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My daughters and I spent last week in Morzine and we had a great week considering it's late in the season. (The last week of the season for Morzine) Rain up to 2500 mtrs was the worst problem and we had to give in on two days in the early afternoon, a little like "drowned rats"!! But the other days were much better. Two days were warm and sunny with decent snow in the mornings and two days where visibility was not great.Resort was good with great food, if a little pricey !!

Not for the faint hearted, but this is an excellent resort for those looking for adventurous and a total skiing experience.
My friend is a ski instructor there and thoroughly enjoys the varied conditions that you always find with Scottish Skiing!

Isola 2000 is a very French resort and therefore they do not cater very well for Adult beginners. The Ski School is appalling and although we paid for private lessons we did not gain very much and were extremely unhappy with our instructor. I would not recommend this resort for beginners if they want to participate in lessons.

The nightlife was terrible, just one bar!

Stayed in Valmeinier 1800 meters, small resort but with lots of varied slopes. Good real snow.

We travelled with Snowcoach which took 14.5 hours!!!! They said it would be 9, but that was impossible given distance and speed of coach. Never travel this way it is unbelievabliy long.

Resort has a superb new bowling alley with DJ and pool tables, good atmosphere.

Learn some french because in Valmeinier they don't speak a huge amount of english!

Good lifts with 3 ski hire shops, would definately go back again.

Only slight problem is all runs end up on one blue run which gets really churned up by 4pm. Lifts close at 5pm.

It was great in alpbach. The people were nice and friendly. the lady we stayed with was lovely.She was called Frauhilda .The sking contitions in Alpbach were great. One night the whole village was covered in snow. up in the mountins i had a sking instructer called sophie. She was extremely nice to me. ALL THE SKI INSTRUCTERS WERE NICE. The scenery was great.

THIS PEACE OF WRITING WAS DONE BY GEORGE YEROU AT 10 YEARS OLD.

As a family we had a fantastic time. The children took to skiing immediately and the instructors were capable, professional and spoke great english. People are friendly, food is good and we had loads of snow. The blue slopes are quite challenging so as beginners we felt really proud when we could manage them and there are enough reds and blacks to satisfy more expert skiers. We will definitely be going back!

Good location, right next to piste. Got busy but neighbouring resorts easy to get to and quite. Hotel Du Col 20 yards from piste, comfortable, good food and friendly staff. Not much to do at night, but too knakered after skiing. 90 mins bus transfer from Turin airport.

Great family resort, easy access, gentle slopes, good lifts and mountain restaurants. No nightlife really but not an issue for us. Stacks of skiing, piste and off piste all easily accessible.

The village was lovely and clean. Bars were good and people friendly. Hotel was very good, but a bit too far to walk every day to the gondola with ski's and boots so had to spend money on depositing them in a shop next to the main gondola every night.

Very nice place, excellent ski and logistic infrastructure! I stayed at Kirchberg hof hotel, 3 stars but has everything you need for a ski holiday: nice, clean and spacious room, dissent food. In Kirchberg there are plenty of restaurants of all choice. Kitzbuhel is 5 min drive.
As for skiing, there are so many options around that 7 days is just not enough to visit all the resort has to offer, from beginner to expert level.
I flew to Munich and drove to Kirchberg, 2 hours drive, very convenient. Within the Kitzbuhel- Kirchberg ski resort you don’t really need a car since bus/ shuttle transfer is very well organized, but with car it makes life easier!

I would certainly recommend the place and would like myself to go there again!

Finkenberg is exactly what its set out to be, a small village within easy reach of a gondola to the main ski area. limited night-life but easy access to the town of mayrhofen if that is what you are looking for. Buses run up and down the zillertal valley taking you to differnt areas of the ski area, all included in the lift pass.

Travelled with Crystal, Skis never got on the flight and last i heard they where in Frankfurt, Reps no help what so ever, so got a good pair from hire shop out of my own pocket and got on with enjoying the skiing, which was pretty good for spring.

If you can get to resort independently for cheaper I would advise it, Crystal really are no help, had to chase problems myself.

As for the Hotel Kristall, we where trully looked after by the staff, food was top quality you can contact hotel direct and check out their website. If you are a wine lover this hotel prides it self on providing top quality wines, beer aint to bad either.

this was a surprise birthday treat from my partner and we really enjoyed it,apart from the landing at salzburg very bumpy scary long transfer than normal due to traffic and storms,snow was bad at lower slopes and busy with ski school,best higher up.at time a lot of walking between lifts (run 18 especially)best runs 19,23,24b,20.a great place for beginners families,very freindly and scenery village etc,i got bored with runs quickly but they where well maintained and i enjoyed skiing them,very good resturants,clean, good food.

Hafjell Alpine centre is located at the entrance of the Gudbrandsdalen valley, 15 km north of Lillehammer. The Olympic trail network has been extended and disposes 30 slopes offering winner experiences for skiers of all levels. 15 lifts, including the Gondola, serves the 835 vertical metres from the base to the top of the mountain. Hafjell`s trademark are long runs, excellent snow and sunny climate.

The snow conditions were not great as the weather was to hot during the day and there was no snow fall. However the slopes were well prepared every day and the more shaded runs held up fairly well.

Eating at the top of the gondola was not the best with better food found at the bottom of the hill. The food in the Himalaya was excellent and the rooms of good standard.

With good snow this is an excellent resort with plenty of scope for all levels of skiers.

I love Chamonix! The place has amazing views no matter where you are, good coffee, nice crepes, good bars and a real good feel to the place! It's a real working town, not just a purpose built resort! The ski/snowboarding areas are varied and the terrain can be gentle to incredibly steep and sketchy! I enjoy the variety in all the areas and you'll be able to find something good somewhere no matter what (unless closed), it does help to have your own transport though as areas are spread out!

Great resort. Ski pretty much from the hotels. Apres ski good and several bars in the evening, mainly for adults though

fantastic place ,great people and service. take pleanty of money .

Stayed in Arc 1950 Radisson (Stayed in Arc 2000 last year). Very nice new village, ski-in/ ski-out apartments. Good quality apartments, with good facilities and lots of space. Only negative was the late check-in time on arrival day.

Good tip is catch the Cabriolet up to Arc 2000 to save at least 20% on everything - ski hire, beer, food, etc. - as 1950 is over priced. The restaurants are particularly expensive.

Slopes are mostly good, the blues tend to be fairly narrow tracks though. Most of the lifts are chairs rather than drags, so great for boarders. Key lifts can have very long queues at times.

Highly recommend the pizza parlour in Arc 2000 for a no fuss, filling, cheap and very tasty meal.

Very short transfer form Bourg-St-Maurice train station.

Very impressed with the amount of pistes available,well bashed every evening.only down sides were the amount off ski schools on the slopes,found our selves haveing to wait for a time for the little ones to finish snakeing across the piste.Busy periods at plagne bellecote was sometimes a problem waiting 25 mins to get on the cable car , staff were letting cars go on half empty,very frustrating as your wait in a massive que.

Don't come, you won't like it!

Going for the fifth time soon. No lift queues, a decent variety of pistes, good snow record, no gangs of apres ski drunkards, really quiet, but with 7-8 really good restaurants (if you like Italian food). Oh, and the transfer isn't bad either.

If you like killer nightlife, La Thuile is not for you. But If you want to ski and relax after with a beer or wine and have some quality food, book now!

Accommodation a good size with excellent views from the balcony. There was only one lift in our apartment block which had a mind of its own at times. It was a gamble to which floor you ended up on. Parking excellent but you have to get there early to get a space. Snow clearing happens once a week so you have to remove your car for a few hours while this takes place. All amenities could be reached without going outside via underground tunnels. A good number of restaurants and bars although some rather expensive. Good size Spar, and bakery although you would have to que in the mornings for bread. Slopes not great for beginners with only 2 greens. At lot of blues steep blues which were more like reds! The chair lifts were painfully slow but the views fantastic so it makes up for the slow ride. Would recommend Intersport for Ski and boot hire and Oxygene ski school for lessons. Overall a great place to ski and would definately go back.

A fab resort, lovely old pubs, the best bar for apres ski. Everyone you see on the mountains that day packs in at the end of another sunny ski filled day.
Theres limited skiing in obergurgl but i love the sunny spot and lovely well groomed runs. Were going to explore Hogurgl and Solden next week.
I cant wait for another fab week.

Great snow. great weather
Little nightlife. Ugly town centre.
but that didn't matter to us, as we were having a family holiday.
We went self catering and choice of shops and food was adequate, and fairly reasonably priced by ski resort standards.

Accomadation was good, if a little small. Great views from balcony, literally right over the piste. Loads of good on and off piste skiing, numerous slopes. You can easliy get away without doing the same one twice. Can ski down into other parts of La Plange as well as resorts such as Champany.Local shop is a spar with the usual food as well as a nice selection of french cheeses and meats. Two good restaurants, a pizza place and a bar in La Plange Soleil, many more in Plange centre. Exibitions put on by intructers at night time such as torch-light ski displays. The lifts were excellent, vary reliable generally open 9 till 5. Child friendly - child penguin ski school and smaller lifts and slopes. English generally Spoken throughout.

Albach is the most amazing, friendly, lovely resort - great skiing although it's more for intermediates than beginners or the seriously good. Mainly red/easy blacks. Fantastic social life, amazing food I would definitely recommend it.

Fantastic varied pistes from easy green up to unpisted blacks & moguels.
Great little 2* hotel in Les Praz called Les Launchers, really friendly and great food!

Best resort I have ever been to. We went with a group of thirteen people, 6 adults and 7 kids and there was something for everyone. Highly recommended.

Just got back from staying at the Hohe Tauern (catered Chalet) with Crystal Ski. Fantastic accomodation, great dinners and brilliant chalet 'boys'! Would recommend to anyone...cannot speak highly of Crystal right now. Relaxed shared and clean chalet (we were lucky as the other groups were a really nice bunch, and no children in our group that week!).

As for Kaprun itself, nice town. Slopes are good and well maintained (but we did have snow so to be expected I guess). Short ride to Zell Am See brings more slopes to explore.

Quite busy at times and had to queue twice for some time to get on the lifts (Sunday and Tuesday), but on the whole very good. The Glacier there is great, very cold, but great skiing. Nothing is instantly on your doorstep, but all a free 'Dorfbus' ride to where you need to go. Bus very frequent and only ever really busy at 9am and 4.30pm.

Can't comment on childrens activities and snowboarding.

Lessons with the local ski school were very good. Long day but friendly and helpful instructors.

Downsides...erm...none really!
Would recommend anyone going. We had a group of 5, 2 very good skiiers, 2 intermediate and 1 beginner, so suits all needs.

We went to the Snow Park near Zell organised by Crystal for 35 euros each...was fun, but wouldn't really do it again. Would be great for kids and families though.

Transfer is fine, little under 2 hours.

Lovely scenery and good nightlife for a drink or three. Bar Crawl done with Crystal on the Monday proved interesting as you go to Zell for the night which is a larger and more 'happening' town (but then when you are skiing all the time, Kaprun has more than enough for the occasional drink and/or dinner).

First time Boarding and I have to say the Pistes here at Les Arcs were a joy to cruise. Loads of snow and well maintained. Lifts were effective but not fast, and don't use the published lift closure times, go by what's on the lift-clcocks themselves to avoid disappointment.

Stayed in 1950, hotel was excellent, loads of room. Not much in the way of nightlife, but apparently 1800 is the way to go.

Food and drink was expensive, 6-ish euros for a beer, and some of the restaurants were a bit pricey, but Melli's snack bar was very reasonably priced and the Panini's were great. Use the Spar shop and go self-catering for the most cost effective stay.

Transfer to the resort was around 3 hours, although the traffic through Annecy and Bourg-St-Maurice can add a couple of hours at peak times.

However, I would definately return to this resort, with friends or with the family!!!

The dogs bollocks!!!
A must is go Catboarding!!!
And a hot tub!!

CANADA IS ACE

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.

Good resort, good runs with great snow that week. Good boarding parks. Food and drink a little expensive, but all french resorts seem to be.

Would go back

Val Thorens is a resort which would be waisted on beginners. In order to enjoy the skiing at its best you would need to be at least a high intermidate. I am a good skier and I hardly scatched the surface of what the 3 valleys had to offer. We had the best and the worst of the weather the resort had to throw at us. Strong winds which close every lift on our first day and the next day 2ft of powder which made for the best days skiing of my life followed by the next day fog! The good really outwayed the bad in my opinion!!!

The resort itself is a good one with everything you need. the daytime food is not great and is pricey although the nightime food is still expensive but is outstanding as long as you like to eat well.

Would I go back again? Probably. Would I ski the 3 valleys again? Certainly

Long Weekend with the boys and my first time, enjoyed every minute and would highly recommend this resort. Not only are the slopes, lifts and people 5 star but the nightlife is excellent too. Recommend The Pub with the live music, the bands are excellent.

Absolutely AWESOME resort! It's not as "englishified" as I'd feared... Still lots of French bars and Restaurants as well as english run bars.

Nightlife is BRILLIANT (Val Claret is the best area for bars etc)

Skiing is FANTASTIC! Lifts running smoothly and Pistes groomed perfectly.

DEFNINTELY going back!

Lovely town located near the Swiss Border , you actually ski half the time in France and half the time in Switzerland .

It had'nt snowed for a while but the pistes were still good

Great resort for beginners and intermediates , the most challenging run is "the Wall" which is steep with really big moguls .

Accomodation was good and the apres livley , especially the Budha Bar .

Downside is getting on to the piste from Morzine to Avoriaz takes a while and is easy to miss the last lift back and then there is a bus or a 50 euro taxi

A very pleasent resort. However, very expensive. On average 5.5 euros for a beer. 8 euros for a vodka. Food was nice but some places seemed more expensive.

Overall, it was very good. Would go again

I was in Bad Hofgastein, not Bad Gastein, and it's a different kettle of fish altogether... You have access to the same skiing areas as in Gastein, but you have a smaller village, with easier access to restaurants etc. On the flip side, there's very little apres ski to talk of, and very few bars. Not that I/we were looking for a party but it would have been nice to have gone out for a couple... I had a drink at the Park Hotel (5*) on my last evening and I was the only one in the bar at 20:30!

The place would have been perfect if you were serious about your skiing and wanted early nights to be fresh the following day. Trouble is, the skiing isn't that good. The valley consists of five disparate areas, of which two are interconnected by means of ski-lifts. To get to any of the other ones, you have to get all the way back to the resort and get on a ski-bus to go to the next area. Very time consuming and annoying indeed. On my last day. I got to Sport Gastein around 9:30 am to be told that the lifts weren't open all the way to the top. This made it virtually pointless to stay, but I went up once before I got on the next ski-bus back to Hofgastein. I didn't stand on my skis again until 12:15!

Having said all that, it's great if you are a beginner->intermediate. If you are good and demand a little fun outside the piste it would only be good if you were lucky enough to have copious amounts of snow fall...

Cannot speak highly enough about this resort. Our boys learnt to ski here 2 years ago and were on the reds and black run by the end of the week, due to some excellent tuition. Bed and Breakfast is the ideal way to stay. We are returning to the gueat house Brezov Gaj for our third year in Feb 2008. Very friendly resort, swimming available and everything is close at hand, ideal with having kids.

Transfer an hour drive. Flights reasonable try Adria airways and eating out excellent value.Skiing for avvanced limited as ski area not that huge. Fantastic for beginners and nervous/cautious intermediates. Locals fab, very much 'home from home'.

Champoluc is amazing it is the best ski resort ever!!! i cant wait to go again soon

Small resort in Patagonia near the military town of Esquel.
Great place to visit with few people and lots of terrain within easy hiking distance.
Several good pistes and a snowpark.
True Argentinian skiing and snowboarding.
We were recommended this place by http://www.snoventures.com

Been here many times with www.snoventures.com and loved every time.
Only 450 bed spaces and 2.5 hours from Santiago virtually eliminates any skiing.
Often voted one of the World's top ten resorts.

excellent resort and the best skiing in Europe with as many runs as you could possibly hope for to suit all abilities. Its my 4th time back in the 3 valleys and there is still so much to find.

This is the third time I have visited Val Thorens, the first time was in 2001, the new automated lift pass system works well but I would now say that this is a good intermediates resort, not one for novice or advanced skiers, the are no enough true nursery slopes and not enough challenging runs for the more advanced skier but it is a good all round resort.

Make sure you use the full 3 valley ski pass and get across to Meribel & Courchevel.

Apres ski there are plenty of good bars but make sure you book up to eat out in the evening.

On a personal note I would recommend avoiding the Tex-Mex for food, myself & 1 other in my group both had food posioning after eating the chili there.

Great place great people great bars needs more snow to make the home run better.

fantastic resort with the best ski conditions I have encountered in years. Limited ski on/off accommodation however there is a reliable public transport service which is free to all ski pass holders. Locals are very friendly and welcome all guests. Can't wait until next year.

small village, with limited shops and poor restaurants, although hotel was good and links to the piste was excellent. Skiing and snowboarding was fantastic with links to 3 other resorts easily accesible by the lifts

Overall an awesome holiday. Some of the most spectacular sights ever, snowboarding on some of Europes highests pistes. Even a chance to ride on fresh powder when we were there, followed with 5 days of blue skies and sunshine. Couldnt ask for much more!

Plenty of pubs, restarants, and a few clubs to keep you busy at night. The bowling alley is a good bit of fun if you have a chance. Drinks are a bit expensive when out, but there are supermarches dotted all over which offer very good prices for alchoholic refreshments.

Definitely recommended resort by ourselves, looking to go back next year already!

second visit to cervinia and were not dissapointed again! superb weeks skiing in perfect conditions and very good accomodation in the hotel meynet,,same resort,same hotel as last year and an absolute overall perfect holiday,many thanx to all those involved

Great high altitude resort for beginners and intermediates. Few challenging runs for higher intermediates and experts. Good potential for off piste adventures given the right conditions. Too many drag lifts on the higher slopes limits access for snowboarders. Also the snow park was closed all week.
The resort was very quiet the week we were there so night life / apres was quiet too.

A nice resort,very pretty.Accommodation was excellent(the Shonblick).Slightly elevated from the village, with awesome views from the balcony,3 min in a ski bus, 10 min walk, .Nice food .Ski in, Ski out, well 50 m to the piste with a 2 min ski to the train which takes you to the top of the mountain.Massive ski area,all connected up.

Absolutely fantastic for skiing, snow cconditions were superb and the weather was lovey. A really nice place but the only fault was lack of lively apres ski and nightlife. Quite an expensive place also, average price for a beer was 6 Euros.

Recommend Nelly's Resturant and the Brown Cow

Very unfriendly/unhelpful place. Boyfriends skis got stolen on the first day. Hire place extremely unhelpful, only after going back about three times would the actually give us documentation to pass onto the police.

I was there last week 12th - 19th Jan and conditions were perfect. I have never enjoyed such good skiing. It snowed most nights. I want to go again. Lixxie.

Alagna has to be visited to be truly appreciated. This tiny little out of the way village has some of the most epic off piste skiing in Europe. The link with Gressoney and Champoluc makes it an intermediate's dream as well with miles of often deserted pistes for those that don't want to venture into the backcountry. People really should gat a guide and head out though as the terrain is not all "fall and die" stuff with many flattering runs through bowls and between the well spaced pistes.

The village itself is a charmingly rustic affair with a real sense of community that is missing from so many of the larger resorts. If you are after thumping apres-ski then Alagna is probably not for you, but a good time can still be had with a couple of bars open until you leave. The Cafe de les Guides and the Bacher being worthy of note, the latter in particular due to a phenomenal wine cellar.

We travelled with Ski Monterosa, a boutique outfit that provided a wonderfully personal service and took care of the needs of a group of 8 with consumate professionalism. The company is evidently making a great name for itself as another English group we bumped into were returning for their third trip in a row!

The people, the atmosphere, the skiing and truly stunning backdrop of the Monte Rosa region make Alagna a winner. Tell your friends, just not too many!

A very commercial place with loads of bar restaurants. Unfortunately they are all very similar with pretty much the same menu's. the food can be hit n miss, even in the same place and the service is normally erratic. At every meal time, there was ALWAYS at least 1 out of 7 meals that were incorrect or never arrived although the staff were normally freindly.

The ski/board school was very good with great instructors and good value for money. no queueing for the lifts during the week and only a short wait at the weekend when the locals were on the slopes.

a good place for beginers.

Not the prettiest of places with everything very functional but overall a fairly good deal. A good budget holiday.

We arrived in our mini bus to falling snow on the mountain road so snow chains were obligatory, it therefore took about 3 hours to slimb the mountain. A couple of coaches got stuck on the way up but this was exceptional, and it did mean that when we got up to blue skies and sunshine the next day here was plenty of snow. I hadn't been skiing since I was 8 (36 years ago) and now I know what I'e been missing. Other people who have skiied plenty said this was the best snow they had ever known so perhaps we were fortunate. There are literally hundreds of runs in the 3 valleys which would take more than 3 week long ski trips to cover. Lifts were'nt crowded and the longest wait during the week was about 5 minutes. All the resort personnel were friendly, helpful and awake. Nightlife almost absent and yes 2 pints of guiness 2 shorts and a pint of lager did cost 36 euros. Ski school was very good and reasonably priced 32 euros for a 2 3/4 hour lesson or 135 euros for a week of morning lessons. Eating out was quite expensive and we should have taken advantage with simple self catering in our small but bijou 4 person appartment. Next time we will bring more easy to cook meals - because we will definitely be back!!!

Chamonix has something for everyone, being one of the largest resorts in the alps. There is so much to do, both on and off the slopes, and is superb for snowbaording.

Unspoilt quaint town, with good nightlife, food and friendly relaxed atmosphere. Excellent access to ski lifts and no waiting. Friendly and efficient ski hire services.

Good variety of ski runs although slope classification slightly strange and not a place for the absolute beginner.

The ski area is superb, but the various areas have to be reached by bus or train.

Most hotels are in the centre of town, while the gondola for the local area is on the outskirts of the town.

But once up there, you have around 160Km of piste locally, plus access (by free bus/train) to Mayrhofen, Kaltenbach, Finkenberg, etc.

A great resort as it's a picturesque French town rather than a purpose built resort.

The one drawback is the ski areas are spread out along the valley and it is a pain having to use the (free) bus transfers if you don't have a car.

Nevertheless great ski-ing/boarding and massive choice!

The smittenhoe (overlooking zell am see) is not a great snowboarding mountain as it's either icey black or long narrow blue cat tracks to get right to the bottom. The pistes get battered by skiers too.

Absolutely brilliant, perfect snow, excellent park facilities.

We chose Les Gets as a family resort and we were not disapointed, the resort lived up to all our expectations!
Fantastic intermediate skiing, everyone freindly, plenty to do for the children and a good selection of places to eat and drink. The resort itself is very pretty and we were lucky to have a good snow base of which was just starting to melt toward the end of our holiday.
My only minor reservation was the lack of parking and sometimes it was a fight to acheive a parking space but this is pretty much normal and if you stay in the center of Les Gets then you don't need the car.
For anyone looking for a good family resort with good intermediate skiing look no further!

Fantastic skiing, not for beginners though! Snow conditions were fantastic for us, plenty of skiing for a week and 95% of the lifts are very smart and comfy, some with heated seats! Apres ski was pretty crazy, our favourite was the Krazy Kangaroo, Moose bar was pretty popular to, much more busy but more Austrian locals where as the Kangaroo was Brits, Aussies, Norwegians etc. Overall a fantastic resort and we will definitely return!

La Tania is a lovely, imtimate resort with really good accomodation and everything one needed.
The Ski training by the Magic instructors was brilliant and helped me to progress quickly.
The green run from the top of the 'bubble' lift was initially challenging, but after several attempts, became exilerating to go down.
It was my first time skiing and therefore was looking forward to my experience greatly - I was not disapointed at all!

I will be back!!

Small, quiet resort with no cars. It has a decent skiing area on its own, but when combined with Wengen and Grindelwald (with a SportPass) its a very large area.

Lots of families are at this resort, it is very easy to get around and the locals are very friendly.

The Schilthorn restaurant is stunning and worth a visit for skiiers and non-skiiers alike. It is the highest point on the Murren slopes and was the interior and exterior location for the baddies Alpine base in James Bond film - 'On Her Majestys Secret Service'.

The only caveat is for those who wish to carry on the days fun into the night...the bars and nightlife are a little limited! All the hotels have bars and there are a few standalone bars (only 3/4!). There are only 2 places for late night dancing, the Tachi Bar (at the Hotel Eiger) and the Bleumi Cheller (not sure about spelling!) underneath the Blumental Hotel. Both are frequented by lots of Murrens younger visitors.

Due its small size, you are never more than a few mins walk to one of the lifts to get you up the slopes in the morning.

Great resort, but small and lacking apres ski fun!

I recommend the Hotel Diva on the Grand Motte route close to multiple lifts to the Grand Motte slopes and the Fresse lift to Val d’Isere, also the Tichot lift and one can virtually ski back to ski room door. The free bus service is the best no ski pass is needed, and contrary to some reviews it does not stop at 7.30 it does not pass the Diva after this time but is routed up to the main part of Val Claret which is a short walk away from the Diva. This is good for the Hotel Diva as it keeps the nighthawks enjoying them selves in the main part of Val Claret away from us that want to hit the slopes early.

I recommend the Hotel Diva on the Grand Motte route close to multiple lifts to the Grand Motte slopes and the Fresse lift to Val d’Isere, also the Tichot lift and one can virtually ski back to ski room door. The free bus service is the best no ski pass is needed, and contrary to some reviews it does not stop at 7.30 it does not pass the Diva after this time but is routed up to the main part of Val Claret which is a short walk away from the Diva. This is good for the Hotel Diva as it keeps the nighthawks enjoying them selves in the main part of Val Claret away from us that want to hit the slopes early.

The free open air car park on the right by the Funival on the way in to Val d’Isere at Le Daille was not in use at Christmas 2007 and did not seem as if it will open in 2008, there was a small car park on the left but it soon fills up. Do not park on any of the roads if it snows the snow clearing “Giant Tonkas “ can wreck your car and your holiday. In addition to last season’s car parks, there is a new car park at the piste centre by the Solaise and L’Olympique lifts and close by the Snowberry shop. There is a new free circular bus service for 2008 that takes you past and stops at the new car park entrance and around the back roads with stops, runs every 15 minutes via Le Foret and to the main bus station to get the Geneva, Tignes, or Bourg St Maurice coaches. You do not need a lift pass on any of the excellent resort free buses

Great skiing for all abilities; very child friendly, lots of nursery slopes and choice of ski schools; we found ESF to be the best. Friendly, charming village that still retains the traditional feel of an old ski resort. Plenty to do if you don't ski but personally think portes de soleil is best skiing around!

I tried skiing once before in Italy but this place was amazing. I went with guys that have skied for years but we all had as much fun as each other. The blue slopes are excellent for beginners like me and the lads went off on their red and black slopes. It didn't matter that we were not together as the atmosphere and fresh air was so exhilarating and the views breathtaking we were all soon meeting at the bottom ready for the nightlife. This has to be the place to go throughout Europe although I have other friends over in Bulgaria on a very cheap but luxury holiday and will wait to hear of their ski trip out there. Outside Europe you have USA, Canada and Japan for excellent and quiet venues but for long weekend breaks Meribel has to be the place.

Being an absolute beginner I was quite unprepared as to what to expect from the resort. I found it very friendly but not the busiest of resorts for night-life.
Some of the food outlets were overpriced and not particulary good quality.
However the ski-school was fantastic, well-organised and fun. I was fortunate to have a fabulously patient instructor called Pascale. She managed to embody a degree of confidence in all us beginners!
The Ski-school looked great for children, from tots to teenagers.

World-class resort for both skiers and non-skiers alike. The new city museum is well worth the admission price - a great reminder of the resort's importance in the history of "alpinisme". Many lift improvements have been implemented, and several more are slated for the coming years, which is reflected in the price of the lift ticket!

My first ski trip and i really enjoyed it!

I hope that by reading this review you are informed enough so not as to make the same mistake as we did.

we have spent Christmas in Austria several years now and due to the poor snow in the 2006/7 season we thought we'd try a higher resort. the highest Austrian ski resort is fishtail - 35 mins from Innsbruck so quick transfer.

resort:
as this is not a village it really lacks character - especially for Christmas where it could have been just any another time of year.
there is a convenience store that plays on the fact that there is no competition. that is why a 1.5 l bottle of coke is £3 and water is £2.70. - 4 mach3 razor blades cost £15 !. so take plenty of cash.

skiing:
not a resort that i would ever want to learn at. all ski runs are quite steep in places but i quite enjoyed them. conditions were good if a little choppy. not a good resort for snow boarders though
the resort boasts that there is little or no queuing. we found that on average the que was about 5mins- unless you use the runs at the extreams of the resort.

sport hotel kuhtai is rated 4* so we thought this might be a nice place to stay for Christmas. what a mistake.

Accommodation:
The rooms are similar to travel lodge except with chincy curtains and rather shabby. ours was a decent size but the beds must have been really old because it was like sleeping in a hammock.
strangely dogs are welcome in the hotel rooms (which explains the flea bites). in fact the whole resort is stained with yellow snow and you have to be real careful where you tread.
The towels are thin and hard and obviously quite old. great for exfoliating though.
bed linen is only changed on a weekly basis.
We were lucky enough to be sandwiched between a room with a crying baby to wake us in the morning and a room with a dog that barked first thing.

Facilities:
The pool is nice but during our stay the there was always about 8 german kids 'bombing' the pool so you couldn't actually use it.

the 'salt tunnel' is a joke. it is a stone room with a 10 second spray of salty water if you press the button. just weird and pointless.

the ski room looks to be good but there is not enough room. our skis were damaged in there from being knocked out of the racks.

food was generally good but not as nice as other hotels in Austria. if you like dumplings you'll be in heaven - because they are in every meal.

there is a 'famous wine cellar' that no one is allowed to see. what is the point of telling guests that.

skiing to and from door is a joke. while it is technically possible to ski back to the hotel - with a bit of effort- it is impossible to ski from the hotel (unless you can ski uphill. the main lifts are a couple of minutes walk away.

the main disappointment was the reception/ management staff. we found them rude and patronising. generally we were ignored by those staff in favour of the german guests.for example when we arrived we were given a key to our room and left to take our luggage to it. german guests were shown to their rooms and had their luggage taken up for them. I can only describe the manager as racist.
The funny thing is that when he made comments in german he was stupid enough to think that we could not understand him. Austrian people are usually lovely kind people - but not here. Although the waiters and cleaners were very good- friendly and polite.

We actually saw other guests argue with the manager about their rooms. Even in Belgian we understood that they were not happy.

drinking at the hotel is very expensive. there is also a 20% tax and a 10% service charge. here are some examples of the prices.

750ml water £4.85
250ml coke £2.00
tiny cappuccino £3.25
small white wine £4.00

We were not impressed by the resort or hotel and would rate it no more than 2 star.


If you are looking for a christmasy resort short transfer from Innsbruck then try seefeld. perfect ! The 3.5* alpina leaves the sporthotel in kuhtai in the shade.

Go away, you won't like it. Only joking. The truth is, I'm reluctant to tell people about Val Cenis because I want to keep it for my family and friends.

In fact, Val Cenis is a wonderful resort for beginners, intermediates, and particularly for families. The runs are north facing and snow is generally good, ski school takes children from age 3, and the creche (beside the ski school) takes babies from 3 months. It never gets crowded, lift attendants will often slow lifts for nervous beginners, and it won't cost you an arm and a leg. What makes it ideal for families though, is L'Escargot, the longest green run in Europe. This zigzags down the mountain and even the more timid skier can use it to get down the mountain safely.

Stay in the CIS, and you'll be stuffed with huge amounts of food, and their shuttle bus will take your children to ski school and back every day, so you can get on with your own skiing. There are a lot of open easy runs in the centre of the system, but some challenging reds on the edge, and a World Cup Downhill black which goes from top to bottom.

There is also a swimming pool and two ice-rinks if you get bored.

Plenty of good pistes and very family friendly especially for young kids. Didnt snow at all while we were there so not great skiing but would have been if it had snowed. the piste managment team work very hard all night to maintain them though and a big thankyou to them.
Large choice of bars, hotels and resteraunts but all of them very expensive.
Maybe worth noting that we were served almost raw meat on three occasions at different places, one of them after asking for it well done, so emphasise you want it well done unless your a closet cannibal. and learn SIL VOUS PLAIT(please) and MERCI(thankyou). seems obvious but i heard alot of people not bothering. i learnt alot of french and i found it got me a long way.

great for beginners and children, not much do do other than the hotels facilities