10 Best Family Ski Resorts in Europe for 2026–27

When we moved from Florence to Turin in 2018, we suddenly found ourselves living at the base of the Alps. Dylan’s school included skiing as part of the curriculum, so twice a week we were driving up to Sestriere, the same mountain that hosted events during the 2006 Winter Olympics.

That was Dylan’s first experience skiing in the Alps, and it turned skiing into something we did as a family rather than a once-a-year holiday.

Since then, we’ve skied several more resorts across Italy, France and Austria. A few others on this list are places we are still planning to visit, and we’ve made that clear throughout the guide. We would rather tell you which resorts we know firsthand than pretend we have skied everywhere.

For families, the biggest ski area is not always the best choice. Beginner terrain close to the village, good ski schools, easy lifts, reliable snow and somewhere for the non-skiers in the family to spend the day can matter much more.

These are the 10 European ski resorts we would look at first for a family ski trip.

At a Glance: 10 Family Ski Resorts in Europe

Resort	Country	Best For	We’ve Skied It?
Sestriere	Italy	Mixed abilities and larger ski area	Yes
La Rosière	France	Beginners and sunny slopes	Yes
Les Gets	France	Younger children and village atmosphere	Yes
Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis	Austria	Families with younger kids	Yes
Obergurgl-Hochgurgl	Austria	Reliable snow and quieter skiing	Yes
Cortina d’Ampezzo	Italy	Scenery and larger Dolomites trips	Yes
Alpe d’Huez	France	Large ski area and mixed abilities	Not yet
Kranjska Gora	Slovenia	Smaller-scale family skiing	Not yet
Borovets	Bulgaria	Lower-cost family ski trips	Not yet
Bardonecchia	Italy	Value and easy train access	Yes

Our tip: Choose the resort based on your children’s current ski level, not the size or reputation of the ski area. Having beginner slopes close to your accommodation can make a family ski week much easier than staying at a famous resort where every morning starts with buses and multiple lifts.

Sestriere, Italy

Sestriere is the resort on this list we know best. When we were living in Turin, Dylan skied here twice a week for an entire school year as part of his school program. This was his first experience skiing anywhere in the Alps, and we spent enough time here that it eventually stopped feeling like a holiday destination and started feeling familiar.

Sestriere sits at around 2,000 metres in Piedmont and forms part of the Vialattea ski area, which links Sestriere with Sauze d’Oulx, Sansicario, Claviere and other resorts before continuing across the French border into Montgenèvre. For families with mixed abilities, that gives you a lot of flexibility. Beginners can stay closer to the village while stronger skiers have enough red and black terrain to keep them busy for days.

The village itself is purpose-built and compact. It is not the prettiest mountain town on this list, but being able to move around easily in ski boots and reach the slopes without complicated logistics matters when you are traveling with kids. Sestriere also hosted alpine skiing events during the 2006 Winter Olympics, so the terrain goes well beyond beginner slopes.

Best for: Families with mixed skiing abilities who want access to a large linked ski area.

Nearest airport: Turin, approximately 90 km away.

Getting there: Driving from Turin is the easiest option. There is no train station in Sestriere itself.

La Rosière, France

La Rosière is one of the sunnier resorts we’ve skied, which matters more than you might expect when you are spending hours outside with kids. It sits in the Tarentaise Valley and links with La Thuile in Italy through the Espace San Bernardo ski area, so you can ski across the border during the day.

What makes La Rosière particularly good for families is the amount of gentler terrain. The resort has dedicated beginner facilities and children’s areas, including Piou-Piou programs for children from around age three. Its Family Park also includes green, blue and red routes designed for different ability levels. This is not where we would send a teenager whose main priority is steep, technical terrain. For younger skiers or families with mixed abilities, though, the wide runs and quieter atmosphere make it easier to settle into.

Best for: Younger skiers, beginners and families who prefer gentler terrain.

Nearest airport: Chambéry is roughly 100 km away. Geneva is farther but usually offers more flight options.

Getting there: Rental car or ski-season transfer from Geneva or Chambéry.

Les Gets, France

Les Gets is part of the huge Portes du Soleil ski area, but the village itself feels much more manageable than the size of the wider network suggests. We’ve skied here, and what we liked most was that the village still feels like an actual place rather than a purpose-built collection of apartment blocks.

For families with younger children, the practical setup is a big advantage. Les Gets has a dedicated Snow Garden close to the village centre, with Piou-Piou ski instruction generally available from age three. The resort also has childcare and activities aimed at different age groups, from toddlers through teenagers. That means you can have one child learning on easy terrain while older children or adults head farther into the Portes du Soleil network.

There are also restaurants, shops and things to do off the slopes, which helps if you are like me and would rather have a Bloody Mary on the patio and watch everyone else ski.

Best for: Families with younger children who want easy ski-school access without giving up a larger ski area.

Nearest airport: Geneva, approximately 75 km away.

Getting there: Rental car or shared/private transfer from Geneva.

Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis, Austria

If you are traveling with younger children, Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis is one of the most family-focused ski areas we have visited. The three villages share a large ski area, but what stands out is how much of the infrastructure has been designed around families. The region has dedicated children’s areas, childcare, ski schools and family facilities throughout the resort. It is also officially part of Tyrol’s certified family ski regions.

Serfaus itself has an underground railway running beneath the village, which keeps much of the centre free of cars. With kids in ski boots, that is much more useful than it probably sounds. The skiing is substantial too. The ski area has more than 200 km of slopes, so adults and older children are not sacrificing terrain just because the resort caters heavily to families.

We have skied here, and if someone asked us where to take younger children for their first proper ski holiday, this would be near the top of the list. Best part is you are close to Aquadome which i would put high on your after skiing all day list.

Best for: Families with younger children who want childcare, excellent learning areas and plenty of skiing for adults too.

Nearest airport: Innsbruck, roughly one hour away by car.

Getting there: Rental car or private transfer from Innsbruck.

Obergurgl-Hochgurgl, Austria

Obergurgl-Hochgurgl is a good choice for families who care more about reliable snow and quieter skiing than nightlife. We have skied here, and what stood out was how much calmer it felt compared with some of Tyrol’s bigger-name resorts. Both villages sit high in the Ötztal Valley, which gives the area stronger snow reliability than many lower-altitude resorts, particularly early and late in the season.

The two villages share a linked ski area, so there is enough terrain for a full week without the scale becoming overwhelming. For families with older children or teenagers who already ski confidently, this is a particularly good option. There is plenty of intermediate terrain and the atmosphere is generally more relaxed than at nearby Sölden.

Best for: Families who want reliable snow, quieter slopes and strong intermediate skiing.

Nearest airport: Innsbruck, approximately 90 km away.

Getting there: Rental car or transfer from Innsbruck.

Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

Cortina is one of the most dramatic places we have skied. The Dolomites surround the town with the jagged limestone peaks the region is famous for, and the scenery alone makes this one feel very different from most Alpine resorts. Cortina hosted events during the 1956 Winter Olympics and again during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, which took place in February 2026.

For families, the real advantage is variety. Cortina is part of the Dolomiti Superski network, which gives you access to a huge amount of skiing across the wider region. We have skied here and would choose it for a family where everyone already has some confidence on skis and wants a mix of skiing, restaurants and a proper town away from the lifts. It is considerably more expensive than several resorts on this list, though, so this is not the place we would choose if budget were the main priority.

Best for: Families who want dramatic scenery, a proper town and access to a much larger ski network.

Nearest airport: Venice, roughly 160 km away.

Getting there: Rental car or private transfer from Venice.

Alpe d’Huez, France

Alpe d’Huez is still on our list rather than somewhere we have skied ourselves. We included it because the resort has a particularly strong setup for families with mixed abilities. There are protected beginner areas, ski instruction from around age two and a half and several free beginner lifts. Children under five can also ski free with the required pass. At the other end of the scale, the wider Alpe d’Huez ski area has around 250 km of linked pistes, so stronger skiers have plenty to explore while younger children stay closer to the beginner zones.

The resort also offers family lift-pass options for qualifying families staying six days or more. For a family where one child is just starting and another already wants more challenging terrain, that combination is useful. We have not skied it yet, so we would still want to see how the logistics work firsthand before putting it ahead of the resorts we know personally.

Best for: Families with very different ski levels who want a large ski area.

Nearest airport: Grenoble is closest, with Lyon another practical option.

Getting there: Rental car or ski-season transfer from Grenoble or Lyon.

Kranjska Gora, Slovenia

Kranjska Gora is another resort we have not skied yet, but it keeps coming up when we look at family skiing in Slovenia. It sits in the Julian Alps near Triglav National Park and is smaller than many of the French, Italian and Austrian resorts on this list. That smaller scale can work well for families who do not want to spend the week navigating a huge interconnected ski system.

Kranjska Gora is also known for hosting World Cup slalom and giant slalom events, so the skiing is not limited to beginner terrain. The appeal for us is the combination of manageable size, attractive Alpine surroundings and generally lower accommodation and food costs than many resorts farther west.

Best for: Families who prefer a smaller resort and want to keep overall trip costs down.

Nearest airport: Ljubljana, approximately 65–70 km away.

Getting there: Rental car or transfer from Ljubljana.

Borovets, Bulgaria

Borovets is Bulgaria’s oldest major ski resort and sits around 70 km from Sofia, making it one of the easiest Bulgarian resorts to reach from the capital. We have not skied here yet, so we cannot speak firsthand about the ski-school experience or how smoothly the resort works with younger children.

What keeps it on our list is affordability and accessibility. Bulgaria is usually much cheaper than France, Austria or Switzerland for accommodation and food, and the relatively short transfer from Sofia makes Borovets particularly practical for a shorter family ski trip. The ski area has beginner and intermediate terrain as well as more challenging runs higher up the mountain, so it should work for families with different abilities.

Best for: Families looking for a lower-cost ski trip with an easier transfer from Sofia.

Nearest airport: Sofia, approximately 70 km away.

Getting there: Shuttle, private transfer or rental car from Sofia.

Bardonecchia, Italy

Bardonecchia is another resort we know personally. It sits west of Turin close to the French border and hosted snowboarding events during the 2006 Winter Olympics.

For families, one of its biggest advantages is simply how easy it is to reach. Bardonecchia has its own train station, so you can travel directly from Turin without renting a car. The resort has its own ski area rather than being part of the Vialattea network, which keeps it more manageable than Sestriere if you do not need hundreds of kilometres of linked terrain. It can also be considerably cheaper than many of the larger Italian resorts.

For younger or intermediate skiers, that combination of straightforward access, manageable terrain and lower prices makes it a very practical family option. And there are other winter activities when you want a break from skiing, including the Alpine Coaster.

Best for: Families who want an affordable Italian ski trip without renting a car.

Nearest airport: Turin, approximately 65 km away.

Getting there: Direct train from Torino Porta Nuova to Bardonecchia

What Makes a Ski Resort Good for Families?

A family ski resort needs more than easy runs.

Beginner terrain should be easy to reach. If your children are learning, you do not want every ski-school morning to begin with multiple buses, gondolas and chairlifts.

Ski schools matter. Check the minimum age, lesson language and whether the children’s area is separated from normal ski traffic.

Look at the whole family. A resort can be perfect for a six-year-old beginner and terrible for a 15-year-old who wants challenging terrain.

Think about non-ski days. Pools, sledding, winter walks, restaurants and a real village make a big difference if someone needs a day off.

Transfer time matters more with children. A resort that is two hours closer to the airport may be worth paying slightly more for.

Snow reliability matters during school holidays. If you are restricted to Christmas, Easter or other fixed dates, altitude and snowmaking become much more important.

FAQ: Family Skiing in Europe

What age can children start skiing in Europe?

Many European ski schools begin introductory snow programs around age three or four.

Some resorts start even younger. Alpe d’Huez advertises instruction from around age two and a half, while Les Gets and La Rosière offer Piou-Piou programs from around age three.

Dylan started much later, as a teenager, so our own experience is with older children rather than preschool beginners.

Do you need a car for a family ski trip in Europe?

Not always.

Bardonecchia is particularly easy because the train runs directly into town from Turin. Les Gets and several French resorts also have regular airport transfers during ski season.

For places like Sestriere, Cortina and many Austrian resorts, we prefer having a car because it gives you more flexibility.

Which resorts are best for younger children?

From the resorts we know, Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis stands out because so much of the infrastructure is specifically designed around families and children.

Les Gets and La Rosière are also strong choices because they have dedicated beginner areas and ski-school facilities close to the resort villages.

Which family ski resorts are more affordable?

Borovets and Kranjska Gora are generally worth comparing if budget is a major factor.

Bardonecchia can also offer good value in Italy.

For a much deeper breakdown of prices, see our guide to affordable skiing in Europe, where we compare lift passes and overall value across 10 resorts.

Which resorts are best for mixed skiing abilities?

Sestriere, Les Gets, Cortina and Alpe d’Huez all have access to large ski areas where beginners can stay on easier terrain while stronger skiers head farther out.

Alpe d’Huez is particularly well set up for beginners while still offering around 250 km of linked pistes for more experienced skiers.

Which resorts have the most reliable snow?

Altitude helps. Sestriere sits at around 2,000 metres and Obergurgl-Hochgurgl is also very high by Austrian resort standards, which generally improves snow reliability early and late in the season.

Snow conditions still vary year to year, so always check current conditions before booking.

Planning More Ski Travel

Planning a ski trip in Europe? Read our guide to affordable skiing in Europe for 10 lower-cost resorts.