Serfaus is considered one of the best European ski resorts for active recreation with children.

Advantages of Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis

Fiss-Ladis slopes

In general, the resort has several features that make it a favorite for families with children. Many come here every year and do not look for alternatives:

There is a kindergarten here. Not a ski one, but a regular one. They take children from 3 months old (all day, half day, with or without lunch). The cost of the garden per day is 61 euros without lunch. Expensive. But the option itself is priceless and does not exist everywhere. Anyone who travels with kids knows the price of a few hours of peace and meditation
A good selection of slopes for any level of skiing (from numerous training areas to black slopes), slopes for moguls and freeride
A lot of hotels with swimming pools
There are amusement parks and attractions for children, options for what to do in bad weather, stroller rental
A good snowboard school for children and adults with its own separate area
Cross-country skiing, ski tourism, hiking in the mountains
Flexible and diverse options for training in ski schools both in groups and individually. Division not only by skiing levels, but also by disciplines and lifestyles (slalom, giant slalom, family instructor, sledding with snacks, sledding on the first snow, games for children in the snow, etc.)
Strong instructors
The resort is located quite high in the mountains, so the probability of finding good snow is quite high
Excellent Ski Depot at the lifts (no need for a ski room at the hotel)

Disadvantages of Serfaus

The resort also has disadvantages:

The lifts are tired. One kept breaking down and stopping. Many chairlifts that go high up the mountains without full heating
The lift system was obviously designed a long time ago and was not designed for a demographic explosion. It is a problem to get to the mountain in the morning, there are big traffic jams at the bottom. We must give it our due, there are already options higher up, you can look for trails to your taste, on the mountain itself there is a more extensive network.
Everything is very German. You are more likely to find an instructor who speaks Dutch than English. They speak English, of course, but often at a very basic level. It is not a problem for an adult to understand, but it can be more difficult for children. But there are many Slovaks in the service sector, in our hotel through one, which greatly facilitated communication.
Free ski pass only up to 5 years old

And now about everything in more detail.

About the resort

Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis are three villages connected by one system of lifts.

Serfaus is the most densely populated, there are more restaurants, shops, and there is also a very cool indoor playground for children and a public swimming pool.

In Serfaus, there are more playgrounds for training the youngest, for snow games without skis, the Donald fun track, Animal Park,

Murmi Krehehe – a kindergarten from 0 to 5, better equipped than in Fiss-Ladis, but also a little more expensive.

Inside Serfaus, traffic is prohibited (you can only drive up to the hotel); but there is a free hovercraft metro and a new one is being built. It seems that this was not done at all for environmental reasons. The streets of Serfaus are very narrow, without sidewalks. Cars are constantly rushing by (now to clear snow, now to bring in new tourists, now to take a bus), there are no parking lots, so it is physically impossible to let in a large flow of cars.

Fiss is more comfortable, all the basic children’s infrastructure is common to Fiss-Ladis. Only it takes a little longer to get from Ladis and there are fewer lifts there.

Bertas Kinderland is a huge playground for teaching children, there is also a children’s restaurant and an area for awarding children after the races. Fiss-Ladis also has fun trails and snow parks, perhaps a little less than in Serfaus.

Berthas Kinderland, Fiss-Ladis

Both Fiss and Ladis have kindergartens for children from 3 months old, called Berthas Kindergarden.

In general, there is no global difference where to stay. The only thing is that if you are traveling with kids, Ladis would be considered last. There is only one lift there and morning departure during rush hour can be a problem. And yet, the most important thing is to choose accommodation for convenience with all the necessary attributes.

One nuance – traditionally, the changeover takes place on Saturdays, which means decent traffic jams. And it also means that there are significantly fewer people on the slopes on Saturdays (especially considering the important fact that in Fiss, for example, group lessons at the ski school are not held on Saturdays).

Fiss

Accommodation

For a trip with children, the ideal option is, of course, a hotel on a hill with half board, a swimming pool and a spa. Half board is because it’s too lazy to cook after a wheelchair, and it’s too lazy to change a tired baby and drag yourself around looking for food. And they all love the pool.

We stayed at the Fisserhof **** hotel; In general, when we started looking for a resort and accommodation, there was no particular choice, we were just lucky that there were places here.

The rooms are a little tired, but spacious and comfortable, convenient layout.

The food is great, the cuisine is excellent, but the service is without pomp.

The hotel has a good spacious pool (indoor and outdoor, with warm water), a gym, a children’s room (without a nanny), a spa for adults. As for the spa, each hotel has its own rules. In ours, children under 15 were not allowed in. Some other children can be taken until a certain time or only in the family area (if there is one). The spa is also good because you can drink tea there for free. It is very annoying when you have paid a lot of money for a hotel, and there is no kettle in the room and they try to sell you boiling water more expensively.

Saunas, as is customary in Austria and Italy, are mixed and often even in the family part you can come across nudists.

Schools and instructors

There is a ski school in every village, the office is right by the ski lift. You can sign up at any time, even in the morning before classes start. I must say that the schedule and specifics of the school’s work are slightly different from village to village. Serfaus is bigger, it has its own characteristics.

At first I didn’t like that everything is centralized. Usually at each resort there are several ski schools to choose from, but here it seems like there is no competition.

The disadvantage of this state of affairs is that in the morning there is a huge accumulation of bodies at one point and everyone needs to orient themselves and determine the right hands for the cheburashka.

At the school, children aged 3-12 are divided into 9 levels plus 3-year-old Bambini. At the end of the week, the coach gives out a booklet that lists what the child has learned and what level they can go to next year. This is convenient for those who come here from year to year.

It is advisable to clearly know what your children can and cannot do before they go to school. Of course, if the child is in the wrong group, the instructors will see during the lessons and redirect them to the right address.

Serfaus lifts

In addition to the division into levels, there are German-speaking groups (the majority of them) and a few conditional English-speaking groups. Most often, the coach translates simultaneously for those who do not understand German. If you remember.

The advantage of centralized distribution is that the school attracts as many instructors as necessary for the declared number of children

And there are many other different offers for children and adults.

It is convenient that children can be sent for half a day, for the whole day, with lunch in a group or without lunch (you need to pick them up at this time and feed them yourself). The start of the lessons varies to relieve traffic a little.

The level of training is very high.

And yet, despite such excellent schools, the level of skiing of adult skiers is not very high; there are enough beginners, as well as quasi-advanced scrapers (I have a rhythm, and you all disperse and put away your skis). Many parents who try to teach their little ones on their own and drag them up steep hills, and then wait for half an hour for the poor ones who, in a desperate slog, are trying to crawl to mom and dad.

Trails

Traditionally, Austrian trails are steeper than Italian ones, and Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis is no exception. It seems that this is due to the terrain – there are simply fewer gentle sections on both the blue and red trails. But still, it is not as permanently steep here as in Saalbach-Hinterglemm. I remember that in Saalbach with playgrounds it was generally stressful, but here there is more variety.

We skied mainly in the eastern part of the resort, Fiss-Ladis. On the southern side (which goes down directly to the village of Fiss), the mountain slope has the shape of a basket with almost no trees in the middle, with wide trails. Even in bad weather, skiing here is more comfortable.

With the kids we enjoyed climbing the Schönjochbahn I or Moseraltbahn and skiing to the very bottom or moving to the Rastbahn chairlift and skiing down the wide blue-red slopes. There is also a self-service restaurant Moseralm, where you can eat quite normally and feed the kids standard Austrian food.

Trails in the Moseralm area

The last section of the descent from the top along the Zatterbahn (68) is very interesting for the technique, without hills, ice, concave shape and with a constant angle of inclination.

At the very peaks, the slope of the slopes is generally higher, and ice and hills are more common. However, there are narrow bypasses almost everywhere, and it is safer to go down them in fog and snowfall.

In good, windless weather, you can climb to the very top and choose the slopes to your taste. On the north side, it is good to ski in the first half of the day, but not in the morning (it is cold) – you can go there from Schönjochbahn II along route 21, for example, and ski in that area. Both restaurants, marked below on routes 21 and 23, are very good. Route 23 is a little steeper, though, and there can be too much ice there.

Trails on the north side of Fiss

It is better to get out of there with children on the 7th track; although it is very long, it is adequate; through Zwoiferkorp – only in good weather.

There are often clouds or fog on this hill, and the descents are steep and with zero visibility it is unpleasant to ride, losing sight of each other.

There is a mirror cube on Zwoelferkopf, where you can eat for a lot of money with a beautiful view (if there is one). It seems to accommodate about 8 people.

Crystal Cube

There is an observation deck nearby, but when we were there, the view was completely gone. From there, a black run with a gradient of 70% and a freeride run with the catchy name Kamikaze descend.

Serfaus

What’s great about Serfaus is that there are options for the whole family to spend time here. We didn’t try everything, there wasn’t enough time, so I’ll just list:

Play in Serfaus indoor playground. Large area, climbing walls, mazes, games, ropes, climbing frames – the children were delighted. One minus – children under 8 years old cannot be left unattended, an adult must accompany them.
good sports shopping, which tired the children more than skiing
tobogganing (sledding) – there is both in Fiesch and in Serfaus
extremely nauseating Skyswing attraction at the top of the Möseralm lift (for people from 140 cm)
flight on a “hang glider” attached to a cable from Möseralm to the top of the mountain. To fly you need to be 130 cm tall
toboggan on rails in Serfaus
Serfauser Soizer – zipline (from 10 years old)
skating, segway
tandem paragliding
shows for children and adults, evening carts, morning carts, snowmobile trips, dinner in various hard-to-reach places and much more.

Play In game room in Serfaus

In general and Overall, we were pleasantly disappointed. We arrived with great anticipation, but in fact we want to come back here.

Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis

P.S. It must be said that all the villages are located at an altitude of 1400+ m, the height of the mountains is up to 2600. In general, oxygen starvation is periodically felt and children may sometimes not feel completely comfortable. In addition, at such an altitude you need to monitor your nose and be sure to use vasoconstrictor sprays if you have a runny nose.