As my son and I fall over the lip of the half-pipe and experience a moment of freefall, I let out an involuntary cry. Then I relax as gravity returns, swinging us from one ramp to another until we finally slow to a standstill. Wow!
Quarter-pipes, half-pipes and super-pipes have long been an attraction of the French Alps, but the one that the nine-year-old and I have just been through is made of stainless steel, not snow. It's part of the new Aquariaz mountain waterpark – the highest in Europe – brought to the ultra-family-friendly, pedestrianised resort of Avoriaz by Center Parcs Europe and its parent company, Pierre & Vacances. The latter also owns a number of holiday apartments in Avoriaz – indeed, this was where the self-catering specialist took seed.
Aquariaz isn't as large as the waterparks at Center Parcs in the UK, but it is sparkling and new, and has some brilliant design features, both practical and playful, that explain its €200m price-tag. In addition to the aqua half-pipe or "slidewinder" – which you can ride solo or à deux, in a single or double rubber tube – and a brilliant waterplay area for younger children including an aquatic see-saw, there's a long and fairly demanding climbing wall alongside one of the pools. The climb ends at a rope that swings you over the water against a backdrop of mountains – Aquariaz has spectacular views of the Alps through vast floor-to-ceiling windows. Two indoor Jacuzzis set amid tropical foliage are trumped by a third out on the terrace, where you can relax while looking out at dramatic peaks – whether flooded by sunlight yet streaked with the remains of last winter's snow or, in the ski season, dazzling white.
Aquariaz is open year-round, making it a choice après-ski venue for those who want to warm up and relax tired muscles after a day on the slopes. In summer, Avoriaz makes a good destination for those looking for an interesting alternative to a beach holiday, especially for families.
For my nine-year-old adrenaline junkie, it provided the setting for a first attempt at paragliding, flying tandem with an instructor. He, his less adventurous brother, aged eight, and I also signed up for a mountain-biking beginners' session, taking us down through forests and wildflower meadows and across streams, accompanied by the tinkle of cowbells over the hillsides.
Towards the end of our 90-minute ride, we strapped our bikes to a chairlift that took us back up the mountain to a traditional dairy farm for a goûter, or cheese-tasting, accompanied by a farm tour (in French) and the chance to watch the herdsman bring in the cows for milking.
For my younger son, aged four-and-a-half, there wasn't a huge amount to do in terms of organised excursions, but you can hire smaller bikes to pootle around the resort, where all kinds of facilities and activities are laid on, many (including Aquariaz) free either to all, or to those who buy a "Multipass Premium" (€2 a day to those staying with Pierre & Vacances, and certain other accommodation providers; free to under-fives).
The facilities include a "beach" with volleyball and sand games, tennis and badminton courts, football and basketball, bouncy castles and trampolines, pétanque, mini-golf and a children's adventure trail. Organised activities through the day and into the evening – again, many for free – include sports tournaments, a fantastically mad-cap family go-karting grand prix and even "friendly" sumo battles.
If you don't want to hire bikes, the resort is small enough to stroll around, or there's a free mini-train that does the rounds every few minutes. There are also shuttle buses plying the sinuous mountain road down to the neighbouring resort of Morzine with its year-round ice-rink (included in the multipass).
Better still, there are walks galore in the surrounding mountains – some of them short enough even for those with little legs. Our favourite was the 90-minute jaunt down to Les Brochaux waterfall and then on to the village of Les Lindarets with its free-roaming goats. A chairlift whisks you back up to Avoriaz. All chairlifts in the area – some of them taking you over the border into the Swiss part of the Portes du Soleil ski and cycling region (remember to take your passport) – are free to ride with your multipass.
There was plenty more we didn't get time for – whitewater-rafting is on the agenda for a second visit, as is the via ferrata (rock climbing on set routes using fixed cables) and donkey trekking. But if that all sounds a bit full-on or you fancy a spell in the local sauna and hammam, the resort has a nursery, a creche and a full programme of children's club activities every day but Saturday. In this fresh-air playground, it's only natural that most activities take place in the great outdoors. But though the staff do speak some English you can't count on there being many other anglophone children in the clubs – but then that's because Avoriaz, as a summer resort, is still very much a French secret.
• The trip was provided by Pierre & Vacances (pv-holidays.com), which has flats for four in summer from €540. For more information on Avoriaz, see avoriaz.com. Flights were provided by EasyJet (easyJet.com) which flies to Geneva (90 minutes from Avoriaz) from 13 UK airports, from £34 one way
Alpine active: three new options
• In the Alta Badia region of the Italian Dolomites, two outdoor gyms have been created at 2,000m above sea level. At the "Movimënt" areas at Piz Sorega and Piz La Villa plateaus, panoramic platforms feature a range of fitness equipment, and a Kneipp reflexology walking path. Use of them is free, and anyone who doesn't want to exhaust themselves hiking up can reach them by cable car from San Cassiano or La Villa. altabadia.org
• At a new spa in the stunning Hohe Tauern national park in Austria, near the Alpine resorts of Kaprun and Zell Am See, you can lie back in a range of heated indoor and outdoor pools and hot tubs, after hiking and visiting goat's cheese farms. Later, enjoy a massage while the kids play on the water slide. Entry costs from €17 for three hours, or €23 for a whole day.
Tauern Spa Platz 1, tauernspakaprun.com/en/service/anreise
• A luxurious new spa hotel, the Nira Alpina, opened for its first summer this year in Surlej near St Moritz in the Swiss Alps. With its black slate walls, floor-to-ceiling windows and designer furniture, the spa is super modern and features a sauna, colour-changing mosaic fountain, cold waterfalls and gym. Upstairs there's a rooftop bar, cute wooden dining room and a bakery.
+41 81838 6969, niraalpina.com , rooms from CHF181 (around £120)
