out well before the winter holidays.

The slopes – steep alpine slopes versus wide beginner’s areas

Alpine resorts offer real benefits for children too: beginner’s slopes at higher altitudes with reliable snow in December, top-class snow mats and play areas, and – for children who’ve been skiing for a few seasons – enough variety to keep them interested all week long. The downside is that the terrain around the beginners’ area is often steep – one wrong turn can lead to a much more challenging run than the family had anticipated, and the distances involved may mean you have to take a lift down. The Swedish mountains are the complete opposite: wide, long and gentle runs where a child can take a wrong turn without ending up in a dangerous spot, and where the parent can see the child the whole way. Sälen’s beginners’ terrain is among the most extensive in Europe relative to the resort’s size, and we’ll go through the options in beginner-friendly slopes. For a family with children who have just left the plough, that difference is more important than the drop height.

Accommodation: a detached house with a kitchen versus a two-bedroom flat

With children, you end up spending more time at home than you’d planned. Dinner needs to be cooked early, someone needs to go to bed, wet clothes need drying, and the evening needs to be filled with activities other than screen time. A two-bedroom chalet with a kitchenette works for a family of four, but becomes cramped as soon as two families travel together – and families with children often do just that, as the children have company and the adults get a break. In the Swedish mountains, the standard layout is a house with a full kitchen, a drying room, a sauna and enough rooms for the children to play whilst the adults stay at the table. We’ll be looking at which cottages are built with children in mind – low thresholds to the ski lift, space for sledge runs, bedrooms close to one another – in holiday cottages designed for families with children.

What to do when the children don’t want to go any further

Expect it to happen, around day three. In an alpine village, there’s the village itself: the bakery, the high street, perhaps a toboggan run and the village swimming pool. It’s nice but often limited, and for a child who’s already grown tired of the snow, it’s rarely enough to fill a whole day. Sälen offers an unusually wide range of activities for a resort of its size – a water park, dog sledding, snowmobile tours for older children, bowling, horse riding and a number of activities that can be enjoyed even when it’s windy. As most of these are just a ten-minute drive away, you can easily decide on the spot in the morning to take a day off. We’ve put together an overview of what’s on offer for the youngest children on the page Sälen with children. And when there’s nothing else to do, the big house itself provides plenty of entertainment: a sauna, games around the dining table and a film on the sofa, which is big enough for everyone.

When the Alps are the right choice for families with children

Head to the Alps when the children are old enough for the journey to be manageable – from around eight or nine years old, the flight usually stops being a chore and starts to become part of the adventure. Go there when the children are skilled enough to really make the most of a large ski resort, because then they’ll have a week they’ll never forget. Go there in December if you want guaranteed snow on the high-altitude beginners’ slopes. Go there if you’re a family of four, as the cost difference is minimal and the flat will be big enough. And go there if you want the children to hear a different language, eat different food and see a different landscape – that’s a real part of the value of a trip abroad, and it shouldn’t be discounted just because it doesn’t show up in a budget. Families who’ve already decided on the Alps are generally right to go there.

Summary – checklist for a skiing holiday with children in the Alps or Sweden

Ask five questions before you make up your mind. How old are the youngest ones? Over a six-year period, travel days are a strong indicator of Sweden’s performance. How well do they ski? Beginners get more out of wide, open Swedish practice areas than from a large alpine system. Are you travelling alone or with another family? Two families rarely fit in an alpine chalet, but there’s plenty of room in a mountain cabin. How many days do you have? Over six days, the journey takes up too much of an Alpine week. What are you going to do when nobody wants to go? The answer to that question often determines how the week is perceived more than the height of the slopes does. If you’re heading to the Swedish mountains, we’d be happy to help you find a cottage at just the right distance from the ski lift for your children.