Les Deux-Alpes or Trois Vallees?

Hi -

I'm looking forward to my annual ski pilgrimage (mid-late January) to Europe. Last year, I spent a very nice week in Chamonix, and this year I'm trying to decide where to go. When I travel, I like to experience different mountains each day, so I'm considering either big areas such as Les Deux-Alpes or Trois Vallees.

A little bit about me - I'm a fairly advanced, all-mountain skier, but I particularly enjoy long, fast, cruising runs. I'm not terribly interested in night life, but I do like good restaurants. Finally, I'll be flying into Geneva and will be renting a car.

Given all of the above, can anyone provide any recommendations about a good, multi-faceted, multi-mountain area?

Many thanks for your insight!

Hi,Schneider.
Firstly L2A is a long way from Geneva.
I quite like L2A but at 220km of pistes it is relatively small - certainly compared with 3V. I also find the skiing quite "samey".

Nearer to Geneva you could consider Portes du Soleil as a big area, though not as well linked on skis as 3V.

Also worth a look could be Paradiski - La Plagne and Les Arcs. And Espace Killy of Val D'Isere and Tignes.

I would rate any of the above 4 higher than L2A on size, variety, snow conditions.

My preferences for a mid/late Jan holiday would be........
1 - 3V, and consider Meribel Mottaret as resort choice.
2 - Paradiski. Personally I love Peisey Nancroix, small village with easy links to both Les Arcs side and La Plagne side.
3 - Espace Killy. Tignes can be bleak in bad weather.
4 - Portes du Soleil - don't know this area as well as the others.
5 - Les Deux Alpes. In my view a really good second rank French ski area (others I would class as first rank) but affected and limited in bad weather.

OA
:-)

Hi Schneider, I agree with the ranking provided by Old Andy. While I like L2A and the villages, I think you will find L2A limiting for an entire week. If you have a car you would likely also visit Alpe D'Huez and Serre Chevalier to satisfy cravings for more variety. I personally prefer AdH as a ski base for this area but this is likely just a matter of taste.
Overall I think you would find that the Three Valleys holds far more to interest you for an entire week and no car required for exploring as everything is interconnected. It is quite a feat to completely ski out the 3Vs in a week especially if there is a nice dump of snow while you are there. Les Arcs and la Plagne (Paradiski) also a good choice. Cheers,Yaro

3 Valleys is a great fit for your skill-set - there's some great steeps, some scary off piste and a few well documented on piste "circuits" that will satisfy your fast cruising cravings with full days of skiing all points of the area

Restaurants are also well served in all the resorts with Courchevel in particular having once been (and may still be) renowned for having more Michelin starred restaurants than anywhere else in France bar Paris

Meribel is probably a better base as its more central but there are peeps on here who can tell you more about it than me

Thanks very much to all of you for your helpful information! Based on your advice, I'll be going to 3 valleys this winter.

Go and stay in Meribel. The town is nothing special but for ease of access to the whole of the 3 valleys it is hard to beat.

Hi everyone - one more quick question for the group - thanks in advance for any guidance.

I see a couple of very different lodging options for Trois Vallees:

1. Stay in a town out of the valley (such as Brides-Les-Bains or Moutiers) and take a shuttle (or drive) to a different base area each day, or
2. Stay in the middle valley (Meribel), and take lifts/cable cars to the other valleys

The advantages of #1 would seem to be cost, flexibility, and not running the risk of missing the last lift back to Meribel at the end of the day - the car/shuttle gives me a lot more freedom. Naturally, this might be somewhat lacking in apres-ski, but that's not too important to me. Plus, the hotel costs in Courcheval, Meribel, and Les Menuires are pretty outrageous.

The best analogy I can come up with is when I go to Salt Lake City - I usually stay in town, and drive up to a different mountain each day.

Thanks again, and greetings from bone-dry California!

Your plan of staying in the valley may be attractive.
Brides les Baines has the advantage of a long bubble up to Meribel (40 mins I think) but then has the "catch the last lift back" scenario.
You could drive and park at Courchevel 1300 Le Praz or Meribel. It is a long drive up to Val Thorens, but St Martin de Belleville is the lowest access point in this valley.
In January you could run into weather issues. Lots of snow overnight could make driving up in the morning interesting or impossible and mean you getting very proficient very quickly in using snow chains.
You would also have to factor in car parking charges and availability (don't know what these are).
Depending on what type of accommodation you prefer (catered, hotel, apartment....) there are good value options available up in the mountains.
I wouldn't worry about the getting the last lift back to your valley at the end of the day - gotta be a real numpty or get stuck in a bar on the beer for this to be a real issue.