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Val Thorens (2,300 metres)
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Val Thorens is the highest ski resort in Eurpoe at 2300m, this of course almost guarantees the good skiing conditions. The pisted ski area area in Val Thorens is vast and extends from the more gentle nursery slopes in the charming little alpine village of St Martin de Bellville, over in to the 'fourth valley' of Orelle. A purpose built resort that sprung up in the early 1960s it's fortunately not quite the concrete monstrosity you could expect. There's no tree lined skiing to be had though and when the weather turns bad there's few places to hide! It's important to bare this in mind if skiing with young children as it's probably not the best ski resort to be in particularly for a family skiing holiday with young children. For those die hard skiers who just cant get enough, the area also provides glacial summer skiing from the beginning of July to the end of August, condition permitting. Snow Hounds is a specialist ski travel agent that will track down the perfect skiing holiday for you. The experienced team in their office will be able to find the chalet for you; it also has reasonably priced self-catered apartments in Val Thorens. |
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| Ski & Snowboard Access: Val Thorens is a traffic free ski resort so most ski chalets and apartments are ski in ski out; snowboarders enjoy the same excellent access. There are a number of green ski runs that run through Val Thorens and down to the ski lifts. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Accommodation Summary: For recommended accommodation please see the lists below. Most of the accommodation is self-catering apartments although there is a reasonable selection of hotels. The majority of the catered ski chalets are in reality large apartments operated as chalets; there are however a handful of stand alone chalets in Val Thorens. The specialist ski travel agent Snow Hounds can book these chalets, apartments and hotels in Val Thorens for you. The biggest selection of ski apartments in Val Thorens and the Three Valleys would probably be: For Ski Weekends in The Three Valleys use this link:  |
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| Apres Ski: For more sophisticated nightlife you should really try Courchevel; for a greater selection than Val Thorens Meribel would be the place. In spite of these comments Val Thorens has quite a lively scene in the various bars scattered around the resort. The Val Thorens tourist office claims that "Val Thorens is famous for its numerous French bars, its English, Irish or Dutch pubs with a rather young and festive ambiance. Other places (wine bar, tea room…) emphasize a cosier atmosphere and welcome a limited number of guests around high-quality products." |
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| Ski Schools: All the ski schools cater for snowboarders as well as skiers. The ski school meeting points are convenient to most accommodation in Val Thorens. The ESF ski school is satisfactory although there are some instructors who are better than others; service standards seem to fall during French holidays, group sizes and prices do not. There are several independent including Pro-Neige, Ski Cool and ESI. |
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| Hire Shops: There are about 15 ski hire shops in Val Thorens offering both skiing and snowboarding equipment. It is hoped that links will be added soon that allow for pre-booking of skiing equipment. |
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Ski chalets in Val Thorens Bath/Sh = bathrooms with bath or shower; m = distance to piste in metres; £ = sample price per person.
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| Chalets in La Tania | | | Apartments in La Tania | | | Luxury Chalets in La Tania | | | Hotels in Three Valleys |