Hi,
As I couldn't go to ski this year because my six tendinitises and my boyfriend's wounded knee (yup, handicapped couple .. haha), I still really felt like sharing with you guys some pictures of our last year's experience in the French Alps.
We went there from the 1st to the 8th of April, outside the holidays period for the trip to be much less expensive.
Believe me, there was still SO MUCH snow, much more than in December. Still several meters of snow, completely unexpected for a Spring season.
We weren't exactly living in Val Thorens as I had found a hotel which is more precisely a clustering of wooden cute chalets in a little town called Les Orelles.
This hotel is like a lovely small city, including its own food market, a restaurant that serves mountains specialties, annnnnnnndddddddd (suspense) a Decleor spa with the most amazing treatments !
The view from our chalet
The pool of the hotel
Chilling in bathrobe by the view at the Decleor Spa after two amazing face and body treatments
From Les Orelles you can access Val Thorens in 15 minutes via a cable-car that drops you at an altitude of 1471 m.
Les 3 Vallées are compound by 8 ski stations all linked an another which make it the greatest skiable domain in Europe and one of the biggest in the world.
If you love ski as much as I do, you're definitely going to have SO MUCH FUN riding among the 600 km skiable slopes of the domain.
Once you're up there you're in Les Orelles but you have many alternatives to reach several different stations, either Les Menuires, Val Thorens, Courchevel or Méribel.
3 Vallées Express cable-car
We mostly skied in Val Thorens, Orelle and Les Ménuires and I am not even sure we saw them all in 7 days, skiing from 9am to 4pm everyday haha !
To have lunch, I can't advise you any particular place as we tried many depending on which station we were at lunch time but I can tell you they're all quite good but all a bit pricey.
Now, I can only tell you to enjoy the next pictures, hoping it'll make you want to book your stay in les 3 Vallées next winter !
SUMMARY :
How to reach Les Orelles :
We took the train from Paris and had a connexion at Chambéry - Challes-les-Eaux. The closest train station to Orelle is St-Michel de Maurienne/Valloire and we then took a cab to reach the hotel. The closest airports are either Lyon- St Exupéry, either Geneva in Switzerland.
Where I slept :
Le Hameau des Eaux d'Orelle through the website Voyage Privé (thanks to which we paid our room 179 euros for 7 nights!)
Where I rented my skis :
I brought my own ski shoes but we rented skis, snowboard, snow shoes and helmets in Sports 3000 (skis rental cost me 100 euros for 6 days because I am a good skier but it is less expensive if you have a beginner or intermediate level)
What about the ski pass :
Ski pass that allows access to every domain = 290 euros 6 days outside winter holiday period
What activities I did :
Orelle is so small but
- You can have a drink on the "main place" of the town while enjoying music concerts (almost everyday)
- Do a 1:30 yoga session with a fabulous Canadian French and English speaking called Mara Hart, every thursdays at 6:15pm at Orelle Cultural Center
- Get a facial or a body treatment at the Décleor Spa in Les Hameaux des Eaux d'Orelle Hotel which is a 30 min to 1:30 hour heaven of peace.
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