Can anyone recommend somewhere for us next year?

[florenceandthemac]

Two families, mainly intermediate. The kids are adventurous and we might book them a private lesson to enable them to go out and do some blacks.
We’ve done Avoriaz three times, and Madonna and Selva once each.
We enjoy Avoriaz, as we can stay in Morzine which has much better value/size accommodation than up in Avoriaz but we can access Avoriaz easily.
We liked Madonna but accommodation has gone so expensive since we last went.
We weren’t as keen on Selva as we had to spend so much time on lifts.

We’d like a resort with a wide skiing area, and with good self catering options that are not too far away from lifts or the resort centre. We’d prefer to stay in one big apartment/chalet rather than book one per family.

Any help much appreciated!

I can’t advise on apartments (as we stay in the valley) but have you considered Les Orres, Vars/Risoul or Puy St Vincent? All are fab and have enough skiing for intermediate skiers. Friends who were mainly skiing at Vars had a house (which easily accommodated 2 families for a reasonable price) in Guillestre and drove up the hill 15 mins every morning.

I’m not able to edit but I just wanted to add - we’d also prefer somewhere with an easyish transfer.
my DH has recently been to Val Thorens but said the rest of our party would hate the transfer as they get travel sick.
The transfer to Morzine is quite quick from Geneva and not very windy up mountains

Transfers from Salzburg to the surrounding resorts are easy (no windy mountain roads) and quick. There are numerous resorts within 90 mins. of Salzburg including Saalbach, Hinterglemm, Maria Alm, Leogang, Bad Gastein, Flachau, Wagrain and many others. There are also many new-ish apartment hotel complexes that don't feature on many of the UK tour operators' programmes but which can either be booked direct (find them on airbnb, VRBO, booking.com etc) or can be found on European websites such as Sunweb, who also have a UK operation.

Saint Gervais Les Bains?
Huge ski area, accommodation is cheaper than its neighbour Chamonix, variety of things to do, very safe town and good mountain restaurants. Can take the train to Chamonix and ski Valley Blanche with a guide.
Don’t book accommodation with Interhome though as you will spend 4 hours queuing for keys.

What time of year are you going? And do you like busy bustling resorts or quieter places and slopes? As long as it’s not late Easter I would second Vars/Risoul for the good value accom and large ski area. Also would you have a car to get about or be reliant on coach/ train to get to resort? Am guessing you might not?

La Thuile could work as it’s a shortish transfer from Turin, has a good range of pistes, snow sure and not overly expensive. Also ski-in, ski-out if you pick accommodation wisely. Fast lifts. Lift linked with La Rosiere in France. Big spa down the valley although only for over 13s.

Do you mind if it’s a little bit ugly and purpose built? Les Menuires is great value and the Three valleys ski area is hard to match. And it’s 1/2 hr closer than Val Thorens.

La Thuile seems your best fit here: short transfer from Turin, good intermediate terrain for adventurous kids, and easier apartment pricing than many of the better-known French names.

Vallandry..linked to Les arcs.
Go by train and it's 20 mins up the mountain from the stop at Landry

You can't really beat Austria for easy/short transfers. Maybe somewhere like Mayrhofen or St Anton offer good skiing and plenty of accommodation options.