Winter vacation with children - family vacation winter tips

Where to go on a winter family vacation with children?

Winter vacation with children – from toddlers to teenagers
A winter holiday with children in the snowy mountains of the Alps is always a special experience for us. We love summer in the mountains, but now we also appreciate winter holidays with children in the mountains. We have found opportunities to go on a winter family vacation with the children from the age of 2 – even if the little ones cannot yet ski at this age. And what do you do with toddlers on a winter vacation? On this page we will share our tips with you and show you the experiences with many pictures. You will find ideas for your winter vacation with children – from toddlers to teenagers!

Skiing on a winter holiday with children – we show family-friendly ski areas

Winter holidays with children without skis – we also have many good ideas for that have fun!

Action and fun are required for teenagers to have fun, and winter in the mountains also offers that. Here is the topic "Skiing with children". Our friends usually look for tips for family skiing holidays. For most families, "winter vacation" means "skiing vacation". So here are our suggestions for a skiing holiday with children and where to find a family hotel on the slopes.

Winter vacation with children: skiing

Where and from what childhood on a ski vacation?

At what age can children learn to ski? What does a children’s ski course cost? Where are the most beautiful ski slopes and ski areas for children? – these are the questions when planning for the family winter vacation. In our guide you will find all the answers and how you can save here. Also the Ski equipment is an issue on family ski vacations. Further to the guide how old children have to be to learn to ski?

-> our ski guide

Family ski area, small ski area or large ski area?

We were in many ski areas in the Alps. We have found good family areas in Germany, Austria and South Tyrol. We have an overview of what the individual ski areas offer, sorted by country. Here you will find the most beautiful ski areas for children, from the small practice slope, a small family ski area to the largest ski areas in the Alps in our ski special:

-> Skiing with kids

But: skiing is nice, but not everything, read on here …

Winter vacation with children without skis

Enjoy winter with children

When you leave the dark gray of the city behind and gradually see the winter landscape, relaxation begins for us. When driving through the snow-covered valleys and forests, the little ones sit in the car and are enthusiastic about the snow. As adults, too, we have a good feeling in our stomach and are really looking forward to the upcoming vacation days and lots of relaxation during a family vacation in the mountains. The stress and hectic pace of the past few days has been forgotten.

Winter vacation with children – enjoy nature without stress

Our winter tip: the Weissensee in Austria

The winter landscape at the Weissensee in Carinthia was particularly great. Here we are deeply immersed in winter. We were skiing in a very beautiful – and above all cheap family ski area – with the children. At Weissensee itself we could go from our very impressive lake chalet to ice skating on the lake. The Weissensee freezes over every winter and forms the largest natural ice surface in Europe.

-> Watch the short video and you will understand my enthusiasm.

Posted by Markus Schmidt on Sunday, February 11, 2018

-> Here are the 5 tips for a winter holiday with children on Lake Weissensee.

Winter vacation with children: sledding

Tobogganing with children and sledding – the underestimated winter fun

Many parents with children are not even aware of this very beautiful winter experience. If you live in a city, you probably won’t even know the tobogganing and sledding experience that is possible in the mountains. There are often snowy trails in the Alps, some of which are kilometers long. They usually have a rustic hut as their destination and are tracked in winter. Families with children can also go on small hikes on a sledge or toboggan – and then have fun doing the kilometer-long descent on the sledge.

The toboggan run on the Loser in the Salzkammergut was kilometers long – with a view of the lake!

Tobogganing is already possible on a winter vacation with toddlers

Tobogganing is also possible with small children! Sledding is recommended for a winter family vacation with small children: as long as small children are younger than 4 years, there are not many winter sport opportunities. With the toboggan you can go for short walks. Comparable to strollers in summer! The little ones run in the snow as long as they want. Then they sit warmly wrapped on the toboggan. There is an attachment for the sled for toddlers and also for babies. So the whole family can experience the day together in winter!

Winter vacation with children as we love them

It gets sporty with older children, the toboggan runs are longer and the fun of tobogganing down is at the forefront at speed. With older children, tobogganing is also a sport in itself, where the whole family can be entertained wonderfully. Sometimes you can do the mountain transport from the sledge with a lift and thus save the sporty ascent. We like to combine tobogganing with the ascent on foot: first go sporty up winter hiking and then down with fun.

-> Here are all our tips and the most beautiful toboggan runs for tobogganing with children.

After tobogganing, a warm family hotel with a sauna or swimming pool is very pleasant, these are some tips and ideas:

Nice family hotels for winter holidays with children

Family hotel or apartment on a winter holiday with children?

In winter we particularly appreciate a hotel with good facilities. In the children’s hotel and family hotel or the family-friendly hotels, the welcome for the children is already warm. This is how the family vacation can start! Our experience: In addition to the winter experience, you can look forward to a particularly good range of high-quality family hotels in the German-speaking Alps, which are not to be found on a beach holiday to this extent.

The family hotels in the Alps have particularly family-friendly rooms with separate bedrooms for parents and children. Mostly also a nice wellness area. And this is particularly pleasant in winter when you can relax after a day of skiing in a nice family hotel, warm up in the warm sauna and eat well at the breakfast buffet. If you want to ski with kids, I have here

-> our tips for really good ski hotels on the slopes.

Good food on family winter vacation

Speaking of food: Alpine cuisine and down-to-earth food is a highlight on vacation for many families. Finally eat a real homemade apple strudel or the steamed pasta according to Grandma’s recipe. A Kaiserschmarrn must not be missing and a good schnitzel is mandatory.

I like the Buchteln – you can often find it in Austria

What else can you do on a winter vacation with children??

Logically, snow is important for family holidays in winter. He has the leading role. Mostly, winter family vacations are equated with skiing. First, children learn to ski in the ski school, if it is reasonably possible, the children also go skiing with their parents.

Often parents do not consider: Children often have fun romping in the snow even without skiing. The Schneeberg can be a huge adventure next to the accommodation. You can slide over the snow hill with slides, maybe with a plastic bob or just to build a snowman and do snowball fights.

I have already shown tobogganing and sledding. Here are more of our experiences and tips on what else to do with children on a winter vacation.

Cross-country skiing with children?

When can children start cross-country skiing??

These questions are asked again and again. It is similar to skiing on the ski slope. Cross-country skiing makes no sense under the age of 4. Usually an age of 6 is perfect for getting on the narrow cross-country skis for the first time. Sporty children in particular can find their own access to gentle winter sports away from the hustle and bustle. There are also ski schools that offer special cross-country courses.
We also did some cross-country skiing tours with children and report on them.

-> It can be found under cross-country skiing with children

Snowshoeing with children?

Not for the masses, but for those who enjoy snowshoeing!

The trend sport snowshoeing has increased very strongly. More and more parents are looking for peace and relaxation in this gentle winter sport. The question naturally arises: Can children also snowshoe hike? You can. If you want to experience winter with children, you can take them on smaller snowshoe tours, from 8 years old the first routes with snowshoes are possible for motivated and trained children. In the meantime there are even children’s snowshoes. Where can you go on beautiful snowshoe hikes with children? On what is at To watch snowshoe tours with children?