Easy to drive to ski resort?

[serin]

After scaring ourselves silly on the road to St Jean D'Arves, we are looking for a resort that is a little less precarious to drive to.

Don't mind where it is, just don't want to skid off the mountain.

Peak retreats are great but I don't trust their opinion on this as they told us SJD was an 'easy' drive. Hmm, 800ft unfenced drops on ungritted sheer ice was not much fun! We nearly remortgaged the house and hired a helicopter to take us down.

[molesbreath]

Grindelwald or lauterbrunnen or Saas fee

All Switzerland and hideously expensive but accessible by train

[serin]

Thank you, I will have a look at those.

[juneau]

Les Gets is on a main road and Morzine is too - no precipitous mountain roads to traverse there.

[SarahBeenysBumblingApprentice]

Lots of resorts in Austria are quite low, working towns which keeps the roads good. Are you fly-driving or driving from home?

We've driven to both Val Thorens and Val d'Isere in recent years. The road up to Val d'Isere was fine and felt safe and well maintained but it is looong. My parents got caught in a storm on the way to Morzine a few years ago and were stuck for hours!

I presume you have snow chains and winter tyres? We got to 100m of our apartment one January and needed to put the chains on for the final 100m.

[serin]

Thanks Sarah and Juneau, yes we have snow chains and tyres (Tyres alone were nearly £600, ) It doesn't come cheap this skiing thing does it!

[PauletteTheTart]

You might consider The Pyrénées. I spend winters in The Cerdagne and never failed to reach any of the local resorts last winter from the end of December right through to the end of April and I was on normal summer tyres (although with the benefit of rear-wheel-drive and a limited-slip diff.).

[MmeLindor]

Chamonix - you can drive direct from Geneva airport on the motorway. Morzine is a pretty good road too, as is Les Gets.

[Lilymaid]

Samoens/Morillon in the Grand Massif. About an hour from Geneva and no scarey roads. Grand Massif noted for being good for snow.

[TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams]

Les Arcs. Eurostar straight there, 20 mins cab up the mountain.
I think it is ok to drive to also.

Have also been to Les Gets and that was v straightforward.

[mybutler]

I agree with Les Gets, Morzine or La Clusaz...all fab little village/resorts with good skiing. Have driven to them all in a VW Golf with norm tyres, chains in the boot but not required x

[merlottime]

Flaine, also on the Grand Massif, is fairly straightforward to get to.

[MummaMinnie]

We've driven to Morzine via Les Gets several times now and found it to be quite straightforward. Last year we drove to Les Contamines which is a bit further along the autoroute and then up from St Gervais. Again, that was a very easy drive and a little hidden gem of a ski resort.

[Pushka2]

Les Arcs is pretty easy.

[BikeRunSki]

Chamonix is easy driving, although there are some huge bridges.

[muzzybee]

Les Carroz, Morillon or Samoens would be easier to drive to than Flaine. The road up to Flaine is not too bad but you have to drive higher than the resort and then back down to it. Les Gets and Morzine are easy as mentioned above.
St Gervais, Megeve, Les Contamines, Chamonix are all a short distance from the motorway. Further south Val Cenis is an easy drive up from Modane with no hairpins. La Norma is on the same road but I don't know what the last bit up to the resort is like.

[Johnogroats]

I have driven to the following resorts recently...snow chains may be required, but they are not scary roads...Les Orres, Vars (Risoul has same ski area but road slightly more difficult), Puy St Vincent, Serre Chevalier (in valley). They are all in the southern alps, so that bit further if you are driving...but worth it IMHO!

[victoria306]

Hi, we are thinking of driving to Les Orres this weekend - what was the road like? Do we need snow chains and is there somewhere convenient to stop and put them on?! Thanks!