 Poster: A snowHead
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I've booked flights to Nice for a quick weekend trip bday surprise for Mrs C next year. I think the closest resort is ISOLA2000 but i believe there are others close by eg Auron. Isola looks like a concrete jungle? Has anyone been to Auron? What's it like? Is it reasonalbe to stay in Auron and ski both areas? If anyone can recommend any accom in the area that is available for short breaks I'd be very grateful
Thanks
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Roger C,
I have a friend who lives in Vence (Near Nice). He usually skies in Isola and says its pretty good. Apparently you can see the Med from the top.
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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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thanks johnboy, any idea how long the drive is to Isola from Nice?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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it's around an hour and a half, extremely twisty road through amazingly deserted scenery. Some people probably do it quicker. There's not enough at Isola to call it a concret jungle; concrete thicket, maybe. We didn't ski there, just went to have a quick recce, and a coffee up the top, as we were staying on the coast. Could have sailed one day, skied the next. We have friends who skied at Isola (as pretty near beginners) and enjoyed a very sunny week there.
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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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I have never been to Auron but a young French friend (a very good skier, by the way) sent me the following charming message earlier this year:
"This year, I skied once. A weekend with Stephie up to Nice in the village called "Auron".
It was excellent ! I snowboarded on saturday and skied on sunday. It had snowed during the night of saturday and they didn't flattened the slopes. I was gorgeous on sunday with the sun also!! In the powder !!"
I suspect that the snow conditions in Auron vary wildly - apart from whether they didn't flattened the slopes. Not to be relied upon for advance booking, perhaps? I have been down on the Med coast in February with no sign of any snow up where Auron is. I think you can go to Pra Loup from Nice too?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Roger C, for a quick weekend trip Isola's probably your best bet but it is a concrete jungle.
I've not skied at Auron but I'm told by locals that the skiing there is quite good i.e aimed more at the better skier. From the pictures I've seen of it it appears to be nice but people that have been there say it's ugly as well.
The other 'main' resort within striking distance of Nice is Valberg/Beuil. There are also a few smaller places including a lift on the back of the hills behind Cannes.
I expect that all these places will get busy at the weekend so maybe the one that's the longest drive from Nice is likely to be the quietest.
I think there are buses to all of the above from Nice airport and there are plenty of car hire choices at Nice so getting there won't be a problem.
Of course, the jewel in the crown of southern French Alps skiing is l'Espace Lumiere (Le Seignus in particular) but we're a 2 and a quarter hour drive from Nice (in a minibus so a bit quicker by car) so not ideal for a weekend break.
[edit to add], it's not practical to go to Pra Loup from Nice. It's about a 7 hour drive around the mountains (the Cols are all closed in the winter). Pra Loup is part of l'Espace Lumiere so if you want to ski that area go to Le Seignus or La Foux.
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Fri 7-07-06 14:42; edited 1 time in total
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pam w, thanks.
I thought about combining sailing and skiing in one trip when I visited Lake Garda last year! With the right conditons that could be fantastic....
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ben wright, had a quick look at your site and it looks good.
2 hrs or so in a car really isnt that far so i may be back to you closer to the time to see if you have any room left
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Roger C, I don't want to put you off but the road is fairly twisty for a lot of the way. If you don't know the route and like to take it easy, it would take a fair bit longer. Having driven it almost 100 times I know it very well so can do it safely in a bit over 2 hours.
On the plus side, there's very little traffic around so you can straighten the bends out - most of them you can see well ahead on so no problems about meeting someone coming the other way around a blind bend. It's far scarier as a passenger than as a driver. When I'm driving I don't notice the 50m drop off the side of the road as I'm watching what's happening on the road!
There's also a train from Nice that meets up with a bus to Le Seignus/La Foux but I think the last one is at about 6PM so if you've got a late afternoon/evening flight this might not be much use.
If we're full up, there are a couple of hotels in Le Seignus and plenty up at La Foux - if you avoid the Nice/Marseille school holidays (24 Feb - 11 Mar) you should have no problem getting a room.
Let me know if you end up in the area although weekends are our busiest time so I might not be able to get out to show you around the slopes.
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Thanks for the advice and your honesty re the road Ben!
It's w/e of 16th to 18th Feb and we arrive Nice 10.50am so i am planning that we'll ski that afternoon. Is Les Seignus on the same road as Isola? Thinking of an afteroon ski on the way up.......
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Unfortunately, Isola's not on the way to ours. If you were heading up to Le Seignus/La Foux you could stop at Valberg/Beuil fairly easily. I'd estimate it's not much more than an hour to them from Nice - they're a, scenic, detour off the N202 which is the road you take to get to us.
If mountain roads aren't your bag, Valberg/Beuil are probably the best bet in the area as most of the road to Puget Theniers is fine (one really twisty section about 20 mins out of Nice) and from Puget up the Gorge du Cians to Beuil is (if I remember correctly) fairly easy going and the road is in good nick.
It'd be possble to do a weekend split between Isola and Auron as Isola is off the road to Auron. It might be a drag driving from one to the other (I remember the road up to Isola 2000 as being very hairpinny (?!)) so a switch of hotels might be in order.
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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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ben wright, - if Marseille/Nice school hols are Feb 24th - Mar 11th does this mean you would not expect Le Seignus/La Foux to be too busy the previous week (Feb 17th-24th) - which is our half term holidays. We're trying to find somewhere where the queues won't be too horrendous. Went to Norway last year in half term & no major problems with queues (but too many drag lifts)
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mcculleb@uk.ibm.com, outside the local school holidays it's always pretty quiet. I wouldn't expect any queues other than a minute or two at the main lifts when the ski schools set off.
During that week there'll be a few more people around than normal (ie there will be some other people around) but in past 3 years the weeks of the other French school holidays have been quieter than any other resort I've been to even though I've only ever been anywhere else in low season (Deux Alpes in mid-December, Risoul in late December, 4 Valleys in mid-March, Andorra in mid-March).
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You know it makes sense.
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mcculleb@uk.ibm.com, Hi - we were in Le Seignus at the end of January last year and there were no queues to speak of any point on the system or through the week. The reort is pretty quiet too, so getting served in restaurants etc is never a problem. If you are travelling with children, as we were, we found it excellent. Their ski school are is set away from the rest of the pistes and not accessible by non-ski schoolers - no chance of them being mown down by speedsters. The chalet was wonderful too 
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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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ben wright, - Ben - Many thanks. Is that still true even though other parts of France are on holiday during this week? I believe school hols in France are staggered in three Zones (Zone A/B/C) & two of the zones are on hols during the week Feb 17th-24th.
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Poster: A snowHead
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mcculleb@uk.ibm.com. Yes, it'll still be quiet even when the rest of France is on holiday.
The only large cities that it's practical to reach us from are Nice and Marseille (the roads from the north are closed in the winter so it'd be a long diversion for anyone not coming from the coast). Anyone from Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Grenoble etc. has dozens of other resorts that are a lot closer so don't come down our way.
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