Smuggler's Notch, Jefferonville, Vermont - our favorite, and SKI Magazine's as well, for family programs. Smugg's, as it is fondly known, is a fabulous place for your children to try out skiing for the first time or fine tune their abilities. With full day or half day camps as well as private and group lessons, you can put your children in the hands of wonderfully skilled and fun teachers while you go and enjoy the mountain yourself. All my children first learned to ski and snowboard at Smugg's, they loved their instructors and were quickly skiing off of the lifts on the mountain.
While the accommodations are less luxurious than some of the other eastern resorts, it is more than made up for by fun family experiences like the family fun zone, or tubing on Sir Henry's Hill. Also for a wonderful dining experience, take the family to the Hearth and Candle, which matches or exceeds many or the restaurants at competing resorts.
Jackson Gore (Okemo), Ludlow, Vermont - only 3 hours away from New York, Jackson Gore offers challenging skiing and snowboarding with trails that allow you to cross back and forth between their two mountains. Our children loved the challenge of their Superpipe, and if you have an adrenal junkie in the family like me, they will love zooming up a ramp into the AMP Big Energy Air Bag. But you don't have to be an advanced skier to love Jackson Gore. There are many easy and intermediate trails for the less adventurous to try. And depending upon your mood you can pick and choose your trails on either Okemo or Jackson Gore and use the connecting trails to get there.
We have stayed both inside the Jackson Gore Inn and in the condos at Adams and Bixby house. The condos are a wonderful alternative if you want a little more space and privacy while still offering ski-in, ski-out access. You can opt to cook yourself or relax with fine dining in the Coleman Tavern. You can park your care in the heated underground garage, and turn your skis into the valet/ski check for the next day.
And if your kids get bored with skiing, there are plenty of opportunities for fun, whether swimming in the outdoor heated pool under snowflakes, riding the mountain coaster, or making s'mores by the fire in the hotel lobby.
Jay Peak, Jay, Vermont - located just miles from the Canadian border in Jay, Vermont, Jay Peak Resort has skiing that attracts skier from both the United States and Canada. We spent a week during the winter break and were impressed with the amount of investment that has been made in the resort. They've redone their hotels, and are building additional condos on premise, and have built an amazing 40,000 sq. ft. indoor water park inside of the Hotel Jay that had facilities to please kids and adults alike, including a double barrel flow rider where you can try out surfing and boogie boarding under the helpful and watchful eyes of the staff. They also have an amazing ice house for indoor skating.
The 2 bedroom condo was a little small for our family of five, and no matter how hard we tried we couldn't find out the actual square footage or layouts of any of the hotel suites or condos, either by calling the hotel or looking online. But the condo was very well made and appointed and we received a call early to find out if we wanted a Christmas tree in the unit which was an excellent touch. The staff everywhere was excellent, helpful and extremely nice. When we went to have my daughter's bindings mounted on her new snowboard the repair shop had it completed in 10 minutes free of charge.
Lessons are available for all levels, and are included free of charge with equipment rentals. And prices for lodging and lift tickets (and waterpark tickets) are more reasonable then some of their competition. Trails were geared more towards intermediate and advanced, with a smaller amount available for true beginners.
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