 Poster: A snowHead
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Does anyone have any suggestions for quieter resorts in France during the French school holidays?
We are travelling the w/c 7th Feb which I understand is not the busiest week (only zone B apparently in France and not a school holiday in the UK) and were hoping to avoid long queues.
For the past three years we have gone to Portes Du Soleil but are not sure what it will be like at this time of year.
Any advice / suggestions would be much appreciated.
Cheers
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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La Toussuire, Le Corbier or St Sorlin d'Arves in Les Sybelles, which is actually a pretty big ski area, Serre Chevalier, Puy St Vincent as a start. Depends what type of resort you want really, there's loads of options, but yes recommend avoiding Portes du Soleil although that will be quieter that the really biggies (i.e. Meribel, Val d'Isere etc.)
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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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Well our place is in a little known French resort where there are really no British TOs at all. But the queues throughout the French holidays are - as far as I'm concerned - unacceptable. The whole of the rest of the season there are essentially no queues at all and we can have whole pistes to ourselves. Although I am generally a fan of small French resorts I would really suggest you look elsewhere if that is the only week you can travel. I don't know what things are like in Austria, Italy or Switzerland at that point but there are plenty of snowheads who do.
We go home for the 4 weeks of the French holidays.
If you absolutely have to go then, and really want to go to France, then I think you might do better to go somewhere like Val D'Isere where the lift system is exceptionally good at getting huge numbers of people round the mountains. My son spent a season there and said you could always find some good skiing if you avoided a few well-known bottlenecks and knew your way around.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Is there a particular reason why it has to be France? I've found that skiing in Italy, Switzerland or Austria to be a much better bet in Feb than France, and generally cheaper too (OK, there are a few exceptions here, especially in Switzerland).
With the exceptions of Chamonix and La Grave I'd be happy to never ski in France again to be honest. I did a season in Val d'Isere a few years ago, and I'm not sure there was anywhere you could avoid queueing at half-term, but maybe the lift system has improved since then.
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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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Sainte Foy. No queues, ever. Not even behind the locals on powder days (well, maybe a little...  )
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Richy Rich, Morillon. you might say I would say that as I have an apartment there but when I've been there at half term with my own family and other families with children, the place is a delight. A nice holiday feel but no lift queues. I think the longest time I waited for the chairlift was 2 or 3 minutes and that was only for a 20 minute or so period when the ski schools were departing in the morning. Outside of that time there were no queues. Also the prices don't seem to be as high as I've faced in bigger French resorts. Finally, last Saturday's Guardian put Morillon top of a list of the top 12 family-friendly ski resorts. So it is not just me saying it.
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You could try the Pyrenees. Flights into Toulouse Saturday AM with BA, and short transfers of 90 minutes.
Though busy during the French school holidays the resorts of the Pyrenees are nothing like as busy as the corresponding weeks in the Alps.
As the market here is mostly French, to get the best experience from your holiday it is about understanding the French and how they spend any skiing day. For example they are generally not too interested in the early lifts and usually are trying to get onto the mountain just before 10am when the ski school starts (purchase lift passes in advance and ski quiet slopes early in the morning). Between 1200 and 1400 even in the holidays the slopes are relatively empty as the French flock to the restaurants or Salle Hors Sac for their lunch. (Stop for a hot chocolate or vin chaud at about 11.30 then ski through until 2pm for a later lunch)
With a choice of resorts you can have a good holiday without too many queues and one that costs on average up to 20% less than their alpine counterparts.
For information the resorts of Superbagneres, Peyragudes (Central French Pyrenees) and Baqueira Beret over in Spain have fantastic snow.
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| Quote: |
Stop for a hot chocolate or vin chaud at about 11.30 then ski through until 2pm for a later lunch
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Absolutely. That's what we did the only time we skied here at half term (because of visitors with kids) and then we gave up when they all poured out of the restaurants for the afternoon ski school sessions.
It's not just lift queues. In places where the lifts are very efficient (the Flaine Bowl is an example) they just get horribly crowded pistes instead.
But another thing to understand about French holiday habits is that by Easter, they're into biking etc - not skiing. Easter is very much less busy.
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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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Richy Rich, La Rosiere.
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| Quote: |
Richy Rich, La Rosiere.
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Gets monstrously busy at half-term. Mahoosive queues for the critical lifts over to Italy. Overall, not bad by French standards, but I'm spoiled.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| stevomcd wrote: |
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Richy Rich, La Rosiere.
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Gets monstrously busy at half-term. Mahoosive queues for the critical lifts over to Italy. Overall, not bad by French standards, but I'm spoiled. |
Agree. Having been there at Easter, when the queues were bad enough at Les Eucherts in the mornings and at the link lifts to Italy were busy. Also the pistes coming home from Italy in the afternoon were ridiculously busy. Going to Italy is an essential part of La Rosiere imho.
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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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The growth of Les Eucherts has made the resort a busier place. The Les Eucherts Express could do with more chairs on the wire. It ios basically the same high speed six pack as The Roches Noires out of La Rosiere front de neige but runs at 1800 pph as opposed to the 3000 pph of the Roches Noires.
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We were in La Rosiere for half-term last year and were impressed by how quiet it was. There were some queues during the week but nothing too significant. stevomcd, yeah, one of those to Italy could be busy if you timed it badly but none of the others seemed too bad. Coming back from Italy was always OK for us.
When I worked in Serre Che and Deux Aples we barely skied at half-term because of the queues (that was a while ago tho', so I guess I'm not comparing like for like).
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You know it makes sense.
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You could try the Pyrenees.
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Not wanting to criticise the Pyrenees as I have never skied there and want to give them a go sometime but friends of ours who live there go over to Austria for their Feb break as they got fed up with the queueing in the Pyreneean Feb break.
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