Any suggestions? Preferably with a decent snow record and reasonably priced B&B accomadation.
Cheers
Loads of places, Chamonix valley, Portes du Soleil (Morzine, Avoriaz, Les Gets), etc. You can get to the Italian side of Mont Blanc as well in less than 2 hrs.
second Portes du Soleil.
for good value accomodation try some of the smaller villages from which you would need to drive (or take the skibus) to the main lifts, such as St. Jean D'Aulps which also has its own lifts and smaller runs.
Aye, Portes de Soleil, huge skiing region. Only about an hour away.
morgins is nice in switzerland (i used to live there ;-)) and just over the border into france chatel is nice too both not too far from the airport about 80 mins iirc and youve the whole portes du soleil to play in
Me and the missus have just booked a room in a chalet in Val d'Isere - £679 each, 4 star, half board. There are certainly cheaper places around, but we thought this was pretty good. Have a search on Iglu Ski if you're interested.
Val-d isn't everyone's cup of tea, but the Espace Killy is hard to fault in my opinion.
Must try Portes de Soleil in the future though, heard good things.
Cheers, Rich
Pick anywhere. It depends what you want.
If you want away from the (British) crowds try La Clusaz, Grand Bornand, anywhere in the Espace Diamant (google it). Megeve/St.Gervais and the satellite resorts are great. Areche Beaufort is fantastic. Hauteluce has great quiet skiing. At 9am on an April power day there were 2 cars in the carpark. Ours and the lift operator's. Magic.
I haven't tried La Sambuy as it closes at the end of March, but I'd give there a shot too.
IMO avoid Chamonix. Busy, congested and limited piste skiing & poor value too. Off piste is another kettle of fish, but if you were after that you wouldn't be asking...
In fact, I'd add Les Sept Laux and Margeriaz (an amazing 'find') to the list. I've had a 3 year campaign of avoiding skiing more than 1 day in one place over the Easter Holidays. Over the last 3 years we've visited 33 different places in France so I've skied at a fair few. There are many FANTASTIC small resorts out there that don't show on the main UK ski radar.
Me and the missus have just booked a room in a chalet in Val d'Isere
Val d'Isere is [i]not [/i]within two hours of Geneva
Val d'Isere is not within two hours of Geneva
Depends on how you're travelling 😀
Point taken though, closer to 2 1/2 hours to Val d.
Cheers, Rich
Morzine is lovely, but not very high up so is vulnerable to poor snow. We ended up having to take the bus and cable car up to Avoriaz every day.
>Good places to board / ski within 2 hrs of Geneva
(where have the "quote" buttons and all those gone?)
Are you serious Steve? That's like saying "good places to drink in That Manchester" or "Good places to ride in the Peak District"
Try Flaine. Only an hour from Geneva. Can talk more on saturday 🙂
yes of course you will want to take the cable car up the hill from morzine 😉
but there's much more choice of places to stay than in avoriaz, and it's no great hardship to get the cable car (unless you are miles out of town I guess).
Les Houches just outside Chamonix also seems to be fairly unknown to Brits despite being a great little place IMHO. Cham itself is overrated I think, lots of disparate little areas and not so good for intermediates.
Megeve is also nice but expensive and also not so high.
ransos - Member
Morzine is lovely, but not very high up so is vulnerable to poor snow. We ended up having to take the bus and cable car up to Avoriaz every day.
morzine is minging as a town compared to other ski resorts. some great snow when i was there for a week this year though. in fact the best powder i have ever ridden, and i have about 50wks of riding experience so it all dependes on luck really!
ransos - Member
Morzine is lovely, but not very high up so is vulnerable to poor snow. We ended up having to take the bus and cable car up to Avoriaz every day.
morzine is minging as a town compared to other ski resorts. some great snow when i was there for a week this year though. in fact the best powder i have ever ridden, and i have about 50wks of riding experience so it all dependes on luck really!
Try pleisure.co.uk you will not find better any where all for a more than reasonable price, tell them Dave sent you !
You got it spot on TroutWrestler. I can personally only speak for Morzine in that region, but my brother in law has been going skiing twice a year for 25 years and has been everyhwere. He rates St. Gervais more than anywhere and wont stop talking about it.
morillon or flaine. Great places, not used by brits that much so there's a lot less cocks. In fact in Morillon everyone speaks french and no english, it's great! Snow is a bit pants lower down but is excellent once you're up in the grand massif.
Hmm Sept Laux is fantastic. I've a real soft spot for it. But it is only 40 minutes down the road 😆
Try pleisure.co.uk you will not find better any where all for a more than reasonable price, tell them Dave sent you !
I'll second Dave's recommndation and elaborate - They're based in Courchevel in the Three Valleys. Food and value for money are unreal.
Tell them Ed sent you. As well as Dave obviously.
peachos - Member
morzine is minging as a town compared to other ski resorts. some great snow when i was there for a week this year though. in fact the best powder i have ever ridden, and i have about 50wks of riding experience so it all dependes on luck really!
Well, if you think that a proper town with normal, non-skiers living there, good restaurants, no stalinist apartment blocks and a great atmosphere is minging then each to their own, I guess. I've been to ski resorts in Italy, Austria, Switzerland and France, Morzine was by far my favourite. Sadly, the lack of snow ruined it.
I went to Les Arcs this year - the snow was the best I've ever experienced. We had over a foot of fresh powder fall in the week we were there!
Ovronnaz, Valais.
Stunning.
Wait until last minute and see where the snow is best! I normally do! Morzine I had their best season in 25 years last year! still not been there in the winter though.
Samoens - Links you in to Flaine (which no one has mentioned so far, but has one of the best snow records)
Flaine always reminds me of the nearby village of 'Carroz des Arraches' or similar which, according to Mrs Mugsy used to be 'Arraches des Carreaux' (french grammar letting me down...)which literaly translates as 'Rip off the Tiles' so it got changed to 'Tiles off the Rip'
But... I digress.
(and someone has already mentioned Flaine)