French Alps in Summer

[Ruggles]

Hello
We're keen to spend a week in the Alps next summer with two kids aged 9 and 8. Planning to drive from Calais and have an active / outdoorsy week, before heading further south for some more lazy sunshine... Would love any ideas or recommendations for either leg. Wondering if it's difficult to arrange your own activities if you are self catering?

Feeling rather excited :)

Morzine
Never been with my own dc, but went several times with my brother and his sons when they were similar ages to your DC, OP. We did a lot of mountain biking as a family and my DBro and SiL took turns in taking their boys out - swimming, hill walking, via ferrata, lots of stuff about. Not sure if they booked in advance though.

We love summer holidays in the French Alps - perhaps our favourite family holidays have been there. We stayed in the Combloux area and bought these passes which give you free cable car and ski lift rides all over the area. I think different villages have different passes. The one we got also entitled us to free ice-skating (for the inevitable wet day), and two activities we wouldn't have missed for the world - swimming in the beautiful 'bio pool' at Combloux, and going down the summer luge.

I think https://summer.combloux.com/summer-activities-summer/summer-pass-summer.html this]] is the pass we got.

Whoops! Link fail!

Google Combloux Bio Pool and look at the pictures. It was a bit chilly but the view made up for it, and just the way to cool down after gong up and down the mountains.

Another holiday we spent near Annecy, which has one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, and a cycle path which goes almost all the way around the lake.

Chamonix. We holiday there summer and winter. Loads to do for all ages, it’s a proper town, so if you get mountain weather there’s no need to be bored (we had snow there in August). Easy drive down - break the journey in Rheims if you need to.

Thanks so much for your replies - all really helpful and lots to look at. Did you self cater or stay in a hotel? :)

We stayed in this self-catered apartment in Morzine. www.simply-morzine.co.uk/accommodation/summer/apartment-sautaillet/

We went to Courcheval last summer to stay with friends
Absolutely loved it and plan to go again this summer.
We flew to Geneva and hired a car. Found everything very expensive but as the flights were cheap and we had no accommodation costs it wasn’t too bad.
There was a heatwave when we went so plenty of lake swimming. Kids had am amazing time

Lady Peter where do you you fly into for that region

Not difficult at all. Most tourist offices and skischools have a summer activity programme. Chamonix is very accessible by road. Lifts high into the mountains for walking and train up to the Mer du Glace. Long summer toboggan run. Lake Annecy is also lovely and close to resorts like La Clusaz. High ropes courses (Go Ape style) are also common in these areas often with spectacular views.

We have done loads of Alpine holidays. In France we had a lovely two centre holidays in Chamonix and La Clusaz.
My sister has a place in Chatel on the French/ Swiss border.On a good run they can drive there in about 11 hours from the South East of England using the channel tunnel.

Other Alpine resorts we love are Zell am See in Austria and Wengen and Saas Fee in Switzerland.

Newyearnewyew we've always driven but if we flew I think we would fly to Geneva. We've driven to Geneva for the day when we were staying there.

That's incredible - thanks so much.

Had no idea there was so much on offer. Good to know about the weather too - one of the joys of taking a car is that I can pack it full of stuff!

I'm really excited as our DS didn't really enjoy our summer holiday this year - we rented a gite in Corsica and they found the unheated pool too cold and the whole holiday quite boring, which meant we didn't find it that relaxing.... It was expensive and I was a bit cheesed off that everyone didn't appreciate it more, but thinking on - we're normally really active and busy doing stuff.

I do want my sun fix for the second week. Has anyone been further south and found things to do apart from the beach?

It's completely the wrong side of France for you, but perhaps worth noting for the future... whosthemummy.co.uk/2016/06/moliets-acquitaine-france-kids.html

Thanks Ricekrispie - I've created an Evernote for future holidays. I hadn't read her blog before, but it looks interesting.

I love the French Alps in summer. I would recommend at least a couple of nights in Annecy, the lake is beautifully clear, you can hire pedalos and jump off into the water which is shallow for a long way from the shore. Lots of people cycling around the lake. The old town is like a living Disney movie - really quaint. Lots of lovely but expensive restaurants and bars.
Chamonix is also fun for families- the luge is something you must try at least once! You can walk to it from the town centre and it is right next to the Mer de Glacé station which is another must do. Again loads of restaurants, bars, gelatos etc. We didn’t have a car but that would give many more options such as camping as the hotels in these towns are pricey. Don’t necessarily expect it to be cold rainy weather- it was highs between 28 and 33 degrees each day in August when we went but a nicer, fresher heat than in the Med.

Ps Flights to Geneva are quite cheap in summer with EasyJet and only take just over an hour from Luton. Transfers can be expensive though.

Yes, we flew EasyJet from Liverpool for about £300 for 4 but the car hire was over £500 for a week!!,
Annecy is absolutely lovely

We’re doing a week with simply Morzine this summer in a catered hotel with outdoor pool and transport from the airport included. Activities are not included but they lay on transport to activities when you book them.

We usually go self catering in apartments so this is a complete change of scene for us.

I worked for a summer in the Italian alps for Acorn Adventure. In August they did family holidays where you did white water rafting, climbing, etc
It was in villenueve which was just the other side of Mont Blanc to chamonix.

Thanks for all the advice, it sounds like a fab area for a holiday. We are going to do Annecy / Megeve for a few days and then some time in Chamonix or Morzine. I am looking at accommodation, which is seriously expensive!! Is it me or is AirBnB now really pricey? Have one option with Simply Morzine (thanks RiceKrispie) but wondering if anyone else has any recomendations.

Can't help with accommodation (we have kind friends with a ski chalet near Megève), but do look into the pass I talked about for your stay in Megève: summer.combloux.com/summer-activities-summer/summer-pass-summer.html. It really saved us money and kept us busy. We were torn between chairlifts and walking, swimming in the Bio Lake (most beautiful swimming pool location ever), and speeding down the luge; and the ice-skating came in handy on the few wet days.

We also loved the cycle path around the lake at Annecy, watching the paragliders from Col de la Forclaz, and swimming in the lake at Talloires. Bear in mind it's a good hour and a quarter by car between Annecy and Megève.

Thanks LadyPeter - that is so lovely that you can stay at a friends place. I've made a note of the pass and we'll def get one. Thanks for all the advice - it's really helpful. Do you think I need to buy walking maps?

My kids aren't great walkers but when we did go, I think we used maps that were in the chalet already. My memory is that walking routes were fairly well-signposted.

I think it depends on how much walking you think you will do. There were certainly maps to buy at the tourist office there. Our local library loans out walking maps - maybe yours will have something useful?

Thanks everyone. We've booked a week in Megeve and a couple of days in Chamonix too. I am going to do some French classes in Megeve the DC's are going to a Summer Camp. We are all feeling rather excited!

I've found tons of useful advice on here, especially about driving.

Our next bit is to find somewhere to go at the end (mid August) for some sunshine and relaxation. We have driven ourselves half crazy looking at maps and holiday guides, but don't want to travel too far, but would like some sunshine and something for the kids to do. Not sure if we should head south towards Avignon or if we find somewhere in the central area of Lyon to Limoges. Has anyone done a similar trip?