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Base for skiing in France

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I'm looking at renting an apartment or chalet in France for 2 weeks in late February or March of 2024. I'll have a rental car and the plan would be to travel out from the base to nearby ski areas. Ideally it would be in a town with nearby (walkable distance) restaurants. Breakfast in, lunch on the hill, and dinners out. I'd certainly consider a week in one locale and then move on to a second location. Maybe a week in an apartment with more travel and the next week in a hotel in resort. Objective is to hit a lot of areas over the stay, trying to get on the hill most every day. Thoughts are somewhere close to the 3 valleys but in a location that allows sampling of the Maurienne valley areas. Does Braincon make sense as a base to reach areas on both sides of the French /Italian border? Any thoughts on likely locations appreciated. Also, interested in hearing if this is seen as a dumb idea and suggestions of better options for a 2 week stay in that part of the world. Not looking to do this on the cheap.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
The last week in February and first week of March are peak French school holiday times. If you have to travel then, it might be better to look to one of the other Alpine countries.
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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?
Albertville
Moutiers
Bourg-St-Maurice

Of these three I'd go for Bourg - direct access to Paradiski, with 3 Valleys, Espace Killy, St Foy & la Rosiere-la Thuile close by (la Thuile is on Italy).
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@choucas, go a week later if you can.
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Kenzie wrote:
Albertville
Moutiers
Bourg-St-Maurice

Of these three I'd go for Bourg - direct access to Paradiski, with 3 Valleys, Espace Killy, St Foy & la Rosiere-la Thuile close by (la Thuile is on Italy).


thats what I have done ..2 weeks in Bourg in Jan ...last year it was a week in Moutiers which I enjoyed and was great for Menuires but a bit far for Les Arcs etc about a 3/4hour car trip
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Bourg St Maurice is the obvious base, for reasons mentioned by @Kenzie. 3 Valleys + Maurienne is a bit difficult to do, though you could stay on the Maurienne side and make a couple of trips to the 3 Valleys via the Orelle gondola (not the best location for exporing the entire 3 Valleys though).

If you're not set on the Three Valleys, I would add St Gervais as a contender.

- direct access to St Gervais / Megeve slopes
- very short drive to Les Contamines & Chamonix (also Grand Massif and Portes du Soleil ski areas but there's more than enough even without them!)

As mentioned by others, March 5th onwards will be much quieter.

Briancon gives good access to Serre Chevalier, Montgenevre and a few other small areas. Could work well too.
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Sallanches?
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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!
@choucas, if I had two weeks and access to a vehicle then I’d select three or four resorts and stay IN the resort before moving on to the next resort: convenient resort access every day.

Choosing a valley town means inconvenient access every day.

If you stayed in Bourg St Maurice you’d have 3/4 of an hour drive to either 3 Valleys or Tignes/Val d’Isere, easier access to Les Arcs, St Foy Tarentaise, La Rosière.

In France there’s far more accommodation in resort than there is in the likes of US resorts: Alta, Snowbird, Powder Mountain - so it made sense to stay in SLC and commute every day to a different hill. The same doesn’t apply in France - especially if you wait til after the FR school hols ending first week of March, you will find plenty of accommodation in the resorts.
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Grinning wrote:
@choucas, if I had two weeks and access to a vehicle then I’d select three or four resorts and stay IN the resort before moving on to the next resort: convenient resort access every day.

Choosing a valley town means inconvenient access every day.

If you stayed in Bourg St Maurice you’d have 3/4 of an hour drive to either 3 Valleys or Tignes/Val d’Isere, easier access to Les Arcs, St Foy Tarentaise, La Rosière.

In France there’s far more accommodation in resort than there is in the likes of US resorts: Alta, Snowbird, Powder Mountain - so it made sense to stay in SLC and commute every day to a different hill. The same doesn’t apply in France - especially if you wait til after the FR school hols ending first week of March, you will find plenty of accommodation in the resorts.


Completely agree with this. You are creating work for yourself
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I agree. Far better to stay in resort than the valley - why at 45-60 minutes to you day for no reason? Also valley towns in winter are not pleasant in general.
You could look to do say 4 days in Tignes / Val d'Isere, 3 in Les Arcs, 2 in La Rosiere, 5 days in 3 valleys. Travel between resorts to new accomodation in the relevant evenings.
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Unless there is a very large saving (after fuel costs), I agree with @Ricklovesthepowder, and @JDL65,
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Sounds like a lot of driving plus the possibility of slow access to the resort on a powder day in the Tarentaise.
Briancon does offer direct access to the slopes of Serre Chevalier and a reasonably short drive to Montgenevre, La Grave and Puy St Vincent and somewhat longer drives to Les Deux Alpes Alpe D Huez and some other southern french resorts.
Quite an attractive town to stay in as well.
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Bourg has had my vote in the past. Skied le arcs, le plagne, tignes/val disere, la rossiere and St foy. Winters help if you are planning to stay down and drive or there is always the train up to les arcs for the snowy days
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
I echo the idea of staying in resort. Don’t waste energy driving. Waste the energy skiing.

Also the guys are onto something saying loads of accom from 4th March. Resorts are nicer than the valley towns in the Alps.

Start off with a couple of days at the Neige Roc Hotel in Prodains to ski Portes du Soleil (France and Switzerland….hire a Instructor from ESF Avoriaz and use as a guide for the two days to splash out and get the PdS ticked off and not be looking at piste maps for navigation).

Prodains is only 1.5/2hr from to Geneva airport so an easy start after transatlantic flight. (Says Vermont in your bio).

Then maybe 4 or 5 x nights in Val d’Isere as you can do 2 or 3 x days in a Espace Killy (Tignes/Val d’Isere) and a day each in St Foy and La Rosiere/La a Thuile (Espace St Bernardo to get an Italian ski fix and coffee).

You could ski at Megeve for a half day en route from Prodains to Val d’Isere but the drive up to Val can be a challenge so maybe get to Val before it gets dark.

After Val’d Isere.

1 x week in self catered Apt in Le Praz (Courchevel 1300 which is a beautiful little medieval hamlet) in Le Praz you get direct access to the 3 x valleys with no driving then a short drive from that village base gets you to Champagney in Vanoise which is the back side/back door of Paradiski (La plagne/Les Arcs).

3 x valleys and Paradiski will deffo entertain you for a least a week as combined you prob have 1000km of pistes.

If your flying back out of Geneva then maybe a night in Annecy Old town at then end of vacation as it’s gorgeous and only a short drive from their to Geneva Airport to drop off hire car at P51 at the airport.

4th March as other say is the time to come just as the European (and French) school holidays are finishing. French do their school holidays over 4 x weeks from 4th Feb to 4th March 2023.

Happy planning.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@@247snowman, like that idea suggesting the OP accesses both 3 valleys and Paradiski (via Champagny) from Le Praz.

It's fun for the rest of us dreaming up itineries!
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@choucas,

Sent you a PM.

Other thing to consider is that in Feb most hotels in resort will want to sell a full week (7 x days) prob Sat to Sat.

From 4th March the accom situation will loosen up a bit.

All the best.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@choucas, I’d only reinforce comments above. France is not North America. There’s a different rhythm.

Get up early, pick up warm croissants/wh’ever from nearby bakery, ideally brief walk in boots and skis on shoulder to nearest lift, ski, come off hill, quick beer/etc. in boots at bottom, restaurant in ski kit and boots, nightclub at midnight, leave nightclub at 7:00am, still in boots with skis, rinse and repeat.*

Seriously though, having a “base” and driving out to ski misses somewhat the point.

* those days are long gone for me. YMMV. (Our local boite de nuit closes at 7 a.m. Shocked )
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
j b wrote:
@@247snowman, like that idea suggesting the OP accesses both 3 valleys and Paradiski (via Champagny) from Le Praz.

It's fun for the rest of us dreaming up itineries!


Only issue is that La Plagne isn't worth wasting time on.
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Quote:

maybe a night in Annecy Old town


I wouldn't stay the night myself. Yes, it's very pretty but there's little else to recommend it. I don't think I'd give up any ski time to visit, for sure.

Just to be agreeably disagreeable, I wouldn't stay in Prodains for PdS either, point being to enjoy the village ambience, so Morzine itself, Avoriaz or Chatel I think.

In agreement however, in many areas taking an instructor as guide for a day (or two) is a very good plan. Many areas are massively bigger than you'll typically experience in North America and having someone show you around (and the best bots at that point) is well worth it.
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I'd agree, save Annecy for a summer visit when you can enjoy the lake - bring your bike for that trip!

It used to be that the largest 6 north American resorts combined were smaller than the 3 valleys area..........
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@JDL65,Spot on. Pick 2 / places and go there.
I stayed in Serre Chevalier once and there was no snow so de drove via Briancon to Montgenevre every day and it was a PITA.
Driving to go skiing everyday is a ball ache.
For the Maurienne, somewhere like Lanslevillard / Val Cenis is pretty nice for a few days, but a week is probably too long.
I like the itinerary from @247snowman, but like @under a new name, says Prodains is not a destination. It's convenient for the lift and the carpark, but it's dead, and it doesn't get much sun. If you want go go up to Avoriaz via the lifts, stay in Morzine and take the relaxed sunny way up via SM. Or stay in Avoriaz itself.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
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under a new name wrote:
Quote:


Just to be agreeably disagreeable, I wouldn't stay in Prodains for PdS either, point being to enjoy the village ambience, so Morzine itself, Avoriaz or Chatel I think.


100% agree with that. For the sake of 10 minutes on a bus up to Prodains in the morning for the lift, staying in Morzine is considerably better than Prodains, as there's actually stuff there.
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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!
@choucas,

Suggestion:- Pick two out of these three English speaking mega-resorts for a week each:- Espace Killy, Paradiski, 3 Valleys; then decide what board/accommodation you would be looking for ie bed only, bed & breakfast, half-board, full-board; self-catering, hostel, catered chalet, chalet-hotel, hotel; with this information ask the snowheads again for advice.

Two things - the advice to avoid the French schools half-term holidays is sound. A problem not yet mentioned with staying in a town 'down the hill' is the availability of parking in the ski resorts themselves. Some resorts (yes, looking at you, Tignes) have built on some of their parking, and have made it difficult to book what is left.
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Okay. Thanks for all the info. Yes, we are time flexible, so March is no problem. I've spent time in the Portes de Soliel, Val D'Isere, La Rosiere, Les Arcs, and La Plagne area, also Chamonix, St. Gervais & Megeve. Have not been to the 3 valleys. Sounds like the answer to stay there for a week and then move on to someplace else. Briancon and/or into the Milky Way. I've spent almost 40 years skiing (touring and lift served) in the alps, so I'm well versed in the rhythm and scope of euro skiing vs. US but have rarely ventured into France. Lots of Switzerland and Italy and a good dose of Austria. I figure this is the best place for an English speaker to get reliable info on France. Many thanks.
Booked for a week in the Arlberg and a week in the Dolomites in late February/early March this season, plus a week of touring in late March in Italy. Never too early to plan ahead.
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@choucas, sounds as if you are well set up then.

If you have never done 3 valleys then that is a must, I am sure there will be lots of advice about where to make your base (but most places can be made to work).

Serre Chevalier (Briancon etc) is smaller so depends how much you like exploring new territory and how much you just enjoy repeating runs you already know. And Milky Way is less connected in practice than it looks on paper, but does somehow have a different ambience from the Tarentaise resorts.
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