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Apres ski Costs in Val Thorens

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Afternoon all,

Can anyone give me a good idea of prices of the après ski in Val Thorens? i.e Beer/Spirits in pubs etc?

Hopefully this is in the right area??
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Welcome to SHs, @chris_streeter. Right area for the question, wrong area for cheap beer I'm afraid. Someone will be able to tell you about "happy hour" prices which will bring the price down to what it is all the time in most French resorts. VT is right up there with the most pricey.
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Last year The Frog and Roastbeef had pints for less than €5 and you could buy a huge jug which would have been cheaper per pint. The Fitzroy Hotel charged €30 for two pints (they came with some very nice nibbles but still), so we didn't make that mistake more than once. Stick to the bars on the road at the top of the village (turn right as you get off the travellator, right on the road then it curves around to the left) and prices are fairly reasonable.
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I was charged about 8 euros for a beer on the mountain. The bar at the Oxalyes had hilarious pricing. They didn't want to give me a glass cause I had only paid 4 euros for a bottle of Heineken lol.
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Beer in the supermarkets up there was pretty expensive if irc...
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chris_streeter,

Welcome to Snowheads!

The Red Fox, in the Balcons area (ie highest part of VT), usually has a happy hour til 7 @ €3.50 for half a litre. The bowling alley usually has reasonable prices, although not the best atmosphere. And the Irish Bar a few doors down from the Frog & Roast Beef had large beers for €5.50 last winter.

Happy hunting!
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Welcome to snowheads, Beers from 3.50€ during a happy hour but that's probably the cheapest. Most expensive I've seen is 8€. VT is the cheapest of the 3V's. It's not cheap to transport stock up the mountain and the bar owners only have a few months to make a living which is why prices can seem expensive. I've had more expensive beers in London! Enjoy finding the best deals, that should be part of the fun of the après! snowHead
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Quote:

VT is the cheapest of the 3V's.

More correctly I'd say VT is the most expensive resort in the cheapest of the 3V's. Les Menuires and St Martin considerably cheaper.
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I don't get this argument that because the skiing season is short they have to charge a fortune. Are they forced to do nothing for the rest of the year?

The reality is that skiing in France is full of people who have loads of money. They are therefore setting a price that they think maximises their profits, which is high as for many customers they will pay 8 just as they will pay 4.
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If they're lucky they have summer season @madlondoner, many ski resorts don't. Think along the lines of an ice cream hut on the beach in Bognor. Not likely to do a roaring trade beyond June- September.

Same for these guys.
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@Nadenoodlee, good analogy! There are certainly some very wealthy families around here but the majority are not. Almost everyone who works on the mountain has a different job out of season. Plenty of families ski in France on a budget and not just the Brits. @madlondoner, of course they want to maximise their profits they're running businesses. And it remains a fact that running a business in a ski resort has additional costs.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@JayCee001, you're right Les Menuires & SMB can be cheaper than VT. I tend to think of them as the Belleville Valley rather than separate resorts which, of course, they are.Complacency born out of living in the valley.
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@chris_streeter, there's lot of good value beer available if you pick and chose where you go and at what time. Obviously if you go for a beer in La Folie Douce, then expect to be charged a small fortune, but hopefully that's obviously.

As mentioned, the Frog has good value beer during happy hour, especially if you avoid the premium brands - and the Saloon bar has really good value jugs of cocktails during happy hour. I haven't seen any prices during those times that have made me raise a eyebrow (normally we comment of what a good price they are).

Obviously it all depends on what you call cheap! I live in Windsor so that's my norm! Very Happy
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You know it makes sense.
@madlondoner, the majority of people who ski in France are French families who rent low cost self catering accommodation and have grandparents along to help with the kids. Your perspective is a bit narrow and probably reflects experience in the handful of "usines de ski" beloved of Brits for whom getting hammered every night is of the essence of the experience. They are prepared to pay daft prices so you'd need to be a daft bar owner not to be happy to take their money.
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steph,
I never understand this "bar owners have only a few months in which to make a living" (so let's screw the tourists for what we can).

Surely the same principles apply to every ski resort in the world? If that is the case, when the price of food and drink in supermarkets is broadly the same in Austria, Italy and France, why do French ski resorts screw tourists? A beer in a ski resort in France usually costs more than double the price of a beer in Austria or Italy. I wonder why...
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
pam w,

What's a usines de ski? Puzzled
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Bergmeister, a lot of it is to do with the associated charges of running a business in France and in particular French ski resorts. It's notoriously expensive here to set up a business, run it and have employees. You're right the same principles apply but not the same rates, social charges etc. as for super market prices, I was in Italy a few weeks ago and my supermarket shop there was markedly cheaper than in France. I'm sure there are some rich bar owners here who have the "screw the tourist" mentality as there surely are in London, Paris... But for many it's a genuine struggle to keep a business going. And often the bigger the resort the higher the rates, taxes etc. thankfully there's a lot of ski resorts around the world to choose from. I visit Switzerland a lot and always have a sharp intake of breath buying anything there especially since the cap was lifted on the exchange rate, but I still love going there.
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boredsurfin wrote:
Beer in the supermarkets up there was pretty expensive if irc...


I thought it was okay, not cheap but didn't mind paying. Of course it depends what you drink but I don't remember being alarmed that they were that much more than an equivalent convenience store in the UK.
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I don't know what usine ski is, but I guess it represents the international rip off places. I've been to morzine which isn't as expensive and val thorens in France, where the skiing was decent but the prices act as a deterrent for me going again. I usually go to Austria or Italy because i don't want to to have to worry about cost cutting when on holiday and French resorts are overpriced.
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Ski factory - usine de ski

She was describing the 'less quaint' high up resorts.

Don't know when you last came to Morzine but the prices are defo on the up. I can't remember exactly what we paid in St Anton but I used to think that was far more expensive.
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I've never been to st anton but it's well known for being one of the more expensive Austrian resorts.
I last went to Morzine about 4 years ago.
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There are hundreds of French ski resorts. Its tiresome when people constantly make sweeping generalizations having visited 3 of them. We don't see such daftness about "Austrian resorts" or "Italian resorts" or "Swiss resorts". Apart from being in France Val Thorens has nothing in common with, say, Areches-Beaufort. I could hear blasting from there this morning.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
pam w wrote:
Welcome to SHs, @chris_streeter. Right area for the question, wrong area for cheap beer I'm afraid. Someone will be able to tell you about "happy hour" prices which will bring the price down to what it is all the time in most French resorts. VT is right up there with the most pricey.


I don't think that's true. I think it completely depends on where you go and what you do and drink.

If you are young and want a British/Dutch type binge drinking experience then beer from the bars at the top of the village such as the Frog and the Irish bar is no more expensive than anywhere else.

If your idea of fun is to drink from the Oxalys then you will pay what you would from any other Michelin starred restaurant plus a bit more.

I don't think you can categorise the whole resort as just 'expensive'.

As you say elsewhere, and this is a huge generalisation but.., the French tend to go more for apartment holidays and part of the apres for them is to cook and entertain and drink with the meal rather than for the sake of getting 'bladdered'. I remember eating with one restaurateur in VT, who has sadly since gone bust, and he was grateful for us recommending renters to his restaurant as the biggest portion of his customers were Dutch and English. His charges were simple - as much as the market could stand.

He closed not through lack of custom but just couldn't afford the huge amount of rent being charged.
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So a quick recap...

Frog & Roast Beef - €5 a pint
Red Fox - €3.50 happy hour (any idea on times?)
Bowling Alley reasonable but boring...
Irish Bar? Theres two by my reckoning:
Shamrock -
O'Connells -

Cost of a bottle of wine in the supermarkets in resort??
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My favourite bar in VT is the Rhum Bar, just around the corner from the cinema, not too pricey either.


Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Fri 22-01-16 16:45; edited 1 time in total
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My fave bar in VT is just about any appartment in the Oxalys (certain weeks only) & I make a point of at least once a week walking through the bar/reception area with an open beverage in hand just to annoy the snooty staff.
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We did some extensive testing on this a few weeks back, and basically it is 5 euros a pint. You will find it marginally cheaper here and there with happy hours or special offers, but that's about the cost in most places around town.

Save money by buying pichers or giraffes if you see them, 4-5 pints for 15 euros where you do see them. I thought most of the drinking there, including New Year's Eve, was pretty dirt cheap, but then I do a fair bit of drinking in London too.
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@Dave of the Marmottes, Laughing Laughing
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Digger the dinosaur wrote:
We did some extensive testing on this a few weeks back, and basically it is 5 euros a pint. You will find it marginally cheaper here and there with happy hours or special offers, but that's about the cost in most places around town.


+1 to this and enjoy yourshelf or go and stay in le Beaufortain, where yes you may pay less (unlikey) but youll have to lisetn to the faux locals sneer on about the uncouth british getting pished everynight and gossiping about how much wieght everyone has put on since xmas
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I love how this has gone off topic. All the OP did was ask how much a beer is and it's turned into a rant about VT being the cheapest/mega expensive resort in the 3 Valleys and the Brits/Dutch getting smashed all the time. Yawn...
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@letsgetpiste, cost of a bottle of wine in resort from about 5 euros upwards.
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If the ski stations' food and drink are expensive cos it costs so much to get it up there and they only have a short season, then why is it not half price in more year-round towns like Chamonix and Morzine Puzzled
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
steph wrote:
@letsgetpiste, cost of a bottle of wine in resort from about 5 euros upwards.


Spot on! My family are savage 4-6pm pints and a bowl of pasta and a bottle of wine back in the apartment afterwards kinda people!
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