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La Rosiere
Europe

Our Family Ski Holiday In La Rosiere

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We love ski holidays and try to do one each year. Last April we enjoyed a family ski holiday with our two boys aged 6 and 8 in La Rosiere in France which was fantastic. It was great to ski somewhere much closer to home (Cornwall, UK) for a change as we usually head out to Canada. La Rosiere is a traditional French alpine village is set high above Bourg St Maurice and with spectacular views towards Val d’Isère and Les Arcs. It’s one of the most scenic places to ski in Europe in our opinion, with tree lined runs and fantastic snow being at 1850 m.

Getting to La Rosiere

We snapped up some super cheap return flights to Geneva from Exeter and hired a VW family car (with snow chains just in case!) from Geneva booking it on the French side. The journey from Geneva to La Rosiere (approx 3 hours) was not without drama, same as most experiences we’ve had when hiring a car and driving on the wrong side of the road in an unfamiliar place. Word of warning – the travel at the end of your journey up the mountain to La Rosiere is very steep and winding – not for the feint hearted if you’re driving in a snow storm in the night like we did! Luckily the snow chains weren’t needed as the roads are very well maintained. We’ve never been so glad to arrive at our destination!  Definitely memorable though and you do pass through some great scenery along the way.

Our WEEK in LA ROSIERE

Our 2 bedroom apartment at Residence Les Cimes Blanche was perfect for us and I’d recommend it to anyone, especially families. We woke to spectacular blue skies every morning and greeted by stunning views across the mountains.
Due to it’s high location, La Rosiere is one of the best places for pretty much guaranteed snow in Europe. They had a dumping the week before we arrived in early April which was perfect. It snowed a couples of times during our week stay.
Each morning we also had delivered pre-ordered fresh almond croissants (amazing!) and pain aux chocolats  along with some coffee – a great start to any day.  Along with these breakfasts, we enjoyed lunches on the mountain and cooking for ourselves at night in our apartment.

There can be no mistake that family ski holidays are not relaxing. It’s exhausting not only getting yourself ready, lugging ski’s, helmets, etc but also sorting two young boys out, putting their ski gloves, ski boots on etc.  By the time you’ve reached  the slopes, you’ve probably burned a few hundred calories.

Skiing conditions were great each day and the boys joined us midway through the week after their ski lessons which was fun skiing as a family for the first time. Along with skiing, we did quite a lot of sledging around our accommodation in the woods nearby which the boys loved.

CHILDREN’S SKI LESSONS

Our boys has ski lessons with Evolution 2 ski school who were fantastic – we opted for 3 half days private lessons as they’d already had ski lessons the previous season so by the middle of the week they were ready to ski with us.

What we loved…

  • It’s quieter than most ski resorts we’ve been to in Europe so no lengthy queueing for lifts.
  • Very safe for kids

  • Loads of sledging fun!

  • Fun ski runs through the woods for kids (and big kids)
  • Great ski schools
  • 1850 m so great snow and scenery

  • Plan du Repos – A brilliant mountain cafe with great food and drink, awesome chilled music and stunning scenery. It’s a family business serving good local food and dishes from around the world. I could have happily stayed there all day.
  • South facing slopes so when the suns out (we had 7 days of sunshine), it is glorious! We skied in April – suncream required!

  • Great varied terrain for skiers and snowboarders

A few tips…

  • We recommend if you’re hiring a car and driving yourself –  try to time it so you are arriving in the day time as the road up to the village at night is windy and steep.
  • Traffic back to Geneva airport on change over day (Saturday) in peak ski season is usually very busy so give yourself plenty of time to get to the airport in time (add on at least 1 hour to your journey).

 

La Rosiere Info

Base elevation‎: ‎1,850 m (6,070 ft)
Total length‎: ‎160 km (99 mi)
Runs‎: ‎80
Lift system‎: ‎38

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