Euro ski resorts

murandbev

Guest
Hi we're thinking on making our first trip across the water in Feb to go skiing .don't have anywhere in mind
Can anyone recommend good places to stay that are really close to resort .don't mind campsites and in many ways maybe better
And tips and what to look out for ?
Thanks
 
Bourg St Maurice, Le Versoyen campsite, at the far end of town with all the big supermarkets about 100 yards away so good for provisions. About £15 a night 2 years ago. Free shuttle to the funicular or a 20 minute walk. Bourg is fantastic for skiing and as a resort, plenty to do and see and good for all grades of ski level. It you want to wild camp go up the mountain and stop at the large empty car park under the mid way funicular stop. OK for overnight but nothing else there regarding shops etc.
 
We normally go to Chinaillon in the Grand Bornand. Its about the nearest decent skiing from Calais, about an hour from Annecy. You can wild camp at the car park at the top of the village, with water at the toilets near the ticket booths. The lift it literally less than 5 minutes walk from your motorhome, and you can almost ski right back to your door. From there you can then delve deeper into the Alps if you like. I suppose a lot depends on your skiing abilities and the type of piste your after. There is a campsite in Bornand village but you need either a bus or fairly long lift ride before your on the snow.
You'll normally find the smaller resorts will have motorhome parking bays, or even an aire, and wont bat an eye wherever you stay. There's a fabulous aire at Saisies also.

Stu
 
I see you have a self built campervan, no idea how far you have gone with the winterising but it might be a good idea to stay lower down for your first trip. Suitable places might be the campsites at Samoens which is right next to the Gondola, BSM as previously mentioned, Le Grand Bornand (rather than Chinaillon).

Much as I like Les Saisies it is high, though I have spoken to a couple staying there in a window van! Perhaps plan on starting in a campsite and if the weather is mild go up higher for 3 days to see how you fare. Not all the aires have convenient servicepoints so take a bucket and water container as well.

Have fun. We will be in Switzerland during january and february having bought early 25 resort MagicPass season passes for £288 (now about £1000); it pays to plan ahead!
 
Hi thanks for the replys I have looked at bourg st Maurice and looks good
As for the van I have insulated best I can and have water all internal
I don't have ehu on van and worry 220ah battery would be enough with gas heating running quite a lot
How does the ehu work in France ? Do you just pay per night or have to feed money in ?
 
220Ah will run the truma and everything else for 3 days or so. It might be worth taking a small (10A output or so) battery charger and making up a ehu cable with a UK socket on the end. French campsites tend to include electric but it might be limited to 3A or 5A, for example, so no good for elec heating, check on their websites.

I have one refillable bottle but always carry 2 local propane bottles.
 
Good idea with the charger and lead I have 2 6kg propane bottles which will do the job as we're only going to manage a week maybe 10 days max .
 
I used 13kg bottle a week but I like to be nice and toasty, if you can buy or scrounge another 6kg bottle as back up you will be OK. You won't be able to get a calor replacement or refill over there. You really do need a charger or as stated your batteries will only last about 3 days so as suggested rig up a connector so you can plug a charger into. When you arrive at the camp site they will ask if you want electric or not, they charge about 4 or 5 euros a day extra for it. Since you will only need it about every 3 days you should just get that unless you find your batteries are not lasting that long which they should unless they are quite old.
Skiing in a motorhome is very enjoyable unless you are cold and wet all the time then it's a miserable experience. If you do find your gas has ran out you can always buy a French bottle at the garage across the road from the camp site but you will also need an adapter which you will find in one of the nearby supermarkets, both bottle and adapter would be a good investment if you intent to go skiing or even trips to France ever again. You will need to register when you first buy a French bottle which costs about 5 euros but then you can exchange it at almost any garage or supermarket much cheaper than calor will cost over here. As a back up I would advise you to buy one of those cheap camping cookers with a few extra cans, nothing worse than getting up on a cold morning and not having a hot drink. If you have time check your van for any drafty holes or gaps in doors etc. Take extra bedding and if you can rig up some kind of curtain for the front cab area which is where most of the cold will come from.
 
Thanks will get another 6kg onboard
Do you run winter tyres carry chains or are the roads cleared quickly if there's snow ?
 
La Clusaz is another decent enough place too. Campsite not too far from centre.

I'm sure most ski areas are within the areas you legally need to carry chains, even if roads are clear.
 
I have all weather tyres but the roads in Bourg are almost always pretty clear because it's a biggish ski resort so lots of traffic which helps keep the snow down, I would advise getting a set of snow chains from somewhere like Decathlon which is a French shopping store. You may never use them but you'd be stuck without them if you did need them. I'd also advise joining ADAC for breakdown cover, ADAC is the German version of the RAC but cheaper and with a much better reputation, extreme cold can throw up all kinds of unexpected vehicle problems so better safe than sorry.
I'm not sure if you have been skiing before but when you buy your ski pass make sure you take out insurance which is a couple of euros per day, getting helicoptered off a mountain would cost you thousands without insurance. Saying that don't be afraid of skiing, it's not normally beginners that get hurt because when you're going too fast you will probably dump yourself on your bum like most other newbies.
 
Born again skier not been on snow for about 20 years but only in Scotland
So looking forward to this little adventure
 
I reckon the closest ski resort to the south east of England is Winterberg in Germany (less than 350 Miles from Calais).

However, you have to pick your moments, as it is far from snow-sure. I went between Christmas and New Year last year - mainly for the novelty of saying I'd been, but it was interesting to go to a German ski resort for a change. Gentle stuff - a bit like skiing on the North Downs!

They had had a reasonable dump of snow in mid-december though by the time I got there we were skiing on ribbons of man-made stuff:

DSC02161.jpg

They have just had a sprinkling: Winterberg.Webcam - Das Winterberger Webcam-Netz

Morph
 
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