St Gervais - Les Contamines

I have found some very reasonable accommodation in St Gervais and cheap flights to Geneva and cheap car rental (i have to watch the pennies!!).

I was thinking of skiing in les contamines or Chamonix. does anyone know how long the drive would be to these resorts and the parking situationin either?

Thanks

Good plan!

Les Contamines and Chamonix are both about 15 minutes drive from St Gervais - as is Megeve. Argentiere is 5-10 minutes further up the valley from Chamonix.

Depending on your skiing level it'll be worth visiting most of those if you can.

Check the Tourist Office websites for maps - you should be able to relate the piste maps to road maps and figure out where the base lifts are. Invariably there will be parking by the lifts, so you shouldn't have a problem. Just don't leave it late to park on the Sunday(s) as good snow brings up lots of day-trippers from Geneva and the surrounds.

You've probably seen it but we have a map of Les Contamines which shows where the other nearby resorts are.

Hope that helps - a couple of the forum regulars have chalets in the area too, so should be along shortly to fill in the details. 8)

great, thanks.

will it be pretty snow sure in March?

julietP wrote:will it be pretty snow sure in March?

Unless there's a heatwave, yes, should be as good as anywhere. Les Contamines has a local reputation for holding onto the snow better than other resorts in the area, so if you do catch the end of a dry spell then that'll be top of your list.

March is a great time to go - slopes should be fairly quiet and the snow should be about at its best (fingers crossed).

julietP wrote:great, thanks.

will it be pretty snow sure in March?

Also worth a visit, is Les Houches. You can access the ski area by using the train from St Gervais. Lower prices than Chamonix, tree lined runs, and a good variety of slopes.
I was there in April this year, and it was fairly snow sure :D

http://picasaweb.google.com/bandit2106/SkiApril2007/photo#5054472477732432146

some nice pics Bandit... cant wait to get out. :D

julietP wrote:some nice pics Bandit... cant wait to get out. :D

Thanks :D. I was specifically in Chamonix to ski the Vallee Blanche, but the weather and the Bank Holiday got in the way :roll:.
Went over to Les Arcs/Tignes afterwards, then on to Val D'Anniviers for the season finale in mid April. Apparently it was a bad snow year in Europe :D

For Chamonix, there should be free parking at Flegere. Brevent has a pay multi storey. Le Tour has free parking, as does Vallorcine, and Grand Montets.
* All last winter's info though!

When skiing out of St Gervais in the direction of Megeve, we park at Le Bettex gondola, again free. If you really wanted to drive round to Megeve, you can use the Princesse gondola, which had free parking last time I was there.

Ensure that your rental car has snow tyres, and chains in the boot, some of the roads leading to the tourist accomodation in St Gervais are not cleared with any urgency after a snowfall IME