Snowboarding in Winterberg, Germany

We felt it was the perfect time to take the kids on their first snowboarding trip outside the UK. Although they had a fun time playing around in Scotland last year, the conditions for snowboarding weren’t ideal. We realised we wouldn’t be able to fully enjoy everything that the resorts in the Alps had to offer, so we took the time to research and found a family-friendly resort in Germany. Winterberg is conveniently located only four and a half hours from the ferry port of Rotterdam. We booked the overnight P&O ferry from Hull, where we boarded at 5pm on Sunday evening. (Please see our other posts about our experiences on this ferry. It is a mini holiday!) After quite a rough crossing, we arrived in Rotterdam at 9am on Monday morning and drove straight to Winterberg.

Skiliftkarussell Winterbeg is the largest ski area of the Sauerland. They have 34 slopes covering 27.5km, and 28 lifts, most of which were open for our visit. There are plenty of beginner runs and manageable slopes. We chose to teach Sam and Esme to snowboard first, which makes getting onto chair lifts difficult. Winterberg has conveyor belts on the Rauhen Busch, Poppenberg, Kappe, Schneewittchenlift and Herrloh, so we focussed on these areas. All ski lifts were running from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm, and floodlit evenings were on Tuesdays and Fridays from 6:30 pm to 10:00 pm. We bought tickets on arrival at the carparks each day. There are ticket offices and self service machines readily available. A day ticket for all lifts was priced at €49 an adult and €33 for children 6 - 15 years. Luckily, Esme was free being under 5! Family passes were also available for €120 from 9am.

Piste map https://www.skiliftkarussell.de/informationen/panorama-karte/

We explored the Kinderland area first, which is located on Herrloh, marked as lift 21 on the piste map. It is a short, gentle run for the kids, and we found that we could easily snowboard back down to the main area together. However, it did take us some time to find it initially. We parked in car park 6, and there is a footpath from the parking area that takes you around the back of the slopes. The kids spent a few hours here, and played on the ski slalom. We did attempt the chair lift from the carpark, which would take us further up past Kinderland, however we were unable to carry the kids snowboards and Esme is nowhere near ready to skate from a lift…

For lunch, we checked out Zum rauhen Busch, which is marketed as a buffet restaurant; however, it felt more like a self-service café to us. The venue is quite spacious, and even though it was a busy day, we easily found a table. We settled the kids in a booth and took two trays to find food. Having limited German we ordered bratwurst and fries, and a vegetable lasagne. The portions were huge but Sam still managed to finish every fry. He swears that the best fries are made in Germany!

Our favourite slopes for the kids were at lifts 10a and 10b on Poppenberg. Car park 2 was conveniently located a short walk across a road and through some trees from our campsite, making it easily accessible. From the car park and cafe area, there are two conveyor belts that run alongside each other, providing access to both blue and red ski runs. Opposite the conveyor belts is chairlift 10, found on Bremberg, which leads to a long blue run that takes you back down to the same area. This spot quickly became our main hangout for the week, although Steve and Sam ventured out more to explore the various trails on Bremberg.

The Brembergklause is conveniently located right next to lift number 10. It tends to be quite busy, but it is warm and cosy with a huge roaring fire. We returned here for the next few days, enjoying lunch while sitting in the porch area looking out at the slopes. I was also able to wait here with a hot drink in hand, whilst Esme took a well-deserved rest and the boys went to explore more adventuorus runs. The menu offers both snacks (and delicious donuts) for a quick bite and larger meals, as well as kids meals and portions. We were even able to have a few afternoon beers as we were just a walk away from the campsite!