Best places without needing a car or bus

Most importantly, how long is your trip, what level of skier are you, and how important is nightlife?

I'll probably do a 10-day trip, or maybe two full weeks, depending on what package deals I can find. I'm likely going by myself, since the person I was going with changed their mind, and the rest of the people I know don't seem to ski. This means I'll probably be using a hotel, rather than a chalet or apartment. For nightlife, I'm not really looking for all-night partying. I think those days are behind me, and I'm just looking for a good meal, a couple drinks, and maybe some live music--most likely done for the night by midnight (yes, boring).

I've skied for many years, usually at least one trip a year to western US/Canada. While great areas, after many years, I was looking for something different. Plus, since I live in the Boston area, flying to Europe is really no different than flying out west. I can ski most conditions--even though I take trips out west, I grew-up in northern New England (and still ski there on weekends) amongst the much lower elevation White/Green mountains, so I've certainly done my share of skiing on ice, and don't require perfect powder.

My main thing is I have a bad knee that acts-up many times (especially after skiing on ice Dec-Feb), so that usually dictates whether I end-up doing a "cruising-only" trip, avoiding most blacks. Nowadays, I try to plan for places that have good advanced terrain that I can do if my knee permits it, but the important thing is to make sure that there are moderate run-outs and alternate paths available, so I can still get home if my knee blows-out. That was one of the things that concerned me with Val d'Isere, which I was first strongly considering, but someone said there are no moderate run-outs back into town.

Thanks,

michael

but how about Samoens on the Grand Massif ...nice little village and a free local bus (5mins) round to the lift station

I was looking at Grand Massif too. Actually, I was looking at the original four I posted, plus Grand Massif, as well as the 4 Vallees/Verbier area in Switzerland. Then, trying to assess all the areas along with the 50 different villages amongst them, I ended-up with information overload/paralysis and stopped looking at things for a couple days...

I then decided to post in a place like this to better assess things. I figured it was better to pare it down to four areas before posting, though, but I'm open to anything, including Grand Massif or the Verbier area. The only thing I really eliminated was Chamonix because I kept hearing that you have to take buses all the time, but this is all going on secondary and tertiary accounts. Although I do want to make it to Chamonix some year.

Thanks,

michael

What is your budget like? If money isn't a great issue you could try the Grand Coeur Hotel in Meribel - bang in the resort centre, short stroll to the piste (100m max). http://www.legrandcoeur.com/uk/index.php#index.php

The great things about the Trois Vallees are the lift system (probably the best in the world) and that there are always alternative ways down. Piste grooming tends to be pretty good too.

That said, any of the areas mentioned would be good.

mjp wrote: That was one of the things that concerned me with Val d'Isere, which I was first strongly considering, but someone said there are no moderate run-outs back into town.

Thanks,

michael

Not sure who said that, but there is decent skiing for everyone in Val d'Isere and although there are big black runs heading into Val centre there is the option to run out on red and blue back to the town using piste M. At the Le Fornet end you can ride the truly wonderful blue Vallon* back down on blue Mangard and out. In between you have a great long red Germainne Mattis back to La Laisinant. All 3 connected by a bus every 20 minutes.

*one of favorite runs ever, it is like a 2.5km long natural half pipe