Mecure Saint Lary Hotel

We booked a short ski holiday to Saint Lary and before going we researched it and found the hotel Mercure which is also a Thalassa Therapy Centre and noted that it the ski resort catered for children etc.
We booked the flights separately on BA and sorted out ski insurance.
The ski season for the French Pyrenees started on 18 December and we looked set for 5 days skiing!
Just needed it to snow!
We flew to Toulouse and hired a car. The drive from Toulouse to St Lary was easy - approx 1 1/2 hrs on the A64. The Pyrenees looked magnificent in the distance with snow on the peaks but nothing at all where we were driving!
When we got to the Mercure and checked in my hubby asked about skiing and we were told that the season in Saint Lary would only start on Saturday 24 December - that was the day we were leaving!
Apparently it always starts then but nobody told us. The cable car (Teleferique) would only start operating then and all the ski hire shops would open on the Friday evening.
You can imagine our dismay. However, the receptionist went on to say, we could still ski if we drove about 20 minutes up to the border of Spain, to a little French ski resort called Piau Engaly.
We were extremely relieved to hear this and we also met some skiers later that evening. The next morning we drove up there and it had just had a fresh fall of snow so the skiing was fine.
Not many runs were open but there weren't many people either and for beginners like us it was all we needed the first couple of days.
After that we were wishing there were more runs we could try but it was a few of the lower slopes or all the way up to the top of the cable car and a blue run which took about an hour to get down. We weren't brave enough!
There were also red and black runs which crossed the blue one and we thought we'd just get lost and go somewhere we shouldn't be. Also the snow stopped falling and by the third day we were relying on the snow cannons and it got a little icy.
What it did have was a great little cafe which served a wonderful chicken casserole. There were tables and chairs outside which looked out on the runs, so you could watch people who knew how to ski come all the way down from the peaks.
Also great thing about being slightly out of season is that we just strolled into the ski school (Ecole Ski Francais) and could book lessons on the same day with English speaking instructors. There wasn't much queuing for ski lifts. There were enough people around but it wasn't crowded.
Unfortunately ski school there only starts from age 5 years.
Hotel Mercure was great. We got the family room which sleeps 5. It was very big - 2 rooms knocked into one with a king size bed in one room and round the corner 3 single beds for the kids.
Only down point is everyone shares one bathroom but that is large with separate toilet.
We recommend the swimming spa - used it every afternoon after skiing. Kids loved it. It is built like caves and around every corner there was something different like a whirlpool, or sauna, or waterfall (for massaging your head!), or changing lights. Try it!
Didn't have time to try to Thalassa Therapy Centre but looked at the brochure and seemed to offer all kinds of massages and spa treatments.
Food on half board was very good. Breakfast had cold meats, boil your own eggs, toast, brioche, croissants, cereal, fruits, yoghurt, tea, coffee, chocolate, milk - we always ate loads.
The evening meal was supposed to start at 7.30 pm but we always sat down earlier because of the kids. No problem doing that. We ate the set menu which always had 2 choices for every course. Every meal was a treat.
The children could have the same or ask for a simple substitution i.e. pasta with ham, fish and chips, burger.
Really enjoyed the holiday and even managed to get to the ski fields at St Lary on the day we were leaving. Unfortunately not much snow had fallen so most of the ski runs were closed but it did show some promise.
We'd probably want to go back in February next time, when we were assured that there would be a lot of snow.