The idea of skiing in Europe captured our imagination a while ago. Who wouldn’t dream of apres ski champagne in the alps…but with kids?! Well, we finally did it, and we found ourselves enjoying incredible high alpine scenery, a totally different ski culture, and shockingly reasonable prices.
It all started with a great deal on flights with points to Geneva. Tickets in hand, we went searching for family-friendly resorts and found Val Thorens which boasted plenty of gentle blues and great ski schools. Val Thorens is a delightful town in the French Alps and part of the chain of interconnected resorts making up the largest ski area in the world, Les 3 Vallées. The (very affordable by US standards) ski pass gives you access to Val Thorens, Orelle, Courchevel, Maribel, Les Menuires, Saint Martin de Belleville and Brides les Bains.
Lift Tickets and Rentals:
Resigned to the steep U.S. lift ticket prices, we were delighted to find the ski passes were only 320 euro per person for my family of 5 as a Family Pass for 6 days. This is compared to $726 per person for an Epic pass in the US for 6 days. Ski rentals for the week were about 150 euros each and while there were a number of options, we chose to go with the shop conveniently located in our building at Les Chalet des Neiges Hermine.
Lodging:
Les Chalet des Neiges Hermine was a quintessential alpine chalet apartment complex perched at the top of the village and included an indoor communal pool, hot tub, sauna and steam room. It was even Ski-in and a short walk to ski out. A 6 bedroom unit for our two family crew slept 12 easily at about $7000 for the week (we split over two families for $3500 each, but comes out to an even more reasonable $84 a day a person for a group of adults). The real perk however was the morning bread delivery with fresh croissants, baguettes, and pain au chocolat. They also offered free use of their fondue pots and raclette sets. We picked up some delicious local cheeses at the street market in the center of the village and felt like true French folks with our evening dinner of raclette and local wine.
FYI, while this chalet is ski-in, it can be a little technically difficult to do if conditions are icy though the kids ripped through like it was nothing while the adults minded their ACL’s more carefully. It’s not quite a ski-out chalet; you have to walk about 150m to the closest run, some of which is slightly uphill. This small inconvenience was worth it to us considering the price, convenience of ski rentals, and amenities. Understandably, it might be a deal breaker to others. There are a ton of other lodgings in Val Thoren near Place de Caron which is in the center of the ski lift areas and close to all the ski schools. Le Val Thorens Hôtel, L’Eskival, or Hotel Bel Horizon would provide very quick access to the slopes just to name a few.
Transport:
We considered renting cars since the drive would only be about 2.5 hours from the airport. The route passes through several cute little French towns including Annecy where we thought we might stop for coffee and croissants, but we quickly became disenchanted with the idea after several warnings of potentially dangerous conditions and prolonged drives in formidable weather. Once told we were required to rent snow chains for the tires and apply for an international driver’s license we were officially over that plan. Instead, we booked transfers from GVA airport to Val Thorens. We used Cool Runnings who provided a spacious 7 person van to comfortably get us to our destination with snacks, water in tow. We had just landed from our overnight flight and were able to nap as we climbed the twisting and turning route. (It is worth noting that we arrived on a Sunday morning. The typical French vacation rental week is Saturday to Saturday, and our driver told us that the drive into the mountains on Saturdays in February can often take many hours longer due to a number of British and French families taking a few weeks of vacation in the month.) In the end, it cost the same as a car rental without the stress and snow chains!
The Skiing:
Val Thorens had plenty of easy terrain for beginners including a lot of smooth rolling blues if that’s your vibe plus a huge range of harder red and black runs in addition to off-piste adventures. (FYI as we had to learn this ourselves: In Europe green is green, blue is blue, red is black and black is double black). It’s mostly above the treeline, and the never ending vistas give it a really different feel than Colorado or Utah.
Les 3 Vallées is aptly named as the ski area covers three huge valleys that are connected by lifts. We did ski over to Meribel one day. The path from the top was harder than expected but we found similarly easier terrain near the villages. We found Les Menuires (pronounced like Lemon Yay!) was much easier to ski to because it is lower than Val Thorens in the same valley. We found the kids’ favorite runs of the week there, and it had an adorable village to grab lunch and shop before heading back home. Skiers with more stamina than ourselves can ski the entirety of the terrain all the way to Courchevel and back in a day. Our crew wasn’t quite up to it this trip, but perhaps we’ll add it to our goals for next time. (As an aside, while Les Menuires is just a short bus ride back up to Val Thorens if you miss the last lift, we’re told it takes hours by taxi and a whole lot of euros to get back from Meribel or Courchevel. Plan your apres accordingly!)
Food and Drinks:
If you’re into Apres Ski, La Folie Douce, a famous mountainside bar/dance party is on the path down to the ski-in for our chalet. It’s a live DJ dance party with smoke, spraying champagne and Aprerol Spritzes on tap. It’s definitely an experience.
As with all our family trips, we make a lot of grocery stops both for the cultural experience and the cost savings. We loaded up on fruit, local breads, snacks, desserts and wine. There were also magical snowy street markets where we picked up local cheese, meats and more wines. We ate a lot more carb-heavy than we do at home, but when in France…
There are a ton of restaurants and bars in town including some with Michelin stars to choose from. We could go on, but we’ll just highlight a couple. Scandinavian Brasserie was not only absolutely delicious, it was also just a super fun experience. The owner, Kevin, squeezed us in without a reservation and treated us to local drinks while chatting about his home in Sweden and journey to this gem of a restaurant in the French Alps. Winter Cafe was a quick and easy, kid-friendly place with great pizzas, burgers and fries done with local cheeses to make it feel extra special.
Are you sensing that cheese is a theme of this vacation? A must-do experience is the Village Igloo fondue dinner. This artfully sculpted igloo has a warren of rooms with private tables where you sit on fur lined stumps while steaming hot fondue cheese is served. Fair warning, it’s a bit of a hike with a guide across the dark slopes.
A week in the alps just left us wanting to never leave. Everyone is already talking about the next trip to ski Europe…maybe the Dolomites! Au revoir!