Lesser Known Ski Resorts
Our first destination was Valloire, in the Galibier Thabor ski domain. It is a traditional alpine town with plenty of bars, restaurants and shops. There is also an imposing baroque church in the centre, and several small chapels on the mountainside which are illuminated at night, it is charming. Our accommodation was comfortable, self-catering apartments in the residence, Les Chalets Du Galibier, two groups of 5 chalets containing apartments of various sizes. One of the main reception chalets also houses a swimming pool, a welcome retreat if not on the slopes.
The residence is conveniently located next to a ski hire shop and also across the road from one of the main chair lifts and ski school meeting point. However, it is 1km uphill from the town and the supermarket so a bit of a hike.
The ski domain itself offered a range of ski runs for all abilities and the 5th largest snowpark in France, quite an accolade for a small resort! With several restaurants at altitude and also a wonderful snow grotto to explore, it was easy to spend a whole day out exploring the domain.
Our next destination was La Toussuire in the neighbouring ski domain of Les Sybelles. We stayed in Les Ecrins des Sybelles, a short 2 minute walk along the road to the main hub of the resort, bars, restaurants, shops and ski lifts.
These apartments were very similar in style, with pine furniture, clean bath and shower rooms and well equipped kitchens. They also felt slightly larger in size and had great views from the apartment balconies.
The ski domain of Les Sybelles consists of 5 small villages, La Toussiure being the main one. This makes exploring the domain naturally very easy and with many blue runs, enjoyable too! With many of the pistes being south facing, it did offer a very warm skiing experience, handy to know especially if you like south facing resorts or particularly dislike mushy snow. The domain also has a high proportion of drag lifts which can be off putting to some skiers or snowboarders. However, what I did find appealing about this resort is that it sits in a bowl so all the pistes return you to the town for a well-deserved après ski drink.
At the foot of the slopes in La Toussuire is the residence, Les Hauts de Comborciere which is a ski-in ski- out residence. It also has a pool and a restaurant on site, and an equipment hire shop underneath so everything is very convenient in this location.
There was the usual Sherpa supermarket in the town and it was easy to collect supplies and only around 200 metres to walk back to the residence. However, for guests that don’t want to worry about doing too much 'self-catering' in their 'self-catering' apartment, a local company provides a food hamper delivery service complete with cooking instructions. The hampers contain utility goods (loo rolls, bin bags) as well as food to cater for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some dietary requirements can be catered for and they have recently introduced a wine delivery service also to accompany the hampers. This is a handy way of catering for a family or group especially if everyone has different tastes as the meals can be varied, the preparation time is minimal and leaves more time for relaxation after skiing.
Our return journey came about far too soon. As we set off to Chambery station to board the train to Paris, it demonstrated to us that the sheer volume of traffic on turnaround day should not be underestimated and to always leave sufficient time to make a connection. As we finally settled into our seats on the TGV, we could look forward to the smooth return journey to London via Paris, and nod off, dreaming of still being on the slopes!