J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by PrivateBryan

Lovely photo of the beach in sun & Greece is beautiful. But I still maintain if you cannot actually afford a passport then a Sun (the newspaper) holiday will just have to do.
There really are people for whom a holiday abroad is just a dream.
I do agree, if you are going the whole hog on a UK holiday it can be expensive, but if you ain't got it you can't spend it here either.
And....No, I'm not holidaying in this country this summer, because like you I don't have to.

Edited to add:
Also, some people actually like the UK as a holiday destination.
Not implying people who holiday here are all skint either.

Tony_H wrote:

NellyPS wrote:Yes, that's me, cluttering the beaches of lovely Cornwall. We're on the north coast in a place called Trevarrian in between Watergate Bay and Mawgan Porth.

Can you make the sun shine please?

Sorry to upset you, but why on earth do people take holidays in this country????

Tony,
As with all your comments I am sure you will claim it was just a witty aside, but seriously some people can't afford to take holidays abroad.
I know people who cannot even afford a passport.

Yes, the weather is an issue, plus lots of other things, but for some people it's all they can manage.

karen72 wrote:I really liked the look of the apartments and mont bisanne. I just wanted to ask if there was anything to do in Mont Basinne in the evening ie swimming pools, sleldging also are there any supermarkets or restaurants? how far is it to walk to village fromthe apartment when you are not skiing and is there a path or do you walk on the slopes? sorry for myignorance never done a ski in ski out before

Hi Karen,
sorry for the delay in replying....!
I will have to say there is nothing really to do in Bisanne itself.
You could sledge as the slopes are right outside. There are restaurants and a small shop. But very little and it's quite a drive to Saisies - about 5 miles
It was fine with 2 teens as they were happy to watch DVD's and read, but not the place if you want entertainment close by

Too much General Banter can lead to Corporal Punishment

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

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.