Time4atrip

I am looking for a top end luxury chalet in Morzine, the likes of which you find in Courcheval etc. We love the town and ski area around Morzine but are struggling to find any genuine luxury chalets. Does anyone have any advice or has anyone found themselves in this same position? Thanks!

bodory

Have a look at http://www.avorinet.com/chalets

The website is run by the same UK people dealing with www.merinet.com

bodory

Next Monday will probably be one of the best day in the season to ski after all that dump of fresh snow.

barte

Well it was Bodory,
Spend a week in Les Arcs at the Radisson Blu Arc 1950.

Nice place with descent appartment, good in-and-out skiing possibilities with lockers.
Food was not the best inside the hotel, but the Sauna/Turkish Hamam was nice. Jacuzzi and inside pool a little cold, outside pool was off course very cold (but nice after a hamam)

Next stop : Tignes in March

stimpy

Anyone been to Andorra yet this year? I'm thinking of going in a couple weeks. The webcams look good.

barte

Have never been, as it's far for me and the mountains are not that high.
There has been a mayor dump now in the alpes, so that's the place to go this weekend.

SEA-Flyer

I'm at Les Deux Alpes now. First time skiing in the Alps for me. So far, not a fan of it. Visibility has been horrible the last couple days - bad enough to make me nauseous/sick the first day and to skip skiing altogether today. Hoping for better weather tomorrow.

I usually do most of my skiing at Whistler in Canada. When visibility gets poor there at least you have the option to ski the trees, which helps a lot by providing visual contrast. Not much in the way of trees up at this altitude.

Given that I'm prone to getting vertigo/nauseous/sick in poor visibility, with no trees to take refuge in, this is probably not the ski place for me.

stimpy

Wednesday the skiing was great in the morning, but heavy snow arrived in the afternoon and continued all night. Thursday was great with fresh powder at all levels, sunshine and mostly calm winds. Except the 2385m summit where the winds were an estimated (by me) 160kph. The wind gusts actually blew me back up the hill for a few moments. I mounted the summit chair lift in calm conditions and arrived in a hurricane. They quickly closed that lift but not soon enough for me, who was skiing with just a pair of Ray-Ban's covering my face.

We drove back down to France today and it was a completely white winter wonderland throughout the Pyrenees. The main road was closed due the snow so we had to detour through Madame Bourg, but we stopped several times for photo opps. It was absolutely beautiful and the whole area was relatively empty this week.

mgchan

Planning a 5 night stay with my fiancee in Courchevel 1850 in February. It is during the holiday season but unfortunately it is the only time available. I've already booked the hotel (L'Apogee). We are planning to take the daytime train from Paris to Moutiers on Saturday, a car service up to Courchevel, and returning via the same route on Thursday.

For background, we are both intermediate to advanced skiers, comfortable on most single black diamonds in the western states (Aspen, Vail, Deer Valley, etc) but aren't really into trees or back country skiing.

Is the train likely the most convenient option? (Private jet is not an option). I also looked into flying to Geneva or Lyon but it seems like the time traveled would be about the same.

If taking the train, would it be difficult to travel with large bags? We will bring our own clothes, boots, and helmets which takes up one bag. So we probably need at least one large bag or two carry-ons. But we also will be staying in Paris for 8 nights total (before and after our trip) so we would have at least one extra bag that we could leave behind in Paris or take with us, if not too inconvenient.

Any recommendations for ski rentals? Are skis different from those in the US? I have heard that shorter, thinner skis are more common in Europe.

randomtask123

Courchevel during any of the school holiday breaks = TERRIBLE. One of the days it was foggy, add that to the endless beelines of kids = prepare to experience traffic jam unlike nothing you've seen before on the slopes.

Also, it's true that the resort(s) are HUGE, but I had never spent more time in the funicular / trams than at courchevel. I think we spent a total of 30 minutes getting from where we were (mid-couchevel) to val thorens one day.

I would advise changing if it's still possible. We really didn't enjoy our time there.

Having said that, there are tons of bus services that'll take you there. Maybe look into that?

stimpy

If you avoid traveling on the weekends it's not that bad traffic wise. Monday - Thursday is best for your arrival and departure. I go skiing most every February during holidays and it's not that awful. The Alps are a big place and there's areas you can get away to avoid the hordes. The kids are mostly on the bunny slopes and easy runs. And even there it's not horrible as I spend half the day there with my kids. Kids move slow so everyone manages to get along.

That said, 3 out of the last 5 years we've chosen Andorra and it's definitely better crowd-wise.

To the question from mgchan, yes it can be a hassle boarding and de-boarding the train with a large bag, but people certainly do it. However I would advise flying into Lyon and having your car service meet you there. Even if it takes a bit longer it would be much more comfortable for you.

bodory

I know the place quite well for spending there several weeks a year since a long time and frequently travelling there from Paris.

Taking the train to Moutiers is generally the most convenient option (if you leave your private jet + helicopter), but as you plan to travel on a Saturday during school holidays:
- book you ticket the morning of the day the reservations open ; I recommend you to subscribe to www.captaintrain.com/en to be aware of such opening, generally 3 months before departure ; in the evening, all trains might be full already
- have in mind then that trains will be full and everyone will carry a lots of heavy (ski) bags ;
- should it snow a lot that day the trip can become nightmarish but not as much as it would with a car on the roads.

One large bag or two carry-ons is perfectly fine for the train.

For what it’s worth, Paris school holidays will start on Saturday 20th of February and will end on Sunday, 6th of March, meaning the 20th and the 27th will be the worst days to travel from Paris to the Alps.

Alternatively, you can have a look at Transavia flights between Paris Orly and Chambéry airport. Ride time will be one hour as opposed to four and a half with the train but car service will be much expensive.

Anyway, my recommendation is to take the direct train being aware of all possible inconveniences.

One ski shop is definitely located inside the Apogée hotel. Nevertheless, should you decide to rent elsewhere (but why ?), you can go to Bernard Charvin shop, rue du Rocher : service is excellent. In any case, ski service in Courchevel 1850 is very professional.

Do not worry about back country and off piste ski : you will be very comfortable on Courchevel (and Méribel) slopes as they are groomed every night and well marked. I recommend to book a private lesson with one ESF ski instructor for a day (or half-day).

I hope you will get nice weather and sweet snow.

Do not hesitate to ask for more advices.

bodory

Courchevel during school holidays is indeed busy but so is every ski resort in the Alps during that period. Bear in mind that French winter school holidays last four weeks to which you must add UK, Belgium, Netherlands winter holidays as people from there obviously enjoy our beautiful mountains.


As you say, the resort is huge, specially if you subscribe to 3-Valleys ski pass. One would then have access to one of the largest ski area in the World, meaning you will always find a place less crowded that another.

I ski there for more than 30 years and even during winter holidays I manage to find slopes for myself almost anytime of the day. Tricks are:
- ski early
- have lunch early
- ski when everyone is eating, i.e. during 12:30 and 14:00
- avoid main departure areas (Croisette in Courchevel, Chaudanne in Méribel) between 09:15 and 09:45 and between 14:00 and 14:30 as all ski lessons will leave at that time
- book a private ski lesson with to get access to fast track queues at the lifts

A lot of people in Courchevel see going to Cîme Caron in Val Thorens as the Graal and spend indeed a lot of time on the lifts because the miss the point. When going to Val Tho from Courchevel, I personally prefer to take my time to maximise the ski experience rather than the lift one : I go to Méribel through Col de la Loze rather than descending straight to Mottaret through Saulire, climb up to Roc de Fer and go down Saint-Martin, climb back to Tougnète, go down to Chatelet, then Côte Brune chairlifts.

Now if you like lifts, at least those there are very modern!

JOUY31

Excellent points. I have also been going to ski resorts in the Tarentaise area for the past three (or more ;-)) decades, often during the February holidays, and Courchevel is probably the resort where the queues are the shortest among the main ski resorts. Just go over to Les Menuires and you'll see that the queues get substantially longer, even, to a lesser extent, at Meribel.

BTW, 30mn from mid-Courchevel (let's say La Croisette) to Val Thorens, that is fast ! I've never managed that.

stimpy

There are a lot of families who will come from Paris, but Burgundy, Franche-Comté, Rhône-Alpes (Lyon) and other regions represent a whole lot of ski families too and they begin the holiday on February 13th. And there's a whole other set of regions that start on Feb 6th.