Flora and I had the pleasure of staying in the beautiful chalet Phoebe in Meribel in early December. The chalet was absolutely fantastic and we had to be dragged (literally in some cases!) out of the front door when it was time to leave. After starting off getting on the wrong plane and blagging my way to Val Thorens, I was eventually met by our rep Haigham, who showed us around two brilliant ski in/ ski out chalets – the Catherine and the Olivier. The lovely terraces overlook the piste, and the warm welcome of coffee and cake was much appreciated after the journey. The chalets are a short walk into the town centre of Val Thorens and its nightlife. They offer a short ski down to the Plein Sud lift, giving us a head start on the fresh powder. Comfortable bedrooms and a sauna will give you a good rest after a day on the slopes.

Chalet Phoebe's Stunning Hot Tub

Next stop was Meribel, where we were met by our hosts Jill and Kit, who were absolutely fantastic. We were greeted by a roaring log fire, a glass of Kir and some more coffee and cake. The rooms were spacious and clean, and the lounge area, with its comfy sofas in front of the open fire makes a fantastic location to swap tales of the day’s skiing. Before dinner, a scheduled trip to the outdoor hot tub was organised. We sat back and enjoyed the views over Meribel, before being summoned for a tasty and much needed dinner.

Day two began with a look around the Chalet Hotel Alba in Meribel. This child friendly chalet hotel is almost ski in/ski out, being 20 metres away from the Doron piste and 25 metres from the famous apres ski venue, the Rond Point. From here, you can take the Adret chairlift, or ski down to the resort centre, and take your pick from one of the largest ski areas in the world. The Chalet Hotel Alba boasts lovely, comfortable rooms with a great lounge bar to relax and take in a few drinks before a lovely dinner in the dining room, from which there are great views over the pistes and valleys.

Ski-in Ski-out Chalet Courchevel 1850

The Ski-in Ski-out Crystal 2000 in Courchevel 1850

Ski Chalets in Alpe d’Huez

Day 3 began with a slightly fuzzy head, and we were off to check out some of the brand new chalets in Alpe D’Huez. A few detours in Grenoble, up the famous Tour De France route into Alpe D’Huez and straight to the brand new Chalet La Breche. This chalet is something special. A ski in ski out chalet in Alpe D’Huez, with a hot tub and state of the art infra-red sauna. The rooms look over the slopes, and the spacious lounge with wood burning fire looked a fantastic base. Next were the Chalets Christian and Phillipe. These two properties are a short walk from the lifts, and were very well received by the group. Our final visit was to the the Chalet Hotel Mariandre, a great child friendly chalet with a huge lounge. The family suites are enormous, and the penthouse suite on the top floor is a definite recommendation! This was followed by a sortie on to the slopes of Alpe D’Huez, and with the fast lifts, wide pistes, and great snow we were really spoilt.

Back to Meribel, and the worst part of the trip was packing our suitcases before heading to dinner one last time. After one last visit to the local watering holes and the (in)famous Dicks Tea Bar, we walked in to a breakfast spread before we left for the transfer to the airport.

A massive thank you to Haigham, who, despite nursing man flu, made our trip memorable. Also a massive thank you to Jill and Kit who were absolutely fantastic all week. Having never been to Meribel before, my view on the resort was mixed, but I left with a growing desire to go back sooner rather than later!

A week at Chalet Phoebe starts at £814pp for the remaining  availability this season and is available from £559pp next season. If you’d like more information on any of the chalets or resorts mentioned above then please give us a ring at our London sales office or visit www.interactiveresorts.co.uk.

Interactive Resorts is now established as the UK’s biggest ski specialist travel agent. Unlike some other agencies, we deal only in Ski and Snowboard holidays which means our specialist knowledge of ski resorts is unrivalled in the industry. Not only that, but we’re completely independent, which means that when you deal with us for your Skiing or Snowboarding holiday, you’ll receive completely impartial, objective advice and help with choosing your holiday. In order to provide such a service, we dedicate a lot of time to picking only the very best people to work in our sales team. Everyone in our sales department has done at least one season in resort, with some having done upwards of 5 seasons abroad. This is the first in a series of “meet the team” articles which will profile some of our staff members old and new and give you the chance to find out about the people who make your holidays happen.

Matt Simpson – Sales Manager

Matt is one of the longest serving members of the team here at Interactive, with over 5 years service. He’s done five seasons in total, one each in La Plagne, Courchevel and La Tania plus two in Serre Chevalier. He’s a snowboarder and  Serre Che is his favourite resort thanks to “the best lift served off-piste I have ever come across”. Aspen is his dream destination and his hobbies in the UK include ballroom dancing and embroidery. Marred by a lifelong love of Tottenham Hotspur, Matt is sports mad and has been known to place bets on Mexican amateur wrestling on Tuesday nights.

Andy Crisp – Senior Sales

Andy has been with interactive for over 3 years and is part of the furniture now. He served his time abroad in Alpe d’Huez, Val d’Isere, St Anton and Saalbach. His favourite destination is St Anton, which Andy says is almost like somebody designed  a resort with his personality traits in mind. We’re not sure whether this is a reference to the superb skiing or extensive drinking but it could well be both! Andy dreams of visiting Chamonix and when he’s not on the slopes, his favourite sport is Badminton and he can often be found in the gym. London Wasps RFC take up a lot of his spare weekends.

Nick Barlow – Sales

Nick has been with Interactive Resorts for just over a year, having done seasons in Meribel and Fernie in Canada. His favourite European resort is Chamonix. Nick struggles to name a single dream ski destination as he has so many but Japan, Verbier and New Zealand are all up there on his list. Nick is a keen cyclist and is fluent in Polish. He’s a very sociable chap who can very often be found in the various watering holes of South West London, all too aften alone. Another Rugby nut, Nick’s Leicester Tigers have a habit of giving him bragging rights over Andy!

Anna Defreitas – Admin

Anna doesn’t sell our holidays but works tirelessly behind the scenes in the admin department to ensure that everything goes smoothly for clients both before and during their holidays. She’d never skied before joining Interactive but has since been converted and loves the sport! Her favourite resort is La Rosiere thanks to its wide open runs which give her plenty of space to work on her technique. Anna is an arty sort who enjoys museums, art galleries and walks along the South Bank. Rumour has it that Anna has completed marathons on every continent of the Earth, but she refuses to confirm this!

Continuing on from Rupert’s family ski holiday in Alpe d’Huez, we’ve put together a series of useful tips to help you make the most of yours.

1. Ski lessons in Alpe d’Huez

In advance, we booked ski lessons for the kids for the start of the week; we chose small group private lessons for the kids through British Masterclass, who turned out to be one of the best ski schools we’ve come across. From the first day they had the kids skiing ‘sausage and chips’ (parallel, carving), banned from the menu were ‘pizza slices’ (snow ploughs) and what a difference it made to their skiing ability!

After seeing how well the kids had come on the adults subsequently booked themselves in for private lessons, even those that thought they were advanced skiers soon learnt what real skiing felt like! The lessons consisted of one group having an afternoon of guiding with ski tips on all different types of terrain and another group having a ‘carving lesson’ which we all thought we were doing, but soon realised we weren’t! These lessons propelled our skiing to another level giving us the control we felt on greens to the same feeling on steep and in places icy blacks. Sitting on a ‘bar stool’ now has new meaning in my book I can’t wait to try out my new found skills on our end of season ski trip in a couple of weeks time! I honestly thought I was a good skier, but I learnt how to do a ‘real carved turn’ and I would strongly recommend however good you think you are at skiing, get yourself to Alpe d’Huez, book a lesson with Mel, from British Masterclass and it will increase your enjoyment of all types of ski runs ten fold.

British Masterclass were so good that if for no other reason but the amazing quality of the ski lessons we’ll be booking to go back to Alpe d’Huez – the only issue will be keeping up with the kids!

2. Ski Hire in Alpe d’Huez

Ski hire was also pre-booked through our tour operator at the Sport 2000 shop in Les Bergers Centre. One suggestion is to ask for this to be invoiced on separate family vouchers – if you are all in one big group it can be manic in the ski hire shop especially when it’s busy and you are hanging around waiting for other members of your group to get sorted. It’s also far easier when it comes to dropping off your skis as they need to check skis and boots off against one another and if you drop them all off en mass this becomes a bit of a logistical nightmare!

3. High Tea

We arranged ‘high tea’ (dinner time for the kids) with the chalet girls to be at 5.30 pm which gave us plenty of time to feed and bath the kids and get them to bed for our aperitifs and dinner at 7.30 pm.

4. The logistics of our family ski holiday

Now to the reality of our family ski holiday! ALWAYS pack or buy a good selection of sandwiches, snacks and drinks for the journey (once you’re through customs of course) as food on the plane can be expensive and you may not get a chance to grab food / drinks when you land before your resort transfer. There’s something about travelling which makes kids bored far quicker than they normally would, so food and drink not only keeps them occupied it also helps avoid both you and the kids from melting down and having a holiday strop at the most inappropriate time! In the kid’s hand luggage pack books, favourite toys etc but try and discourage noisy toys and games + toys with small bits that get dropped and lost under seats!

We landed at Grenoble which (if you haven’t before) can appear to be small, cramped, under-manned and slightly chaotic. It is in fact, small, cramped, under-manned and chaotic! But like all holidays, hold your nerve, take a deep breath and if possible send one or two adults off to find the bus and get the kids out of the equation. On the way get the kids to visit the loo as well as many coaches have toilets, but they rarely seem to be in working order!

Once on the transfer bus, if you haven’t already booked your lift pass, book it now to avoid wasting time in resort. Do though, ask about family passes, typically consist of 2 adults and 2 kids, as this can save you a fortune.

We were lucky as our flight and transfer was pretty uneventful and we arrived at the chalet in good spirits and were welcomed by our chalet hosts, who happened to be the same girls from the year before when we went to the Chalet Tetra in Les Arcs with a similar group. Without doubt, all of us had an amazing family ski holiday and we’re already planning next year’s chalet holiday in Alpe d’Huez!

5. Check flight times

Double check your flight itinerary which the experienced ski travellers will know can have flight amendments up until a week before departure. Our flight times suited us well, having 9.30 am flight meant a relatively civilised 5.00 am start but often flights will depart at 7.30 am, so if like us you live over 100 miles from the airport you should consider getting a hotel and parking deal so you can get a reasonable night’s sleep near the departure airport.

6. Tips for the Slopes

Heated hand warmers – from £2 for a pair, stuff them in the children’s gloves and they give you half an hour to get them back to the chalet if it’s freezing! They can reheat up to 1,000 times so worth every penny but make sure you get small ones so they can easily fit in a pocket or into the palm of a glove.

Snacks and treats on the slope – always carry incentives to get tired children home on that last run back. Remember to carry plenty of drinks too.

7. Pre-book Airport Parking

Consider pre-booking airport parking at the actual terminal rather than the cheaper off-airport/coach transfer option. Although more expensive consider the time and hassle-saving factor of simply walking into the airport departure lounge following an early morning start. Bliss! On return the same applies – you can save almost an hour both ways. Just be aware that many covered car parks have height restrictions – so if you are in a high vehicle with a roof box you will need to check that you will get in OK! (typically anything under 7ft is OK but do check!).

8. Duty Free

If you buy duty free on your way home, select to pay in the country’s currency as then you pay the actual exchange rate and not the duty free operator’s rate which will be poorer.

If you’d like any more information on any of the chalets or topics discussed in Rupert’s blog post then please drop us a line or give us a call for a more in depth chat.

This year, our family ski holiday consisted of a group of 9 adults and 7 children aged from 2 to 7 years old. The party contained three non-skiing adults (Grandma and Aunties!) who, between them, acted as ‘nannies’ - looking after the kids when they weren’t skiing and giving the chance for the skiing adults to occasionally enjoy some ‘kid-free’ runs. Our skiing abilities were mixed; the adults’ ability ranged from beginners through to advanced, the younger members had either never skied or had up to 4 weeks’ skiing under their belts.

With this in mind we were looking for somewhere offering good facilities and activities, both in the chalet and in the resort, that the non-skiers could enjoy too. 

As our holiday was in mid March we were looking for somewhere with a good snow record but with (fingers crossed!) a bit of sunshine – always beneficial in helping the younger children keep warm when on the lifts. We therefore knew that the choice of resort and chalet would make or break the holiday; a resort which would suit all levels of skiing abilities, with an emphasis on improving the childrens’ skiing ability, plenty to do for the non-skiers and a large spacious chalet with ideally good access to the slopes and resort amenities.

Why choose Alpe d’Huez ski resort for your family ski holiday?

We selected Alpe d’Huez ski resort for a number of reasons. Firstly Alpe d’Huez is a brilliant resort for mixed abilities and in particular beginners and children. The resort simply makes sense; the lower slopes are made up of long wide greens; blues and reds make up the majority of the slopes in the middle of the resort, with blacks generally at the top. Europe’s longest black,  The 14km Sarenne runs from top of the Pic Blanc down through the delightful Gorges de Sarenne valley to the Alpauris chair. It’s best on skis rather than a board as the bottom half of the run is pretty flat. The resort runs are also really well connected, helping you to ski to all areas without getting lost and wasting time having to get multiple lifts just to get high enough to get home at the end of the day.

The resort is high, the plateau of Alpe d’Huez sits at 1,860m with the highest point of resort at 3,330m (Pic Blanc). The resort is know as l’Ile au Soleil (Island in the Sun) and boasts an average of 300 sunny days a year, so without guaranteeing good weather, your chances of taking in some rays are fairly high. The mountain ranges are spectacular with amazing views whether you’re in resort or up one of the mountains.

Alpe d’Huez has a good selection of activities for the non-skiers, including sledging areas, swimming, dog sleds, horse riding, ice rink, and an ice cave with sculptures. For those non-skiers who want to get up the mountain there are some excellent mountain restaurants, many accessible by walk-on gondolas or express chairlifts (suitable for pedestrians), with views to match if you all want to meet up for a lunch time family gathering.

The skiing was ideal for us. We skied for around an hour and a half with the kids on the lower slopes then dropped them off at the chalet so we could have the rest of the morning to bomb around the resort and then meet up for lunch. After lunch on the first couple of days the kids had their ski lessons which gave us another couple of hours to ski and then go and meet them for an hour’s skiing together, before going back to the chalet for afternoon tea.

Choosing your family ski chalet in Alpe d’Huez

An important consideration is your chalet; being quite a large group we were looking for sole occupancy and easy access to the skiing, but were not too bothered about being in the centre of town as our full-on party days were long gone some years ago. The Altiport area of Alpe d’Huez was ideal offering mostly ski-in ski-out access. We stayed in the Chalet Louisa which sleeps 16-18 people, offers ski-in ski-out access,  a hot tub, sauna and has all fully en-suite rooms. The Louisa is one of the most popular chalets in the Altiport due to its value for money, size and facilities. If you have a different group size or are on a smaller budget then there are also plenty of other alternatives in the Altiport like Chalet Ariane 2 (sleeps 12) which also has a hot tub and is ski-in ski-out.

Had we been a smaller family group without our own child care arrangements we would have opted for the Chalet Hotel Le Mariandre (sleeps up to 67 people), where you can ski back to the front door. The Telecentre ski-lift and piste are only 30m away. The rooms are all en-suite and you can opt for family rooms or suites with south facing sun terraces. The chalet has its own nursery and kids club facilities plus an evening baby listening/child patrol service so you can relax and enjoy your evening meal in peace!

There are plenty of other chalet options in Alpe d’Huez, for example if you have a mixed group with older children then Chalet L’Escapade (sleeps up to 68 people) is ideal for families, there are several rooms offering half price places for children all season. The Chalet L’Escapade benefits from great facilities and a superb location, you can ski-in ski-out onto an easy green piste. Whilst all the rooms are compact they enjoy en-suite facilities and many are south facing with balconies overlooking the piste and the chairlift. Guests enjoy the luxury of an outdoor hot tub, sauna, steam room and exercise area which are free for guests to help ease muscles at the end of a great day’s skiing. Round off the perfect day with an aperitif in the bar before your meal.

The recently built chalets La Chapelle ( sleeps 14) , La Ferme (sleeps 10), La Maison (sleeps 8), Le Chateau (sleeps 14-15), Le Manoir (sleeps 12) are all luxury chalets with the piste running past the front of them, linking the Rond Point des Pistes with lower Les Bergers area. For an all-inclusive family holiday there is the Hotel Club Med Alpe d Huez La Sarenne situated just below the Les Bergers centre.

Our chosen family ski chalet – Chalet Louisa

We stayed in Chalet Louisa, a great chalet. Apart from the obvious benefit of being ski-in ski-out, it has a very spacious living and dining area with south-facing balcony which is great for enjoying a beer at the end of the day swapping ski stories. A word of advice though; if there are wooden balconies, either pack slippers for the kids or a pair of old socks as wooden balconies can lead to a lot of splinter picking if you have bare feet!

The excellent ski room on the ground floor has a very good ski rack and heated boot warmer plus plenty of benches for all to sit at while donning ski boots. If I was being picky, a few more hooks would have been useful for hanging ski jackets etc. The large hot tub and sauna are also on the ground floor a long with two bedrooms. Be aware that if you are a light sleeper you should not put yourself in the room near the hot tub as the heat regulator can make varied loud noises during the night! The alternative, or course, is to ask the chalet girls to turn the hot tub off as you go to bed, but you’d better remember to have it turned back on first thing in the morning or your other chalet mates may string you up after they’ve leapt into a bubbling cold tub!

Read More: See Part 2 of our family ski holiday blog which features useful tips for your family skiing holiday.

Rupert’s group stayed in the Chalet Louisa in Alpe d’Huez, which is available during the 2010-11 season from £499 per person including Gatwick flights. If you’d like more information on this or any of the other family chalets featured above then please drop us a line or call us for an in depth chat.

On hearing my first ski trip of the season would be to Alpe d’Huez and Les Deux Alpes my feelings were mixed. On the one hand it meant seeing two resorts and a whole range of chalets that I did not know much about, on the other hand, would they live up to the demanding standards set by the Three Valleys and Espace Killy regions?

Setting off from London before the sun had even risen was a shock to the system but it meant landing in Lyon and picking up the hire car with most of the day still to go. We were soon on our way to Alpe d’Huez with the skills of DJ Starrs (aka Matt!) entertaining us along the valley and up the mountain. Amid cries of “ALPA DA OOOZE” we pulled into the resort shrouded in cloud and thanks to my superior map reading skills (Holly? Matt?), arrived at our accommodation, l’Escapade. With its hot tub, sauna and ski in/out boxes ticked, this is the pick of the properties in resort. Recently refurbished and an easy stroll to the centre this was a great base. The chalets in Alpe d’Huez offer something for everyone, the Altiport is area great for families being ski in ski out and many of the properties have hot tubs or saunas. The area around the DMC cable car in the brand new Village development houses the very best properties in resort – great examples of affordable luxury.

Our ski-in ski-out base in Alpe d'Huez, the Escapade

On the hill Alpe d’Huez again has something to offer everyone. Les Bergers area just above the resort centre is made up of wide blues and greens so absolutely ideal for beginners and intermediates. With a glacier offering plenty of challenges, including the longest black run in Europe and one of the most infamous (Le Tunnel) there is plenty on offer to the better skiers. Again fantastic value for money was found – a 3 course lunch with wine and coffee at a mere €12.50 in the charming village of Vaujany.

It didn’t seem right to come all the way to the Alps and not sample the après ski so we felt it necessary to complete our resort research with a survey of the local nightlife! We were not to be disappointed. There was plenty of choice and everything from The Underground (live acoustic music), O’Sharkey’s (seasonnaire bedlam!), Pacific, and Smithy’s to name just a few. After a heavy night, including dancing on tables (this work trip was proving to de quite demanding) our checklist in Alpe d’Huez was complete. So, we loaded up the ‘Family Wagon’and made the simple journey to Les Deux Alpes for chapter two of our Southern Alps adventure.

Arriving in resort we were greeted at Hotel Le Cret and instantly made to feel at home. The welcoming nature of Emma and Roberto, the lovely couple that run it, really helped us to form a positive outlook for our stay. Ideally located a short walk from the Place de Venosc and the main cable car the hotel is in its first season under new ownership and is much the better for it. With the service and catering in the Hotel Le Cret being first rate and a price tag to rival some of the best budget holidays this represents outstanding value.

With the resort set up along a strip, the properties at the end around the main square are the pick of the bunch. Not unlike Alpe d’Huez there are properties to suit all tastes from the budget friendly options (the Alice) through to more luxurious options (Chamois Volant and Chartreuse). The ski area caters for slightly more specialised tastes, with the off piste mecca of La Grave over the back of the mountain and an excellent snow park. The freestylers and free riders among you will not be disappointed. The on piste ‘hooners’ may be left needing more terrain and can embark on the away days to Serre Chevalier and Alpe d’Huez organised in resort. Where the resort really excels is in its party atmosphere with plenty of bars and clubs to choose from. Those wanting to push until the early hours will certainly not be disappointed!

My short stay in Les Deux Alpes introduced me to the advantages of the resort (partying, affordability and surprisingly, family friendly) undoubtedly helped by the outgoing and affable nature of the owners and staff in Hotel Le Cret. As our final day dawned we were greeted by a blizzard and so set off early to negotiate the roads. After some expert driving in very difficult conditions (driving snow, wind, inability to see out of the windscreen (!) and cars piling off the road all around us) Holly got us to our final destination of Lyon Airport where we waved goodbye to the trusty hire car. We touched down in London to be greeted by just as much snow as we had left in the Alps!

My time in two of the best known Southern Alps ski resorts showed me there is ski life outside of the Tarentaise and it comes without the exclusive price tag. Whether you are travelling on a budget, or looking for something a bit more special why not try somewhere different next time? You might be pleasantly surprised, I certainly was.