Chamonix

I was in charge of booking our anual ski trip this year and Chamonix was a hot favourite for the group with plenty of high skiing and lots of different runs for the styles of skiiers and boarders in our motley crew!

We found Chalet Tisseres www.iceandorange.com via one of the big chalet websites and contacted the owners directly. Renska (nice Dutch lady) who owned and ran the place with her husband Damo gave us a super fully catered deal including airport transfers from Geneva in Switzerland.

We arrived and were blow away by the place. Fantastic rennovated traditional French Chalet with great sized en-suite rooms and the most amazing view up to the aiguile de midi.

The food was simply restaraunt standard with classic French style and international dishes as well. Really enjoyed the scallops and Lamb Tajine.

I'm not a serious wine type but friends in the group who know their wines kept being very surprised as to the quality of wine served with supper. Well though out and balanced with each meal.

The outdoor hot tub is a great addition and the in house after ski massage service from Ali was just what the doctor ordered. The team arranged all our lessons with a local company who were first class and picked us up and dropped us off at the chalet each day, great personable instructors.

On the chalet night off Damo arrnaged for us to have a ski doo night above Courmayeur. Blasted up to the Maison Vielle on the back of a ski doo in the dark for some fab local Itlaian food and booze....... Definately the highlight of the stay.

All in all the best ski trip we have had in a long time and we are looking to book next year and take the kids along in the group as well.

Liked — living room and huge fire place
Disliked — would love bigger hot tun, only seated 8.

I have to disagree with the comments made about Le Touring hotel. I've stayed there a numer of times and have found it to be quite sufficient. I't not a five star hotel but it's well priced and the staff there are very helpful. The food that I had there was fine. The staff there also kept luggage for me while I did the Tour de Mont Blanc which is very useful as there is no longer a "left luggage" facility at the train station.

As for Chamonix itself. Great place.

As first experience in the Alps, the last week has been great (and not wonderfull only due to the bad weather conditions). Main reason of this comments is to help people in selecting the right Travel Agency and avoid unfortunate surprises. In fact, I've been travelling with STS Resor with the following facts happening:

- the flight to Geneva got a delay of 13hours (instead of
14.50 the 010317 we left at 03.30 the 010318)
+ STS resor paid back 1/7 of the cost of the trip
+ all people were guested at Eurostop Hotel in Arlanda with
dinner before the departure of 010318.

- the Hotel "Le Touring" in Chamonix claimed to be a **, but
it was less than a * I would say. In fact the bath/shower did not work at our arrival, and although we mention the problem the english staff of the hotel simply neglect the problem. We were adviced to use the staff shower outside our room, but after the first use of it, the staff closed down
the warm water which made useless that shower too.

- although we had paid in advance a full package with breakfast/lunch/dinner included. The quality of food was quite poor in more than 1 occasion: one dinner we got 3 shrimps + salad!! All the lunches were made by: 1/2 baguette with some cheese OR a slice of ham + a coke + a small chockolate bar!

- the restaurant could not handle all the people which had paid in advance to have dinner. The 2nd day we (3 people) arrived in the restaurant and due to the lack of space we were told to split in 3 different tables (we did not know the other people). Although our polite request to get some other
arrangements, we did not receive any help...instead we got a real proof of HOW UNPROFESSIONAL was the "le Touring" staff and open a discussion. At the end we decided to go out and eat in another restaurant...some real French food.

- another day the same episode occured to a couple
of guys. The STS Resor guy without even asking the 3 of us, just took forks, knife and plate and fix it on our table (with the clear intention to fix 2 places for the 2 guys at our table). Considering that there is nothing strange to get to know the 2 guys, I did not really appreciate the rude way
in which the STS Resor guy was unprofessionally solving the
strange situation.

- the last day we did not have any electricity in the room sockets.

- one girl of the staff, while serving pretended not to understand the english spoken by a friend of mine.

- the service on the table was efficient but rude.

I reccomend you all to avoid "Le touring" hotel!

As an experienced skier who has not taken the first time to Chamonix, he has gathered some preconceived sentences.
The first thing to do is buses, in most cases the accommodation is not at a distance to the lifts, so you can go bus a bit. It all works well according to the conditions, but it takes longer to get out on the slopes than at most other resorts.
Then there is skiing for everyone, but the majority is still more for advanced skiers. The field of off-piste skiing is good but I would not say it is noticeably better than other places such as Les Arcs or Engelberg, which is always about learning more about the place.
The rumors you heard of during the day of the day on the pillows days did not seem to me, at all, the lift queues were no problem at all, except when you went to the top of Grand Montets.
In summary, Chamonix is ​​definitely worth a visit, but they raise it to the sky as the best ski resort in the world, the best ski resort is where you have local knowledge and it is currently dumping.

Perhaps be spoiled for having been in Tignes and Val Thorens but Chamoinx is an incredibly difficult system to go in. Long bus trips to the various mountains and many of them can not be interspersed. Grand Montes is by far the best, really good, much better than anything else in Chamonix.

Okay food and there is a lot of shopping and anything else in the village but the skiing itself is very bakey.

Chamonix is ​​the place for those who want variation. From large trails to children's backs, cross country trails to walking trails. We spent half a year in Cham with our two children then 4 months and 6 years and we all got out of the trip.

For those who do not ski, there is the Montenverståget or the glacier. For families with children, there are lovely long, nice slopes in the Le Tour, playground, swimming pool and poolside cafes with a fantastic backdrop.

For the more adventurous, there are all the big and sometimes quite extreme rides that Chamonix is ​​famous for.

Are you in the resort for a week, you can take care of going over to Courmayeur over a day. Take care when there is bad weather in Cham because in Italy, the sun always shines :)

We highly recommend Chamonix!

Chamonix is ​​really dreaming for anyone who likes skiing!
You can mix the world's best offpiste at Grand Montets with a crazy afterski on the chambre neuf.
If you wake up and see that sneezing has fallen make sure you're out on the hill, then there are endless possibilities for good skiing.
The only downside with Chamonix is ​​the availability of food on the slopes, it is basically non existent, so you want to get the most out of the skiing: be sure to bring your backpack food, saving many hours of exploration!

The first time i was in the Alps, it became Chamonix and I was not disappointed! Were there from 29/12/2012 until 5/01/2013 and snow was more than enough. The ride was absolutely wonderful with really a lot of fall height and a bad good off-piste. The areas I recommend are Les Grand Motets and Brevent. Fleglere was in short and he did not fully explore it but thought it was okay the short time I spent there. Domaine de Balmes, I do not like him either, so I can not express myself either. Les Hoches, on the other hand, was a real disappointment. Went there one day and was very disappointed when the area from my point of view was really bad.

The disadvantages of the whole area are the buses that you have to take between the different areas, it is not worth changing my area during a day, but if you start going in an area you will stay there for the rest of the day. The buses do not take time and are almost always smocky. You should also not expect the locals to speak English, even Koers in some restaurants speak English. Information about most is also bad and you have to search yourself a lot to find information. Food in food stores is expensive. do not expect to find regular "manchestrade" pistes, if it has not been snowing for a couple of days, you will find yourself in a giant puck pistle, which is quite fun, but you get tired of it after a while.

Many lifts are old and the cabins have incredibly poor capacity. Seatlift or gondola is always preferable to a cabin. For example, if you going up to Grand Montets, I recommend taking the seatlift up instead of waiting in the cabin queue. Goes very fast. If you're going to take the cabin up to the top of the 3300m grand moto, you'll expect to queue but that queue is worth waiting for!

To summarize, I strongly recommend you to go there if you like to go offpiste!

Wild, big and awesome! The only downside is the amount of skilled skiers fighting for the powder ...

Grand Montets must be the best ski area in the world! The only downside is that everyone else has also realized it.
Up to the mountain is a large, sloping high altitude plate with free and open surfaces in all directions. The lifts are appropriately positioned to create efficient rails with many fall height meters.
Although the area is not very large, there is no risk that I will be measured. Here's all I need. Except untouched offpiste.