Hi,
Try Champoluc, in the Aosta Valley, which is located in the Monterosa ski area and was described by the Daily Mail Ski Magazine (Feb. 2006 ) as “Europe's best kept secret - an undiscovered gem”.
"Champoluc is a charming, traditional alpine resort situated in North West Italy in the Aosta Valley. It is 2.5 hours from Bergamo airport. For a relatively small resort is has a remarkable range of quality accommodation and access to over 200 km of extremely scenic and well maintained pistes.
Although barely heard of internationally, Champoluc is very popular with Italian weekenders who drive from Milan and Turin to use the three lift-linked resorts of Champoluc, Gressoney and Alagna. It is perhaps best suited to intermediate skiers. The acclaimed Monterosa ski area rises from the resort to a height of 3,500 m.
The attractions of Champoluc are the lack of queues, its traditional charm and miles and miles of uncrowded pistes. The Reuter's 'Where to Ski and Snowboard Guide' calls it Europe's "best kept secret"
The resort and its nearby resort of San Cassian is offered by the small & friendly family specialist operator Ski-2 http://www.ski-2.com/ (www.ski-2.com/). They offer family friendly accomodation and ski schools for children and families with native English ski instructors(exclusive to their guests) Their prices are quite reasonable and you can fly independently to the resort . They will meet you off your and take you to Champoluc or to San Cassiano, whichever suits your requirements best In Champoluc they have a young childrens nursery, childcare etc. They use family friendly hotels with a variety of budgets. They often have good offers on them (see their web page).
They are considered very focused and professional and get high recommendations from families. I have not skied with them (yet) but know of those who have and were very impressed. They will take a lot of the hassle out of the holiday for you while you still take advantage of the cheap flights. Check them out.
All the best
Marykate
see reviews below
"Roger Robinson (UK, 5 Nov, 2004): A great resort - highly recommended. We travelled with a tour operator called Ski 2 who arrange everything for you at good prices. We booked our own cheap flights but Ski 2 provide transfers to their guests so no hassle with car hire. Took our 2 kids and used the nursery. The ski instruction was excellent and all children commented on how friendly the lessons were.
Find Ski 2 on Google - we had a really graet trip and will be back soon "
F Kerry (London, UK, 3 Mar, 2004): We went to 3 days ski-ing to Champlouc after getting bargain tickets with Ryan Air to Milan Bergamo, we hire a car through Value cars (excellent rate) and it only took 2.5 hours to get there. We stayed in Le Petit Tournalin which was wonderful value with excellent food and service. The rooms were spacious and clean. Ski school and ski hire shop by the lifts were extremly helpful. Restaurants on the slopes were great (apart from some of the loos) and above all the pistes were fairly empty.
The local people speak Italian and French. Don't expect them to speak English. Skiiers are mostly from Italy, but there are also some from the UK and Scandinavia.
The only downside is that there is only one blue run which can only be reached via a red, but the red runs are very kind on the whole. Looking forward to going back!!
Conal (Ireland/France, 21 Feb, 2004): we tried champoluc for the first time this year-and have re-booked for another week! The lifts and infrastructure are just great- no(or nearly no) waiting to get up the hill-moving carpets to ease the jolt of the chair lifts-NO DRAG lifts! the food on the slopes is good home made "Stick to your ribs" sort of stuff -we ate for about E.15( for two )each mid-day.
Hotel le petit tournalin was nice - great value and spotlessly clean-warm-friendly-to be recomended. We have had ski holidays on the other side of the mountain(Zermatt)- and can honestly say, that apart from the mountain restaurants on the Zermatt slopes, champoluc is as good at about one third of the price! I would much rather ski Champoluc for three weeks than Zermat for a week! Since we are on our way back again this year we have voted with our skis.