Mont Bisanne, Espace Diamante. France

We came back from the above resort on Monday and I promised littleoaks I would tell them a bit about the place.
Photos can be added later, if desired.

We stayed at the apartment you were enquiring about. Am I allowed to say the name? I have no commercial interest in it. www.skiamour.com
It has 2 bedrooms. One a double and the other a bunk with a pull out lower bed, so will sleep 5. The settee does also convert, but would be a squash.
You can see the apartment on the website anyway, so no need to write more. Except perhaps, to say it was ideal for us as a family of 4.
Parking is free there and is close by.

Bisanne is made up of apartment blocks (attractive chalet style) with a couple of restaurants, a lift pass desk and a lift out of it. You can buy basics in the shop in Bisanne, but there are lots of shops in Les Saisies. We took a lot of food anyway as it was terribly expensive there, as is the whole of France. Not perhaps as expensive as the larger resorts. A small beer is 2.5 euros, can of coke about 2.5- 3 euros. We didn't buy much on the mountain tho so can't be sure of the exact prices. You can easily go back to apartment for lunch and go back out if you want.

Mont Bisanne is about 5 miles by road out of Les Saisies and is linked to several other resorts - Notre Dame de Bellecombe, Praz sur Arly, Flumet and Crest Voland. There is 185kms of skiing in the area which is called Espace Diamante.
You can buy a local pass, just for Saisies area or the pass for the whole Diamante. We got a full pass for 6 days and it cost us 584 euros for a family pass. Photos are required, but they just take a digital image at the cash desk.
The whole area has no Gondolas, most chairs are pretty quick. There are a few drags tho. But most importantly - it was school holidays and there NO QUEUES - at all!!! As the apartment is Sunday changeover we were lucky, the slopes were virtually empty on Saturday.

We saw no other British families in Bisanne itself, though the apartment is British owned. There were British people in the area, just not as many as you get in some of the more recognised names. I think it is more likely you would see Belgians there. Most of the non French cars there seemed to be Belgian. Not a problem for us, the family next door were very friendly. They had 4 children 8 years and below and have been to this resort several times. The children were delighted to show us the badges they were awarded on the last day. If your children are small I get the impression it is a great place to learn.

There were scores of little groups of very small children being led around by the ESF instructors (only saw one littlie in tears and she was with her parents!) There was also another ski school in evidence Glisse Passion. I can't speak for the ski schools though as we didn't use them. We did, however, notice a British group of children aged about 12 and they looked to be having a great time. The instructor was talking them through the slalom and demonstrating how to turn - he wasn't just leading them. He then watched each one through it.

If you had small children and they had lessons in Les Saisies you might want to drive them into the resort in the morning as it is might be a long ski for them. I noticed the family next door did. There is free parking there.
However, the runs to Les Saisies from Bisanne are not difficult and they might want to do it after the 1st day or so. I guess it depends what time their lesson is. The whole resort is full of nice long wide blue runs and some quite challenging reds. There are not many blacks, but what there is are enough to be fairly challenging too.

The run back to Bisanne is a blue. Probably more enjoyable when the snow is not too soft. It got a bit springlike in the afternoon and was quite hard going.
You can tho (and this is a great plus for this apartment) ski straight to the door. It's just off the blue run.
It's also only a very short walk in the morning to the run. Just down a path, skis on and away.

The toilets there are very clean - and they are everywhere as well. They have lots of public loos and one of them disinfects the whole cubicle after every use!
Saw one hole in the ground type one - but next to it was a normal one, so no probs there.

We had a great time skiing there and I know the whole season has been fantastic. We had a chat with a British woman who owns a Chalet in Flumet and she was delighted that the skiing was so good still. Praz sur Arly and Flmet were closed however. But that is to be expected as they are below 1200 metres.

All in all, I think this is a great place for the independent family who wants to organise their own holiday and does not mind if they are are not mixing entirely with people of their own nationality. It is quiet as can be in the evenings tho!

I hope this helps with your decision. if you have any more questions happy to help.


Just adding a bit as the previous question re this place asked about overnight stops.
We caught an 8am crossing with seafrance to Dover and arrived in Les Saisies at 8pm.
On the way home we decided on an overnight stop at Troyes. We left Bisanne at 11am and as we had plenty of time, we went over the Col des Aravis and had a look at La Clusaz and Le Grand Bornand. The waterfalls were pretty stunning across the pass.

We got to Troyes at 7pm and we left at 8am and got to Dunkerque at 12pm. Pretty stress free, the motorway ways were very quiet.

Excellent stuff, well done.

Thanks very much for the excellent and honest review.
Decision has now been made and we are going, week after February half-term.

As far as seeing pics, that would be great but only if you have the time to do so.
I like the idea of the independence, we have booked the apartment, but we are yet to decide on overnight stops, routes etc. This is the bit I like about the DIY holiday - we may take the opportunity to stop off in Paris for a day/night on the way there as we'll have the freedom to do so (just need to see if we have the budget ;) ).

No doubt I'll be glued to this forum now, for tips on DIY Hols, driving abroad, snow reports and just general banter.

Thanks again for taking the time to post your review.
By the way do you know the minimum age limit for the ski schools there at all?

Hi,
The signs we saw for the ESF said they took children from 3.
Certainly there were really small kids bombing down.

The Les Saisies website is very good. There is a webcam and you can view historic pictures, the week you are going was excellent this year.

The webcam Les Rosieres is taken from just below the apartment.
I am pleased my review helped.


http://www.lessaisies.com/
is the website ..(the webcam link is top right) They've had fresh snow. Lucky devils - still, at least we had sun and not rain last week

PrivateBryan wrote:Hi,
The signs we saw for the ESF said they took children from 3.
Certainly there were really small kids bombing down.

The Les Saisies website is very good. There is a webcam and you can view historic pictures, the week you are going was excellent this year.

The webcam Les Rosieres is taken from just below the apartment.
I am pleased my review helped.


http://www.lessaisies.com/
is the website ..(the webcam link is top right) They've had fresh snow. Lucky devils - still, at least we had sun and not rain last week

Well done Private, always quite fancied that area, food for thought, a good report, stand easy :thumbup:

Littleoaks wrote:

No doubt I'll be glued to this forum now, for tips on DIY Hols, driving abroad, snow reports and just general banter.

Thats a distinct possibility

Tony_H wrote:

Littleoaks wrote:

No doubt I'll be glued to this forum now, for tips on DIY Hols, driving abroad, snow reports and just general banter.

Thats a distinct possibility

Who said banter, wash your mouth out, none of that sort of thing goes on here, were British, stiff upper lip old boy, what........ :evil:

Too much General Banter can lead to Corporal Punishment