Holiday Weather

We were lucky enough to have a huge dump of snow on the night we arrived which lasted the whole week we were there. Skiing conditions were perfect with sunny blue skies and lots of snow.

Skiing itself in Arinsal is fairly limited meaning you will get bored of doing the same runs over and over again. Luckily your lift pass is valid in entire val nord region(Arinsal, pal and Arcalis).

If your a beginner this place is perfect for you as the runs are very wide and not very steep. The Ski instructors spoke perfect English and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Night life in the town is pretty good with lots of bars competing for trade. Lots of the bars give you incentives to come in such as a free toastie with every drink between 3-6pm.

The only negative I have to say about Arinsal really is the ski lifts. The main gondola to the bottom of the main ski area broke down one morning meaning we had to wait 45 minutes for a bus replacement to take us up to the ski area. On top of that the main 4 man chair lift to the top of the mountain(which also connects you to the pal resort via the cable car) broke down in the afternoon.

When the four man lift was working its a nightmare getting on(even for experienced skiers) as it doesn't decouple from the couple at the bottom. Once your on it takes ages to get to the top which makes you consider jumping to stop you going crazy!

Another really minor point is the marking of runs is for some reason very confusing. We accidentally ended up a couple of times on a red run with a beginner in our group despite the piste maps and signs saying it was a blue run in pal!

Half an hour bus journey away is the Arcalis ski resort which is covered by your ski pass. You get there from Arinsal via bus in the morning. Its easily the best skiing area out of the 3 with lots of green runs for beginners and more challenging red/black runs for the more advanced skiers. This was also where the snow was at its deepest (around 110cm i think).

All in all a very good weeks skiing by all of us. I would definetly recommend this resort to beginners in particular although everyone can find runs to suite their tastes.

Recommended Places
Mile End - Great Indian restaurant.
Irish bar for good atmosphere.

Fantastic holiday.
Friendly, helpful, very clean accommodation.
Good long runs, well maintained slopes.
Will go back again.