Chamonix

kingcharles82

I am looking to go to chamonix near the end of feb,just wondering where is the best place/area to stay (value for money)

I've hear that chamonix is spread out and you can spend a lot of time on buses getting to the lifts in the morning,has anyone any experience of this?

And is it a great resort ?
Would it be much better than any of the three valley resorts ?

Any advice will be appreciated

Intermediate skiers with 6/7 ski holidays each

a148pro

Do a search for chamonix on this forum and you'll see this issue covered at length.

In fact mods maybe we should have a sticky with q 's on given resorts? Would be a great resource

Re 3v the pistes are better there chamonix has more soul though and has a lot of off piste and is closer to the airport

derv

there is some advice on this thread:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056865861

i was in Chamonix last year.
it is extremely busy, with 30-40 minute Q's to get on the Gondola each morning.

i spent a lot of valuable time on buses and in Q's.
not my cup of tea but everyone is different....

nightlife etc is good, it's a huge place.
my 1 piece of advice is to stay as close as you can to the main ski areas.
that is the same advice for all resorts really, but particularly important for Chamonix.

my personal preference is a smaller quieter resort where I can get out on the mountain early.

RATM

Just returned from there over new Years.

Yes it is a spread out resort and the ski areas are not linked which is a bit annoying. Also the ski buses can get packed and sometimes you have to wait for the next one.

But despite all this Chamonix is a resort that every serious skier/snowboarder should try at least once IMO. If you're after off-piste then it has it in spades.

As for value for money well that phrase and French ski resorts do not go in the same sentence. However we went with actionoutdoors.co.uk who are the UK agent for a French not-for-profit who have cheap ski holidays in a number of resorts in the Alps.

Total cost for us was just under €760 per person, that included the following

-6.5 day ski pass (probably about €240 worth)
-7 nights accomodation, dorm style
-5 days of instruction (we did an off piste course so this included avalanche equipment too)
-All ski/snowboard hire, boots, etc
-Full board (lunch was a make it yourself roll, drink, fruit and crisps)
-nightly entertainment

It didn't include drinks, flights or transfers

I have to say overall I really recommend people check out actionoutdoors.co.uk , especially if you are like us and have boarded for the last 8 years and have hit a plateau on the learnign curve. For me I was getting a bit bored of ski holidays but this most recent one re-invigorated me completely as I am now totally confident to go anywhere off-piste, we did a lot of hiking in the backcountry, went boarding through forests, heck at one stage we even snowboarded all the way to Switzerland. The avalanche training we got was really valuable to have and overall I'd recommend it for people who want to push their limits and improve substantially.

Hope this helps=)

Lenmeister

Haven't been but heard from friends it's a v good all round spot. Why not check out crystalski and directski websites they always do fairly good deals to French resorts.

I think that waiting for ages is only at the very bottom though no? Don't think you have that problem at every lift, same as in other resorts I would imagine. Check out those 2 websites though you might find something you fancy.