Holidays for beginners, first sail to first turn.
Patient instructors, real qualifications.
Our beginner-tagged weeks are built for the first time you get on a board, a boat or a pair of skis. Intro to Sailing in Kefalonia is an RYA Competent Crew course over six days. Learn to Sail teaches the same syllabus from a sheltered base. Beach club windsurfing tuition runs free every day on the beach with RYA-qualified instructors and modern kit refreshed each season. Beginner ski groups are pre-arranged in English in Val Thorens, Meribel and Vaujany.
No prior experience needed for any of these holidays. Group sizes stay small, instructors are patient, and the kit you'll use was specced for first-timers. The progression is built in: by the end of the week you've sailed independently, ridden a board across the bay or carved a blue piste.
Holidays for first-timers.
Filtered from our 2026 catalogue. The list below covers every holiday we recommend for absolute beginners, grouped by activity type.
Beach Club Holidays for beginners
Mountain Holidays for beginners
Alpine Family Club
Ski Holidays for beginners
Chalet Sika, Vaujany
Activities with tuition included.
Every activity below has free tuition for beginners across the holidays in this list. RYA-recognised where applicable.
Sheltered bases across Europe.
Each destination is picked for the conditions a beginner needs: light steady winds, sheltered water, gentle pistes, English-speaking schools.
A bit more detail.
RYA Competent Crew in six days.
The Intro to Sailing week and Learn to Sail week both cover the RYA Competent Crew syllabus. Six days, qualified RYA instructor on board, an RYA Recognised Training Centre at our Kefalonia base. You leave with a logbook entry and a certificate that counts towards Day Skipper training.
Free tuition every day.
Beach club windsurfing, paddleboarding and dinghy sailing all carry free coaching every day. Beginner sessions run morning and afternoon at every level; kit ranges from the wide stable beginner board through to performance shapes. Sheltered Greek and Portuguese bays make conditions forgiving.
English-speaking group lessons.
In winter we pre-arrange English-speaking beginner ski lessons in Val Thorens, Meribel and Vaujany. Group lessons typically run mornings only, leaving afternoons for the chalet hosts to ski with you informally. Hire kit is delivered to the chalet door.
What a beginner week looks like.
- No prior experience needed
- RYA-qualified instructors at our Kefalonia sailing base
- Free windsurfing and dinghy tuition daily at beach clubs
- English-speaking ski schools in the French Alps
- Modern beginner-spec kit
- Small group sizes
No. Both Intro to Sailing and Learn to Sail are built for absolute beginners. The week covers the RYA Competent Crew syllabus from rope work and boat handling through to anchoring and basic navigation. You will spend six days on the water with an RYA-qualified instructor and leave with a Competent Crew logbook entry.
Yes. Free windsurfing tuition runs every day at our Greek and Portuguese beach clubs, from absolute beginner sessions on the wide stable boards through to intermediate footstrap and harness work. Kit, board, rig and instructor are all in the week price.
Lessons are not bundled into the chalet price (different beginners need different group sizes), but we pre-arrange English-speaking beginner groups in Val Thorens, Meribel and Vaujany before you travel. A typical 6-day morning group costs EUR 150 to EUR 200 per person. Hire kit is delivered to the chalet.
Travelling with someone else?
Our weeks are tagged for everyone they suit. Browse the other audience pages for tailored picks.
Families
Family holidays with kids clubs from six months, family rooms, supervised watersports and a coach on the beach. Active weeks built around children of every age.
Couples & friends
Active holidays for couples and small groups of friends. Yoga, sailing, walking, watersports and long lunches. Sociable but never forced.
Solo travellers
Solo-friendly weeks with no single supplement on selected dates, social dinners and an active programme. Land or water, beginner or expert.
Experts
Holidays for confident sailors, skippers, hill walkers and skiers. Yacht charter, west-coast flotillas, advanced ski weeks and serious mountain days.
Pick up the phone. We've been there.
Every person in our South Devon office has stayed at the holiday you're looking at. Ask anything: which week is best, what to pack, which flight saves you a connection.
No call centres, no scripts, no upsell. Just honest advice from people who genuinely run these holidays.
Susy, James, Caroline & Amelia
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