Please help me find a quaint ski village in France
Aug 15th, 2005, 10:42 AM
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Please help me find a quaint ski village in France
My husband and I are planning a week-long ski vacation to France in late January (flying from LAX). We're in our early 30's - I'm an intermediate snowboarder, he's advanced. We're looking for an alternative to the larger, more glitzy resorts of Chamonix, Megeve, etc. A smaller, quaint village that's not overrun with international skiers - a place that still feels very French. We don't need exciting nightlife. Apres ski for us is wine in the hot tub followed by a long meal. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Aug 15th, 2005, 11:01 AM
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Anywhere in the Serre Chevalier ski domaine would be just great for you. My family (adult children, husband, and I) spent a week there in 2000. It is really a kind of "best kept secret" since few people outside France go there. Briancon is the largest town along the valley, which consists of 9 or 10 villages. Briancon has a fortified old town with charming streets, shops, restaurants. We stayed in Briancon, right across the street from the Mont Prorel ski lift, but the little inn there did not have hot tubs. There are places that do.
Serre Chevalier was recommended to us by All Mountain Vacations (www.all-mountain.com) because it is a traditional resort, very different from most of the French ski places, which are ugly concrete monolithic types of places. We loved it; the people were very friendly, the food was good and hearty, and it was a super week even for my husband and me, who don't ski! There were some quaint little nearby villages to explore.
In addition to Briancon, the names of some of the "larger" villages are Chantemerle, Monetier, and one other I can't remember the name of.
It is a perfect place for those who want great skiing w/o glitzy apres-ski. It is fairly far south in the Hautes Alpes, but the slopes are north facing. I'm so happy to be giving this info to someone who seems to be looking for exactly a spot like this!
Check it out; a couple of the websites are www.serrechevalier.com and www.briancon.com. There are other links, I'm sure, also.
Wherever you go, have a wonderful time!
PS Serre Chevalier is the home of olympic skier, Luc Alphand (back in the early 90ies, I think); he still lives in the area and owns a microbrewery.
Serre Chevalier was recommended to us by All Mountain Vacations (www.all-mountain.com) because it is a traditional resort, very different from most of the French ski places, which are ugly concrete monolithic types of places. We loved it; the people were very friendly, the food was good and hearty, and it was a super week even for my husband and me, who don't ski! There were some quaint little nearby villages to explore.
In addition to Briancon, the names of some of the "larger" villages are Chantemerle, Monetier, and one other I can't remember the name of.
It is a perfect place for those who want great skiing w/o glitzy apres-ski. It is fairly far south in the Hautes Alpes, but the slopes are north facing. I'm so happy to be giving this info to someone who seems to be looking for exactly a spot like this!
Check it out; a couple of the websites are www.serrechevalier.com and www.briancon.com. There are other links, I'm sure, also.
Wherever you go, have a wonderful time!
PS Serre Chevalier is the home of olympic skier, Luc Alphand (back in the early 90ies, I think); he still lives in the area and owns a microbrewery.
Aug 15th, 2005, 11:04 AM
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Aug 15th, 2005, 06:02 PM
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Surf e, I doubt you find anyone on this forum who can answer your question. In the 3-4 years I've been posting here, I've only found a couple of people who know about SC, and then it was mostly for summer travel. (BTW, the Tour de France went through Briancon a few weeks ago)
I'd just check the websites, search hotels, chalets, and email to see if they have the amenities you want. I hope you can find a jacuzzi, b/c I think you would love Serre Chevalier/Briancon!
If you want a real snowboarding challenge, hire a guide (a must!) and spend a day at La Grave, where the famous and treacherous off-piste mountain, La Meije, is located. My son and son-in-law did this, and it was a thrill-of-a-lifetime snowboarding experience. Look it up online, also. It's about 45 min. by car from Briancon, closer to villages at the other end of the valley, such as Monetier les Bains.
I'd just check the websites, search hotels, chalets, and email to see if they have the amenities you want. I hope you can find a jacuzzi, b/c I think you would love Serre Chevalier/Briancon!
If you want a real snowboarding challenge, hire a guide (a must!) and spend a day at La Grave, where the famous and treacherous off-piste mountain, La Meije, is located. My son and son-in-law did this, and it was a thrill-of-a-lifetime snowboarding experience. Look it up online, also. It's about 45 min. by car from Briancon, closer to villages at the other end of the valley, such as Monetier les Bains.
Aug 15th, 2005, 06:10 PM
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The website for the Hotel Edelweiss in La Grave says it has a jacuzzi, sauna.
www.hotel-edelweiss.com
www.hotel-edelweiss.com
Aug 18th, 2005, 07:18 AM
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Very interesting thread on SC. Never heard of it before.
Looks nice. My only reservations would be as follows: Although villages look really cute, clearly SC is marketing purpose-built idea to brink skiers in the area: SC 1500 to SC 1200, which I guess refers to the altitude (am I correct) and there is no single village from which all the sloped depart.
Ad in terms of accommodation, the offer of SC seems to be lacking for anything more luxurious than a *** stars. A *** stars in Paris or Provence is not the same as a *** stars in a less touristy place in the countryside. That would be my main concern: France is an amazingly beautiful country with top-notch accommodation facilities. But when the French does it cheap, it is really really really cheap.
Thanks again for letting us know about this resort.
Looks nice. My only reservations would be as follows: Although villages look really cute, clearly SC is marketing purpose-built idea to brink skiers in the area: SC 1500 to SC 1200, which I guess refers to the altitude (am I correct) and there is no single village from which all the sloped depart.
Ad in terms of accommodation, the offer of SC seems to be lacking for anything more luxurious than a *** stars. A *** stars in Paris or Provence is not the same as a *** stars in a less touristy place in the countryside. That would be my main concern: France is an amazingly beautiful country with top-notch accommodation facilities. But when the French does it cheap, it is really really really cheap.
Thanks again for letting us know about this resort.
Aug 18th, 2005, 10:59 AM
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Radial, I'm not sure I understand your concerns about the villages and ski lifts. There are lifts from Briancon (1200m), Chatetmerle (1350), Villeneuve (1400), and Monetier (1500)
Check out map http://www.inghams.co.uk/scripts/dis...p;brochure=ski
There are not luxurious hotels in the area; I would, however, recommend Auberge Mont Prorel, where we stayed (a 2 star), except that it did not have a jacuzzi, which surf encinitas specified wanting. It was right across the street from the ski station in Briancon, and it was a very charming, family-owned hotel. We had private baths, and the demi-pension included a hearty breakfast and dinner, with typical-of-the-region fare. It did not differ in quality from 2 stars in Paris except that it was less expensive, and the ambiance was rustic Alpine. SC may not be glitzy, but it certainly is not shabby either. It is a perfect place for families, IMO.
This ski domaine will probably become better known with the upcoming winter olympics because it is not all that far from Turin; Briancon is only a few miles from the Italian border.
Check out map http://www.inghams.co.uk/scripts/dis...p;brochure=ski
There are not luxurious hotels in the area; I would, however, recommend Auberge Mont Prorel, where we stayed (a 2 star), except that it did not have a jacuzzi, which surf encinitas specified wanting. It was right across the street from the ski station in Briancon, and it was a very charming, family-owned hotel. We had private baths, and the demi-pension included a hearty breakfast and dinner, with typical-of-the-region fare. It did not differ in quality from 2 stars in Paris except that it was less expensive, and the ambiance was rustic Alpine. SC may not be glitzy, but it certainly is not shabby either. It is a perfect place for families, IMO.
This ski domaine will probably become better known with the upcoming winter olympics because it is not all that far from Turin; Briancon is only a few miles from the Italian border.
Aug 20th, 2005, 10:22 AM
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Great info Grandmere! I'm going to check it out. Do you think there will be snow around Thanksgiving? I realize it all depends on the weather that particular year, but in general do you have any idea when the ski season starts?
Aug 20th, 2005, 05:31 PM
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Ronda, I think it would be very iffy to count on skiing in Nov. at Serre Chevalier. If you look on a map, you will see that it is pretty far south in the Alps. It really gets going, in general, from Christmas on. I checked the website and webcam everyday the last 3 weeks before we went since we were at the other end of the season, mid-March. The snow was great up high, but it got warmer as the week went by, and the lower slopes got slushy. This can be one of the great aspects of skiing SC, that it isn't so freezing cold yet the snow is good. My husband and I would meet "the kids" on the slopes for lunch, and we ate outdoors in short sleeves.
This said, the next year I was checking ski sites to see how SC was doing snow-wise, and it and the other southern domaines got more and better snow earlier than the more northern resorts all over Europe. It's the same old; you can only go by averages and hope for the best. The reason we did this trip was because of an article on skiing in Europe in our local paper here; it said if you want more dependable snow, ski the US, but it went on to list the advantages of skiing in Europe with all the local ambience, different cultures, food,etc.,and I'm so glad that we did. Might be a long time before another such family trip for us to some place so far away , since we now have a grandchild and probably more on the way, son is married now, etc. Just logistically more difficult to do with toddlers, etc.
My son brought his skiboard, my son-in-law his skis, and my daughter rented skis there for the week, right next to the ski lift in Briancon (Mont Prorel), literally just across the street from our little hotel, Auberge Mont Prorel.
We flew into Milan on Delta, from PIT through JFK. All Mountain had arranged for us to be met by a driver in a van, and the trip took around 3-4 hours. I think flying into Geneva or Lyon would make more sense. You can get a train from Lyon (or Paris--a long trip), and it can be done from Geneva, I think. The van transfer was a pretty expensive part of our package. Otherwise, a ski trip to SC could be "relatively" inexpensive since the hotel was very reasonable and the lift ticket for the week was much less than we pay here in W. Pa. And of course, in 2000 the dollar was doing a lot better than it is now!
I see this terrible grammatical error in my first post on this thread; how could I have said "for my husband and *I*. Yikes--and how come I'm only seeing it now.
If there's anything more you'd like to know, Ronda, I'd be glad to help if I can. I'm sure you will have a wonderful time!
This said, the next year I was checking ski sites to see how SC was doing snow-wise, and it and the other southern domaines got more and better snow earlier than the more northern resorts all over Europe. It's the same old; you can only go by averages and hope for the best. The reason we did this trip was because of an article on skiing in Europe in our local paper here; it said if you want more dependable snow, ski the US, but it went on to list the advantages of skiing in Europe with all the local ambience, different cultures, food,etc.,and I'm so glad that we did. Might be a long time before another such family trip for us to some place so far away , since we now have a grandchild and probably more on the way, son is married now, etc. Just logistically more difficult to do with toddlers, etc.
My son brought his skiboard, my son-in-law his skis, and my daughter rented skis there for the week, right next to the ski lift in Briancon (Mont Prorel), literally just across the street from our little hotel, Auberge Mont Prorel.
We flew into Milan on Delta, from PIT through JFK. All Mountain had arranged for us to be met by a driver in a van, and the trip took around 3-4 hours. I think flying into Geneva or Lyon would make more sense. You can get a train from Lyon (or Paris--a long trip), and it can be done from Geneva, I think. The van transfer was a pretty expensive part of our package. Otherwise, a ski trip to SC could be "relatively" inexpensive since the hotel was very reasonable and the lift ticket for the week was much less than we pay here in W. Pa. And of course, in 2000 the dollar was doing a lot better than it is now!
I see this terrible grammatical error in my first post on this thread; how could I have said "for my husband and *I*. Yikes--and how come I'm only seeing it now.
If there's anything more you'd like to know, Ronda, I'd be glad to help if I can. I'm sure you will have a wonderful time!
Aug 24th, 2005, 10:57 AM
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As an early 30's snowboarder myself and also into the quiet night life. May I suggest you consider staying in one of my favorite chalet areas, the Le Fornet or Le Laisinant area of Val d'Isere. These quieter section, far removed from the center at the end of the valley so no traffic through, but still has easy access to all the varied terrain and great lift system (important to snowboarders) that the Espace Killy has to offer. These areas of Val d'Isere have the typical architecture and french village feel rather than the huge apartment blocks of other resorts. There is even a farmer's market once a week. The place is so large that it is not that crowded really (late January is not peak season, not peak until beginning of Feb when European children have their winter school breaks). Far fewer British go to Val d'Isere than to 3-Vallees, Chamonix, etc.
Or you could also consider Sainte Foy
just down the road. This would give you the option of staying in a smaller resort yet close to Tignes, and Val d'Isere and Les Arcs if you want a day trip.
http://www.valdisere.com
http://www.saintefoy.net/
Or you could also consider Sainte Foy
just down the road. This would give you the option of staying in a smaller resort yet close to Tignes, and Val d'Isere and Les Arcs if you want a day trip.
http://www.valdisere.com
http://www.saintefoy.net/
Aug 29th, 2005, 11:54 PM
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I also agree that Serre-Chevalier, charming though it might be, is not totally attuned to snowboarders' needs: the lift system is not extremely integrated, and it is quite South and not very high, which, in this era of global warming, means taking some chances, especially if you are coming all the way from California! Plus, it is not easy to get to, the night train Paris to Briançon being the least dodgy option. This is why, if I were you surf encinitas, I'd stick to the more charming resorts of the Northern Alps, such as Les Arcs, some parts of Val d'Isère, Morzine, Arèches. Look for a starting altitude of at least 1,500 m.
