1 – Easy To Reach
Valmorel is one of the easiest ski resorts in the Alps to reach from the UK; it is also the closest to the Channel of all ski areas in the famous Tarentaise ski region. The driving distance from Calais to Valmorel is only 917 km, taking a little over 8 hours on the fast French motorways. That’s around 2 hours less driving time than to neighbouring resorts. Arriving by air from Chambery, Lyon and Geneva airports is faster than to most other resorts too with transfer times of between 1 and 2 hours.
Credit – Pierre-Jacques Valmorel
2 – Great Snowfall
Valmorel is one of the newer ski areas in the Alps, and resort planners learned from earlier mistakes to build at the perfect location! Thanks to the geographical location of Valmorel’s ski area, the Grand Domaine, close to a natural mountain barrier that forces weather fronts to rise rapidly, cool, and deposit their snow loads, it receives around 15% more snow, on average, than other ski areas at the same altitude but in less favourable locations. Natural snowfall is supported by more than 300 snow cannons covering key pistes.
Credit – OTVVA
3 – Great Family Resort
Valmorel was built to be a family-friendly, restful and stress-free pedestrianised resort on a human scale, and it just keeps getting better in that regard. NO surprise then that it won the best family resort category in the recent World Snow Awards, with its friendly village atmosphere. Everything is done to create a feeling of freedom and calm: parents and children can concentrate on having fun together. There are lots and lots of family-friendly services and facilities plus special offers through the season. For example, from 26 March to 16 April 2016, children under age 10 ski free.
4 – Ski-in/Ski-out
In Valmorel you don’t need your car. As it’s designed for pedestrians and skiers, you can get around very easily on foot. For slightly longer distances, there’s the ski shuttle or the Télébourg (a mini cable car linking the various hamlets). Direct piste access from most of the accommodation enables genuine ski-in/ski-out enjoyment. The resort’s architecture is in perfect harmony with the landscape. Buildings are no more than four storeys high and are all faced with wood and stone, some with trompe l’oeil designs, and stone roofs. The proportion of buildings to the ski area is less than 3%, so that you get the feeling of being totally immersed in nature, without the buildings interfering with the landscape’s beauty.
5 – Lots To Do
There’s a vast choice of things to do besides ski and board at Valmorel, as well as a full-on weekly entertainments programme and big events through the season. The list includes dog sledding, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, tandem paragliding on microlight flights, and even the unique opportunity to drive a mini two-passenger snowcat. New this winter there’s the option to try snowkarting on an all-new sledge design or the exciting sport of biathlon (cross-country skiing and target shooting) are added to the long list.
Peak Retreats
The French Alps specialist offers holidays to Valmorel starting from £199pp per week. This price includes Eurotunnel crossing for one car and passengers with free FlexiPlus upgrade.
Peak Retreats recommends the newly built Grange aux Fées prestige residence, which is ideally located in an elevated, quiet and sunny position in Valmorel’s Hameau des Lanchettes right next to a to a chairlift for maximum ski-in, ski-out convenience.
7 nights off-peak from 2 January 2016 from £221pp based on five sharing a one-bedroom alcove apartment including standard Eurotunnel crossing with one car (0844 576 0173 – PeakRetreats.co.uk).
