Skiing Montgenèvre

Shortly after we moved to Portsmouth, the boys realised they wouldn't be able to ski every weekend of the season, like they had been used to in Canada!  

After a bit of internet searching and researching European ski locations, we settled on a trip to Montgenèvre in France.  The small town sits about half way between Grenoble in France and Turin in Italy and is right on the border.  We flew into Grenoble Alpes-Isère Airport with EasyJet from Edinburgh, and had a private transfer with Snow Cab.

It's the oldest ski resort in France and it's possible to ski across into Italy to join up with the Milky Way resorts of Clavier and Sauze D'Oulx.  Beware that the Italian resorts open later than Montgenèvre; for our early season trip before Christmas the rest of the resorts hadn't opened.  There was still plenty for us to do though, with over 100km of runs and 38 lifts.  It's a good mix of beginners and intermediate pistes, with a few advanced runs.

The town itself is fairly small, but retains a rustic Alpine charm and has a good selection of bars and restaurants, and according to Innes all the food was 'delicious'!

We stayed at the Résidence Club MMV le Hameau des Airelles, which is a collection of self-catering apartments in a number of chalet style buildings set around an outdoor pool. The location is ski-in / ski-out, but the access lifts hadn't yet opened when we were there. It was just a short walk over to the piste though and there is also a free regular shuttle bus which stops just outside the hotel. There's also a great bakery just across the road for lovely breakfast pastries.

 

We booked the flights, hotel and transfers through Heidi, who we highly recommend.

Not sure what to pack for your ski holiday? Check out our handy guide and printable ski trip packing list.