 Poster: A snowHead
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I live in Portugal, and will be driving the family to El Tarter, Grandvalira for a week for the fourth time at the end of Feb. I first chose Andorra as I’d heard they had native English schools for my girls (now age 10, 8 ) and I trusted them better than my disastrous experience years ago with ESF and my overall experience with Spanish attention to detail. I’ve gone back mainly for those reasons but also as it’s so much easier returning to a place you know – our first night there was rather chaotic, not helped by huge amounts of snow obscuring everything. GV is big and varied enough for a week, it gets great reviews and seems appropriate for our family who are various degrees of intermediate; El Tarter is very quiet which is absolutely fine for us, we go for the skiing and are usually in bed by 9pm!
But in coming years should I stick a toe in the water somewhere nearby? Bacqueira, Superbagneres, the French resorts, Formigal…? Those are a few names I've seen, but haven't done any research on. For what reasons should or shouldn’t I try them, or other hidden gems? Cost, food, mountains, snow quality, accommodation, convenience, er tuition quality? Very happy to stay away from hordes, whether of locals or Brits, so do tell me if a resort is fashionable so I can avoid it 
Thanks for thoughts
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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A somewhat open question  . We'd basically be writing the "Where to Ski and Snowboard in the Pyrenees" book if we were to address all those points about all the resorts!
You're unlikely to run into hordes anywhere in the Pyrenees outside of one or two key holiday dates. Everywhere will be significantly busier at weekends than on weekdays because most people there do day trips or weekends rather than take holidays off work. (The Andorran resorts are probably the ones with the largest number of week-long visitors outside of the public/school holiday times.)
On the Spanish side, there's enough skiing at Astún-Candanchú, Formigal-Panticosa, Baqueira and Masella-La Molina (ALP2500) to last a week.
On the French side, with regards to single resorts, I'd say that Grand Tourmalet, and possibly St Lary and Ax-3-Domains also have a week's worth in them. Looking at combination passes, the Neige Catalanes pass covers a number of resorts which are all within a fairly short drive of each other. I don't exactly understand how the N'Py pass works with respect of 6 or 7 of the resorts on the western side; I'm sure somebody else here can comment about that. (The resorts that that pass covers look very interesting in fact, but it's all a bit far away for me.. one day I will get there! But I get the impression that it's less easy to move between them than in the Neiges Catalanes.)
All other resorts are small, and would be great as a road trip but with kids I'm guessing that you're less interested in that.
Snow quality would ordinarily be a consideration, but at the moment there's great snow everywhere and the eastern Pyrenees (which normally suffer the most) are getting extra bonus top-ups, so really there's little to choose between them.
Some general points: Spanish lift pass = expensive, French = cheap. Spanish food on the mountain = cheap junk or expensive decent, French = expensive generally excellent, junk is harder to find but relatively expensive when you do. In Spain you generally drive to resort, whilst French towns are generally lift-linked to resort. It's easier to find lift-side accommodation in France, but it's more likely to be a monstrosity.
Let's wait to see what else comes up on the thread before I carry on rambling away...
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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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Many thanks! Already some info in there, that Andorran are busiest (!), there are 5-6 others for my purposes and the general points. If French are cheaper lift pass, excellent food (we normally cook at home so maybe not bothered about restaurant prices) and lift-linked, then they start to seem interesting... are any big enough to have English-language tuition, ideally not ESF? I'm guessing that's a tall order.
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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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That, I really don't know about!
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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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My Brother in law lived in Pau for a few years, and we went out to snowboard 3 times. Gourette was a 45 minute drive from Pau centre, loads of parking with a park and ride that took you to the resort centre. Not a huge place obviously, but we enjoyed it, good prices for being up a mountain, and enough to keep us beginner/improvers entertained.
We had a couple of excellent English speaking instructors for an hour or two of private lessons each week.
We've done a few weeks since then in much larger areas, but I'd still be very happy to do 3 or 4 days there again.
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Hello:
You should check SaintLary. Big enough for a week for intermediate skiers, lots of accomodation, lift-linked to pistes, nice village... I think it matches your needs. When I have to go skiing to the Pyrenees with children I find SaintLary one of the best options (If I go on my own or with good skiers I choose more challenging resorts).
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Thanks! All in the same area. Without a bit more work to find EN instruction there, I can consider these if I fancy taking the children for 4-7 days without lessons (not sure if the younger one is up to that yet).
If I wanted to sneak a long weekend for family or myself, I still don't seem to find much closer to an airport that serves me, which seems to be pretty much only Barcelona, and then I'd have to sort transfers - or worse, car hire without snow chains. I notice Les Angles, but that looks very small; wondering if it's really worth the flight and car hire instead of, say, an extra hundred quid and hour in the air to get to the delights near Munich... Just seems so odd to fly twice as far to get a better budget deal!
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FAQ
(Pau - Pah!) I won't hold my breath for good English instruction, but perhaps if I enquire in the right places, there's one person available for private lessons...
