Recommendations for French ski resorts in early/mid December

A snowHead

Hi all! New to this forum, need some advice please!

We're a family of 5 (2 adults and 3 kids aged 11, 14 and 16) from Singapore. I'm planning our year end ski trip and need some advice on which resort to choose for the week of 14-21 December. Some background:

- we're intermediates so nice blue runs for cruising and maybe some easy reds would be great (no need for off pistes)
- easy to get to from London, and then on to Paris
- my wife doesn't ski, so looking for a village where she can walk around and explore, visit the shops, supermarkets, etc during the day while we're on the slopes
- access to other non-ski activities like sledding/tobogganing, winter walks
- bonus would be having ski in/out accommodation so we can easily return to our apartment during the day for a break or a quick lunch

We did Chamonix last year so looking for somewhere different this year. I've been looking closely at Meribel, but would love to hear any other recommendations. Thanks!

A snowHead

Tignes Val Claret or Tignes Le Lac.
There is a nice hiking path next to the lake and the road that connects both villages.
Val Thorens, there are 2 interesting hiking trails for non skiers.
ValTho has snowmobiles in the afternoons, a piste for sledging and more gondolas plus a chair with pedestrian access and places to meet and eat on the mountain.
For future years, consider Wengen/Grindelwald in CH or Austria. She will love it, and probably all of you.

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

Difficult one . Personally I would think that Val D'Isere offers a fair bit more than Tignes for the non skier in terms of browsing shops and walks.
You can get ski in ski out accommodation though you need to be fairly careful looking at it as there is a fair bit away form the slopes as well.

At this time of the year though you are about as close to the winter solstice as you can get and in the valley the hours of sunlight will be a bit limited.

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@T Bar, that's why I thought of Tignes.
More open spaces and sunlight getting through

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks both. I will check out Tignes/Val D'Isere. Would these both be a better choice than Meribel?

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Higher altitude. Especially Tignes.
Of course, in bad weather conditions (heavy snows, storm) you are rather stuck since they probably won't open yet the forest pistes that descend to Tignes 18oo.
Never been to Meribel in mid December but other will probably confirm that you have plenty of pistes available at that point, with a rather easy access to Val Thorens' domain using Cote Brune

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

@vade, you are limited.

Here's a left field suggestion ... Monterosa??

After all it is free

The week before Christmas the last few years at Tignes/Val d'Isere almost all pistes have been open and in good condition (not sure about the low down Tignes le Breviere) and it has been the best snow of the year off-piste.

@vade, probably compromises to be made.
Val D is likely to have many pistes open. It has plenty blue and red pistes but many tend to be under graded, compared to many other areas.
It has some dedicated easier ‘calm’ zones, which are high and fairly open (good in sunny calm weather, not so good in snowy/windy conditions). The glacier above La Fornet can easily be reached by ski/lift or free bus/lift and has interesting blue/red runs.
Home runs back to Val D centre are often tricky, so any less confident skiers may be better downloading on gondolas if you stay in the town.
It is the best option for your non-skier I think. The feel of a proper town, with many shops, bars, cafes, swimming pool and varied activities offered. Also quite easy to get a pedestrian lift pass to join up with skiers for lunch or late afternoon drinks up the mountain, eg Solaise, above La Daille.
Not many truly ski in/ski out apartments. There are some in the Legattaz neighbourhood. However, many apartments are within 5 minutes walk of lifts and it may be better for your non-skier to be down in the town rather than have to walk to it.

Tignes almost certain to have plenty snowy pistes open, with the main villages above 2000m. A good range of pistes which, again, have a tendency to be under graded.
Not very attractive villages, purpose built for winter sports.
Shops, bars, cafes but not on the same scale as Val D. It has a good sports centre in Tignes 2100 (Le Lac) with pools and gym.
Tignes Le Lac is the best village to stay in for your needs. Val Claret next best but a bit high, cold and soulless to walk around in my experience.
It’s true that quite a few non-skiing activities are offered and some walks, eg around the lake.
Quite a lot of apartments that are very close to the main ski lifts.

Meribel is a purpose built series of small satellite villages in a valley around the 1400-1600m level. Mottaret is in the same valley, a bit higher.
Very popular with British skiers, although so early in the season is likely to be quiet.
That early on the snow is perhaps a little less reliable than Tignes/Val D. However, as long as links are open, which is likely, skiers can get to Courchevel one way and Val Thorens the other. It would be unusual for those not to have plenty piste skiing available.
There’s not much in the way of a decent town for your non-skier to explore. Not sure about non-skier activities. Plenty accommodation with easy piste access but needs to be chosen carefully.

Another option I think is Les Arcs. Bit less reliable for early season snow conditions. Better range of true blue and easy red runs than those mentioned above. Access on the full Paradiski pass to La Plagne, with its glaciers and lots of cruisy blue runs to explore.
Not attractive villages but, if you stayed in 1600, it would be easy for your non skier to use the funicular to Bourg St Maurice, a proper valley town.

All these are reasonably easy to reach from London (via Geneva or Lyon) and road transfer. Also OK to get back to Paris, which could be done by train from Bourg St Maurice ir Moutiers. Do you intend to have a rental car?

Hope that helps. The micro-decisions about accommodation location can make a big difference, so worth asking on here about those.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

1. Courchevel 1850
2. Val d'Isere
3. Zermatt

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@PeakyB, thanks for taking the time to post such detailed info! Masssively helpful!

Based on what I've read and what you've shared, I've kinda narrowed it down to Val D. I'm looking at an apartment in the same building as this bar:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/oXCrbnjXU8WNnvGH6

Is this a good location for what we're looking for? From here, which lifts should we look to get on to for some nice blue pistes, and which gondolas do we need for getting back?

And if necessary, is it easy to get from here to Tignes?

snow reports

@vade, you’re welcome. Yes I’d say that’s a very good location.

You’re good there for a short walk to/from the main lift hub on the Front de Neige in Val D’Isere. Also on a relatively quiet street, compared to the main road and other noisier spots. Also handy for free buses.

More detail about lifts and pistes will follow from other snowHeads and myself I’m sure.

The wife is the problem. The resorts that are snowsure at that time of year are not the ones for non skiers.
You may get lucky with snow in the nicer more suitable "shopping " resorts , but that's a gamble I wouldn't be willing to take coming all the way from Singapore.Perhaps book the flights to Lyon or Geneva and leave the resort picking until closer to the time to see if there is snow in the lower resorts for a nicer atmosphere. That is low season so you won't have any problem picking up a great deal at the last minute when you are sure of snow.

You know it makes sense.

@jimmjimm, I agree with you (I hope she's not reading this Laughing

). Good suggestion on leaving the choice of resorts to later. Will look and nail down the flights first. Coming from London, is there a difference between choosing Lyon or Geneva?

@PeakyB, I reread your post and just noticed you mention that many of the blue and red pistes at Val D are undergraded. I got a little concerned by that, so I spent some time (a lot of time actually) trawling the posts here and it seems Courchevel (1650 especially; 1850 is beyond my budget) is known to have very nice cruisy blues. I found an apartment here that seems nice:

https://www.google.fr/maps/place/45%C2%B024'55.0%22N+6%C2%B039'01.9%22E/@45.4152815,6.6483391,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x19a6efe575596fc3!8m2!3d45.4152722!4d6.6505178

Would Courchevel be a better option than Val D, and is this apartment in a good location?

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

@vade, Geneva has a better transfer infrastructure, if nothing else.

Is 3 Vallees reliably open pre xmas? Ah I see you are liking Vd'I. I'd be thinking there too, or Verbier or Zermatt.

That location looks pretty fine, rather central.

A snowHead

@vade,
Look at Evolution 2 for non-ski activities:-https://evolution2.com/en/tignes

For more info on Tignes and Val'dIsere ask here:-https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=165539&start=1200
and here:https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=82612&start=9920

Consider using a UK travel operator to help organise your trip (note some do Saturday to Saturday, others Sunday to Sunday). They should be able to sort flights from London, airport transfers, accommodation etc & would have in resort reps to sort problems, suggest non-ski activities etc. Most would also be able to sort trains from Bourg St Maurice to Paris (if like previous seasons direct on Saturdays and Sundays).

Espace Killy will be ideal for your ski needs at that time of the year - they will have everything open that they can that week in prep for Xmas & New Years weeks. Look at starting in the green triangle, then going onto blues and reds from there.

Consider Steve Angus (see Val d'Isere snow report link above) for lessons.

A link for Tignes accommodation:https://www.tignes.co.uk/accommodation.php

A snowHead

@vade, the location of that apartment in Courchevel 1650, as far as I can tell from that map, is OK. Bit of a walk to the main lift station but not too bad.

As for Courchevel (C) 1650 v Val D’Isere (V) pros? I’d say:
Val D’Isere
Marginally better chance of good piste conditions
Has 2 glaciers as a back up if snow poor lower down
Feels more like a town
More activities for non skier

Courchevel
More true blue and easier red runs
1650 has easy access to Courchevel 1850, which has a good range of mostly north facing runs to suit all standards.

What’s the name of the apartment block?

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

If you're travelling from Singapore and going back via Paris I'm not sure what benefit a UK tour operator would be.
Pretty easy to organise yourself.

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@T Bar, exactly. Tour operators are for amateurs.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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@T Bar, I think you’re right about the variability of snow conditions having a significant effect on the difficulty of any particular piste. Time of day, temperature, whether sunny and how chopped up the snow is are amongst other variables.

Nevertheless, I’ve long held the view that, broadly speaking, a blue graded piste in Val D/Tignes is often ‘tougher than average’ compared with European areas generally. Similarly, a few red runs in Val D/Tignes would almost certainly be graded black in many other areas. Just my opinion and, of course, there’ll be exceptions to that ‘rule’.

Now, for a competent and confident skier, this is unlikely to be that important, They’ll soon weigh that up and have skills and knowledge to deal with it. But if you’re a less confident or cautious intermediate, or dimy less experienced on mountains, it can make the difference between enjoying a run or hating it.

Time of year makes a difference too. Mid December in Val D/Tignes often poses extra challenges.

With 3 children aged 11-16 to be responsible for, a little caution may not a bad thing.

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

After all it is free

Massive thanks again to all for the very helpful advice so far!

@vade,

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

@PeakyB, thanks again. Some further questions:

Between Courchevel and Meribel, is there any difference between the quality and availability of the blue pistes? Looking at the Meribel piste map, there are quite a number of blues, some of which seem to suggest you can ski right down to the village.

Also, any comment on the shortlisted accommodation for Meribel? Option 1 is in the Rond-Point des Pistes area so possibility of ski-in/out I think? Although it's much further from the town centre. Option 2 is much closer to the town centre, and supposedly "3 minutes from the slopes".

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@johnE,

snow reports

It is quite a while since I've skied much of the 3V , my own memory is of excellent gentle skiing around Courchevel 1650 and main basin. I'm not so sure about Meribel, it is certainly lower altitude.

One thing I would say is given your slight hesitation about trickier blues with the children I would hesitate to suggest that using alternative valleys to Meribel is a good back up if the skiing is poor in Meribel.

It is a very large area and although the sign posting is good it is quite possible to take a wrong turning and end up where you don't intend I know several people who have. Furthermore in December if you are skiing elsewhere because the snow is poor you still have to return and the light in the valley can get very flat early in the afternoon at this time of year making for tricky conditions even on easy pistes amongst those not used to it.

@vade,
One downside of leaving it late to choose a resort to 'follow the snow' is that if it is a poor start to the season all the decent accommodation in those resorts that have snow will be gone or very expensive.

You know it makes sense.

@Kenzie, personally I’ve never had a problem pitching up that early in the season (or booking within 5 days of arrival) and finding somewhere decent to stay. That was with 3 of us, including child. Often chalet or hotel deals from TOs then, which would be first week of the season for many.

One week later would be very different.

I think having a family of 5 makes it more nerve wracking but there’s a helluva lot of apartments and hotel capacity in those places and demand is pretty low then.

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

I'd be very surprised if there was trouble with accommodation 14-21 Dec booking late.
It's not a popular tiem for holidays. If the situation is generally poor people won't go and if they are very good to attract people it will be in more than one resort. You wont find fabulous conditions in one resort and very poor next door , though they may well be significantly better in one than another making it worthwhile hanging on. And you can get very different conditions in different regions, also making it worthwhile.

A snowHead

@vade, I can empathise about trying to balance good skiing early season and a non skier friendly resort. This thread may be of some interest although a lot of the suggestions are outside of France.
https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=169710

If your wife is relatively easygoing I'd seriously consider Tignes Le Lac for your trip. You could take the Toviere lift up and down and get access to the lovely gentle intermediate skiing between Tignes and Val. There is also a good pool and spa in the middle of Tignes Le Lac for your wife as well as activities on the frozen lake.

A snowHead

@vade,

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

@PeakyB,

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@Henwc, thanks! This is amazing, almost sounds like I started that thread Laughing

Have you decided where you're going? For what it's worth, I think Chamonix might be worth considering. We were there last year, and managed to get a good balance of skiing and non-skiing (Aiguille du Midi excursion for example) activities. Zermatt (Gornergrat excursion) and Grindelwald (First Flyer, First Glider if you're in to that sort of things) are also good options I think.

@PeakyB, noted on Meribel. So it looks like it's down to Val D or Courchevel 1650 then. I had a look again at the piste map for Val D, and it seems like you have to really get to altitude for the blues. Are these the blues that are underrated?

And for sure, if you ever get over to Singapore, I'll have plenty of tips for you on where to ski here Very Happy

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@vade, Generally speaking in Val D'Isere the slopes are gentle at altitude and steeper into the valleys. The trickier ones are the ones to resort level, particularly to the centre of the resort. The runs down to La Daille are generally reasonable other than when heavy traffic makes them more polished.

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@vade, You are welcome Smile

. My planning is for Christmas 2025 so nothing firm yet but Grindelwald is a contender. I'll take a look at Cham but my wife's fluent German will probably swing it to Austria or the Germain speaking part of Switzerland.

Both Val D or Courchevel have really top intermediate blues.

In Val D the area at the top of the Olympique lift has some of the best green to blue to red progression anywhere I have been. It's at a good altitude, snow usually good, plenty of piste restaurants, lovely views. The runs from the Grand Pre lift at the top are excellent for kids.

In Courchevel there are lots of great options with the area above 1850 (up and right on the piste map) being great for wide blues (Creux at the top is stunning and so big it's hard to miss)

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

@vade, I agree completely with @T Bar, and @Henwc, on those points.

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Recommendations for French ski resorts in early/mid December

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