Top Ten Ski Resorts for Families

Bretton Woods
How can you go wrong staying at the elegant Hotel Mount Washington for a winter getaway. Skiing at Bretton Woods, NH’s largest ski area, is a treat for the skis and the eyes, featuring well-groomed snow, a good variety of glades, and dramatic views of the highest peak on the Eastern Seaboard, Mount Washington at 6,288’. There isn’t anything particularly precipitous, but there is plenty of terrain served by swift lifts.

Bretton Woods’ Family Center continues to improve upon their reliable Babes in the Woods daycare and Hobbit ski programs. If you like to skinny ski, The Nordic Center and trails are just awesome. Days are filled with outdoor adventure, followed up with supervised kids’ parties into the evening, Mom and Dad might actually find time for the Presidential Spa, adult après ski, dinner and dancing in the Mount Washington Hotel's 100-year old speakeasy, The Cave.

Sunday River
It doesn’t get much more convenient than staying at the Grand Summit Hotel at Sunday River. Walk to restaurants and the outdoor heated pool, ski down to the lifts for first chair, and slide over to the Tubing Hill and White Cap Fun Center for evening entertainment. There is even a free Mountain Explorer shuttle to take you into Ski magazine’s top ski town of Bethel. Sunday River also has an abundance of slopeside condos, and private home rentals. Sunday River’s Perfect Turns program will have your munchkins making pizza wedges and French fries in no time. While Sunday River Resort doesn’t ooze New England charm, it does pump out talcum powder snow in tremendous quantity, and sports an impressive lift and trail network, making The River a reliable resort from December into April. Since adding the swift Chondola lift, Sunday River is openfor twilight skiing on weekends and mountaintop dining on Saturdays.

Okemo
Maybe it takes a husband and wife team to understand what families need on a ski trip. Diane and Tim Mueller have created the culminating family ski resort in Vermont. Okemo has mega-mountainside lodging including the expansive Jackson Gore Inn, a friendly staff, superb on-mountain cuisine and all the lesson programs your family should require. Okemo’s mountain scene will captivate you with lovely pastoral views of the Vermont river valley, and the exceptional snowmaking and grooming will keep you coming back, like the SUV-loads of families who have already discovered their so-coined “Okemo-difference.”

Smugglers’ Notch
If you are looking for the ski program du jour, Smugglers’ Notch Resort is the leader in the family programming. Whether its learning to turn with your child in their unique ‘Mom & Me’ lesson, or teaching your ‘Little Rascal,’ to start skiing at age two, Smuggs’ has thought up the most innovative instruction in snow country. This northern Vermont resort continues to re-invent the family ski experience, and hoard the family awards because of it.

Condominiums flank the slopes of the beginner terrain on Morse Mountain. Resort guests find tons to do in the Village after the lifts close from the Fun Zone to snow tubing. Smugglers’ is also home to treasures of tricky terrain on Madonna Mountain for expert parents who want to drop in after they drop off their kids at ski camp or day care. Just be prepared for long chairlift ride chats on the dawdling double chairs.

Stowe
Stowe is best saved as a destination once your kids get bigger, and everyone can do justice to this vertical venue. The legendary Front Four on Mansfield will humble even the most boastful of teens. Your kids can night-ski while you dine at the European-style Cliff House via gondola. Non-skiers in the family can exercise the credit cards at boutiques up and down the Mountain Road in Stowe. Stowe Mountain Resort is on the move with a new interconnecting gondola whisking Mansfield skiers across the Notch to the new Spruce Village and luxury hotel - The Stowe Mountain Lodge.

Sugarloaf
Sugarloaf is one big mountain, with one strong allegiance. Families appreciate loyalty and the folks at the Loaf are as legion as they come. The warm welcome you receive here separates this Maine mountain oasis from the others both spiritually and geographically. The terrain here is hearty, and so is the social life so far north – drawing skiers to its snowy pulpit. Sugarloaf throws weekly themed parties for families in the rustic but real base village, and a cast of woodsy characters like Amos the Moose, Blueberry Bear, and Pierre the Logger, are on hand to keep your kids smiling, making up for the long “are we there yet?” drive.

Killington/Pico
Despite Killington’s reputation as a sprawling beast of a resort, the recent improvement of Ram’s Head and Snowshed Family Adventure Center make the Big-K more amiable for families.

Obviously with six mountains of terrain, Killington has something for everyone in your pack. Bear Mountain is devoted to freeskiers and riders with all the parks and pipes your gen-y’er could whine for.

With a vast array of intersecting trails and separate base areas, Killington can be confusing for those not in the know. A side trip to sister resort Pico is ideal for families looking for one single panoramic peak with un-crowded trails funneling to a friendly base. Pico has a Vermont-syrupy flavor - the antithesis of big-brother Killington.

Suicide Six
The name sounds daunting for a family ski trip, but if you want to educate your kids on skiing from decades back, this original ski slope is just the classroom. The base lodge is a veritable ski museum, and lunch is like Grandma used to make. Combine your pleasant day of cruising Suicide’s dozen runs with a stay at the parent company's luxurious Woodstock Inn. Your ski trip becomes a complete history lesson as you walk in the Rockefeller family’s footsteps around this classic Vermont town.

Attitash
New Hampshire's second largest ski resort, Attitash/Bear Peak has two big interconnected mountains for skiing and riding, with everything from long winding trails like Tightrope to exciting glades, and a monster pipe. The whole family will enjoy Attitash for its diversity and its proximity to North Conway's shops, dining and amusements.

The views of the Presidential Range from both peaks are spectacular, the snowmaking is impressive too. This full service ski resort has an huge Learning Center, plus an on mountain Attitash Grand Summit Resort Hotel with an outdoor heated pool.

Jiminy Peak
For folks from the south (southern New England that is), you can’t beat Jiminy Peak for proximity. With a beautiful Village Center, all-suite Inn lodging, and well-groomed terrain served by a six-pack chair, Jiminy Peak Resort in Massachusetts is a top spot for young families from south of the Vermont border.