Hurry up for a late-night rush: with its altitude and slopes for all levels, Tignes is ideal for an end-of-season family ski holiday

High, late and at the end of the season there are always great deals for skiers. And where better than in Tignes?

It’s always fun, not least because this former Olympic site is located under a glacier (on the other side of the Val d’Isere hill).

We were there with the three of us not quite beginners, then 12, 11 and 8 years old. After all these years of someone whining about something (usually a sore ski boot), we actually got to the point where we could ski the whole mountain without complaining. Even our youngest was a happy Tignes-Ager.

It helps that the massive ski area known as Espace Killy has slopes for all ages and abilities. It also helped that we traveled with Club Mark Warner, champions of family holidays. We stayed in Val Claret, the highest part of Tignes, at the Chalet Hotel L’Ecrin, which has all the amenities of a top hotel – including a spa and indoor pool, every kid’s idea of ​​the perfect après ski.

However, Club Mark Warner opts for a chalet atmosphere that caters to the British family market, with plenty of kids’ club activities, board games, big screen action, family quiz nights and a vigorous tea time at the end of each afternoon. It is run by an English speaking team of cheerful staff with many experienced regulars.

One of the additional advantages of its formula is that its charter flights depart on Sundays via the small terminal in Grenoble. This saves you traffic jams on Saturdays at the big airports, traffic jams on the “change day” on the mountain and queues at ski rental. The half-board package includes a full English breakfast and a similar full 3-course dinner.

Our only mistake was not booking the ski school lessons for our children in advance. This meant taking a few afternoons of private tuition, and at £70 per child per afternoon it wasn’t cheap. However, the results were so dramatic that it was probably worth it in the end.

Even during a busy holiday season, lift trips in Val Claret were minimal. We started on the green/blue slopes below the dramatic rock of Aiguille Percee (Eye of the Needle). Here were endless wide manageable descents leading to the lower reaches of Tignes.

Although busier in the other direction towards Val-d’Isère, the six-person Bollin chairlift sucks up the queues in no time. For the best mountain viewing at not-ridiculous prices, it’s hard to beat the terrace at Le Trifollet, a well-run family business on the slope leading to La Daille (try the Beaufort tarte).

Robert and his family enjoy their time in Tignes

From the mountain, lunch prices are of course cheaper.

We even experienced a small miracle midweek after my wife dropped her phone off the Madeleine chairlift one morning high above Val-d’Isere.

We assumed it was gone forever until I accidentally called it later. A pleasant ski guide responded who got it on his lap in the snow, knew the Mark Warner Club and arranged to meet me later in town.

“It’s your life and memories,” he said, refusing any kind of reward. The likelihood of this happening on a London bus, for example, would be much greater.