Finding Family Adventures

Gerardmer Ski Trip, France.

A Winter ski adventure for the whole family. Self-drive from UK, do it yourself trip.

Date of trip: February half term 2024 and many other trips

Total cost: £1300 including accommodation, travel, food, ski passes, play.

Does not include ski hire but ski hire is available in the towns and the larger resorts.

If you need ski kit hire, check out this site Ski rental shop in GERARDMER – Gerardmer.

Number of party: 5 (2 Adults, 3 children).

This trip has quickly become an enjoyable regular. Alongside our 3 children, we’ve been with the grandparents, friends, and cousins. There is a collection of smaller, low cost resorts all close in distance to add interest and more miles of skiing exploration. The slopes feel safe for the children with enough interest points to sustain them, which means the adults can relax and enjoy the mountain. You can mix and match the resorts to suit your budget and interest.

We love the chocolate shops in Gerardmer, where you can pick up the most beautifully crafted chocolates as gifts or a dessert show stopper. The local public pool was an excellent addition to ease out the sore muscles, with a great water slide and the kids also liked the ice skating rink and fair ground rides at the market.

We got the ferry across from Dover to Calais and then drove just 5 ½ hours to Gerardmer. The ferry cost £200 return and fuel £100. With accommodation as low as £250 for 6 nights for a family of 5 and cooking for ourselves, this works out to be the most affordable ski trip we’ve had.

Brabant at La Bresse

Let’s start with the most affordable we’ve tried, Ski resort Brabant – La Bresse at only 19 euros a day- excellent value. There are 3 tow lifts, all slightly on the steep side, so not ideal for beginners. If you have mastered the tow lift, then this is a nice playground when the snow conditions are good. It might not keep you entertained for a long day but great for refining technique and a bit of play, and maybe a swim in Gerardmer in the public pool. You can take a picnic or there is a restaurant across the road from the slopes.

La Bresse

La Bresse is a fantastic family friendly resort with a lot going on Ski area – La Bresse-Hohneck – Labellemontagne. Costing an adult 39.50 euros per day, 33.20 euros per day for a child. Family tickets are usually discounted. With 15 lifts and 33 tracks, wide slopes and trees to ski between, there is a lot to explore. The highest point is only 1350m, so snow is unpredictable and can be patchy. Equally, we’ve had fresh powder and dream slope days. The resort team work hard to keep as many tracks open as possible, even in difficult years. We’ve never had days we cannot ski at all due to lack of snow. There are also lit up slopes for night skiing on certain nights.

La Bresse is full of entertainment when you are not skiing. Ours kids loved the rail toboggan, Ringoes and sledging. There are times when you can sledge down the whole mountain too. Other activities include snow shoeing, Wiidoo Gliss, fatbikes, snowmobiling, biathlon, horse riding and many more activities to explore.

Gerardmer

Gerardmer is another lovely little resort with 19 ski lifts and 21 slopes including a fast chair lift Home – ski-gerardmer. Gerardmer ski resort costs 34.80 euros for adults, 28.40 euros for children. There are 1200 parking places. It can get busy but we have always been able to park here. There is also a ski bus from the town on peak days (weekends and holidays). This resort is also great for families and offers night skiing on certain days and snow shoeing. The resort has ski canons to make snow on cooler nights but it struggles to maintain the snow during warmer winters. This means it has a shorter season than the higher resorts.

Accommodation

We prefer to stay in Gerardmer itself, offering  easy access to public pools, restaurants, markets, shops and the very lovely chocolate shops. There is plenty of accommodation at affordable prices to suit all family sizes. We managed to get ours for £250 for 6 nights. It was cosy but all we needed.

If you would like a pre-made checklist to help guide you on your self-drive trip to a French ski resort, please click below. We charge just £2, which includes money saving tips, kit list and all the details you need to consider when planning this trip.

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