Family resort over New Years 2023

A snowHead

Hi all. Looking for some advice on where to start planning. We will be in Europe from down under Dec 22/Jan 23 and want to ski in France. The way dates seem to work it looks like it will be 30/12/23 to 6/1/24. 2 adults 2 teens. Good intermediates / some advanced. Usually ski snowmass USA or the remarkables in NZ. Tree skiing is lovely if we can get it but snow quality is more important. Would prefer self catering and as close to ski in ski out. So far have been looking at Val d’disere, Val thorens, meribel. There don’t seem to be any travel agencies in australia that know a lot about france (as opposed to North America). Would love to hear any tips or ideas!

A snowHead

You might struggle with the dates - you are overlapping with Sylvester Week, ie New Year's Eve week, which is probably the busiest week and most expensive week in Austria. I imagine France would be little different.

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

New year is one of the busiest and most expensive weeks of the season in France. If you are in Europe long enough to go the week after that would be better. We always self cater in France and I like tree skiing.

Bear in mind that Val Thorens is snow sure but well above the tree line. Meribel has trees but is less snow sure. I haven’t been to Val D’isere but suspect it isn’t the best for ski go the door although it is an excellent ski area.

What is your budget for the weeks accommodation. Accommodation costs and ski passes are higher in the areas you are currently looking at than many other ski areas in France.

I would suggest looking at Les Arcs. It is in a big ski area and has a mixture of skiing above and below the tree line. There is lots of ski to the door accommodation eg la source des arcs in arc 2000.

We use Peak Retreats as a tour operator who specialise in France and they offer self catering accommodation for all budgets and would sort out lift passes and ski hire etc for you. They Do not book flights (as they specialise in self drive from the uk) but could arrange transfers and they offer a discount if you are flying rather than driving as you would not need the eurotunnel ticket.

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Thanks @snowymum (new to this forum so not quite sure how to quote/respond etc!). Unfortunately dates are what they are. I understand that the French accommodation tends to run Saturday to Saturday and if we go in the next week we won’t be back when we need to be, and I don’t want to go earlier as snow mightn’t be as good. Will definitely look as les arcs. And will look at peak retreats thankyou. A few ideas about costs that I’ve been given are around the 7000 pound sterling mark for accommodation/passes/ski hire and transfers. Our exchange rate certainly doesn’t help!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Matilda6, if you can go a week earlier it will be cheaper for accommodation and new year snow conditions are not always better than Christmas week. We would always choose Christmas over new year as less busy and accommodation cheaper.

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Another recommendation for Les Arcs. Plenty for all levels to get stuck into. Several of the blacks are ungroomed which I think is on par with N. American skiing.

We skied in Austria over Christmas week (23- 30 December) last year, and there was a big increase in number of people on the slopes from around the 27th onwards. Lots of people had opted to spend Christmas at home, and then come out for New Year.
However, this was in a resort with lots of accommodation that offered flexible dates.

Christmas Day is a Monday this year, so with Saturday to Saturday accommodation in France, you'd be arriving in resort on the 23rd.

What dates are you over, and what else are you hoping to do in your trip?

After all it is free

@Matilda6, Does it have to be France? Italy, for instance, tends to be a little less over occupied over New Year's week. And much of Italy is well equipped with snow making.

Otherwise, I think I'd be looking at Val d'Isère. Last time I did an actual new year "trip" was to Vd'I worked pretty well other than the size of the apartment! And the drive from Geneva on the Saturday was a bit of a 'mare, doubly silly as we could have chosen to drive on the Sunday. I think they've sorted out the particularly tricky bottleneck now.

But then, I know nothing about the 3Vs.

We were thinking about Italy, but we’re a little concerned about snow quality after last season. Also I and one of the kids speak reasonable French and we love france. As to what else we are doing, planning on London, then Italy, then skiing in France, Lyon and home. If we push back skiing to Christmas then we are back tracking and it gets difficult.

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@Matilda6, If you go to certain areas of Italy - e.g. most (all?) of the Aosta valley you'll find many (esp. the seniors) speaking either French or the local dialect of Arpitan.

Mrs U's father learned that (Valdôtain) first, then French, then reluctantly Italian, with English intercalated somewhere.

I can usually get away quite happily in French and I think all the instructors need to be fluent.

But on the whole, I think I'd still be thinking Vd'I. And I live in Chamonix.

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As @snowymum notes above, quite a lot of the accommodation in Val d'Isere is quite far from "ski in/out". Though the same is true of many Italian destinations. that's probably more likely to be found elsewhere, including Les Arcs.

Val D may not have ski in / ski out but it does have a very efficient free ski bus system which runs regularly from early until late.

Also has plenty of space to find quieter areas (le fornet and the Val glacier above is often a good bet - get the ski bus out there to upload away from the madness).

It will be a very busy week …

You know it makes sense.

I dislike crowded slopes and lift queues so much that I will accept other downsides rather than go skiing in a busy place, in a busy week.

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

Ok, I don’t like crowds either. But the dates are what they are. Where would you suggest we go?

A snowHead

I agree with the Les Arcs suggestions. It's got some really nice tree skiing in Vallandry and it has high-altitude slopes too - best of both worlds. Yes, it can be busy at that time of year, but the lift system is good and there are some ways to avoid the worst of the crowds.

If you stayed in Vallandry, then you're in a central position making it easy to ski in either Les Arcs or La Plagne, and you're right beneath the tree-lined slopes in Vallandry itself. Lots of self-catering available, although I've always stayed in Peisey Nancroix at La Tarine when visiting the area. There are some people on this site who have expert knowledge of Les Arcs and are much better placed than me to comment, but I'm sure you'd be able to get an answer for any questions about Les Arcs that you may have.

A snowHead

+1 for Les Arcs and Vallandry in particular.

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@Matilda6,
How will you be travelling to & from resort?

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@Kenzie, will be getting a transfer in from geneva and then back to Lyon.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

New Year v Christmas is a straight trade off between semi busy and very busy. Cost wise accommodation it will be a bit more but if you are coming from Aus not a game a changer. Lift pass and ski hire will be the same, conditions won't change much (you will have plenty to ski if you go Paradski, 3V, Killy, come what may). So, it's really just down to if you want it semi busy or very busy.

For trees go to Les Coches. Lots of great skiing either side of the Vanoise Express. Vallandry is similar on the Les Arcs side.

You can get a shoebox apartment for 500-600 Euros. Book via either the tourist information or via an immoblierre. Easy enough to do. Lift passes can be booked on line, most resorts have a family deal.

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Have a check of La Rosiere, that has tree lined runs. We self catered in a great location, such that we could lunch there as well. https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g668251-d585176-r654304337-La_Rosiere-Montvalezan_Savoie_Auvergne_Rhone_Alpes.html

We stayed in the Les Eucherts part of La Rosiere. You can make your way over to La Thuile, so ski in Italy.

Saying that Les Arcs + the rest of Paradiski is worth a look. Lots of skiing, high. We've stayed in a few places in Paradiski. We did self catered in Belle Plagne. It was a bit rough and ready - but Residence Les Balcons has lots of booking options, a pool and is ski in and out.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

@Matilda6, I'm not sure what consitutes "a family resort" since the vast majority of my skiing has been "en famille" and We've been to lots of resorts (though non in Australia or New Zeeland where some resorts may forbid families).

As this appears to be your first trip to Europe for skiing I would reccomend that you experience one of the French mega resorts with hundreds of km of interlinked pistes.

I'll try and ignore my bias but I have an apartment in Arc1600 and like the place and generally the whole Les Arcs area.

New Year week is generally the busiest week of the year and the resort will be close to capacity, but you can buy an essentials lift pass that allows a significant amount of lift queue jumping. This is quite important when there are many lift queues that will exceed 10 minutes that week.

Most of the villages have a lot of ski in ski out self catering, but check the resort maps before you book, some residences in 1600 and 1800 are a very long uphill trek to the first lift. As @Layne, says visit the resort websites for accommodation booking, but beware most of the accommodation will not be known until August or September.

Les Arcs has a fair amount of tree skiing from Villaroger to Arc 1600 to Vallandry, but this is not like tree skiing in, say Japan, where you ski more or less off piste between quite widely spaced trees but on pistes carved through the coniferous forests. The trees themselves are rather close together.

We have skied Les Arcs, with the exception of covid, over Christams for the last 20+ years and had snow cover ranging from excellent powder (who can forget Snowmaggedon) to the "this is OK" of this year. But who knows, the next year may be terrible.

After all it is free

@johnE, not sure why you are talking about a “family resort” as I certainly didn’t use the term. And no, no resorts in australia or New Zealand ban families. Quite the contrary. @snowymum, peak retreats has come back with what looks like a great deal on Chalet Izia in val d’isere of just under 5000 pounds for the new years week. Will keep looking - getting lots of quotes back at the moment. I’m getting conflicting reports of either “everything is selling out fast” and “resorts haven’t released accommodation yet”. Thanks for all the ideas - great to hear a variety of opinions.

@Matilda6, Sorry, I read the post title as "Family resort over New Years 2023 "

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@johnE, titter

@Matilda6, last time we stayed in Val we were in a small apartment in la Daille. A 2 minute walk to the lift. Excellent buses into town, even for NY's dinner. Have a look on booking.com?

@johnE, @holidayloverxx, - sorry, completely forgot the title of the thread. Re read my post multiple times and couldn’t see the term. I thought johnE was been a bit snarky over the term, when it is certainly used looking at various resort guides. They are often listed as “best for families, best for nightlife etc” so thought it was a valid term. And thought I’d explained in the post what we were looking for.

You know it makes sense.

@Matilda6, you are right that "Family resort" is a term banded about a fair bit but as @johnE alluded to what it really means is a bit hard to pin down. Whatever people think it means for teenagers it certainly becomes less of an issue.

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

I guess it depends on what that means to you..

We've got one teen who goes out to bars, etc.. and another who is a bit young for that.

https://www.wheretoskiandsnowboard.com is a really useful guide to resorts.

If you're looking for lots of skiing or snowboarding then the two big ski areas work well. I know Les Arcs works quite well, as does La Plagne. Some areas can be quiet, but then that's either where personal recommendation comes into it or a good travel agent.

We've used https://www.snowfinders.co.uk a lot over many years - they will happily take your requirements and come up with some options that should cover your needs.

We talked directly to a lot of companies as well, so there are lots of options.

As with most things it depends on what/where the compromises can be made or you might get lucky and tick all the various boxes.

We've done catered, all-inclusive and self catered but have only done all-inclusive around that period, for New Year.

All I would say is that if you are self-catered you will need to try and work out the logistics part. Most resorts have 1 or 2 small supermarkets but they can be on the pricey side. But then again you may be happy with that. In addition they may be a fair trek from where you are staying.. or they might be quite close! Eating out options are going to be available but might be limited.

A snowHead

@Matilda6,
You mentioned Saturday to Saturday. There are other options, especially Sunday to Sunday (avoiding the Saturday traffic). Have a look here for examples of what is available (inc Wed-Wed) https://www.tignes-spirit.com/flats/all_apartments

On Saturdays and Sundays there would be plenty of transfer options from Geneva and to Lyon. Other days of the week Lyon might be a problem.

Another place to look for accommodation & transfers is resort specific groups on Facebook eg Tignes Seasonnaires 2023 (it'll morph into Tignes Seasonniares 2024 sometime over the summer!)

As to my suggestions of where to go, in order, Espace Killy (Tignes & Val D'Isere); Paradiski (les Arcs & la Plagne); 3 Valleys (Courchevel, Meribel, Val Thorens). Handily they are all in the same valley - you can ski off-piste from Tignes or Courchevel into Paradiski. They are all high mega-resorts, and each is fully linked. They all have multiple options of villages to stay in, so you'd find something to suit your accommodation requirements.

A snowHead

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Top end way to do Val d'Isere is to have a private chalet and buy in your own chef. Choose your menus, pay for the chef and for the food at cost. My son used to cook sometimes in a set up like that - the agency charged several thousand euro a week for his services, though he didn't see all of it. The Duke of Marlborough was one of his clients once, just 10 of them in a chalet designed for twice as many (one doesn't want to be crowded.....) with its own cinema and massage room. Another, in Courchevel 1850, which I dropped him at once, after a horrible 5 am start in heavy snow, down the mountain with chains on behind a snow plough, had its own horizon swimming pool overlooking the very (on that occasion) snowy mountains. He had Russian clients there. How the other half go skiing! His staff accommodation in some of those places was a lot more luxurious than our little apartment.

These days he has a low-paid academic research job and three kids and can't afford to do much skiing!

Help!!

Family resort over New Years 2023

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