Val Thorens

camo11

Hi,
Thinking of Val Thoren's next year. Has anyone been there ? What did you think of it ?
Where did you fly to and where did you stay ? Is there many chalets available and can you ski down to the village after a day's skiing ?
A lot of questions i know, sorry

Poster King

Great skiing for all levels, especially intermediates. The whole Trois Vallees on your doorstep, yes you can usually ski right to your door, or pretty close. Fly Geneva with Aer Lingus or Ryanair to Grenoble, or some charter flights go to Chambery which is closer. I don't think there are a lot of chalets. It is mostly apartments and hotels. The resort is very modern, not much character and is at very high altitude and some people have trouble sleeping the first few nights. Try Les Menuirs lower down the valley for good deals, or La Tania in the Courchevel Valley too for good cheap deals.

http://www.ifyouski.com/ski-holidays/top-resorts/val-thorens.aspx

EileenG

My sister is just back and loved it. Great skiing for all standards, absolutely snow sure, lots of apres-ski etc.

The big drawback is that it is expensive. There are no cheap places there (maybe if you are a local, you'll know where they are, but everywhere she went was tourist prices). She drinks Brandy and Baileys, which cost €4 a go in Val Cenis, but €12 a glass in Val Thorens.

Your best bet might be to go in low season, maybe early January, when you should get much cheaper packages. As far as I know, there are no youth hostels or other cheap accommodation there, and apartments and chalets are pricey.

camo11

It sounds like a good spot alright, but a little expensive. Might have to re think the plans a little. Thanks for all your help guys.

EileenG

What would your ideal ski resort have? What type of skiing? What size ski area? How important are things like English speaking ski instructors?

What sort of accommodation do you want? Self catered apartment, fully catered chalet or Residence? How important is the price of drink? Do you want to go out dancing every night? What about pools, ice-rinks, etc?

What are you prepared to pay?

powdernshine

Hi,
I actually have my own business just outside of Val Thorens in a great village called Reberty Village. Unlike the larger resorts such as Val Thorens, Meribel, Courchevel etc, Reberty Village is probably the best keps secret of the Three Valleys and is not as expensive! At an altitude of 2000m sitting directly on the piste, you are guaranteed excellent snow conditions and access to the Three Valleys.

Please have a look at our website www.powdernshine.com for more information.

Best,
Francesca

Mountain_Surfer

I was in Val Thorens twice in 2009 (at easter and before christmas, so there for 2 different seasons) and couldnt reccomend it enough. The resort itself is practical, as a previous poster said. There is no austrian village type charm about it, but since when tdo you go to a ski resort to look at the pretty architechture?

There are unbelievable deals available on www.valthorens.com of a 6 day ski pass and a weeks accommodation for bargin basement prices. I can not remember exactly how much we paid but I think it was not more than 320 (probably even less as my brain is mashed from college assignments at the moment). The accommodation is basic but all you use the appartment for is to sleep so it is perfectly functional, clean tidy and warm. We flew to Grenoble at easter and hired 2 cars between 8 of us and it worked out perfectly, nice and cheap when all costs are taken into account. The resort is car free Sunday night until Friday night/Saturday unless you are just droopping stuff off at your accom and costs 70e to put the car in the car park for the week. The second time we went we travelled in a 7 coach convoy from dublin through the uk and france and finally arrived after something ridiculous like 30 hours travelling!

There are plenty of cheaper places to eat if you are on a budget so that is not an issue but id say over 50% are expensive enough, maybe even a little more expensive than Dublin.

The apres ski is brilliant. You are absolutely spoilt for choice with pubs/clubs that stay open till all hours of the night (if that is your scene) otherwise there are loads of nice places to go to too.The main places we went to were Summit and Malaysia (which is pretty much the Coppers of Val T!) as well as a few other places whose names escape me. I drank pints mostly and they are about a fiver a pop so not too expensive really. Drink in the supermarkets (of which there are plenty) is nice and cheap. You can pick up 26 x 250ml stubbie Kronenbourg for under a tenner easily. Wine and spirits are also cheap in the supermarkets.

If you book your ski/snowboard gear through http://www.ski-republic.com/en/ you get 2 for 1 which we did both times. Really nice guys in the shop and only too happy to help. Great equipment (we went for the best they had each time and worked out at 120 per couple per week as we all had our own ski boots).

The skiing is almost unlimited. Val Thorens is the biggest and highest of Les Trois Valees so you could easily stay there for the week, if you are nice and adventerous you could easily upgrade your lift pass and explore Courchevel and Meirebel too which are also fantastic (plety of tree runs compared with Val T which has none). All the pistes are fab which more off piste than you can shake a stick at. The snow park in val T is brilliant with runs through graded into green, blue, red and black depending on your ability with rails, boxes and jumps through each.

EileenG reccomends to stay in Les Menuirs. I dont (although there is quite a bit of skiing there anyway). It is much further down the valley than Val T, so requires massive lifts to get to the top of the big peaks, you are there to ski not to sit on a chair/in a goldola so I would reccomend staying away from it tbh. Also because it is so much further down the valley the snow is not always going to be as reliable as in Val T and the nightlife didnt seem to be as good the night we spent down there either (apart from the yeti bar. They are scattered all over the alps and are all savage from what I've experienced & heard)

I would give an arm (not a leg as they are pretty important for skiing) to go back again. Hope this helps. If you want any more info just post and I'll do my best to answer!

Mountain_Surfer

I saw from your post in this thread that you hated queuing in Mayerhofen... well good news, nearly all of Val Thorens is ski in/ski out

camo11

Mountain surfer, thanks a milion for that. I was in Meribel before and loved the skiing but found the town quiet enough and was expensive ! But i suppose it is france after all.

Powder and shine, will have a look at your site. There could be a group that size but some might want to be in the heart of the action so your place might be a little far out, but thanks for the info and will have a look.

Eileen G, My ski resort essiential are good skiing, good buzz around the town at night, good apres ski bars, ski in and ski out would be great. English speaking instructors not important as most of the group do not go to ski school. I would look for self catering, price of drink is important to be fair. Ice rinks and all other stuff are not important as there are no kids on the group. The group age ranges from 20 - 50 so some like the night life that Austria can provide and others want the ski areas that france can serve up to you.

Thanks all for your help !!

snowcrazie

Have you considered Andorra? I know that a lot of people look down on it but the skiing is really good, the whole GrandValira resort gives you so much variety and there are so many hidden runs and quality off piste. Soldeu is a nice town but Pas de la Casa is where its at for the night life. The great news is that everything over there is cheap, the drink, the clothes, rentals and accomodation!

Its also a great area for boarders, I've skied and boarded there and was equally impressed. I found VT terrible for boarders, all those flats and narrow passes get very annoying.

The best thing about andorra is that everyone is so friendly.. unlike VT where there are actually bars where the staff are told to be rude to you and a drink cost more then dublin!