skiing in France during French school holidays. Bad idea?

Good morning!

Just after some advice regarding skiing in France during the French school Holidays.

We're thinking of doing 5 days at Chamonix but our dates slip right into the French school hols.

Will it be mentally busy? Has any one skied there during the late Feb school break?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

T1b

T1berious wrote:Will it be mentally busy?

Probably. 8)

However... Chamonix is not the only option. You'll be much better off picking somewhere the Tour Operators don't tend to go (so cross off all the mega resorts and anywhere really popular with us Brits).

T1berious wrote:Has any one skied there during the late Feb school break?

Yes, much against my gut feeling... we did half-term two years ago. And it worked fine.

Do this :-

- Fly (or drive) mid-week (at least, avoid the weekend); flights are cheap and roads will be clear. Also, going mid-week to mid-week means you ski on Saturday when everyone else is stuck in traffic going up/down the mountain.
- Pick a proper "French" resort that's not on the TO radar.
- Plan your ski days to stay away from the town and other bottlenecks. If you have a car then drive to an "out of town" lift or satellite station.
- Enjoy!

We booked mid-week flights to Geneva 2 weeks before (easyJet £100 return, instead of £400+ each for the Saturday) and thought we'd arrived at the wrong terminal... :lol: it was deserted! We went to La Clusaz (we do that a lot!) and stuck mainly to the slopes away from the town so barely queued for a lift all week. The town was certainly busy but the skiing was great.

Great advice, we're flying out on a Thursday and back on a Tuesday.

So, we can safely say it will be busy?

We looked at St Anton for the same dates and all the hotels were booked pretty solid!

Cheers for the info. We're just flying and doing a transfer. So no driving at all.

Cheeers,

T1b

T1berious wrote:So, we can safely say it will be busy?

8) ...but manageable.

We looked at St Anton for the same dates and all the hotels were booked pretty solid!

T1berious wrote:So no driving at all.

In which case be a little wary of getting around the Chamonix Valley (if that's still your preferred option). The buses are fine when it's quiet but something to avoid in half-term (Ranchero may know different as he's a local?).

What sort of skiing are you looking for?

First holiday of the season so I'm going to say a mixture of pistes and maybe a bit of off piste near the end once we've got our ski legs.

We once made the mistake of going during the French school holidays. Our first few days were before the holidays began and it was bliss, we pratically had the lifts, pistes and restaurants to ourselves. Then the school holidays began and it completely ruined our holiday, never again. All our holidays now are taken between school holidays - cheaper anyway!

T1berious wrote:First holiday of the season so I'm going to say a mixture of pistes and maybe a bit of off piste near the end once we've got our ski legs.

Ok, have a look at La Clusaz but try to be out of town; La Balme and Etale sectors have good lifts straight into some great slopes - Etale never seems to get busy although everyone heads for La Balme if the snow's poor down low. The off-piste at La Balme is tough to beat (very accessible and can be as challenging as you like).

Also, Le Grand Bornand is worth a look but aim for Le Chinaillon. Best when it's cold (a couple of steeps and occasional powder fields on l'Achat) but interesting pistes in any conditions.

Maybe look at some of the satellite stations to place like Alpe d'Huez (Oz?) also, although the transfer from GVA is longer / more expensive.

Anne Cochrane wrote:We once made the mistake of going during the French school holidays.

Which resort Anne? Makes a lot of difference.