Valloire or La Thuile for Jan 2010?

A snowHead

Hello snowheads,

Another 'which is best' post.

Bascially I am looking to book a low cost DIY group holiday in late January to the Alps. There is likely to be about 10 of us, with one or two beginners, but the majority are intermediates (from timid to reckless) looking for reasonable milage (say >100km), with a sense of travel over varied and interesting terrain. We are not worried about night life too much, just as long as there are a few restaurants around and a few shops. We want the lift passes to be a reasonable price and the slopes to be quiet, and few/no lift queues too. Ideally, we would like to find somewhere that has low cost SC accommodation close to the slopes/lifts for about £100 per head, as some of us have an aversion to lugging gear too far and crowded ski buses. Bascially, a relaxing, quiet ski holiday with minimal stress and hassle.

Last year we went to Vars/Risoul, and stayed in the PV apartments in Vars. Ski to door, outdoor swimming pool and for less the £100 per head! Lift pass was cheap (£120) too. Really enjoyed the skiing here, but would like to see new places.

So far, I seem to have come up with Valloire/Valmeiner and La Thuile/La Rosiere. If anyone has been to either of these resorts than your comments are welcome.

Valloire seems to fit our criteria, quiet, reasonably priced lift pass, a choice of SC apartments near the slopes for under £100 per head. However, the snow reliability appears to be its weak point. If we went in late January 2010, is there a chance that the lower slopes might be closed? It also appears that the links to Valmeiner can sometimes get shut in bad weather, does this happen a lot? Is it likey that the links could be shut for a full week if storms hit?

La Thuile seems to fit well with the skiing criteria but I am struggling to find any good value accommodation. I think I would prefer to stay in La Thuile rather than La Rosiere, but open to suggestions. I have heard mixed reviews regarding the planibel apartments, great location next to the lifts but tired inside and not exactly cheap. Are there other options that I cannot find? Also, the links between La Thuile and La Rosiere appear to be affected by bad weather, and I have read some reviews which suggest that it does get windy there and most chair lifts can be shut during high winds, severely limiting the available pistes.

Another option I have considered is Serre Chevalier, which again fits the skiing criteria but accommodation appears a little more expensive and few places are convinient for the pistes/lifts.

Can anyone provide insights to these resorts or suggest others?

Thanks!

A snowHead

carettam, there's some brilliant new apartment in Serre Chevalier within a couple of minutes walk of the pistes. Not many of them are available through UK tour ops though.
Try the MGM and Best Western apartments in Chantemerle, Arts et Vie in Monetier-les-Bains, and Pierre et Vacances in Villeneuve . Erna Low has a selection of properties here . and if you fancy DIY to Monetier, can find you accommodation for 10 using two apartments in Chamoissiere, which is in Monetier-les-Bains. PM me for details.

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

Oh dear, I promised myself to try not to be negative.

I hate La Thuile. If you offered me a free holiday there, I'd give it away in a shot. More than likely to someone I really didn't like.

The Planibel apartments.....................I would never go back. Four people in an "apartment" half the size of my garage.

The night life is rubbish. I think the "Sport" bar ( Confused

) and "La Bricole" ( Skullie

). Rubbish.

Rubbish mountain, rubbish digs, rubbish nightlife.

Out of the two (if you're that limited), pick SerChe.

The only good thing that came out of it was that it made me realise there must be better. And I started to organise my own trips.

John.

p.s. These are completely personal opinions blah blah, yes, you have the right to call me to task, but sorry no, you'll be talking to the hand.

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If you fancy Valloire / valmeiner, it;s worth checking the snowtrex website, they have some pretty good prices for s/c apartments & lift passes, However it seems to be a german website / company and as such the rentals are aimed at people driving down, so don't include towels / bedding etc

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I can field this one quite well I think since I went to Valloire (well, Valmeinier) Feb 09, and went to La Thuile Feb 08.

Valloire is great. La Thuile/La Ros are crap. Search for posts I've made about them both...

There. Go to Valloire. Simples.

I've been to Serre Che as well, but that was ages ago when I was a beginner and I don't feel qualified to comment.

Snowtrex were good to us for the Valmeinier trip. If you do end up going to La Thuile (hey, horses for courses) then PM me for the s/c (non-Planibel) apartment that I used which was decent and cheap.

nbt isn't strictly accurate about Snowtrex. Bedding was all provided. Not towels though.

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Eeeep! I seriously hope La Thuile isn't crap. I'm going there in March! Puzzled

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

After all it is free

BCjohnny, I seriously hope not. It's my one ski trip of the year. It's going to be great!

To be fair, we obviously don't all agree on ski resorts. For example, I didn't like La Plagne but lots of people rave about it. I guess it's all down to individual requirements from a ski holiday. I'm not been to la Thuile before but from what I've read it seems a good resort for me, although I might miss the lack of nightlife. But then again there was very little nightlife in Passo Tonale and I still had a great time there.

queen bodecia, it has some great, challenging resort runs, and some top lunch stops.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

queen bodecia, sorry, it's not polite to poke fun. Even light-heartedly wink

.

Any slope time is better than the alternative, so no doubt you will have a great time.

Enjoy. John.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

I am just glad I asked on here! Everyone has different requirements from a ski resort but I hope I stated my requirements clearly. My instinct was telling me Valloire, I was just concerned with the snow record. Paulio, was the snow decent earlier this year, and were the links between Valloire/Valmeinier always open? I seem to have found a few good deals on accommodation through skihorizon, anyone stayed in the Vallee d'Or residences?

snow reports

carettam,

Suprised your concern about Vallire is the snow record, I have been skiing there for years and the only year the cover has ever been (really) bad was 2006, when it was pretty poor everywhere. 2007/8 and 2008/9 were both greats seasons, lots and lots of snow last Jan and the resort gen stays open until late April. As for the link to ValM, yes it can be closed when a storm socks in, but that also happens everywhere, in my experience the link has never been closed for more than 2 days.....and if the winds are that high you prob want to be in the trees on the valloire side rather than being blasted on the open slopes of ValM. Its a great place! snowHead

You know it makes sense.

Having stayed in Valmeinier (albeit yonks ago) I would have thought that the Valloire side was a lot better base, and that if you couldn't make it to Valmeinier for some of the time (or even all of it) then you really wouldn't be missing that much. But my memory of it all is, I admit, a bit hazy.

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

Haven't been to Valloire, but have been to La Thuile 3 or 4 times, and I love it. Incredibly varied skiing over a big area, perfect for intermediates, with a good number of cruisey blues for the beginners/timid. Add in that your lift pass covers you for Courmeyer, Pila and one or two other places in the Aosta valley.
For the reckless/more advanced you can do the Vallee Blanche from here, and they also have an impressive heli skiing operation too. Lots of off piste possibilities locally on top of that, with a good snow record. It's a high resort, with excellent grooming, so even in a bad snow year, they make the most of what they get.

The town itself is very pleasant, although the Planibal complex is a bit grim. I've usually stayed an the Hotel Du Glacier - really quiet family run place. Its about a 4 minute stroll to the top of the nursery slope from there, where you can ski down to the gondola/chairlifts. Nightlife is very limited (in a good way), with a couple of pleasnt bars (La Cage in particular), and some really great restaurants and pizza places. Eating on the mountain is OK, nothing special, but no rip off prices either.

Only about a 90 minute transfer from Geneva or Turin too.

Enjoy!

A snowHead

A snowHead

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

Lots of intermediate pistes sounds perfect for me. Proper blacks and off-piste are something I avoid at all costs. If it scares me, I stop enjoying it. Went to Courmayeur last season and really enjoyed the skiing there. Someone in our hotel said the skiing was similar in La Thuile, just more of it, which sounded ideal to me.

I'm staying open-minded. And excited. Only six months to wait!

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queen bodecia, We went to La Thuile with chums a few years ago. It was fine. Great views to Mont Blanc, and nothing horrendous or scary. The trip back from La Ros did have a long drag lift back, but apart from that I recall having an ok trip, and was fairly timid intermediate then so not desparate for any black runs or scary stuff. We stayed in the big hotel that is part of the planibel. The rooms were ok as I remember, and the 7 course all you can eat buffet for dinner did get pretty well hammered. It was a bit rubbish for nightlife, and although we were a group, we were starting to crave a nice quite bar. 'Highlight' of the week was guessing what that particular evening's 'Animaticiones [scuse the spelling] was going to be for the kids so you could avoid them.

carettam, am a big fan of Serre Che. You will not get bored there, and if you do, you can always head down to La Grave [if you are a hairy scary skier]. Their P&V apts are about a 2 minute walk to the Pontillas lift in Villeneuve, and as Helen Beaumont, says, there are MGM apts in Chantemerle. Cannot remember horrendous queues anywhere there - certainly not at the end of January for sure! Villeneuve has nice places to eat in the older part. If you want a cheapish hotel to stay in you could try Maison du Bez, which is in Le Bez village above Villeneuve. http://www.hotel-dubez.com/ The owner [Tina], a Swede, is very nice, and they also have apts next to the hotel. There is a fab 10 person one, with rolltop bath. We've stayed in the 8 person one, and you have cosy fire, decent cooking and plenty room. Bez is just above the main Villleneuve village, [5 - 7 min walk] and would guess in Jan you can ski to the Pontillas lift from the back of the hotel over the field. The rooms are clean and basic, and you get a good breakfast. There were reports they had changed chef last season, but the evening meals were pretty good too when we were there a couple of winters ago. The hotel also has a nice serve yourself bar, and there are also a few restaurants in Bez itself. Very quiet. ESF is of course bookable in resort, and we have used Gavin Crosby at Eurekaski in Monetier for lessons.
IMO better than La Thuile by miles.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks JimSearle and Paulio for your info on Valloire. It is reassuring to know it is a great resort with good snow and it confirms my initial thoughts that Valloire is a better base than Valmeinier.

Also, thanks to Helen Beaumont and MarjMJ for info on Serre Che. I think this is a good second choice but I am still struggling to find accommodation for under £100 per person, although the PV apartments do come close. The skiing looks great!

Thanks all, you have helped me lots. I think Valloire is winning, not a bad word so far. La Thuile seems like it could be good, the skiing sounds like it might fit my group but I am struggling to find decent SC apartment type accommodation and I think I prefer the look of Valloire's piste area.

Thanks!

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Went to Valloire about 2 years ago end of season, end of March 2007 and stayed S/catering with Inghams. Brilliant understated resort, with a feeling of being in rural France more than a ski resort. Good quiet pubs, good quality snow, little queuing. Lift system could do with tweeking and getting rid of a few long draglifts. I would definitely go again. Cool

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

After all it is free

To balance the votes, I wouldn't return to valloire especially not with a group that wants to 'travel' - I took total and 1 week beginners there in 06 or 07 (admittedly a bad snow year) and they were all rather sick of the slopes by the end of the week - I would be quite happy if I never see that 12km(?) blue, or the big fast lift in the centre even again - i started to get a permanent deja-vu feeling! On the plus side you don't need to arrange to meet up - give it an hour or so and you usually run into each other at least once at the lifts Wink

Not been to la thuile mind... aj xx

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Valloire or La Thuile for Jan 2010?

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