Flaine reviews

The ski area seems best suited for beginners on piste and those that like off-piste in a relatively safe environment. Flaine is essentially a big bowl; all the lifts take skiers up one side of it where there are then a variety of reds and blues back down. The blues are all pretty easy, of reasonable length and well pisted but do get busy, particularly the run back to the ski school area. The others are mostly traverses or roads. The * of this area goes big on the ability to incorporate other resorts and ski areas into your stay but it should be noted that getting out and back to Flaine isn great. To ski the lower resorts of Les Carroz, Sixt etc requires negotiating one very crowded and dug

Flaine has a microclimate and is blessed with exceptional natural snowfall. The summit of the 2450m Grandes Platières averages 15m of snow a year and is probably the snowiest skiable mountain in France. But whilst you can normally count on good snow in the main Flaine bowl, outlying areas such as Morillon and Les Carroz are lower and more exposed. Conditions in the Grand Massif as a whole are therefore much more variable.

Flaine is a great ski resort with good snow record and geared for families. We have been in Flaine the last 2 years at New Year with great conditions. Can be pricey but closeness of apartments to ski runs allows time to pop back for lunch. Regular free ski bus even though most apartments in Flaine are within easy walking distance of the slopes. Lifts are adequate but I would not classify them as modern. Not much to do in Flaine if you\'re a non skier/boarder but that didn\'t bother us.

The range of skiing was fine for advanced/intermediates with a good range of runs and off-piste - however this gets tracked out very quickly. Some lovely long red runs to get your quads burning. Generally minimal queues and uncrowded pistes, however, there were certain times and locations with huge queues - avoid anything near ski school meeting places. I thought I was impervious to resort architecture, but Flaine is the ugliest resort I have been to. Minimal queues at the mountain restaurants and a hearty bowl of soup was typically 7 Euros. Unfortunately, the cost of a pint in the village bars was also 7 Euros. If you are eating out in the evening you will be lucky to find a main course for

Fantastic place to ski. The scenery is spectacular, layout of village is great, ski-bus not really needed unless you're staying in the Hammau up the hill, everywhere else is ski-in ski-out. Not many greens but lots of good blues and reds. Grand Massive domain is huge and too big to cover properly in a week. Cascades down to Sixt is mostly good but inexperienced skiers beware; it's tight and icy at the end. We went over the top to Morillon and Les Carroz, where there are some fantastic wide runs for the less adventurous in the family and some blacks for the dare devils.