As all parents know life becomes ten times more complicated when you have children. Things you took for granted before like trips to the beach and lunch in cafés suddenly become major operations requiring military-style planning.
This extends to booking holidays, and the biggest challenge is often finding a holiday spot which caters for all the family’s needs - where parents can get a bit of well-earned rest and relaxation and the little ones can have some fun and excitement.
After surviving another Middle East summer many people put a skiing holiday at the top of their wishlist for the winter. The thought of snow and mountains is idyllic after months of heat and sand. But for parents who are used to returning from family holidays more tired than when they set off, skiing may not seem the obvious choice for a relaxing trip with the kids.
A hotel in the beautiful village of Zermatt in the Swiss Alps is working hard to change that preconception and take all the stress out of family holidays. The four-star Hotel Nicoletta has top-class child-care facilities which will guarantee a good time for youngster while giving mums and dads some much needed ‘me time’.
The hotel, part of the Seiler Hotels group, runs a kids club every weekday during the winter season where children aged 2 to 8 can play to their hearts content and make new friends. The Nico Kids Club is free for all Seiler Hotels guests and is run by a professional Kindergarten teacher. Based in a colourful playroom full of toys, books and games, it offers a huge range of fun activities from face painting and dressing up to handicrafts and baking biscuits with the hotel’s pastry chef.
For children more used to sand than snow the outdoor activities such as sledging and building snowmen will be a major highlight. The club also organises horse-drawn sleigh rides through Zermatt where youngsters get chance to pat and feed the horses. Children can stay either for a half day or full day at the Nico Kids Club and for a small supplement the hotel even lays on a supervised lunch for the children in the restaurant.
Knowing that their children are being so well looked after and having such a great time, parents can confidently slip out on their own for a few hours to explore Zermatt. The village nestles at the foot of the imposing Matterhorn mountain and has a cosy Alpine atmosphere with narrow streets, boutique shops and chocolate-box architecture. It’s a car free town so it’s very peaceful, especially when covered with a blanket of snow.
Of course Zermatt’s major draw in the winter is its extensive skiing area. It has 394 km km of marked pistes, including the neighbouring Italian resort of Cervinia, with colour-coded slopes ranging from beginners to advanced. Youngsters who have never skied before will soon get their ski-legs under the expert guidance of instructors from the Swiss Ski and Snowboard School.
The school runs lessons for children of all abilities and for the very little ones there is the Snowli Kids Village on the Riffelberg. Its baby lifts and ski merry-go-rounds quickly helps build children’s confidence on skis. As an added bonus for parents ski passes are free for youngsters aged up to 9 in Zermatt.
Zermatt has a whole range of other activities for families looking for winter fun. Those with a good sense of balance can try their hand at ice skating at one of Zermatt’s two ice rinks. The beautiful Ice Grotto on the Klein Matterhorn is also well worth a visit. The ceilings of this naturally-formed ice cave are studded with stalactites and the natural light coming through the walls creates magical colours. Children will be particularly impressed by the manmade ice sculptures ranging from Father Christmas to penguins and racing cars. Sledging is also an exciting activity for all the family and the long sledge run from Rotenboden down to Riffelberg is great fun.
After days spent frolicking in the snow and ice it is nice to return to the cosy warmth of the Hotel Nicoletta with its great views of the Matterhorn. Guests can use the swimming and spa facilities at the Nicoletta’s sister hotel, the Mont Cervin Palace, which is connected by underground passage to the Nicoletta. The hotel has both indoor and outdoor heated pools and it is a strange but exhilarating experience swimming outside in the frosty air. There is also a kids pool for youngsters to splash about in.
The beautiful ‘Daniela Steiner Beauty Spa’ offers relaxing massage and beauty therapies and gives mums and dads the chance for some well-deserved pampering while the children are busy playing at the Nico Kids Club.
There is even the opportunity for parents to slip away on the occasional evening for a romantic meal for two. The Nicoletta offers supervised dinner for children on request and also organises babysitting. There is a whole range of dining options in Zermatt from traditional cabin restaurants serving Swiss specialities such as fondue and raclette to international cuisines including Japanese, Italian and French.
A holiday at the Hotel Nicoletta provides the best of both worlds for families. Children can have lots of fun, excitement and new experiences that they will remember for years to come. At the same time adults can relax and enjoy themselves, returning home serene and rested rather than in need of another break to recover.
Fact File:
• The Nico Kids Club at the Hotel Nicoletta runs during the winter season (mid-December to mid-April) from 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday. During peak periods (Christmas, New Year, February and Easter) it also runs in the evenings.
In holiday periods there is an evening programme for older children aged up to 14. Activities include cinema evenings, trips to the ice rink, crafts and story telling. A play area has games and a Sony Playstation.
• For more information about Seiler Hotels and booking details visit www.seilerhotels.ch. The Hotel Nicoletta can be contacted direct by email at [email protected] or by telephone on +41 (0) 27 966 07 77.
• For more information on the Swiss Ski and Snowboard School go to www.skischulezermatt.ch
Travel file:
• Zermatt is located in the southern Swiss Alps close to the Italian border, three hours from Geneva and four hours from Zurich by train.
• Swiss International Airlines (www.swiss.com) operates 27 weekly flights from the Middle East to Zurich – including daily services from Dubai and others from Cairo, Muscat, Jeddah and Riyadh - with 14 daily connecting flights to Geneva.
• For train and car hire information visit www.myswitzerland.com
