 Poster: A snowHead
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Sitter, I would have thought the saving of driving all the way to Dover was a bigger saving than the reduction from Calais. For me getting to Dover is a quarter of the distance but 3/4 of the hassle of the journey.
I have done Les Arcs many time in December, March and again in the summer. There are 3 hairpins on the road up from Bourg st Maurice, Every time is on UK summer tyres. The road is cleared and gritted frequently and I have needed the snow chains twice. It takes 9 to 10 hours from Calais and probably because I do it overnight (the easy way to travel with young children) never had any problems with traffic, but as pam w, says that doesn't necessary apply at Feb half term. The round trip with fuel, tolls, and ferry crossing comes in at about £400. Oh, the skiing is excellent and not hyped at all. However, I think the resort will be very crowded from mid Feb to mid March.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Davemc37 wrote: |
| Tell me more about why I should go for les contamines then? |
I stayed in Brock's apartment in Les C this year and I couldn't fault it. Not ski in ski out, but the resort has gentle greens to 'poo-poo, I'm not trying that' Also has a good focal/meet up point at the top of the second gondola. Apres is a bit slow, but we go to ski, so not that bothered. Apartment is easy walking (in boots) to the lifts for kids. They even carried their own skis for a change.
p.s. - I don't know Brock in any way other than having rented his apartment. I do hope to rent it again some time. 
edit...And it is about 20 from the motorway
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Davemc37 wrote: |
Is there anybody out there who drives to Italy in that half term week. |
I've done it twice. Once on a bike, once in a motorhome. I wouldn't want to do it in a car with kids ever. (Leaving from Belfast, our house to Dover is 500 miles on the button.)
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Davemc37, If cost is the overriding factor then you really should discount France(no pun intended) and head to Austria or Italy. Of The two resorts I linked earlier I googled the route from Calais for Berwang and it was 8.5 hours.
I am not anti France but having been to both France and Austria this year the spend difference was alarming, for the cost of a beer on the hill in France I got a larger beer( .5L versus .4L in France) AND lunch in Austria!!! Now if you and your kin are eating on the hill consider this very carefully.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Davemc37 wrote: |
| Skimastaaah, how drive able are the Austrian resorts from calais |
Use a route calculator like http://www.viamichelin.com/ to compare drive times, fuel costs, and motorway tolls................. you'll the see why France is the wrong choice.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| northantsred wrote: |
I am not anti France but having been to both France and Austria this year the spend difference was alarming, for the cost of a beer on the hill in France I got a larger beer( .5L versus .4L in France) AND lunch in Austria!!! Now if you and your kin are eating on the hill consider this very carefully. |
Where was that? If you are happy to go to a smaller French resort, as the OP indicated he was, then I really don't think you'll see a massive price difference, even if you don't go back to the apartment for lunch (not saying every place in the French mega resorts is really expensive either, but on a first time holiday with two little ones, I can see that it's not easy to search around for the good value places).
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miranda, when did you last visit Austria to ski?
I have visited both countries in each of the last 3 winters and the gap in prices is widening. Some of the pricing in France borders on obscene.
I have also found the welcome in Austria is much warmer and friendlier.
Austria is very much more visitor friendly whilst France is not.
It's only my opinion but some of it is based on fact.
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northantsred, I have never skied in Austria (I have in Italy) but the prices there have been discussed on here a number of times so, unless people are making them up, it's fairly easy for me to compare them to the prices here and realise that they're not that different because we are in a small French resort... full of cold, unfriendly Frenchies, though, obviously.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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miranda, I don't know why, but there is a lot of anti-France comment cropping up on here. I suspect at the end of a holiday if one totals up the costs involved, there will not be as much in it as people think. I haven't seen anything like the beer prices that are supposedly being charged in every French ski resort being charged in Serre Chevalier. Our local bar has improved the quality of it's offerings too, no 1664, Carlsberg or Heineken being served. Replaced with Leffe, Guinness (lots of French drink it I've noticed), Pelforth and local brewery beers (we have two in the valley).
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miranda, can't imagine why people would make things up  , one thing that makes this forum different is the honest and helpful posts from contributors.
In France we visited 3 different resorts as my eldest did three different seasonaire jobs over the last 3 seasons and I took the rest of the family to visit each year. The Austrian trips were with buddies also to different resorts each time and the costing's were quite markedly different between the two countries. I have no axe to grind only in so much as I know only too well how expensive a family trip can be and am only pointing this out to make the OP fully aware.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Hells Bells, I'd agree. Found the locals in both L2A and Risoul/Vars to be friendly. A lot of the bars/cafes is Risoul had lots of local beers. Go for a smaller French resost and the prices aren't that bad.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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northantsred, says
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Austria is very much more visitor friendly whilst France is not.
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However, I found it the exact opposite.
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You know it makes sense.
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To return to the original consideration, Austria falls short of the budget because I dont have and wouldn't spend the money on additional winter tyres having just spent about £700 a couple of months back on a new set of standard summer tyers for the smax.
So the choice looks like somewhere small in France, as originally suspected, or somewherein Italy if the drive isn't too long, which may mean a route other than the mont blanc tunnel if thats possible?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Davemc37,  apologies.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Such blithe national generalisations as "Austria is friendly, France is not" are absurd and will be discounted by any discerning reader. There is friendly and unfriendly in most places. One example of the latter, in Austria - party coming back to hotel after a few beers, too many to get in the lift. My son opts for the stairs, the lift breaks down between stairs. With several chaps fairly anxious to have a pee. Son, who spoke good German after working on a farm in German speaking Switzerland, went to get the proprietor and was told to get lost as it is 1 am. So son calls fire brigade. I'm sure that's a very untypical anecdote but it's true, and at least it's not a bit of national stereotyping.
Italy is generally fairly friendly - I have just arrived in Genoa today. Airport bus driver was not at all friendly to non-Italian speakers trying to work out how the ticketing system - which is not obvious - worked. I've done it several times before so felt like an old hand and didn't need his help but anyone meeting that at their first visit might have concluded that Italians are rude and unhelpful whereas I've generally found the opposite is true, especially if you try to speak a bit of Italian and don't just give orders in English.
If you go to the mega ski factories of France and expect to get cheap beers, you're daft. I laughed at "Happy Hour" prices in that tourist trap bar at the Rond Point in Merihell - almost twice the price we pay all day long in a small resort. Same applies everywhere - there are expensive bars in London and if you sit at a café on the Grand Canal in Venice you won't get a cheap beer either. You need to use your common sense. I've seen people treated rather rudely in bars, on occasion, because they have neglected the very elementary courtesy of a "bonjour" on arrival.
If the OP is going to self cater, fix their own lunch and be in during the evenings with small children, not out pub crawling, it's unlikely he'll find much price difference between France and Austria. He'll hit traffic either way and need local advice to minimise it.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
If you go to the mega ski factories of France and expect to get cheap beers, you're daft.
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Agreed - although you can of course enjoy the skiing in such places and eat and drink very well by self-catering (which I believe is what OP is planning on doing!)
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Davemc37,
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So the choice looks like somewhere small in France, as originally suspected, or somewherein Italy if the drive isn't too long, which may mean a route other than the mont blanc tunnel if thats possible?
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You mentioned Sansicario you can get there through the Frejus tunnel or over the col montgenvre though the former is probably quicker.
If you are trying to shorten your journey though I would consider going to one of the resorts along the Maurienne valley which in my experience are reasonably priced and child friendly.
If you don't want to invest in snow tyres it may be better to avoid the ones up the winding roads. Termignon and Val Cenis are very pleasant places with excellent skiing and the access road is less likely to require chains and a lot less windy.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Davemc37, +1 for Les Contamines... I'm not mentioning this for any other reason than it it really is a lovely place, and catered, I think, for families... There is a beginners area at village level, however, the rest of the domain is via the lift... LC is not ski in, ski out, which I know you said was important, but as Pam said, packed lunches are an option, and a lot cheaper
And, if you get bored of LCs slopes, then you have the rest of the 450km domain just 5 mins away in Saint Gervais... Happy days...
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