 Poster: A snowHead
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Howdy Folks,
I usually ski in Austria but in an attempt to reduce costs and therefore increase the times I can go I'm thinking about driving for a weeks skiing in France next December.
What are your thoughts on Val D'isere versus Les Deus Alps, in terms of night life, business, accommodation costs and in general. My surfing around seems to indicate Val D'isere to be a more expensive place to stay. Is there, maybe, somewhere else I should be looking at. I have done a week in Val Thorens before and found the place dead after 5PM.
Cheers,
Keith.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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01342, Welcome to snowheads. Chose a smaller , but linked Austrian resort. L2A is much cheaper than Val D'Isere, Flachau is much cheaper than L2A.
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01342, Greetings...
If you are thinking of driving, why not stay down the valley, in say Bourg Ste Maurice, and then you have the entire Tarentaise valley at your disposal - different resort every day, pick the best conditions etc etc....
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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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01342, welcome to Snowheads. Are you stuck with December? When exactly? Pretty unreliable snowcover that early, especially if off-piste is your thing.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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01342,
A few thoughts. If you don't fill the car it will be unlikely to be cheaper to drive. If you are driving Austria is not a lot further than France and is cheaper, just a different route. If you are going in December other than for xmas New Year it makes a lot of sense to wait and see where the snow is. Great cover throughout Europe is not that common in December. Good conditions somewhere are fairly common. Why not wait and see?
If you do want to choose between L2A and Val d'I on grounds of price L2A wins hands down
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L2A has plenty of lively nightlife. Too lively for some of us old gits! If you are looking at mid December you should find some really cheap flights.
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There is no competition.
Val d'Isere wins on every metric.
LDA is average.
VDI is above-average.
Enjoy.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Whitegold, so how does 01342, save costs by going to Val d'Isere?
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Frosty the Snowman, oh for goodness' sake. Don't spoil the elegant symmetry of Whitegold's haikus by splitting hairs about logic!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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01342, welcome
VDI- expensive and posh(ish)- great snow - hard pistes and great off piste, fantastic restaurants (Fruitiere / Edelwiese etc)- expensive and posh nightlife, - posh expensive totty (if that's what your after)- Richard Branson has a place there.
L2A- great skiing- fantastic off piste- crap (cheap) restaurants (really really crap)- inexpensive nightlife etc etc etc
but why not go to Chamonix ? Great pistes (if you can cope with the bus) world class off piste, great food at every price point- nightlife but not much totty (next to none in Argentiere- best getting married and having kids like me).
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You know it makes sense.
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Fiddle sticks, and I thought I had it sussed. I guess I shouldn't have asked 
Thanks for all your comments
| Swirly wrote: |
01342, welcome to 
Good luck, I'd have thought with the cheap flights to Austria now available you're more likely to get a cheaper holiday there than France, especially if you book early. |
I'm planning for 4 adults in 1 car so I thought France would be a fair bit cheaper. And I just went and bought a Volvo 
| pam w wrote: |
| 01342, welcome to Snowheads. Are you stuck with December? When exactly? Pretty unreliable snowcover that early, especially if off-piste is your thing. |
Not stuck with December, it'll be an additional trip for next season. I'm trying to go Dec, Jan, Feb and March. Maybe April. Where's good in May? 
I thought with L2A being very high and doing summer skiing it'd be a safe bet in December. Not so?
| T Bar wrote: |
01342,
A few thoughts. If you don't fill the car it will be unlikely to be cheaper to drive. If you are driving Austria is not a lot further than France and is cheaper, just a different route. If you are going in December other than for xmas New Year it makes a lot of sense to wait and see where the snow is. Great cover throughout Europe is not that common in December. Good conditions somewhere are fairly common. Why not wait and see?
If you do want to choose between L2A and Val d'I on grounds of price L2A wins hands down |
Interesting. You think driving to Austria is an option? Where'd you suggest or are you saying leave it till the last minute? Won't that have a effect on transport and/or accomodation costs?
| edsilva wrote: |
01342, welcome
VDI- expensive and posh(ish)- great snow - hard pistes and great off piste, fantastic restaurants (Fruitiere / Edelwiese etc)- expensive and posh nightlife, - posh expensive totty (if that's what your after)- Richard Branson has a place there.
L2A- great skiing- fantastic off piste- crap (cheap) restaurants (really really crap)- inexpensive nightlife etc etc etc
but why not go to Chamonix ? Great pistes (if you can cope with the bus) world class off piste, great food at every price point- nightlife but not much totty (next to none in Argentiere- best getting married and having kids like me). |
ROFL. Done the wife, children, divorce bit. Being mid 40's I'm a bit old for totty but I do enjoy a beer or 15 and really love the apres in Austria which seemed sadly lacking in Val Thorens.
Thanks again everyone, seems I'm back at sqaure one. Anyone know how long it takes to learn diving 
Cheers,
Keith.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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Driving to Austria is cheaper than to the French Alps (no tolls), and, obviously depending where you go, need take no longer. This year it took pretty much the same length of time to get to Ischgl as to Serre Chevalier. To us Austria seems better value as well.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| 01342 wrote: |
ROFL. Done the wife, children, divorce bit. Being mid 40's I'm a bit old for totty but I do enjoy a beer or 15 and really love the apres in Austria which seemed sadly lacking in Val Thorens.
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The apres in VD and L2A is not much better than VT. Both are pretty dead when you come off the slopes, especially compared to Austria. Also the beers in VD aren't exactly cheap.
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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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01342,
| Quote: |
Interesting. You think driving to Austria is an option? Where'd you suggest or are you saying leave it till the last minute? Won't that have a effect on transport and/or accomodation costs?
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as the above posts suggest:
Driving to Austria is a little longer than the closest French resorts I think but not too difficult to drive to . The savings you may make by booking in advance are possibly: The crossing which you can do wherever you drive to and securing the cheapest accommodation. Prices of accommodation will not go up though and pre-xmas there should be plenty of cheap accommodation available everywhere.
Ischgl, St Anton and Solden are not the cheapest places but have a reputation for livley nightlife and good snow. But I would not actually advise anywhere but wait and see where the snow is. No point in booking Austira if the French alps have great early season snow and the Austrian alps are poor or vica versa. The same applies within a country sometimes southern French alps have great snow early season with poor snow in the northern alps other years its the other way round sometimes neither sometimes both.
I would not write off Switzerland either which can have great conditions and compares favourably pricewise with the major French resorts.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Can't understand how you missed the apres in val thorens but I have to say I found L2A dead when we went. We ended up in a bar talking to the staff or to our hotel waitress. no other customers and that was the best night life we found. Weren't too impressed with the sking either. .Having said that i think we would have enjoyed VDI if the lifts had been open for more than a couple of days and my husband hadn't gone down with gatroenteritis for the week ! My money would be on val D' Isere. 
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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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jan, it wasn't you running around resort at chucking-out time howling and making monkey noises then?
As someone who has to sleep there three nights a week I could wish 2Alpes had less of a nightlife.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
| I thought with L2A being very high and doing summer skiing it'd be a safe bet in December. Not so? |
It's as safe as just about anywhere, I guess, as is Val D'Iser/Tignes. Snow cover in December is usually more a matter of how much precipitation there has been, than how high a place is. In some years the much lower, but more eastern, Austrian resorts have had better December cover. But not always. Altitude counts more in late season (at the moment we have 2m at 2000m and grass at 1100m.) The trouble with places like V dI and L2A is that they are very rocky, so it takes quite a bit of snow to cover the off piste. Even in Tignes and Val D'Isere in December you are quite likely to do serious violence to your skis on the off-piste.
Having said all that, you'd be very unlucky not to find good piste skiing in either place - the later in the month the more certain the snow cover, but of course it also becomes more expensive, and more crowded. I had a great week in Tignes, first week of December, but I was on a ski course; only limited parts of the domain were open, but that doesn't matter when you are having lessons. But this last December, I believe the cover was great.
Which adds to the arguments to wait till the last minute and follow the snow. If you are driving, and going pre-Christmas, I can't think of a single sensible reason to book accommodation in advance.
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