 Poster: A snowHead
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Hey guys,
I'm moving to the Northern French Alps this summer for at least a year, and I'd be interested to hear Snowhead opinions on which town they'd choose to live in in my position. If you could also take my shopping list below into consideration when choosing, I'd be even more grateful!
I'm not asking for a big list of where there is to live, I know where there is to live already; I just want to hear about the places YOU'VE seen and thought 'I could live here'.
My ideal shopping list
- Fairly close to Geneva airport (within 1h15)
- At least some Brits living there (or a big UK seasonnaire base) so I can find people to drink with
- (ideally) walking distance from lift access into any ski area. I would drive to bigger areas but if I had even a small local hill that I could sneak out to in the afternoon, I'd be happy
- Somewhere that isn't a ghost town in the summer
- Not somewhere I'm going to pay £12 for a pizza, so probably no big high altitudies
- Within 20-30 mins of a big supermarket
Morzine ticks a lot of boxes for me, for example.
Also, if any snowheads are looking to rent out an apartment in a Northern French resort for a steady monthly fee for a year, do let me know! I'm sure you could make more from holiday rentals but you wouldn't have to worry about bookings and cleaning and all that for a whole year. Go on, take a year off!  Also I'd be happy to move out for 2 weeks or whatever when you want to use your apartment for your ski holiday.
Many thanks!
-snebbit
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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St Jean d'Aulps just down the road from Morzine could be worth a look - I think there is not the feeling that it closes down out of season, you would still have to drive though even to nip up to la Grande Terche but that's only five mins up the road for a quick ski. There are shops and bars there open all year round.
On the other hand we have friends in St Gervais who say that is good all year round.
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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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St Gervais. It's a proper, sizeable, established town, with lots going on and doesn't feel like a "ski resort". Lovely in summer, full of flowers. Access to plenty of skiing in the Mont Blanc Evasion area, easy to drive down and round to Chamonix Valley.
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We lived in a hamlet just outside Morillon for a couple of years and loved it as there was a great balance between being typically French and close to tourist stuff.
If moving back i would probably move to Samoens.
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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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Innsbruck
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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St Gervais or Samoens.
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none, but if you forced me, Montreal.
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snebbit, St Gervais for me - ticks all boxes on your list
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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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St Jean de Maurienne for me. It doesn't tick all of your boxes but it's a real place with that old county-town feel about it. There are plenty of shops and things to do. There's a cultural centre and a huge sports complex. It's on a TGV line and just ½ hours drive from some excellent ski resorts and walking country.
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it depends on your definition of "brits to drink with" If you want to go out for the evening to a bar and get drunk st gervais isnt going to cut it. The English there tend to be more family orientated who put the kids to bed, watch the news and retire for the evening....
if you want somewhere that you can move too, go to a bar and meet people quickly, it not going to work. Unless you have children you'll be unlikely to even meet the brits there for 3-4 months.
i'd say you need to be looking at either chamonix or morzine.
edit...sorry just to add as well....
if your by yourself or just two of you, you really need to avoid the smaller towns unless you have good french (not just gcse and A level...but really good)
you wont pick it up quickly enough to negotiate problems that you'll come across with services (electric/gas/internet/banks/garages/hospitals etc) The larger resorts will have people that can help and/or people who work at these places that are used to dealing with brits.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Not that I'm ever likely to have the opportunity, but think I'd move to Bourg d'Oisans - close to AdH and L2A for skiing in winter and is a lot of cycling and other activities in the summer
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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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I'd be looking at West Austria around the Innsbruck area - I wouldn't live in France personally, if Austria was also an option.
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Bourg St Maurice but 2 hours from GVA, however some of the best French skiing within 30 mins or Les Arcs 10 mins up the mountain.
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You know it makes sense.
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Briancon or BourgD'O or BSM. Within your travel time from GV you're effectively restricting yourself to Chamonix, Morzine and St Gervais
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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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After this last week I'd hang the transfer time and settle in Serre Chevalier or La Grave...
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Poster: A snowHead
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Austria for me. The towns and ski resorts are one and the same. They have good road links, don't go to sleep in summer, and are generally cheaper and friendlier.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Frosty, AsterixTG, queen bodecia, I could be wrong, but I think the O/P wants recommendations in France. 
Given the stipulated conditions, probably Chamonix. Nice town, all year round, and the road links could hardly be better.
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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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Pedantica, zeroth law of snowheads - if someone asks for a French recommendation, recommend somewhere in Austria, if someone asks for an Austria recommendation, recommend somewhere in France.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Another vote for Samoens - it's a ski resort that's also still a real town, which is a bit of a rarity in France. Combloux would also be high on my list as a place to stay but I don't think it gets many Brits staying there, although it's very close to Megeve.
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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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Briançon, or better still Grenoble for me if I went back to France. I have also lived in Strasbourg which was a good jumping off point for loads of places.
I currently live in a little village in the mountains where I have to have a car to do anything (no public transport). Smaller villages and towns tend to be more insular. so if oyu don't speak the language, you may feel isolated no matter how many Expats are around in the ski season. Most of the expat talking shops I've been to in France and Germany end up as moaning shops where everyone tries to top each other's latest dastardly attack by some bureaucracy or another.
If you have to stay within spitting distance of Geneva, then Chamonix is really your only choice with the other criteria you've given. It is truly multi-cultural with a huge transient population of mountain sports people all year round.
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Gex, or Divonne Les Bains? Big English speaking community because many of those who work for the UN live in the area. Really easy access up to skiing in the Jura (10 - 20 mins depending where you are though by car not foot) and pretty close to several Alpine ski resorts and Geneva airport. I don`t know much about the bars and night life because we had small children when we stayed in the area but they are 'proper' residential areas, not summer ghost towns!
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| Samerberg Sue wrote: |
| Briançon, or better still Grenoble for me........... |
Briancon is probably not even 5% of the size of Grenoble. Old town Briancon is like something out of Lord of the Rings, every time we take some one up there (just done that a few hours ago) they are blown away by it.
There is, if you could call it that, only one main drag, and one other main road in the town, and some sort of road that bypasses those roads, compare that to Grenoble and it's like comparing St Davids (which is a city in Pembrokeshire) with the likes of Brighton 
Briancon is very active all year round, and the summer is very busy, in fact could be deemed to be busier than in the winter, I was amazed this summer at how the whole area is a kayakers paradise as well as the more obvious road biking, MTB, climbing etc
But as Samerberg Sue, says knowing the language would really help you establish yourself in somewhere like Briancon etc and make the most of it.
Mind you the OP want's 90 mins from Geneva which rules both out anyway.
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Mon 17-03-14 21:12; edited 1 time in total
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Weatherspam, I like both places having lived in both. I wasn't comparing them, I know full well how different they are having been based in both in the 80s.
I prefer Briançon because I like quieter places, but Grenoble fits the requirements of the OP, hence the "better for me". I thoroughly enjoyed my time in both places. But as the OP has stipulated within 90 minutes of Geneva, they have far less choice to be honest, only Chamonix really offers what they are looking for.
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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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| snebbit wrote: |
- (ideally) walking distance from lift access into any ski area. I would drive to bigger areas but if I had even a small local hill that I could sneak out to in the afternoon, I'd be happy
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Samerberg Sue, yeah I've often been able to walk to Chamrousse from Grenoble, or St Pierre Chautreuse, Sept Laux etc etc 
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90 mins by car (train, helicopter?) -- Grenoble. No question. Finest city on the planet. Nothing else to say. Only a 24h hike to Chamrousse, (you can stop at Ikea on the way) maybe slightly less to St Pierre (no meatballs en route) 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I live in Champéry, great link by train to Geneva and lovely friendly village with proper village life in and out if ski season. More expensive but if you work the wages are higher too.
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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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> I'd be interested to hear Snowhead opinions on which town they'd choose to live in in my position
Stresa. Milan airport nearby. Lakes, mountains, a ski resort with cable car from the town center. No French 
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I think the OP said the correct answer in his post - Morzine ticks all the boxes pretty much.
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You know it makes sense.
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Annecy is a beautiful place to live I'd imagine, although ski resorts are a short drive away rather than walk.
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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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Many thanks all, for your valuable opinions! See you out there
Also, to clear a few things up after your replies:
- I'm not looking to just turn up and get pissed with the Brits - I will be looking to integrate as much as possible with the locals during my time there! It'd just be nice to have Brits around to speak to every now and then, or hear a few British voices at the bar
- I'm choosing France over Austria as my spoken French is nearly conversational, my German is of elementary profficiency
Thankyou all, I hope you all find the mountain home of your dreams
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Samerberg Sue wrote: |
Most of the expat talking shops I've been to in France and Germany end up as moaning shops where everyone tries to top each other's latest dastardly attack by some bureaucracy or another.
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More than a bit of truth in this! In between moaning about how bad the UK has got and that's why you were right to leave...
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| snebbit wrote: |
- I'm not looking to just turn up and get pissed with the Brits - I will be looking to integrate as much as possible with the locals during my time there! It'd just be nice to have Brits around to speak to every now and then, or hear a few British voices at the bar
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Morzine? The locals are Brits. It is not a bad choice, there are Brits who commute from Morz to the UK for work during the week, just don't expect to be sharing many a glass of genepi with the local peasants.
| Quote: |
- I'm choosing France over Austria as my spoken French is nearly conversational, my German is of elementary profficiency
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In a year your spoken French will still probably be conversational whereas your German could nearly ffluent - although maybe not in Austria.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Samerberg Sue, same reason I stopped going to the GEA meetings. I just got fed up listening to people moan about how everything back home is so much better... So go back home. Simple.
Shame the tram didn't do the job properly.
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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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Ouch @ tram
Was on one a while back, and some dumb woman on a bike decided she'd just ride across the pedestrian crossing to get to the bike path on the opposite side. We're talking 2 lanes of road each way, and 2 tram lines down the middle, with just about enough space for pedestrian if you don't make it all the way across. Emergency stop in a tram is about the length of the tram from 50km/h to 0. She was missed by about 1 metre. Then just rode of oblivious.
Don't bother with expat meetups here, and same when I was in Holland. Mind you, in both cases, most people at work are expats, with several other international organisations nearby. Work social club is jointly subsidised by 2 international agencies, plus the main contracting companies that supply staff. Same in Holland, although there was a big social crossover between students at one of the international universities, plus the agency, and a good handful of Europol etc. staff too.
Bilingual pub quiz here is odd. That pub changed a lot when the US Army guys left.
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| Samerberg Sue wrote: |
| I met people there who had been in Germany for over 30 years and could barely speak the language! |
I've met people born and bred in England who could barely speak the language after 30 years.
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