How to Book An Affordable Ski Trip with Kids and Still Have an Amazing Time
Discover the fantastic family ski holiday resort of Les Gets in the French Alps. Les Gets has everything you need for a wonderful family ski holiday including stunning slopes, family-friendly accommodation and restaurants, and memorable Après Ski experiences for all ages.
Our favourite family holidays are ski holidays in Les Gets. We love the beautiful scenery, fun and adrenaline and of course the amazing food and wine.
Learn more about how you can plan your own DIY family ski holiday in Les Gets, from booking accommodation to finding a great ski school.
👉 Download Your Free Planning a DIY Ski Holiday Checklist and Ski Holiday Packing List ⛷
Contents
- How to Book An Affordable Ski Trip with Kids and Still Have an Amazing Time
- Contents
- ⛰️ Why Les Gets is Perfect for Family Ski Holidays in the French Alps
- 💸 How to Save Money on Ski Holidays (Even in Peak Season)
- ✈️ Why We Book Our Ski Holidays DIY-Style
- 🏚️ Where to Stay in Les Gets: Best Budget & Self-Catering Options
- Tips to Find Cheap Flights to Les Gets via Geneva Airport
- 🚗 Car Hire or Transfers from Geneva to Les Gets
- ⛷️ Ski Hire, Lift Passes & Ski Schools in Les Gets
- 🧀 Restaurants and Food
- 🎉 Family Après Ski in Les Gets
- 💷 What a DIY Family Ski Holiday in Les Gets Costs
- 🧳 Ready to Plan Your Family Ski Trip?
- Useful Links & Resources
- Final Thoughts
- Related Posts
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⛰️ Why Les Gets is Perfect for Family Ski Holidays in the French Alps
Nestled in the Portes du Soleil ski area – one of the largest ski areas in Europe – Les Gets is one of the prettiest and most family-oriented ski resorts in France. It’s a picture-postcard Alpine village with charming chalets, restaurants, shops and an ice rink in the centre of town. The festive lights stay up all winter.
With access to 120 km of ski slopes, easy options for beginners, and fun après ski activities for kids and adults alike, it’s a brilliant choice for families with mixed abilities and ages.
💸 How to Save Money on Ski Holidays (Even in Peak Season)
Planning a family ski holiday in the French Alps doesn’t have to cost a fortune.
If you dream of snowy mountain views, kids whizzing down the slopes and cosy fondue dinners – but are gobsmacked at the price tag that you see in brochures – then a DIY ski holiday might be perfect for you.
We’ve been skiing in Les Gets for years as a family of five. It’s become our favourite winter escape. We love the stunning scenery, family friendly vibe and of course the great food and wine.
Skiing holidays can be very expensive. We’ve learned how to cut costs by booking everything ourselves – and in this blog we share how you can do the same.
Here are the most common tips you’ll hear to keep ski holidays affordable:
- Choose budget-friendly resorts like Andorra or Bulgaria.
- Go late in the season (March/early April).
- Drive instead of flying.
- Stay in self-catering accommodation.
But we don’t actually follow most of those…
We don’t do most of these things for the following reasons:
- For us, spending 12 hours in a car with our children would be torturous so we fly not drive.
- We are experienced skiers. Therefore, we prefer a resort with lots of ski slopes. We like to go to Les Gets because it is a beautiful resort with plenty of slopes.
- We are not happy to take the kids out of school for a whole week. This means we have to go at peak season.
Despite all of this, we still manage to keep costs down by booking our holiday DIY style.
✈️ Why We Book Our Ski Holidays DIY-Style
We prefer Les Gets because it ticks all our boxes: scenic, large, and packed with things to do. But we don’t skimp on comfort just to save money.
Here’s how we make it work as a family travelling during peak school holidays and flying instead of driving:
- We book accommodation and flights separately as soon as dates are released.
- We mix self-catering and eating out to save money without missing out.
- We book ski hire and lift passes online ahead of time.
This DIY approach lets us create a personalised, flexible trip – and still save £2,500–£3,500 compared to package ski holidays.
🏚️ Where to Stay in Les Gets: Best Budget & Self-Catering Options
Les Gets has a wide range of self-catering apartments, traditional chalets, and family hotels. We’ve stayed in both chalets and apartments.
⚠️ We recommend booking well in advance if you’re going during school holidays. There is hardly anything left if you wait until the last minute.
Some of our favourite places to find accommodation:
🌟 Tip: Look for properties near the Chavannes lift or with easy access to the free ski bus.
Tips to Find Cheap Flights to Les Gets via Geneva Airport
Geneva Airport is just 90 minutes from Les Gets, but flight prices shoot up during school holiday weekends. Here’s how we book cheap flights:
- Book as soon as EasyJet releases them (typically 11–12 months in advance).
- Fly back on a Monday instead of Sunday to save hundreds.
- Use Skyscanner to track fares and find flexible options.
- Add a cheap hotel night in Geneva to avoid overpriced peak weekend flights.
- We use Booking.com for hotel deals.
💡 Flying home Monday instead of Sunday once saved us nearly £1,000.
To find find the cheapest flights from your nearest airport, search on Skyscanner and monitor the price to see when they drop.
👉 SEARCH FLIGHTS ON SKYSCANNER
We ‘bookend’ our stay with a cheap hotel on Booking.com either in Geneva or in a town between Les Gets and Geneva.
By coming back a tiny bit later we save around a £1000 on flight costs. The children do miss a day off school but one day has never been a problem for us.
🚗 Car Hire or Transfers from Geneva to Les Gets
We’ve used car hire and mini-bus transfers depending on the group size:
- Rentalcars.com for small groups (cheaper than a taxi).
- Minibus transfers for extended family trips.
- Alpybus for reliable shared transfers.
⚠️ Watch out at Geneva Airport – it has a French and a Swiss side. Make sure you return your hire car to the correct section or you’ll be charged extra.
Driving around Geneva airport is quite tricky so I would recommend booking a transfer service if you are not a confident driver abroad.
There are two sections at Geneva Airport; the French and Swiss and this can be complicated when dropping off your hire car. Make sure you know which section you are returning your hire car to because it costs extra if you return it to the wrong side.
There isn’t any need for transportation while you’re in Les Gets because there is a free ski bus to get you around during the day and a low-cost night bus in the evenings.
⛷️ Ski Hire, Lift Passes & Ski Schools in Les Gets
🎿 Ski Hire
There are lots of ski hire stores that you can hire your ski equipment from. We prebook and hire our ski equipment on a website called Alpineresorts.com which finds you the cheapest deal.
Ski Passes
You can book lift passes online for:
Look out for family or group discounts and don’t forget to check if ski schools include discounted passes for kids.
🏫 Ski Schools in Les Gets
We’ve used two excellent ski schools in Les Gets:
- ESF Les Gets: Best value, larger group lessons, lift pass often included
- LGS Snow Sports School: Smaller groups, higher quality instruction, especially for intermediate skiers
There are a few ski school options available in Les Gets. We chose to go with ESF Les Gets for a few years. It was the lowest cost and the children had free or discounted lift passes with their lessons.
They skied with the instructor in the morning and practiced with us after lunch. The ski groups are large but offer great value for money.
Once our children were fairly competent, we swapped to the Les Gets snow sports school www.skischool.co.uk. Although LGS is more expensive, the groups are small and the instructors are fantastic. Our children benefited from the small group and their skiing vastly improved within a week. They are far better skiers than we are now so it was money well spent.
🧀 Food, Restaurants & Self-Catering Tips
Les Gets has a vast array of fantastic restaurants and cafes. You will find a great choice of French and International cuisine.
During peak weeks, make restaurant reservations early. Check out reviews on TripAdvisor or ask the local Tourist Office for recommendations.
If you’re self-catering, stock up on:
- Baguettes and pastries from local bakeries
- Cheese and charcuterie from delis
- Groceries at the village supermarket
If you wish to self-cater, you can buy food from the local supermarket, and a wonderful selection of bakeries, delicatessens and butchers.
🧺 There are places on the slopes for people to stop and eat their picnics so it is not a problem to take your own lunch with you.
We tend to mix it up and have breakfast in the chalet, a baguette on the picnic tables, near the ‘Indian run’, and eat out at our favourite restaurants a few times during our stay. We also make dinner ourselves to keep costs down.
🎉 Family Après Ski in Les Gets
After a long day on the slopes, it’s time for the Après Ski fun to begin. The Les Gets Tourist Information Office have a schedule and list of activities available in Les Gets.
Après ski in Les Gets isn’t just about drinks at the bar. It’s packed with kid-friendly activities, especially during school holidays:
- Torch-lit ski shows
- Fireworks and live entertainment
- Ice skating (open until 7pm)
- Sledging areas and soft play
- Alpine roller coaster
- Bar bowling and cinema
🌟 Tip: Don’t miss Alta Lumina, a magical light show in the forest.
For younger children, you will find a sledging area at the bottom of Chavannes and a mini snow soft-play area outside of the Tourist Office.
There is also the ice skating rink that is open until 7pm, an alpine roller coaster, a tenpin bowling bar, cinema, and bars.
🔗 Blog to Read: Top Things to Do in Les Gets for Family Après Ski Fun
💷 What a DIY Family Ski Holiday in Les Gets Costs
Below is a breakdown of costs to give you a rough idea of how much a DIY ski holiday in Les Gets costs. If you are happy to drive or go out of peak season, you can get those costs much lower.
Our family have been in January and during the Easter holidays when they landed in March. We saved loads and the snow was amazing. We could even afford accommodation right in the centre of town.
Here’s what we spent for a family of 5 during February half term (2024 prices):
| ✈️Flights: £750 (Sat- Mon) 🚗 Car hire: £350 🛌 Apartment (2 bed/ 2 bath): £1250 Sat-Sat 🏨 Hotel: £230 Sat- Mon ⛷️ Ski passes/ lessons: £1000 🎿 Ski hire: £372 💶 Total: £3952 = £790 per person |
That’s nearly £2,500 less than a travel agent package!
| Travel Agent | Cost (for 5 people) | What’s Included |
| We Ski | £6,445 | 1-bed apt, no ski hire |
| Crystal Ski | £6,330 | 2-bed apt, no ski passes |
🌟 DIY style saved us around £2378-£2503 or £475-£500 per person. It is definitely worth the extra leg work!
🧳 Ready to Plan Your Family Ski Trip?
We’ve pulled together all the links you need to book your DIY ski holiday in Les Gets – flights, accommodation, transfers, ski schools and more.
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Useful Links & Resources
Final Thoughts
A DIY ski holiday with kids in the French Alps might take a bit more planning – but it’s 100% worth it. You get flexibility, comfort, and serious savings without sacrificing any of the fun.
Let us know if you give it a try – we love hearing your family ski stories!
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👉 Download Your Free Planning a DIY Ski Holiday Checklist and Ski Holiday Packing List ⛷️
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