Les Contamines

...goes by the name of les contamines in france. A brief outline of the review.
Introduction
Getting there
Surrounding area
Restaurants, bars, local shops
Places of interest
Skiing in the winter
Summer activities
Views
Overall conclusion

Introduction:
Les contamines is a small skiing village up the side of the Mount Blanc Massive in France. It is primarily a skiing ...
...bought an apartment over in Les Contamines for the family to use for skiing in the winter and mountain biking / walking in the summer. The views from the top of the resort are absolutly amazing. The best view is from looking down the valley over Saint-Gervais (the next village down the valley) towards the mountains on the other side of the motorway.

Getting there:
There are two main ways of getting to the resort. The first is ... more

Here is a review of the ski resort that goes by the name of les contamines in france. A brief outline of the review.
Introduction
Getting there
Surrounding area
Restaurants, bars, local shops
Places of interest
Skiing in the winter
Summer activities
Views
Overall conclusion

Introduction:
Les contamines is a small skiing village up the side of the Mount Blanc Massive in France. It is primarily a skiing resort but is also very enjoyable in the summer and the growth of the village is huge. My parents bought an apartment over in Les Contamines for the family to use for skiing in the winter and mountain biking / walking in the summer. The views from the top of the resort are absolutly amazing. The best view is from looking down the valley over Saint-Gervais (the next village down the valley) towards the mountains on the other side of the motorway.

Getting there:
There are two main ways of getting to the resort. The first is by plane to Geneva airport and then getting a transfer by taxi or coach to the resort. The second is by car (which we always do) This in my opinion is the cheapest way if there are 4 of you going and you have a diesel. This is because diesel for a start is cheaper than petrol in France (don't ask me why, they are crazy :P). Using a diesel estate we go through 4 tanks of diesel there and back which equates to approxiamtly £200 worth of petrol, compared to 4 plane tickets and transfers alone at £20-£30 pp.

The surrounding area:
Les Contamines as i said is situated next to Mount Blance and the mountain itself is visible from the village. Nearby resorts include Chamonix (round the otherside of Mount Blanc), and Megeve which will hopefully be skiable under the les contamines pass if the transfer cable car is built. This is a proposed plan to join the two resorts together in order to create a wide variety of ski runs. Megeve is a fairly large village that contains a lot of desinger shops if you fancy going shopping when you are on holiday, but be warned it is expensive.

Restaurants, Bars, Shops
les Contanmines has several different restaurants altho some are more fancy than others but all offer good food for a fairly reasonable price considering you are at 1250m above sea level. There are many bars to choose from although my favorite gotr knocked down to make way for a new block of apartments :( this was an english bar but all of them do speak very good english and you should not have any trouble ordering food or buying something.
There is a bar at the botoom of the main gondola in Hameux du lay the also has internet (wireless and computers) which it sells by the half hour.
The major downside to the resort is that there is no nightlife because none of the abrs/clubs open late and therefore at around 11.30 the place is silent.
The shops are mainly snow sports or summer sports shops along with bakeries, patisseries and small supermarkets. All the local people are very friendly and you shouldnt have a problem finding what it is you are after. If you fancy doing some clothes or designer shopping then megeve is the place to go. There is also a large Intermarche, supermarket at the bottom of the valley and is very well stocked on everything that you might need for a holiday.

Places of interest:
There isnt much in the way of single things to see in the alps but the main thing is to go to the top of the mountain and make the most of the view. The other thing that is worth doing is to have a look at the mount Blanc glacier, although i havent been there my parents said it was amazing.

Skiing in the winter:
The resort has a wide variety of runs from the easy couple of green beginner slopes to the hard blacks.
The Blue runs are some of the most enjoyable and a few of my favorites are Croix and Boulevard.
The reds are also very exiciting and can get very challenging at times.
But the main mention goes to one of the blacks. It goes by the name of Velray but it is a long sweeping black that comes down from the highest point of the resort to almost the lowest. The problem with this is it is shut for about 75% of the season but if you do go there and get a chance to ski it, do it you wont be disappointed.
The runs are all of an average length, not as long as some of the runs in places like La Plagne and Alps Duez but they are longer than other resorts such as Morzine-Les Gets. Overall there is a lot to keep you entertained and on my 7th visit this year i am still finding some parts of the resort challenging.
The ski school there is quite small but enough to accomodate the number of people that the resort can hold. They speak french but can also speak english if you want them to.
The only other mention goes to the snow park / X zone which involves some large kickers and a boarder cross track which is good fun to practice some speed on.

Summer Activities:
In the summer you can go swimming or play tennis / mini golf down at the centre in Saitn Gervais.
But againt o make the most of the scenery you have to go up the muntain with or bike or walk it. The Mountain biking in the resort is fantastic but it doesn't compare to likes of Chamonix or Les Gets. The scenery whilst walking around the top of the mountain is breathtaking and is highly recommended. The same shops are open but snow stuff is swapped for walking / hiking gear.
If you decide that you do want to go up to one of the peaks they run some of the cable cars in the summer and you can climb in and hang you bicycle on the outside of the cable car.

Views:
The views are amazing whichever way you look when you are at the top of the col du Joly looking towards mount Blanc you can see the peak and looking the opposite direction you can see the mountain range in its full glory especially on a sunny clear day. But one of the most amazing sites is watching the sunset against the mountains and has to be done if you do go anywhere in the alps.

Conclusion:
In conclusion although this resort is primarily a skiing resort there is a lot more to do there besides ski. Walking or hiking is very good in the summer aswell as mountain biking but the views are good all year round. This resort will suit people of any age looking for a good week or two on a skiing, walking holiday.

FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO WWW.LESCONTAMINES.COM 

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