 Poster: A snowHead
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Already looking at booking for next year - what is Tignes like? I believe it is relatively snowsure? I am thinking of going next March.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Tignes is my favourite by a long way.
Snow sure
Great pistes of all grades
Massive skiing area
The face de Belvarde black world championship run
Ski in ski our accommodation readily available
Good restaurants
Generally good lifts and very few buttons and tees
Two glaciers
I was there last month and had a great time. I also spent my first ski holiday there.
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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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Yes, it is relatively snowsure and a tremendous ski area with an excellent lift system. But, you need to know the cons as well as the pros. Some of the cons are
in the first half of March it will be pretty crowded - French school hols
it's crowded quite a bit of the time, compared to some places
it's ugly
It is very high and bleak - great if it's warm weather, not if it's cold and/or windy. e.g. forecast down to minus 33 with windchill up the top this coming week.
It's ugly
The restaurants are very expensive (and that's just the cheap ones).
it lacks charm
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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Direct answer: it IS snowsure in march without any fear
Nightlife etc shocking. If you are fit for bed at 9- that won't worry you.
How would architecture influence your enjoyment of a ski holiday, unless you like to have 3 hour lunches soaking in atmosphere rather than skiing?
It is such a fantastic ski area- I am guessing if you are concerned re snow conditions your priority is to ski, so hard to beat Tignes
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ugliness doesn't bother me that much (after all, I look in the mirror every morning!)
I would be going round about the middle of March (16th maybe) - are French school holidays still on then?
Snowsure obviously is important to me. Its all looking good except I am reluctant to pay very high French prices. In France, I've been to Les Deux Alpes and La Rosiere and found them both to be expensive.
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jb1970, I really rate the skiing in Tignes but nothing else TBH. Fine for most, but the skiing alone isn't all that makes a holiday/trip for allot of people who are recreational skiers. Some people have issues living/sleeping at the higher altitude villages, you won't know how you will manage until you get there unless you've been somewhere and stayed at high altitude before.
Food and drink is expensive (like most of main stream France). It's one of those domains I think everyone should sample at least once in their ski career, allot of people won't go anywhere else. I usually try and get an annual trip in.
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| jb1970 wrote: |
| In France, I've been to Les Deux Alpes and La Rosiere and found them both to be expensive. |
Tignes is likely to be at least as expensive as those resorts, and probably more expensive. There are cheaper and more expensive places to eat and drink so you can get lots of advice about avoiding the priciest places, but I doubt you'll think it's cheap.
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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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If you are really concerned about architecture, than maybe VDI might be better. I just think the runs directly down to Tignes are generally way better than to VDI. I am think santons and the face in late afternoon which can be bad.
Yes it isn't the prettiest, but I think it I better than it used to be.
If you want snow sure in March, then surely you have got to be above the tree line. If you call that bleak, then fine. So you can have trees and slush or decent snow with no trees.
What about Les Arcs 1950. High and pretty looking resort.
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| Quote: |
If you want snow sure in March, then surely you have got to be above the tree line. If you call that bleak, then fine. So you can have trees and slush or decent snow with no trees.
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Mid March, when the French school holidays finish, is NOT late season. I'd go to Tignes in late April, or mid December, or July, but not in mid March when there is a huge range of places with good skiing. There are plenty of places with access to higher skiing, should you need it, but also with trees and a choice of environments. Last year was the only year in the last ten seasons when skiing around 1600/2000m in the northern French alps has been getting ropey in mid March. Last year, it was definitely spring conditions by then.
jb1970, if you want to keep the costs down, stay in a catered chalet and avoid going out to bars at night. If bars at night is an essential part of your holiday then you'll find a pretty limited choice of expensive venues in Tignes, I suspect. The lift pass is very expensive too - but then the EK is one of the premier ski venues in the world. You'd hardly expect it to be cheap. As Grizwald notes some people struggle with poor sleep at high altitude - you don't have to sleep at 2300m to have access to higher altitude skiing!
I'm not saying Tignes is a bad place (I prefer it to Val D'Isere personally) but it's right that you get a rounded picture of the pros and cons.
I'd say Tignes will be markedly more expensive than either Les Deux Alpes or La Rosiere. But most people would agree that it has better skiing than both!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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just back from val d'isere, tignes' partner resort in the espace killy. queues were not a problem at any point despite it being the final week of french half-term. the odd 5-10 minute wait but that was the exception. french holidays 'should' be finished by the time you want to go but as i said, it was fine. being so isolated, it doesn't get the local day-trippers that many lower resorts get.
even with the insanely warm week we just had, there was still plenty of piste at altitude for good quality snow, due to access to 2 glaciers. we skied everything possible but tried to keep high in the afternoons, often lunching in les brevieres. if you're looking to ski from first to last lift, there aren't many better ski areas to guarantee you'll be kept occupied and happy.
re cost, we had a catered chalet so i got through the week on EU300 cash. that included a blow out meal on the staff's night off, a bit of apres ski (but when the wine's included in the chalet price, no need to go overboard) and some enjoyable lunches.
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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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| pam w wrote: |
Yes, it is relatively snowsure and a tremendous ski area with an excellent lift system. But, you need to know the cons as well as the pros. Some of the cons are
in the first half of March it will be pretty crowded - French school hols
it's crowded quite a bit of the time, compared to some places
it's ugly
It is very high and bleak - great if it's warm weather, not if it's cold and/or windy. e.g. forecast down to minus 33 with windchill up the top this coming week.
It's ugly
The restaurants are very expensive (and that's just the cheap ones).
it lacks charm |
This is spot on.
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We stayed at the Hotel Diva, not the best hotel there by any means, but comfortable and clean. Food ok, you would not go hungry and as an added bonus you could choose a "free" packed lunch each day. The house wine was acceptable and reasonable. In March you could have a piste side picnic every day, keeping your costs down. There is a restaurant in the hotel too, and you are allowed to eat there one night as part of the deal. It does fondue, pierrade (cooking on a hot stone) and raclette 
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You know it makes sense.
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Ugly - maybe - look the other way or look out of one of the buildings!
Expensive - yes there are some expensive rip offs - but plently of reasonably priced places for lunch (burger fries etc E10) and dinner (E30 for a 5 cse set meal).
Quality of ski area etc been discussed.
Lift pass on a par with all the other large resorts (cheaper than paradiski and icludes entry to the pool and ice rink every night
800 of us Brits have chosen it as our permanent ski base.
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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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Poor mans Val d'Isere really, go there and ski Tignes slopes as well.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Not poor mans - just a different set of people - you like one or the other - nothing wrong with that!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I've been to Tignes and Val D, both times in a catered chalet. In my opinion it made absolutely no difference whatsover which one I stayed in. I really enjoyed both.
The skiing is fab, and in my experience you will cover the same areas, regardless of whether your bed is in Tignes or Val D.
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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 can't bring myself to recommend Tignes. Not because it's anything other than fabulous, but because I'd like fewer people in my preferred playground!
Fabulous skiing, great variety of terrain and, if you look around, you can still get a Menu du Jour for EURO13.
I've never quite got to grips with VdI - I just think Tignes has a nice feel to it. And the nightlife might not be world class, but I've had plenty of enjoyable evenings in the Alpaka, Couloir, TCs etc.
That said, the architecture is naffing ugly.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I thinl the thing about skiing is everyone has different expectations and that's why they like different resorts.
Personally, I do not get how “ugliness” could possibly come into equation.
If you are serious about your skiing, want to get as much out of your precious week as possible, and are reasonably advanced, Tignes cannot be beat
If I was less serious, got tired more easily, didn't like to ski if it was cloudy etc., I think I would appreciate somewhere with better atmosphere (for record, ambiance is grand in val claret, to be fair le lac is a bit depressing).
But for late March, not only is Tignes snowsure, but you can expect good quality snow, near all good runs incl steep and ungroomed blacks to be open, massive area and massive variety, excellent lift system (so you spend minimum time on lifts, maximum time skiing). Quid pro quo for high and bleak is best snow, and snow when rain is falling in lower resorts.
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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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What is this constant nonsense about Tignes being ugly????
In my view an ugly place has some of: open sewers, slag heaps, derelict factories, potholed roads with abandoned vehicles, industrial effluent in the water, abandoned blocks of flats with broken windows, feral animals in the streets. Tignes has not a single one of these things. The absolute worst that can be said about it is that there was a slight over enthusiasm with the readymix when it was first built and even that has been greatly toned down in more recent years. There are few trees except on the runs down to Brevieres it's true, but if you want trees you have to be below the tree line and then you're not snow-sure.
Believe me, if you had been dragged up in Oldham you would NEVER call Tignes ugly!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Maybe... And the point about the trees is well made.
But yes it is ugly.
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Thanks for your responses. I am not a great skier but enjoy it, so my days are more important than nights out (not really big on going clubbing or pubbing). Ugliness of a resort doesn't bother me. I think I may well consider going to Tignes in March next year.
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FAQ
I went quite a long time ago now and enjoyed my holiday but I'm not in a big hurry to go back in winter. I'd consider it for a long weekend of glacier skiing pre-season (if I had enough pennies!) but that's just my choice.
