 Poster: A snowHead
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We are thinking of buying an apartment in Samoens and would be grateful for any info and advice, good or bad, on Samoens. Many thanks.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It's a very pretty village.
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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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I've only been to the village in summer, and is certainly lovely then. I've enjoyed the skiing in that area (from Flaine) too - am I right in saying that you would need to download in the telecabine to Samoens which is just a slight misgiving really.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Lou, That is correct. We thought it would be a negative on the week we had there but actually it made no impact on the holiday overall. Infact in some ways it was better because when we did occasionally over indulge slightly in the bars at 1600 we were much safer taking the telecabin down rather that skiing down to the base!
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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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northantsred, I'm not always last down but I do quite like to have a drink somewhere on the mountain, in the sun, and come down at my leisure without worrying about lift closing times. But that's only a small thing in the scheme of things (and only in spring obviously) and I wouldn't base my resort choice on that alone 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Snowshower, In my opinion a truly great resort, becuase;
> Less than an hour from Geneva,
> No hairpins to get to it (great for children)
> Retained French Charm
> SOme fantastic restaurants
> Not too expensive
> Large ski area (4th largest in the world aparently)
> Good snow record
> Good ski-bus infrastructure
> Developing "Summer" business, there is already some and they're growing it
True that the downside is that you can't ski home, but there are 3 or 4 good bars at 1600 for a cheeky beer at the end of the day.
One word of warning when looking at apartments check out how easy it is to get to the ski bus stop.
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Had a place in Samoens for 7 years and it is fabulous. Ideally I don treally want anybody else going there as it is slightly in danger of overload. Skiing is great and so are th elocals and the local brits. Suggest you do it pronto.
Cheers Ian
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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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Great base for skiing but in many ways even better in the summer. I'd choose it over pretty much anywhere.
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Agree with the above, lovely little place. Apart from the bubble down the other thing is the accommodation, generally is a wee bit away from said telecabine
You can of course ski down the Cascades to the wee bar at Sixt or to the pub at Morillon and get the bus back. One night at Morillon we missed the bus and the publican gave us a lift home
If I was buying in France Samoens or St Gervais would be top of my list.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Fifespud wrote: |
| If I was buying in France Samoens or St Gervais would be top of my list. |
Ditto 
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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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Pretty devastated at the moment, rang to put in an offer on the apartment we saw and someone had already beat us to it. If anyone knows anything for sale please let us know as we are back to square one.
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Snowshower,  Try to think that it wasn't meant to be and that the one for you is still waiting
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You know it makes sense.
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Snowshower, sorry to hear that, but i expect others will come up in your price range. We are going there for half term, and have been in both summer and winter. It is a proper village, not just there because of ski ing and easier to drive to them other places which is also a bonus.
Good luck on the flat hunting
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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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Snowshower, Don't know exactly what you are looking for (new, old, size etc) or your price range but I know that MGM are building in three locations in Samoens. I think 2 are outright purchases and 1 a leaseback development. We have an MGM leaseback apartment in Le Grand Bornand and have found them a very good company to be involved with - anyway, if you are interested the website is
www.mgm-constructeur.com Good luck and keep positive.
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Poster: A snowHead
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loatie, thanks for the link. Would love an MGM apartment but afraid they are too expensive for us.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We saw another apartment a couple of days after we missed the first one, and put in an offer, which was accepted. We went to see the Notaire a month ago and have heard nothing since although we have tried to contact him. We are beginning to think something strange is happening!
When we were in Samoens we asked about an apartment for sale, the Estate Agent refused to show it to us. He made excuses and told us it wasn't suitable for us even though we thought it sounded ideal. We thought this was odd at the time. It is beginning to feel like there is a conspiracy against us buying in Samoens, are we being paranoid or has anyone else experienced similar?
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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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Samoens is certainly a lovely place. Would happily spend time there at anytime of year. Skiing is great in Flaine and Morillon (one of the best greens I've skied!). However, Samoens 1600 (top of the gondola) looked like it had seen better days and skiing from there and Les Carroz seemed to involve lots of link runs from what I remember.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Snowshower, Which estate agent are you going through? Have you paid any money?
FS
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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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Freestyle, no we haven't paid any money yet.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Snowshower, How is your purchase going? I can recommend Agence immo 2000 and a notaire by the name of Tissot in the centre of the village...
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Freestyle, we went to sign the Compromis de Vente yesterday but there was a hiccup. The apartment was advertised with a parking place but it wasn't mentioned on the Compromis so we didn't sign, they are looking into it.
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| Quote: |
If I was buying in France Samoens or St Gervais would be top of my list.
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Double ditto
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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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Just looking to book to go to Morillon (next door to samoens) so same skiing but I hope easy access to slopes as staying close to telecabine. Anyone know anything about Morillon and its access into Grand Massif ski area?
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just a little... are you staying at Morillon 1100 or Morillon Village?
It is one of the 5 resorts of the Grand Massif....... Used by the locals for cloudy days as there's some interesting full below the tree line.... also some great flowing blues and reds above the treeline............... a 7km green thrown into the mix....... lovely hidden off piste areas too.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| marcellus wrote: |
just a little... are you staying at Morillon 1100 or Morillon Village?
It is one of the 5 resorts of the Grand Massif....... Used by the locals for cloudy days as there's some interesting full below the tree line.... also some great flowing blues and reds above the treeline............... a 7km green thrown into the mix....... lovely hidden off piste areas too. |
We are staying in Morillon village, at Le Morillon. Skiing sounds good. How easy to link it to rest of Grand Massif
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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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Morrillon is pretty well linked into the GM. the village is pretty low at c700m altitude but is skiable home for most of the season. Otherwise a bubble gets you down. Posted above Morillon and Les Carroz are good. Just two lifts required to return from Flaine.
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bondski, We stayed in Morillon last new year great accessability to grand massif lots of fab runs around carroz. We went over to Flaine twice but be careful the link closes if high wind so watch notice boards if you get stuck over there it's an hour back by road. Would definitely recommend it. 
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You know it makes sense.
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Thanks for these replies. Area sounds great and really looking forward to going. Just hope that we don't get high winds, we have the last 2 years, so we should be due a good year this year.
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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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snowmam, If you were stuck in Flaine how did you get back?. there is no scheduled bus. Do they provide an "emergency" service?.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Basil, a couple of options ...... you can get to the top of Flaine and then down Cascades to Sixt..... other than that try some of the Transfer companies who specialise in the Grand Massif as they often end up doing the run round from Flaine to Morillon/Samoens.
Or I think there's a late bus which does the route
Or a taxi!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Snowshower - only just joined Snowheads and spotted your original message. We are in the process of buying an aprtment in Samoens ( expect to complete at the end of this month ) and made the original offer at the end of August so I hope we weren't the ones that beat you to it !
Re your other question about conspiracies - we also purchased through the Immobiliere Immo 200 and Phillipe who dealt with us has been superb and extremely helpful. We are also using the Notaire Tissot that Freestyle mentioned and so far he's been great too.
Great to hear back from you.
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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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Basil, We didn't get stuck in Flaine were prewarned to keep an eye on the boards. No need to go to Flaine anyway lots of fab skiing around morillon, samoens, and carroz.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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AlexS, just got back from Samoens. It wasn't you who beat us to it, it was a young French lady. We have since had an offer accepted on another apartment but we were told it had a parking place, which it turned out that it didn't, so we aren't going any further.
Whilst we were in Samoens we looked at more apartments and have put another offer in but are still waiting to hear.
Can I ask how long was it before you signed the Compromis de Vente? It was six weeks before it was ready for us to sign which we thought was a long time. Notaire Tissot was the Notaire for the sellers but we used another nearer home.
Is your apartment in the centre? Good Luck, hope everything works out well for you.
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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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Just an update, we have signed the Compromis de Vente today, so fingers crossed now that it all goes smoothly. The sellers want to complete before January which suits us fine.
AlexS, have you completed yet?
Would love to hear from anyone in Samoens.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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As I have already said I really like Samoens but am I alone in being slightly underwhelmed by the far side of Flaine?
A lot of the runs in the bowl are a bit samey for my liking and the cafe at the top is badly in need of an overhaul. Mixed, very smelly and dirty toilets. The Cascades is fine one or twice but I couldn't be bothered with it more often than that.
The area from Flaine back over to les Carroz and Samoens is cool though.
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I know this is a long shot but does anyone own an apartment in Le Clos Moccand, Le Parc aux Biches in Samoens?
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Just an update, fingers crossed, we are signing the Acte de Vente on Friday. We will need a sofa, can anyone recommend a local store? We are so excited, Friday can't come soon enough.
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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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You wont get a sofa in Samoens. Tanninges has some shops including the very grand Marcelly but there is a more middle range shop on the main road from Tann to Cluse. Also one on the left hand side as you head into Tann from Samoens. Conforama and BUT in Cluses have quite wide ranges and are cheaper or cheap - just down to taste or budget. If you want to have some classic alpine feel go to Cocktail Scandinave in Chamonix. Often very good value and quality for all furniture. If you looked at any MGM show aprtments during your search it would have been furnished from Cocktail Scand.
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Thank you Ian, some good recommendations there, I think we will look at Cocktail Scandinave first.
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