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We've booked flights to Geneva in Jan but not looked at accommodation yet.
Any recommendations for best place to base ourselves for a week please? Somewhere high enough to be confident of decent snow coverage.
Group of 5 intermediate skiiers and boarders. Likely self catered so ideally somewhere with a bit of Apres and some food options.
What's Flaine like?
Or are we better looking a bit further away like Meribel, La Plagne or Les Arcs?
Some French options...
Grand Bornard & La Clusaz
Flaine & Grand Massif
Les Contamines
And something a bit less obvious...
Nendaz - easy Swiss train to Sion and bus into resort. Access to 4 Vallees & Verbier, tonnes of cruisy intermediate skiing. Some good value accomodation makes up for high lift pass costs. Couple of supermarkets for self catering after ok prices, no idea about restaurants - it's CH so if you have to ask... Popular with the Dutch but less so with British skiiers. Le Chable also works well with direct lift through Verbier from early until late covered on your lift pass. But down in the valley so less "vibes".
I'd rule out Chamonix/Argentiere as an option - limited range of piste skiing and disjointed nature doesn't suit everyone. Easy to get to from GVA and plenty of accommodation/apres/food options so depends on priorities.
On or off piste?
Morzine but near to the Avoriaz gondola shuttle buses has worked well for me before. Yes I know Morzine is far from snow sure but Avoriaz is a safe bet (normally). Certainly no worse than Grand Bornand and La Clusaz. Morzine also definitely has better nightlife compared to Flaine.
St Gervais also an option but slightly lower altitude but generally ok (just don’t expect the red back to the town to be open). Big area to go at and can get the bus to Contamines (wouldn’t stop there personally as a bit too quiet for my liking but the skiing is fantastic).
I loved Flaine last year, but it was quite quiet in the evenings with most of the Apres Ski coming from the hotels.
There are two bars, and a handful of Cafes/restaurants, but I would suggest looking at one of the other resorts nearby.
What's Flaine like?
I love it. We stayed in Les Carroz for a long weekend as it was only 1 hour from Geneva. Rode Les Carroz, Samoens and Flaine. All linked up perfectly, loads of terrain. I'm a big fan of brutalist architecture so Flaine was right up my street, but even if you're not it's nowhere near as bad as people make out. La Plagne is far uglier as far as I'm concerned
On or off piste?
As much as I'd love to think I'll be doing big missions, majority will be on piste with the odd foray looking for powder.
it's nowhere near as bad as people make out
The majority of my recent trips have been to Tignes, so I'm used to de-prioritising alpine charm
Morzine but near to the Avoriaz gondola shuttle buses has worked well for me before. Yes I know Morzine is far from snow sure but Avoriaz is a safe bet (normally). Certainly no worse than Grand Bornand and La Clusaz. Morzine also definitely has better nightlife compared to Flaine.
I'd love to go back to Morzine now I know the area from MTB trips, but January snow cover has looked pretty poor in recent years. The idea of ending the day with gondola down the mountain really puts me off.
The majority of my recent trips have been to Tignes, so I'm used to de-prioritising alpine charm
It's got a 1970s Roger Moore Bond villain vibe going on.
The majority of my recent trips have been to Tignes
I'm afraid you're unlikely to find better but maybe different. Peisey Vallandry is conveniently in the middle of Paradisski. Nice X-C skiing if you want to try something different and there are a couple of ski touring routes up if you want to try that.
I was staying with White Room in Bourg St Maurice the other week…the chat amongst the locals was that Morzine is done as a winter resort now as the snow never really gets that low down consistently anymore
Did it really take ~3.5+ hours for our coach to reach Meribel from Geneva back in '90, just before the Olympics were held there?
in january there'll be plenty of skiing in the vast majority of resorts - whether you'll need to get a lift up to the pistes or have ski-in / ski-out is the issue. Being somewhere like Morzine or Samoens is possibly a bonus - as valley villages, there's a greater choice of shops for food and beers if you are cooking in your apartment. If you;re out every night, less of an issue to have to pay mountain prices in the tiny supermarkets in resort
I like Flaine and the Grand Massif, spent a lot of time there recently. FLaine is more or less guaranteed to be sk-in/out. We've also stayed in Morillon which has almost always required a lift to reach the snowline, but one you're high there's plenty of skiing
I like Tignes / Val d'Isere and the Three Valleys. I have enjoyed trips to Les Arcs, was less keen on La Plagne for some reason I can't quite identify. We have noticed however that over the past decade (or even the past two decades) skiier numbers have increased dramatically, with an equivalent increase in lift infrastructure to cope with increased numbers. What hasn't massively increased is the ski area, so the number of skiiers per skiiable kilometre has risen dramatically - I understand Paradiski has the highest such ratio in the world, and it feels that way when you ski there. Lots of big wide pistes, but filled with lots of skiiers.
Avoriaz? Self contained and highish.
Flaine was right up my street, but even if you're not it's nowhere near as bad as people make out.
Tell me you mainly ski in France without telling me you.. etc ,;-)
I understand Paradiski has the highest such ratio in the world, and it feels that way when you ski there. Lots of big wide pistes, but filled with lots of skiiers.
Mark88 is going in January, unless that means New Year it's not going to be unpleasantly busy, even Paradiski.
Flaine was right up my street, but even if you're not it's nowhere near as bad as people make out.
Especially if you like Picasso.
Enjoyed La Rosiere this year, smallish, but nice place, a bar for apres (there may have been more but we didn't go there for the drinking, although the 100 Danish teens did). Connects to La Thuile, short trip up the hill from Bourg St M. Minor thing was using a locker at the end of the slopes as the town was away from the slopes (about a 200m walk for us). The connection to Italy was a long drag, so might not be beloved by the boarders.
We've always had decent snow in Flaine around xmas and new year. Some of the best snow has been on the week of the closing parties!
It's a longer transfer than it is from Morillon/Samoens but worth it. Only ever had one week (out of 7) where it wasn't ski in/ski out but the bus service was fine to take you back up the hill in that situation.
La Plange is a pretty epic transfer from Geneva but you're up at 1800m to start with there.
We're off to Les Contamines for the first time this new year so will so how that goes.
We've been going to Flaine for 20 yrs as friends have an apartment there so there's not much of the place that we haven't visited. It's an easy 60-90 min transfer from GVA with lots of transfer companies. Depending when you're going in January you might want to check the dates for the english schoolgirls ski champs as they always at the end of Jan in Flaine which makes Flaine a bit busier. They do tend to stay close to the piste they race on which is a blessing.
Lots of self catering available and some of it is very nice indeed. If you do book somewhere then let me know and I'll give you specifics. Last year Crystal were doing package holidays to Flaine.
