UKC

Looking for ideas for family holiday alpine locations with our two girls 14 & 11. Ideally including single & short-ish multi-pitch bolted routes, alpine meadow / pasture type walking, hut-hut overnight walking, non-glaciated summits, via ferrata, exploring on mtbs, decent campsite with swimming pool, and ideally minimal need to drive once we get there. other options like summer luges & rafting etc also a bonus. Planning to drive out with a big family tent plus bikes and climbing gear.

Previously we've done Zell am Ziller (drive & camp), the stubai hohenweg (fly, hire, camp), dolomites (fly hire camp) and Chatel (drive & ski chalet). Ideas we've got so far are back to zillertal but maybe going further up the valley (but no camp sites up there), or Morzine area, or Briancon maybe?

What suggestions do you have, UKC?... venues, campsites etc etc

Ecrins, camping here. Area and campsite ticks every box you want. Job done.

https://www.campeole.com/camping/hautes-alpes/le-courounba-les-vigneaux

Écrins/ Brainçon is a good shout, lots of camping options.

for activities, it has the best white water in France, so a great place for rafting, there are 26 via ferrata and 1 via corda, (I have made a free app guidebook for via ferrata, search  googleplay or app store for via ferrata Ecrins and Braincon it has all the details, map and a like to google map to get you to the parking etc.).

Rock climbing there is loads to go at ( I moved here for the climbing) over 80 crags, 6 different rock types, all grades, plus lots of multi pitch routes that are great with kids.

For walking non-glaciated, there is lots round Brainçon and the Cerces, and a short drive takes you to the Queyras park, which is amazing for walking all have huts for over night walks. I am making an online walking guide but it wont be ready till the summer.

lots of mountain biking as well, some lift feed stuff and lots of peddle power stuff, and Puy st vincent has a summer luges, and I think some of the other resorts have them as well.

For the driving it is passable to base your self in one part of this region and get lots done, but if you are willing to drive up to an hour it open up 3 mountain ranges with loads to do.

I live here and work as an climbing instructor, International mountain leader and kayak guide also writing online guidebooks, I am happy to help if you would like more info or advice.

Cheers Rob

If you liked Zillertal, you might also like Maltatal in Carinthia, Austria. Bouldering, Cragging, short, slabby and easy multipitch (as well as more difficult stuff), VF, waterfalls, several unglaciated 3000m peaks, some white water, the carinthian lakes not to far away. There's a fresh guidebook for all of this: https://maltatal.rocks/klettergebiete-maltatal/ (google translate).

We've been there with our younger child and found the offerings very enjoyable. 

You’ve just described my next holiday 😁

Molveno in the Dolomites ticks a lot of boxes

Lech Valley, Austria, ticks a lot of those - I took a group of Venture Scouts there a few years ago, although we stayed in a chalet.

Also, around Cortina, Dolomites, would be a good for much of it, although both might be a bit more driving than you might like once you get there.

Slightly left field as it's not strictly Alpine, but you might want to consider the Pyrenees, as the items on your list seem very easy to tick here in Ariège, and no doubt in other parts of the Pyrenees too.

Valle de Fasso, Italy. Best Via Ferratta, amazing hikes, huts, ice cream, climbs.

Langenfeld, Austria. All round amazing. Climbing, VF, hikes, bike hire, outdoor pools. Book with tourist office for free passes to just about everything. Cannot recommend it enough.

T

Argentiere (up the valley from Chamonix) is nice. Great campsite - good bus and train network in the valley. Lots of single and multipitch sport climbing options including Les Gaillands ( where there is also a big acro-park in the woods), and the Aiguu Rouges. Great walking in the Aiguilles Rouges too.

I'm not a mountain biker but there is a lot done, using the lift system. Similarly there seems to be a lot of white water rafting in the Are, but I have never tried it (but my kids have).

There's  a big pool in Chamonix, including outdoor 50m pool. There's also a new Spa complex.

Steve

We spent some time around Molveno/Andolo/Pinzolo in Summer 2018 (mainly biking with family using uplifts) - great area, enjoyed this part of Italy more than Austria/Tyrol, much more laid back (and cheaper)

Cool, spent some time in molveno without kids and it always stuck in my mind as a place to take the kids

Ariege and Briancon both very good venues as well 😀

molveno you can do an overnight in Venice and Carcasson is a short hop from Arriegge if a cultural element is an option

I'd second the Pyrenees as a suggestion. I went there for the first time last year and was amazed by the potential of the place. It's got everything the OP wants and apart from alpinism itself does many of them better than the Alps.

The main downside might be that the climbing, mountain biking and via ferrata information is in French although there are English language walking guides.

Agree that the Pyrenees are a good alternative to the Alps

Also Spanish & Catalan   We've often escaped bad weather on the French side by driving a short distance to the Spanish side which has much drier weather, and is worth a visit for its canyons (Ordesa, Anisclo, etc) anyway

I've found Kev Reynold's 'Walks and climbs in the Pyrenees' a good general guide and my old copy of the Rough Guide to the Pyrenees includes quite a lot of info on walking, skiing & climbing (much more than the usual books in that series) but I'm not sure if that's true of the latest edition (different authors)

Kandersteg - it has a massive international scout campsite (KISC) and is geared up for all the things teenagers might want to do - everything on your list for example, plus skijump tubing. You might also be able to join in on the things organised by KISC too.  Possibly not the cheapest place though.

Yes I used that and found it very useful. I also got a "Rando Editions" French walking guide and Via Ferrata guide which would be reasonably useable to someone with little French.

The climbing guides would be a bit harder to use although the Vallees des Gaves guide (which includes the Cirque du Gavarnie) isn't too bad and this would be a great place to start in the Pyrenees.

Luz St. Sauveur would make a good central base with an abundance of campsites, almost certainly some with pools.

The Pyrenees should also have better weather than the Alps.