Family-Friendly resorts

If you’re looking for the ideal mountain resorts for families, these are must-visits: Espot, Port Ainé, Vallter 2000, La Molina, Vall de Núria, Boí-Taüll and Masella. And that’s not just an opinion or a claim they all make;  rather it’s a fact as they are certified as family-friendly facilities by the Catalan Tourist Board. To earn this certification they need to meet a number of requirements such as having marked slopes with slow-speed zones for children, a children’s club and a ski school. Here are some of the very best activities you can do there.

La Molina makes it easy for kids to share your passion for snow. Its ski school has two areas designed for the youngest to get comfortable with the snow. For children aged four and over, there is the  Snow Park. It has a magic carpet at the foot of the Long Slope and arranges private lessons.  The Children’s Park is the other area for youngsters aged six months and up.  It’s supervised by instructors from the resort and has a play area, cots and loungers.

At La Molina there are two runs for sledging with children. And if you’d rather make the descent on a kind of inflatable doughnut, there are two tubbing slopes in the Bosquet family area. On the first one you go down a slide while in the Coll de Pal option you glide straight across the snow.

Looking for an activity to wow the family? Go on a Segway excursion. A guide will take you along various mountain trails so that you can explore the Pyrenean landscapes on this innovative means of transport.  And another activity not to be missed is the Escape Snow ‘Alerta Allau’. It’s an escape room in the snow where you have to put yourself in the shoes of a rescuer in an avalanche alert and make difficult decisions Will you pull it off?

The Setcases resort, the most Mediterranean snow of the Pyrenees, is the ideal destination for families. It has a play centre in its Mini Club L’Esquirol Fajol. Children can take part in workshops and educational games led by qualified staff. Meanwhile, you can ski non-stop down the slopes. It’s open at weekends and on public holidays from 9 am to 1 pm and is for children aged 3-8. To ensure that kids who come back again don’t get bored, they run themed weekends: pirates, animals, and so on. There’s no shortage of entertainment!

A more relaxing option for families is snowshoeing outings. The resort has put together four trails which you can explore on your own while there are also guided routes of varying levels of difficulty. 

The Vall de Núria resort is committed to being a family-friendly venue all year round. Its Playpark is the resort’s main children’s attraction. The facility is designed for you to have fun in the snow with your family. It features sledging slopes,  tubbing runs over various lengths, a high balance games course, a zip line and even a climbing wall for the youngsters.

Cau de la Marmota brings the educational touch to your family getaway at Vall de Núria. This is the resort’s children’s playground, a venue for kids aged 4 to 10 where they can do archery, storytelling and make-up workshops, build snowmen and other activities.

To get to the resort you’ll need to hop on board Núria’s rack railway. It covers a distance of 12.5 kilometres and climbs over 1,000 metres to provide you with unique panoramic views of the valley.  Now you can also make this journey in the new MGB passenger carriages, which are Swiss vintage vehicles dating from 1963.