Skiing holidays to France: Choose the lesser known resort

When thinking of skiing in France you can easily be distracted by the super resorts such as Tignes, Les Arcs, and Alpe d'Huez, who attract the masses year in year out.

How about choosing a lesser known resort, one with easy access to the more popular resort but that allows you to enjoy the best of both worlds and at a lower cost!

Here are a few of the neighboring resorts to choose from:

Tignes Les Brévières

You can stay in picturesque Les Brévières and ski the Espace Killy shared by Tignes and neighbouring, lift-linked, Val d'Isère. Parts of the village date back to the13th century, but it is still at a snowsure altitude of 1550m.

Unspoilt by large-scale modern development, this is still very much a corner of the real France, most of the village restaurants and bars are family run.

It is also considerably cheaper to stay in than its better known neighbors, each 15 minutes away by road and voted on eof the top ski resorts for experts !

Why Tignes Les Brévières?

·          Direct ski access to the massive Espace Killy area
·          A quiet alternative to the other bustling resorts in Tignes
·          Excellent beginners area

Accommodation in Les Brévières:


Santa Terra  - Self catered apartments

Santa Terra - Les Brevieres 

Bourg St Maurice (Les Arcs)

With the mainline train station at Bourg Saintt Maurice, you can take the funicular railway to Arc 1600 which is a convenient and easy route into the resort. It takes 7 minutes and runs every 20 minutes, starting at 07h30 and running until 20h00 (07h30-21h00 on Fridays and Saturdays). Free with a valid lift pass.

Why Bourg St Maurice – Les Arcs?

·          Easy access to Arcs 1600 from Bourg St Maurice
·          Wide variety of pistes to suit every skier/snowboarder
·          Easy rail link from the UK


Accommodation in Bourg St Maurice:

Le Coeur d'Or - Self catered apartments

Le Coeur d'Or - Bourg St Maurice 

Vaujany (Alpe d'Huez)

Linked to the superb resort of Alpe d'Huez and the Grand Domaine ski domain (250 km of pistes), Vaujany's high capacity cable car departs from the village centre and reaches the top of Pic Blanc (3330 m) in less time than from Alpe d'Huez itself - and there is less queuing too.

Vaujany is easily accessed from Grenoble (50 km) by main trunk road.

The Ski Club of Great Britain recently named Vaujany in France as Europe's most family friendly resort (October 2008).

Why Vaujany?

·          Vaujany is a charming mountain village
·          First class skiing for all with good snow conditions
·          One of the best resorts for children with new sports centre
·          Southern Alps climate with above average sunshine


Accommodation in Vaujany:

Le Crystal Balnc - Self catered apartments

Le Crystal Blanc - Vaujany

Le Grenier - Self catered apartments

Le Grenier - Vaujany