I have been to Serre Chevalier, more specifically Chantemerle 1350, 3 times now.
Serre Chevalier is in the southern alps on the border with Italy and has always supplied good snow and sunshine when I have been. It is split into 3 different stations with Chantemerle being, in my opinion, ... Read review
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Advantages: Good variety of runs Disadvantages: Snowfall seems to have reduced
I have been to Serre Chevalier, more specifically Chantemerle 1350, 3 times now.
Serre Chevalier is in the southern alps on the border with Italy and has always supplied good snow and sunshine when I have been. It is split into 3 different stations with Chantemerle being, in my opinion, the best as it is a picturesque little village at the base of the Luc Alphand black run. I have never used a UK tour operator, I have always booked ... ...probably gives me a different angle on the place. In the 1st 2 weeks in January you could get (I presume it is still available) a "forfait neige". This was 1900FF for lift pass, equipment, lessons and accomodation. The accomodation was self catering, small, basic but clean.
Getting there by car can be difficult as if there has been lots of snow the passes are sometimes closed meaning a long detour via Gap in the south. Every ... more
I have been to Serre Chevalier, more specifically Chantemerle 1350, 3 times now.
Serre Chevalier is in the southern alps on the border with Italy and has always supplied good snow and sunshine when I have been. It is split into 3 different stations with Chantemerle being, in my opinion, the best as it is a picturesque little village at the base of the Luc Alphand black run. I have never used a UK tour operator, I have always booked direct, driven and met up with some French friends. This probably gives me a different angle on the place. In the 1st 2 weeks in January you could get (I presume it is still available) a "forfait neige". This was 1900FF for lift pass, equipment, lessons and accomodation. The accomodation was self catering, small, basic but clean.
Getting there by car can be difficult as if there has been lots of snow the passes are sometimes closed meaning a long detour via Gap in the south. Every time I have been, I have had to use snow chains as well, so be ready for this.
Once there you find yourself in a quiet picturesque village with all amenities available. I always take my own equipment so have never used the hire shops.
The snowboarding has always been excellent here but when we have been there has always been lots and lots of snow meaning awesome powder trails through the trees. My advice is use the Luc Alphand black during the day and not just for the blast back to base as there is usually more traffic than on the M6 from 4-5pm esp as green runs cross the piste as you go down. It is a very good run that is appreciated even more when it is empty.
A particular favourite run of mine was Pylons, basically a black run underneath a chairlift. This was fast and gave opportunities to get some air. You could also cut across through the trees to diferent runs either side.
As well as the Chantemerle area the lift pass covers joining resorts including Briancon. You could quite happily set off in the morning and return at 5pm without haveing boarded the same terrain twice.
There is a wide variety of runs here for all levels and quite a bit of safe off piste. We took lessons but these ended up more like guided sessions as our level is quite good. This meant we saw some spectacular scenery, boarded some quieter runs, trekked in waiste high powder and did some runs that were more extreme than we would have done by ourselves.
There are some small restaurants, pizza places and bars but when snow was this good we didn't want to miss any because of hangovers so we ate in the appartment (Raclette, Fondue or local produce from the market).
In summary: Lifts - a good mix of chair, "eggs", T-bar terrain - varied from very easy green to nice steep blacks with tracks through the trees and other off piste. Accomadation - clean but basic (more expensive Hotels are also available here) Driving time from Calais - around 10hours Lift pass price - 100GBP for 6 days (this includes a day at Alpe D'Heuz, Les Deux Alpes ) People - We found them all very friendly and not many UK people. You even get to see Luc Alphand's dog!! (Luc Alphand was World Champion Downhill skier from Serre Chevalier) Snow making - they do have snow cannons that are used whenever possible.
I have never had bad snow but friends of mine have and they hated the place because if there is no snow there is not a fat lot to do (like most ski resorts!!)
Advantages: good variety of runs for all abilities, good value for money, good range of nearby facilities Disadvantages: reduced amount of snow!, didn't seem to be much nightlife when I went?!
I have been skiing at Serre Chevalier twice, both times staying in Chantemerle. Both times I have been have also been towards the end of the season, in the first couple of weeks of april.
The skiing:
The skiing seems very good here, there seems to be a large variety of runs and it is easy to ski to the other resorts if you want to. It seems to be a good resort for beginners as well due to the large number of green, blue and easy red runs. But there ... ...skier with the best and probably most well known of the area being the Luc Alphand run taking you all the way back into Chantemerle.
The end of season skiing seems good - though the first time I went was 2 years before the second and due to the decreasing amount of snowfall, there were a number of the 'connecting pathways' between the runs with no snow on them the second time I went which I had used the first time. Some of the runs lower down the ...
em18 12.02.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Serre-Chevalier
Advantages: excellent riding when there is snow Disadvantages: not much apres-ski
I have been snowboarding for a couple of seasons, and visited Serre Chevalier with my girlfriend and sister (+boyfriend). We stayed in Monetier-les-bains, where my sister knew a french girl who could lend us accomodation.
Firstly, the snowboarding. With 3 beginners in our group we headed up to do some easy runs, and bought passes for Monetier only. It was relatively early season (mid Jan), and the resort stayed crowd-free for the whole of our week, ... ...french standards.
We spent most of our time running the 3 lifts up from the Bachas restaurant. It is an OK area for beginners, with plenty of variation in terrain to be challenging enough for them. we used day 5 (of 6) on the slopes to buy a supplementary pass for the whole resort and popped over to Serre Che for a look round. The main resort was definitely busier with more of the powder tracked out than in Monetier. We also experienced our first ...
jimh1 06.07.2005
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Advantages: brilliant skiing, alpine village prettiness,great English speaking ski school, Close to Italy and other resorts. Disadvantages: Not to great for veggies and nightlife fairly low key.
So far i have only skied 4 times, in Flaine (France), Serre Chevalier (France.....obviously!!), Borovets (Bulgaria) and Bad Hofgetein (Austria).
Serre Chevalier has been the most enjoyable for the following reasons:
Many of France's ski resorts are high altidude and therefore purpose built, usually with concrete grey buildings and not much else. Serre Chevalier is a pretty alpine style village with tree lined sking back to the village. We stayed ... ...not brilliant, they were certainly fine as a place to eat and sleep (coz as skiers know, u won't be spending a lot of time in your accommodation). They were brillaintly positioned facing the world cup downhill run, and sitting on the balcony late afternoon and watching skier after skier fall in sucession was great entertainment.
Ski school was brilliant and I had the best instructor ever, but I realise that is total luck of the draw.
The skiing ...
Fiona_Tims 15.12.2000
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Advantages: Great when snow is good Disadvantages: Very poor when snow is poor
A great place this. But only if the snow is good. Otherwise you get serious bottlenecks on the prepared runs. I skied some great powder here once at easter. It was heavy going but great for the time of year.
If you race they have a superb womans downhill course running right down to the town. Its really easy to see where it goes, so follow it down if you go there to see what its like.
if the snow is bad, then this place can be a little depressing ...
Stavros 05.12.2000
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Value for Money
Sightseeing
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