Briançon or La Foux d'Allos

Looking to travel to Austria or France for a week of skiing over new years with 5 others. You can see my Austria post here: http://www.j2ski.com/ski-chat-forum/posts/list/15045.page

So one member of the party is quite keen to go to a place about 2km south of La Foux d'Allos. I'm assuming there is a bus or something when skiing. 2km is not far to walk at other times. Although in this environment (away form the action) do you create your own fun with others staying?

Another place that was brought to attention was Briançon/Serre Chevalier. I've seen a good offer for a spacious self cater but the place looks close but is in fact about 1.5km away from the ski lift/bus as you need to walk in the other direction to descend the hill (may need to create our own path). Would you hire a car in this situation? Is Briançon the sort of place where you'll be able to have a few beers at a pub? Also is there much going on for new years? Are there plenty of taxis operating?

There are alot of questions in here. I apologise for that but any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated.

Briancon - nice old working town with plenty of bars and restaurants, particularly lovely up in the old walled town (Unesco site)
Fantastic skiing area, the nest of it over the top from Brinacon above Chantmerle, Villeneuve and Monetier. Good bus service between valley stations. I'd buy a place here if i had the money.

It looked nice when I passed through there a couple of weeks ago...very busy and there was lots of snow...If you were to have transport its an ideal position for having a ski tour very near the Montgenevre Sauze Claviere area and the other way to La grave..(about an hour)...a few companies do packages so its not totally Brit free

Dont know LFd'A.
Enjoyed one hol in Briancon Jan13. At Parc Hotel. Used Le Centrale pub every night! Cheapest in Briancon recommended by scouse transfer driver. He was spot on! Very lively, compact & near to plenty of ressies and no hill to climb. Oscar is the main man! Old town is up a very long steep hill. We only walked it once to use posh restaurant! Serre Che is superb for skiing. Shuttle buses great. Agree with other comments. Only had a coffee in other parts of Serre Che when skiing. They looked a bit more like normal light-hearted ski holiday resorts than
Briancon but it suited us five blokes very well.
Montgeneve is only @ bus ride 20 minutes away. Be careful re use of Serre Che skipass in Montgeneve. Milky Way is another big ski area. Dont think many people could make Sestriere & back to Briancon in one day. You would have good fun trying!?, Good luck,
Reg

As I am sure Tony H and a few others will concur Serre Che is a top resort. Its ski area although not vast by 3 valleys standards is all interlinked for 250kms across the 4 main villages. Free Ski buses transit the route about every 15 mins if you get tired and want an early bath!! Serre really has everything, several greens, excellent and challenging blues, proper reds and even Off pisted but posted blacks. Apres is good and cheaper than a lot of France and the locals are friendly. Try La Grotte or The Frog. Monetier has outdoor sauna/spa/pools thingies for a change and there is sufficient good off piste to satisfy most. Never stayed in Briancon but several rate it. I think the Station Bar, brit owned is in Briancon?

I'd actually suggest avoiding la grotte, it really is GROTTY. Otherwise it's a truly superb ski area

La Grotte was a bit rough and ready but it had a great atmosphere. Saw a terrific band there called Muntfinger (check 'em out on You Tube ;-) ). We had been chatting to the lead guitarist/singer the previous evening and when they came on, with his face painted and looking like a cross between Kurt Cobain and Marc Bolan, my immediate thought was, 'You'd better be good to carry off a look like that, lad.' They were brilliant! The Clash, Cream, Thin Lizzy, Hendrix, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, RATM....; they could play anything, and play it really well! The place was absolutely banging. In stark contrast to Le Frog, where there was more life in a tramp's vest! The owner of La Grotte was a good egg, too. He also had The Station at the bottom of the slopes in Chantemerle. He played/sang in The Harper Brothers,a comedy/pub-rock band that really got things warmed up straight off the slopes. They even gave us a lift back to Villeneuve in their van after their gig. Aah, happy days! :-D Now, there's another resort I must get round to re-visiting.