A family week and an adult week in the same chalet are not the same operation. The differences are practical rather than luxurious, and almost none of them appear in a bedroom count. Here is what actually decides whether the week works.
The bedroom count tells you very little
A chalet listed at six bedrooms sleeping fourteen is arranged for a family. One listed at six bedrooms sleeping twelve is arranged for six couples. The number is the same and the week is completely different.
What matters is how the sleeping is organised. A bunk room, a separate children’s floor or a studio annexe frees the bedrooms for adults, keeps the children together where they want to be, and removes the negotiation about who shares with whom. Two of the chalets we place have exactly that, and it is the first thing we check for a family enquiry.
- Bunk room or children’s floor — how many it takes, and whether it is on the same level as the adults.
- Genuine door access — walking in ski boots twice a day is the single biggest difference with young children.
- A ski room that works — heated, with boot dryers, and large enough that fourteen people are not queuing in it at half past eight.
- Somewhere for the afternoon — a cinema room, a games room or simply a second sitting room. The hours between skiing and dinner are longer than people expect.
- A pool or hammam — worth more with children than with adults, and used far more often.
Ski school, instructor, or both
Ski school suits children who want other children, and it fills a morning with structure that a private lesson rarely matches for that age. A private instructor earns its cost where levels differ sharply within the family, where the week is short, or where one teenager wants off-piste and nobody else does.
Most families we work with use both, on different days. What matters is booking in autumn rather than in December: the good instructors in Meribel and Courchevel commit as early as the chalets do, and the festive weeks go first.
Chalets with bunk rooms and genuine door access.
Nannies, and the shape of the day
The purpose of a nanny on a ski week is not to remove the children from the holiday. It is to make the adults’ day and the children’s day both full, rather than cutting both short at the same hour.
In practice that means someone who takes over at the end of the ski day rather than during it, who speaks the family’s language, and who knows the resort. Multilingual nannies and ski nannies are arranged by our concierge desk before arrival, alongside the lessons.
Meals, and the one thing to decide in advance
Three arrangements work perfectly well. An earlier table for the children, then dinner for the adults. A separate menu at the same sitting. Or everyone together, which younger children often prefer and which makes a shorter week easier.
What does not work is arriving without having decided. The chef needs to know, and the difference between the three is a full service in the kitchen. We settle it before you travel, along with allergies and dietary requirements, which are the other thing nobody should be discovering on the first evening. The detail is in how a chalet chef actually works.
Two families sharing
Multi-family weeks are common at this level and they work, provided two conversations happen before the booking rather than after. Who is paying for what, and how the sleeping is divided.
The second one is easier than people expect when there is a bunk room: the children go together, the adults take the bedrooms, and nobody is negotiating over the master. Without one, a fourteen-person chalet with six bedrooms becomes a difficult conversation.
Where to stay
Genuine ski-in / ski-out matters more with children than any other feature, for the simple reason that ski boots are not made for walking and children cannot carry their own equipment far. In Meribel that points to Mottaret, which is also the highest and most snow-sure sector. In Courchevel, to 1850 or to Village, which is quieter and considerably less expensive.
The term itself is used very loosely across the market, which is why we set out what ski-in / ski-out actually means and state the real distance on every listing.