Easter Hols Self Catering in France - HELP!!!!!!!

A snowHead

Hi all, I would realllly appreciate any suggestions or advice anyone could offer.

After 2 amazing self catering holidays with our 3 young beginner kids (12,11,7) in La Plagne Aime 2000, we are looking for a change of resort.
This year we're tied to school Easter holidays and are looking for Self Catering accommodation for 4 adults and 5 children.

The research is driving me CRAZY as its a can of worms and I keep drawing a blank. We found a lovely place thats available in Montriond near Morzine where the owners offer a free minibus service to ferry us about but, having holidayed in Morzine (which I love) a number of times before without children and never at Easter I'm hugely worried about lack of snow AND weather the resort is appropriate for kids who are learning (La Plagne was very immediate, easy, ski in ski out).

My preference would be a resort which:

- has a good snow record at Easter.
- is good for children learning
- has good immediate access to a wide variety of pistes for Mum and Dad in the mornings.

Does anyone have any previous experience of family trips to Morzine in the school Easter holidays?
Does anyone have any recommendations of self catering holidays which fit the above criteria.

Thanks for any help
Cheers
Dom

A snowHead

Val Thorens would suit the bill, plenty of self catering accommodation with good access to pistes, several ski schools for the kids and plenty of ski area to keep you both busy.

am going back there myself next easter again, after being there this easter with lots of snow!!

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

There is even a handy family bash happening at that time......
https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=52715

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+1 Val T.

We've stayed in Kashmir twice now, ski in/out. Oxygene ski school last yr were fantastic, Prosneige were pretty good the yr before. Evo2 also recommended, or Supreme. Only problem with Oxygene/ Kashmir combo is they meet under the fahrenheit seven building which from kashmir is all 3 of the magic carpet rides up.. and takes 15 min ish. Was our kids 2nd ski hol at 5 and 7yrs old. The parent company also have some larger apartments available in ValT if you search their site.

Tignes was also pretty good, at Le Taos (same company as Kashmir). Both can be long transfers as easter week the saturday traffic from chambery to Moutiers can be horrific turning a 2 hr journey into 4 or 5 if you hit it..

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

How about Flaine? Easter is relatively early next year, so a decent chance of skiing other parts of the Grand Massif. Maybe Alpe d’Huez?

You'll need to Register first of course.

Val T would be better than Flaine, I reckon. and if lower parts of the Grand Massif are a bit short of snow (and even Flaine is only at 1650, same altitude as Les Saisies) Flaine will be busy. It would be hard to beat Val Thorens for the combination the OP is looking for.

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

Easter for ski it's a real gambling game..... If you love Morzine I will bet on Avoriaz rather than another place within Portes du Soleil. La Plagne, Les Arcs, Val d'Isere, Tignes and of course Val Thorens are better bets....

After all it is free

I don't think Easter is any more of a gamble than Christmas, especially in one of the high resorts and especially when Easter is fairly early. Days much longer, lifts open longer. It's a good time to go if you're stuck with school hols.

I've previously done Easter with my sons in Les Arcs 2000, Tignes Le Lac and Val Thorens. It's my last ski hol each year and it's awesome every time.
Les Arcs were perfect since we were rather beginners and we had enough open pistes and mileage in the bowl and all the way to 1800. Good English instructors in the mornings. But in the last days mostly everything was rather slushy from lunch
Tignes was more interesting and challenging, more mileage. Enough blue pistes for the younger son. 2 glaciers with hard icy pistes, only the pistes reaching La Daille/Val d'Isere were slushy at lunch time.
ValTho for the EOSB was awesome every time, good morning schools as previously mentioned while I sneaked all the way to Courchevel 1650 the first days.
Since you've done La Plagne, would you go to the other side of the Vanoise Express or look for a new site?

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@Dom4106, we've done Easter many times as a family, and the favourites are pretty much in line with everyone's comments above:

- Val Thorens: the one we've done the most. Snowsure, lots of kid friendly activities (the 7km toboggan run is immense!), and great variety of pistes
- Belle Plagne: lots of higher pistes, but it sounds like you're looking for somewhere different to La Plagne this time round
- Les Arcs 1950/2000: these resorts keep you high and snowsure, but with the option of doing those magical tree lined runs lower down when the conditions suit.
- Avoriaz - a little lower, and lots of slopes leading down from the resort. A fantastic resort, but we did it when the holidays coincided with the last week of March, rather than early April.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@Dom4106, My "Easter" trip reports are listed/linked here

Personally I wouldn't be messing about with buses with 3 children in tow. And if they are in ski school, which it sounds like they are, you want to be near to the meeting place.

Have others have mentioned Val T is a good option, although personally, as you will see from my TR's, my preference is for Les Menuires just down the valley, which is still high enough to retain snow.

ADH is another option (we always stayed in Oz-en-Oisans).

snow reports

We went to Tignes at Easter 2 years back and it was great. The kids loved it (they were 12 and 13). Going to Val T this Easter and can't wait as it's where I started back in the 90's. I looked at Les Menuires and it seemed perfect.....especially if you're close to a lift that'll get you up and away....but found a large appt with beds for all of us (no sofa sleeping!) on the slopes in the Slalom area of Val T for 900 euros so snapped that up.

I've always got accommodation next to the slope to make life so much easier. With such a lot of you I'm nervous how the ferrying around will make life easier....potentially harder. But nothing you can do about it.

You know it makes sense.

@noodlehat, you wrote something that I'd like to ask you about. When we went to Tignes in the Easter hols a couple of years ago we didn't actually travel on Easter Saturday. It was the other Saturday - so the drive was easy.

Next year we're going to Val T but will travel Good Friday (obviously not a holiday in France) and head up the mountain Saturday. Will Chambery onwards really be a nightmare? Assumed it would be in February on a Saturday but not really so much at Easter.

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

@kettonskimum, you will have no traffic issues (except for a normal off peak changeover day/weekend) IME anyway. Usually driving into resort Saturday morning.

A snowHead

A snowHead

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

Half term is generally FAR worse than Easter. But it's always best if you can avoid arriving in resort around 4 pm - either sooner, or later, is better.

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Been in VT a few Easters now, weather usually OK occasional whiteouts but never that bad. Stayed in Village Montana Apts and been good every time, great location.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

In know this is a case of answering a question with another question, but have you considered French-speaking Switerland as an alternative? It is usually a bit less manic there in school holidays and self-catering means that you can keep costs down to an extent. Verbier is the obvious ideal but there are cheaper alternatives in the 4 Valleys (Verbier/Bruson - Nendaz - La Tzoumaz - Veysonnaz). You can also easily get to Verbier by train/gondola from inside Geneva airport and there are advanced saver tickets available from 60 days from SBB, the Swiss rail company.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Easter isn't manic in France - the French have mostly given up skiing by then.

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

Well, whatever the conditions are in France, my experience is that it's quieter in Switzerland, all other things being equal, is my main point. This based on our own experience as the family were growing up and why we ended-up skiing in the Swiss Quatre Vallées and then buying there. (I know I'm courting a robust response to such a generalisation .....!)

After all it is free

I suspect half the battle in France is to go somewhere French, not full of British packagers. There are some Belgians around, but the French stay away in droves and shops like Decathlon are full of hunting shooting fishing and camping. Les Saisies was always lovely, and deserted, at Easter but it's not somewhere to sensibly be recommended to someone with the whole of the Alps to choose from.

This is true. Not a single ski sock to be found in Albertville Decathlon 30 March last year! Very Happy

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La Rosiere? or talk to a travel agent, I've mentioned them before, but snowfinders are great at finding ski holidays to a varied set of criteria.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

I'd be a bit wary of La Ros. High slopes, but very much south-facing. Having mixed-aspect slopes is vital at Easter time.

snow reports

Avoriaz has tons of self-catering accommodation. Check out Maeva and PierreEtVacances. Accommodation in The Falaise sector provides immediate access to easy slopes in the morning (and a short walk/pole to lesson rendezvous). For absolute beginners, there is the kiddie beginner area in the central sector.

Thanks for all the amazing replies everyone.

Couple of further questions if I may:

1) Meribel - No one's mentioned it and I was wondering whether it was somewhere to avoid? (I've seen a holiday on Crystal thats all).

2) Transfers - I've been looking at Crystal initially as a full package deal, but then also looking at booking accommodation direct, however THEN I google airport transfers from Chambery at 18:00 (when the flight lands) and for 4 adults and 5 kids its basically £2000 return!!!!!?!?!?!? Am I doing something wrong here??

Thanks
Dom

You know it makes sense.

Meribel's a bit low for Easter. Yes, booking flights and accommodation DIY involves the cost of transfers, which are always expensive (you'd probably never think of getting a taxi for 9 people for that distance in the UK). But it absolutely needn't cost you anything like £2K. Lots of advice here on transfers but you could do worse than rent 2 cars. Which would enable you to do some shopping. Big supermarket near Chambery airport, very easy. But Chambery airport, as you'll be told, raises other problems as aircraft can't land there in dodgy weather. And cars rented in Chambery will probably not have winter tyres. Though you'd be unlucky (or lucky, depending on your point of view) to face snowy roads at Easter.

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

A snowHead

A snowHead

Rent cars. About £400 - 500 each for the week. But how much sense that makes depends on where you go. Try not to take too much baggage - most people take far too much and it gets difficult to stow it all away.

DIY trips can be tricky to arrange but especially for self-catering can give you vastly more choice. But the research will drive you crazy, because there is simply no foolproof answer. There is NO easy way to take 5 kids skiing, especially at Easter, but wherever you end up going, you need to book ski school and be sure your accommodation is near the ski school meeting place.

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

There is a reason why tour operators prove convenient for many people, you don't have to stress about lining up transfers with the flight and worrying about the flight being delayed.

But you still need to choose your resort, and recognise there is a reason why some may look cheap with Crystal at Easter. In fact Easter is early this year so you could strike lucky anywhere, but booking this far in advance it is best to aim high.

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@Dom4106, if your not 100 % set on France, La Thuile in Italy is a choice, mainly north facing slopes, the main area is 1800m, and it’s linked to La Rosiere if you want a French lunch.
Fly to Turin an hour or so, or Milan Malpensa just under 2 hours drive, car hire is good value, you should get a medium car for approx £100.
Italy also tends to be better value for food on the mountain.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Or from Turin to Pila - closer than La Thuile. Very easy drive.

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@Dom4106, which week are you looking at?

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

With Easter early this year most tour operators will be offering holidays, but quite often the tour operators stop offering ski trips before Easter or at least cut back massively. For eaxample they wern't offering much last Easter and even getting independent flights was proving very difficult.

After all it is free

Id go to Avoriaz - easier ski in/ out at that time of year

Meribel is hard work low down later in the season. Another vote for Val Thorens here. If the conditions do end up blessing you with cooler weather and fresh snow, then you’ve got the 3V on tap to explore anyway.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Can't go wrong with VT, ticks all the boxes. We've been going at Easter (not the week itself) for 10 years since our daughters started aged 5 and 6, and it's never let us down. Some of the big piste interchanges can get a bit whacky races with people flying through, but I suppose that's same everywhere.

Help!!

Easter Hols Self Catering in France - HELP!!!!!!!

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