Weekend from Geneva in Jan - (I have searched but trying to finalise)

A snowHead

Hi Guys - afraid its another Weekend away question. Just wondering if there is anywhere I have missed and could do with some input please?

I've booked my flights to Geneva Friday 4th Jan 7am - Tue 8th Jan 21:30 for £38 - bargain!
Hire car - between 1-2 hours
oh, some context - 2 Adults both 50 ish, decent skiiers, like the mileage and like a few beers during Apres, maybe a band but not bothered about the early hours

I'm waiting for the hotel booking till nearer the time but here are my thoughts on resort:

1. PDS - Great but done it to death - but appreciate it may be the default option
2. Flaine - even though the skiing is supposed to be great, don't fancy it - more of a SC / CC place so Apres crap??
3. Megeve - toooo expensive for a quick weekend
4. Chamonix - really don't fancy this at all. No justification behind that, just don't!
5. Les Contamines - read a lot of good stuff about this place - opinions please?
6. Courmayeur - been but really low on mileage - La Thuile for a day too though
7. Pila - this could very well be an option
8. La Clusaz?
St Gervais?
9. Switzerland - too expensive

Any additions to the above would be great - any hidden gems!

Thanks
Gary

A snowHead

3,5 & 9 are all on same pass. 2,4 & 6 are all within 30 mins by car of StG but I would not count of having full snow that early.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Thanks Jonny - I'll be looking at the snow reports around xmas to decide on the hotel. interesting to know that 359 are on the same pass!! Do you know Contamines?

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@Gaz_H, Contamines is great. In many ways but Flaine is probably party central in comparison.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Just bear in mind that the Friday night is the last night of New Year week, and so accommodation may be hard to find for the whole of that weekend in one place. Not sure whether waiting till the last minute will necessarily work. Hotels hold out for week long bookings until they realise it isn't going to happen, and availability may be limited to hotels in the valley bottom rather than in resort. I've just done a quick search via booking.com for Les Carroz as an example. Limited availability for 4-8 Jan, and oodles more if you start on 5th.

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@Gaz_H, do you have a budget in mind for your accommodation and food?

After all it is free

We did Les Contamines for a weekend. Really liked it. Good ski area and proper village. Easy (if you are careful about exactly which I route the GPS chooses!) and short drive from Geneva. There are lots of references to it if you search here and quite a few who go there a lot.

Les Contamines

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

No contest.

Verbier.

Best resort on Earth.

Just 30 seconds on Google shows a hotel in that January 2019 window for ~£50 pppn.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

If mileage is the main skiing criterion, then it might be worth a couple of nights in each of 2 resorts. In France, I'd probably go for 2 out of Contamines, Flaine and La Clusaz. In Italy, La Thuile and Courmayeur (I do like Pila, but it doesn't feel like a high mileage place, as you're mostly in the same extended bowl, and have a few slow lifts and traverses across). In Switzerland you could stay in Le Chable and mostly ski in Verbier, with a day in Bruson, and drink in Verbier for a while before getting the lift down to Le Chable. Another Swiss option could be Villars / Diablerets, but it's not that large

Re the Apres, you'll hit the last day or two of people out for New Year, then it will be dead, apart from some seasonnaires finally getting a night off after peak time. The time of season is likely to be more significant than where you go.

snow reports

Thanks for the input - I'm looking at StG or Contamines - eve though I'm at the end of the NYE week there is a still a few choices on hotel rooms. Appreciate early Jan is not the busiest but which of the two would be livelier?

1. StG - lower but better links
2. LesC - not linked but a 10 min drive and better at Apres?????

I certainly see more UK reg cars in LesC than in StG. So that my indicate a more party scene. but if you want to drink at the Folle Duce then you will have to work out how you are getting back to LesC if that's what you chose.
Normally after a days skiing & good food I am tucked up in bed before all that starts.

You know it makes sense.

Dont know about StG but the 2 evenings we were in LesC (incl a Sat night) it looked and felt pretty quiet. Jedster is a good source of info on LesC.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

We may be talking quite V's very quite. The thought of Magaluf in the snow fills me with horror

A snowHead

@Gaz_H, St G best of those two, because of links into EMB I think.

Megeve may not be all that expensive at that low demand time of the season. Livelier than either St G or Les C.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

@Bergmeister, cant speak much for Les C but StG is very restaurant focused, there is really only 3 bars & only 1 of them play's music (Pur Bar), there is the Oboose bar by the gondola which get more lively but don't expect night clubs

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Guys - 4 or so bars will do - not interested in 'Discos' haha. I'm very wary of French resorts, with their reputation of 'rolling up the pavements' after dark, this was after wondering around Chatel in 2005 with no bars at all and even fewer people!!!

G

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Guys - Now started looking at the accommodation - Flaine in Early Jan, anything at night to do?! I know the answer will most likely be a No as its early Jan in France but worth the ask.

I've seen 'Vacances La Forêt ' in Flaine. Good location, its seems to be?

Thanks
Gaz

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Courmayeur would be a good destination.

After all it is free

@Gaz_H, I'm not sure why you think there won't be anything to do at night! Whilst it's not party-central, there are a few bars (although maybe not as many as 4) that stay open late.

Forêt is the 'upper' area of Flaine, and you get down to the Forum area using one of two lifts (not ski lifts, just regular ones) in a few seconds. Vacances La Forêt is only a few yards from the snow, so a good position. I'm pretty certain that it is one of the renovated blocks.

@Gaz_H, Les Carroz is a decent call. You're linked to the Flaine area, it's a proper village and the drive from/to the airport is quicker.

Help!!

Weekend from Geneva in Jan - (I have searched but trying to finalise)

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