For beginners, there are few resorts to rival Alpe d’Huez. The resort sits on
a flat and sunny plateau to the south of Grenoble, and the first thing you
see as you head up the mountain is a vast semicircle of nursery slopes.
There are more than 10 easy pistes here, which means first-timers are the
stars of the show – not second-class citizens, as normal.
What’s more, the resort now has two independent ski schools aimed squarely at
the British market, Stance (www.stance-snow.com)
and Masterclass (www.masterclass.f9.co.uk).
So you can make your first turns in English, not Franglais.
Any drawbacks? Well, the centre of town is one of the great mistakes of
modernist resort planning – but at least the ugly apartment blocks have
saved it from the price-inflating plutocrats. A week for four in the
Horizons d’Huez apartments (0870 026 7145, www.pv-holidays.com) can cost as
little as £80pp.
Getting there: take the train to Grenoble (from £99pp return with Rail
Europe; 0844 848 4071, www.raileurope.co.uk),
then a bus to Alpe d’Huez with Transisère (www.transisere.com;
from £8 return).
Sample package: with Neilson (0845 070 3460, www.neilson.co.uk),
a week at Chalet Le Lac Blanc costs £675pp, half-board, including flights
and transfers.
GRIMENTZ, SWITZERLAND
These days, roughhewn Alpine character usually comes at a premium. Not in
Grimentz. The old village is as perfect a collection of black-timbered
chalets and barns as you could wish for; though there’s been plenty of
unrestrained building on the slopes above it, its essential character hasn’t
been damaged. Nor have prices risen to the levels seen in the likes of
nearby Verbier; rooms at the two-star Hôtel de Moiry (00 41 27 475 11 44, www.
hotel-grimentz.ch) start at £44pp, half-board. The main reason Grimentz
has never hit the big time is that the skiing in the valley, though
interesting, is fractured into five areas and lacks anything like a
blue-riband run, on piste or off. For a break far from the madding crowd,
however, it’s hard to beat.
Getting there: fly to Geneva with Swiss (0845 601 0956, www.swiss.
com), which has returns from London City from £90, then pick up a hire
car (from £190 a week with www.carrentals.co.uk).
Sample package:to access the full range of self-catering properties,
you need to go to a local agency, such as Grimentz Location (www.grimentz-location.ch),
which offers Arella, a rustic chalet in the old village, for £145pp a week,
self-catering, excluding travel.
HEAVENLY, AMERICA
Heavenly is a resort unlike any other. From the top of the lift system, you
can see not only the vivid blue expanse of Lake Tahoe, but the deserts of
Nevada. At the bottom is a town that caters as much for gamblers as it does
for skiers – where the après-ski includes dinner cruises in paddle steamers
and allnight sessions at the craps table. Fans of Americana will adore it,
as will anyone who wants to ski on uncrowded, immaculately groomed pistes
for the price of a chalet holiday in France – because, midweek, rooms in the
casinos are cheap as, er, chips. At the Horizon (00 1 800 648 3322, www.horizoncasino.com),
doubles start at £44, room-only.
Getting there: fly to San Francisco with British Airways (from £413
return;0844 493 0787, www.ba.com), then pick
up a hire car (from £147 a week with Avis; www.avis.com).
