Sainte Foy Tarentaise: does anyone know it?

We are going there soon and would be interested in any recommendations for good skiing areas / restaurants / mountain cafes / spas, etc.! We can travel to nearby resorts too. We are average intermediates and hesitant off-pisters!

Thanks in advance.

Yes!!

I went there last season. The first few days the ski was limited due to the lack of snow, however one eveningabout a metre fell and the skiing was fantastic. If you go up to the very top the long ski to the villiage is brilliant. The off piste skiing is also fantastic - what sainte foy is famous for.

Places to eat - there os an excellent Italian in the town centre, after that it is a bit limited. Th restaurants in my opinion were very overpriced. Cant say I ever had the need for a spa etc so i cnat comment on that.

ONe thing I will say is that the guysin the ski shop - cant remember the name - it is as you come into the resort - are really helpful. Evenn let me borrow a pair of ski boots for a couple of days while i had problems with mine.

A great holiday, also in driving distamce of Tignes and Val d'isere so alternative skiing is available also. The lift pass entitles you to 1 day in that area.

Have a great holiday

Thanks, Iceman! We're really looking forward to our trip, especially learning how to ski off-piste properly this year. We'll check out the ski shop you recommend too.

Cheers!

hi,
Ste.Foy is delightfull little ski area with pisted runs totaling around 25km,with excellent off-piste (although it is imperative to use a guide when skiing off piste,the immediate off piste down lower is not too difficult with the right equipment and knowledge,but as soon as you venture up higher a guide is essential as avalanches and fatalities do happen)after all ths is where the guides from tignes and val d'isere go on thier days off,also they take thier clients here aswell.

The ski area has only been developed over the last 10 - 13 years or so,and has become one of the worst kept secrets in the alps due to media coverage,on the slopes there are two main restauarants at the mid section with the restaurant Leon being the best and bookings for lunch are advisable,at the bottom of the pistes is a great restaurant also which serves fantastic local cuisine.

At bottom there are a few bars serving the accommadation and chalets,a good one is Chez allison run by english couple allison & mark.Further down the road in the village of ste-foy-tarentaise is the hotel la monal which is very lively and sometimes has a live band playing.

From ste.foy there are several ski resorts within 20 -25 minutes drive being val d'isere & tignes,la rosiere (which is linked to la thuile in italy),les arcs arcs & la plagne and about 3/4 - 1 hour further down the road and reached via moutiers is the three valeys resorts aswell.The quickest way to reach the les arcs ski area from ste.foy(ski station) is to take the road from the ski station down to the main valley ,turn right and go towards ste-foy-tarentaise,when you reach ste-foy-tarentaise there is a sharp left which is sign posted Villaroger/Le Pre,take this road past the ste-foy cemetary and follow it t villaroger,carry on through the village square and out the otherside,you will then come to a junction which caies on round to the left or goes straight over and is posted La Ferme/ Le Pre Derniere,follow these signes (most of these are hand made)and the road will take you to a large car park at the back of Le pre,the chairlift is about 100 metres from the car park and from the ste-foy ski station should only take around 10 - 15 minutes,the other alternaive is to drive all the way down to the funiular station in bourg-st-maurice.

For good places to eat in the area,La Ferme in Le Pre owned by michelle and his family serves excellent local cuisine(bookings advisable),The Auberge du Montagne on the main road between La Thuile(not the one liked with La Rosiere but a small village located on the main road at the junction which takes you p to the ski station of ste,foy) and ste-foy-tarentaise,below ste-foy-tarentaise on the road to Bourg-saint-maurice is the Auberge Le Perce Neige in the village of Viclaire (about 10 - 15 minutes away) and in Bourg-saint-maurice itself is the Hostellerie de Petite Saint Bernard ,La Refuge Alt.810 , La Savoyard (all will require booking).

A three course meal with wine followed by cheeseboard/biscuits with coffee,brandies,whiskey or genepi to finish can be had for between 12euro's to 25euro's per head,in fact i cannot think of anywhere in the area you will not have a good meal (although do beware as the local police are clamping down on drink driving a lot more on friday evenings and saturdays ,mainly due to local workmen having a few swifties on the way home after work).

hope some of this is helpfull and wish you all the best for you're trip.
jon.

Wish I had known where to get such a meal for the price?? I found it very expensive for what you get - I am very used to paying inflated prices after spending many holidays in Tignes/Val D/Val T/Courcheval etc.

La Ferme was probably one of the best value for money, but others were overpriced. So much we ended up eating in....very unknown.

But each to their own I suppose

hi Iceman,
sorry to hear of the slight downside of the restaurant prices you found,i have spent the last 10 years skiing in the tarentaise area and have owned an apartment there since 2003,so fortunately i have been able to take more time in finding or have been reccommended by others places to eat that a lot of people who may only be in the area for a week or two do not get the chance to try. As you rightly say about the steeper prices in places such as Val & Tignes,these can be high( i can remember when the franc was still in use and buying five large beers when the exchange rate was not good and spending the best part of £26 in Val,also the euro is not great at the minute either which does not help i am afraid).

If you decide to visit the area again please do not hesitate to contact me via my website and i will be happy to reccommend some restaurants etc.

many regards
jon.

Thanks so much, JonG, for your amazingly detailed reply and to everyone else who has contributed so far. I wouldn't have believed there was such a font of knowledge out there - all for free! Brilliant.

Janet Evans wrote:

We are going there soon and would be interested in any recommendations for good skiing areas / restaurants / mountain cafes / spas, etc.! We can travel to nearby resorts too. We are average intermediates and hesitant off-pisters!

Thanks in advance.  

very nice resort, no queues for lifts. Not over endowed with with places to eat, only three in the resort. Nice piste,very good off. Not so good for beginners. Only one green run. We love it, been twice this year.
Dont bother to go if you want to spend all night
listening to loud muscic, drinking and dancing. Its not that sort of resort.

Thanks, Richard. We're now back from an excellent week at Sainte Foy. I agree with you: the lack of queues was fantastic after so many years spent waiting at the bottom of lifts!

Restaurants: we were in a catered chalet so only had to eat in a restaurant once. Chose 'La Maison a Colonnes' which was excellent. Also had a nice lunch at Chez Alison.

The resort seems to be overrun with us Brits, so not authentically French! Unfortunately off piste was pretty tracked out so we decided not to venture away from the pistes this time. But we really enjoyed ourselves and may well go back another year!

Thanks again to all who posted their comments.

Janet

Glad you enjoyed it. We did Chez Alison -0 is great there