Alpe D'huez - anyone been in Feb half term ?

[rookiemere]

And if so is it horrendously busy or doable.
I'm thinking of there for next year if I can pounce on the EasyJet flights like a lion stalking a wildebeest as soon as they come out.

Also what are the ski schools like, particularly for children? There is one called Easy ski but they still say class sizes can be up to 10. We've used New Generation before and DS loves them and they have small class sizes but sadly not at the location that we want to be at.

[PuddleglumtheMarshWiggle]

Yes, we've been about 6 times and love it! It is really busy but as it is such a large resort it's never been a problem. The lifts are busy when ski school starts morning and afternoon but you learn to avoid those times and then all is fine. There are also plenty of lifts at the base so the queues are spread out.
We always stay in the Les Bergers area at Pierre et Vacances. It's close to the lifts, the ski hire and the supermarket. The bakery opens early so you can go and buy fresh croissants for breakfast!
It also has an outdoor pool which is great to relax in after a day skiing. It's all self catering but they also have a restaurant and pizza takeaway service if you don't fancy cooking. Also the swimming pool in town does a great cheeseburger and chips. We go there for lunch on arrival day.
The nearest airport is Grenoble, about 2 hours away and Ben's Bus does a transfer service about 7 or 8 times a day. One of the stops is right outside Pierre et Vacances. It's worth travelling early as the roads do get busy in the afternoon. We usually get a flight about 6am.
Feel free to ask anything else. Snow is pretty much guaranteed there, as is sunshine! One of the sunniest spots in the Alps!
Hope you have a great holiday.

[PuddleglumtheMarshWiggle]

Sorry - forgot to mention about ski school. We haven't used them for the last few years. We always used ESF and were pleased with them. This was the only cause of chaos on the first day as there are about 200 kids being dropped off at ski school. There are markers for ability, but within each of these there are several classes. You need to speak to the instructors to check you get an English speaking group (unless your kids are bilingual!) After this things are usually fine. Our girls were happy in ski school and made good progress. One moved onto snowboarding after a few years and was pleased with the ESF instruction.

[rookiemere]

Thanks puddlegum - loads of good info there.

I'm actually edging towards going at Easter time now as it's earlier next year for holidays. I love the idea of having an outdoor pool as we tend to finish skiing quite early.

I did look up the P&V website, but it didn't look as if you could book for next year yet - do you know when it tends to let you start booking as my problem in the past is that French companies tend to release their ski accommodation quite late in the day and by that time I have lost my nerve and booked somewhere else !

As we'd be flying from Edinburgh we don't have the option of choosing our flight times so it probably will be quite busy when we get there.

[PuddleglumtheMarshWiggle]

I tend to book about October. Still plenty of options there on accommodation and flights. Bens Bus publishes their schedule about Dec/Jan. You can sign up for email alerts.

[rookiemere]

Brilliant thanks