european kiddie holidays, when are they this year?

[ulty_guy]

france?
italy?
switzerland?
austria?
germany?

thinking about booking something in feb, but i know that the holiday periods must be avoided at all costs.

[subtle plague]

not much winter holidays in germany.
especially sad since i'll be a teacher someday. (sooner or later... )
some days around early feb. but be careful of the carnival time. 5.-12. feb

easter starts at mid march until 2.4.05 (ha i write day, month, year and will never yield to the anglo saxon way !)

[Lostinthetrees]

france?
italy?
switzerland?
austria?
germany?

thinking about booking something in feb, but i know that the holiday periods must be avoided at all costs.

Feb is to be avoided at all costs. Highest lodging prices (as high as Christmas week) and tons of kids/families on "classe de neige".

CH - depends on the canton, but each gets a week off in Feb for "classe de neige". International schools also take a week, too.
Canton de Geneve's is 12th - 19th. My kids' International school is taking 19th - 26th.

France - birth-right of every French school kid is to get a least 1 week of skiing. (also, a way to support and build the French ski "industry") The Feb weeks are staggered for different areas of the country and large cities. That way you don't have the entire nation fighting in the lift lines for the next chair.

Holland - Unsure if every school takes the same week or they stagger them. But, last year I saw lots of Dutch families at PDS the 3rd week of Feb.

England - what do they do? Do they even get a "classe de neige" or ski holiday?

My sugggestions:
- book in March up until Easter weekend. You should have the entire FR & CH Alpes to yourself.

- if you have to book in Feb, avoid places like Verbier, Crans-Montana, and the French side of PDS. Skip La Clusaz at all costs. Megeve may be a better bet. It probably is too expensive for the French school systems.

Stay out of the big "industrial ski areas" in France. For instance; avoid Avoriaz-PDS during Feb. The CH side of PDS was not too bad last season.

What we did:
My first season in CH last year. I hit the "second-tier" stations in CH, got up first chairs and rarely had to wait before 11AM.

Also, I spent a week in the valley below Avoriaz-PDS. The Avoriaz-Super Chatel PDS areas got jammed by 11AM. We had better luck and snow at Morzine-PDS and Les Gets-PDS. Since we were below the Avoriaz "factory de ski" we were able to choose depending on weather conditions and time of day.

Another tip: In addition to getting the first chair in the AM...Every FR school kid in these classes takes a 1.5 hour lunch break from just before 12 until 1:30. Eat early lunch and you will have the slopes to yourself until 1:30.

litt

[Hicks]

Germany: March 19 - April 2 05