Lipno nad Vltavou
Neuromancer has long been a fan of skiing, and we thought that the children are now old enough to enjoy learning. Indeed, Katy (and the rest of the family) could have gone on her school ski-trip this year, but it cost £900 per person. N researched child-friendly ski resorts, hitting on a tiny village right on the Czech/Austrian border, and I arranged all the logistics (something I actually enjoy, heaven help me).
So, over half-term, we travelled by taxi, train, tube, train, and shuttlebus to an airport hotel (Stansted); then, the next day, took shuttlebus, plane, taxi, long-distance coach, and taxi to Lipno. It was a lovely trip, and the travelling went surprisingly well (I'm always on edge about missing connections). The only problem for me was that I had to readjust my expectations; there was slightly more to-ing and fro-ing every day to get everyone where they needed to be than I had initially thought, meaning that each day was pretty fragmented. But once the routine was clear and I switched myself from movie-watching to book-reading mode, things went really well -- despite a day when all of us but Katy felt under-the-weather.
I sloped off for a day, investigating the regional capital of Česky Krumlov (a UNESCO World Heritage site). The journey on a local commuter/school bus, winding its way through the villages that lie in the valley of the Upper Vltava, as the sun rose over the mountains, was beautiful. The town was absolutely fascinating, and a real highlight of my worldwide wanderings to date; I rented an engaging, amusing, and thorough self-guided audio-tour MP3 device from Tourist Information and explored the two Old Towns (on either side of the river) in light to middling snow; veritable textbooks of 14th-18th century architecture, restored to fine condition and with a quite extraordinary castle/palace complex. (Unfortunately you can only look inside the rooms during the summer, but I was free to wander the courtyards and bridges and eat in a wonderful candle-lit tavern in the grounds.) The local museum was also extremely good, with most information in English as well as Czech and German. The whole region had been part of the Sudetenland, and there were some fascinating records of those years (as well as plenty of colourful mediaeval/Renaissance anecdotes).
The food and drink was excellent (I do like Czech beer); the restaurants/pubs we tried were splendid. Our two-storey apartment had a well-equipped kitchen; N cooked every night, improvising with available ingredients. In fact, the apartment was great; about twice the size of what I'd been expecting, well-appointed and warm, and five minutes away from the ski slopes, the shops, and the swimming pool.
The resort was perfect for children; the skiing wasn't at all good for experienced adults. By the end of the week, both of our kids were using the chairlift and doing blue runs. They loved their teachers and their classes; I was very impressed by how carefully each child was monitored for progress (so, for example, Dan moved classes twice over the week as he was progressing well). There were additional attractions, such as an observation platform high above the forest -- you ascended by gentle ramps, and descended by helter-skelter -- and a really fun 'bobsled' run (a metal pipe rather than ice).
The children adored the holiday, and were fantastic. Katy was just as perfect as we could have hoped; Dan only had to be sent to his room in disgrace once, which isn't bad for him. It was lovely to see them spending their evenings cutting out, colouring in, and generally amusing themselves with very little resort to Katy's DS or to the DVDs we had packed!
We've decided to go back next February half-term. We'd recommend it like a shot to any other families with similarly-aged children and would be happy to provide details and tips, with the caveat that the travelling and logistics could be stressful if you (including the kids) aren't used to long, complex, journeys. Oh, and the price worked out to be a little over £600 per person all in; so, a substantial saving over any package we found, at the cost of doing all the legwork ourselves. As the lovely, chatty, Anglophone/Anglophile taxi driver who took us back to Prague airport said, "You are very organised man! I congratulate you!"