Choose off-the-beaten-track Valloire for your Easter family holiday

21st February 2014, by Abi Butcher

Valloire in the Maurienne Valley offers great value for a family East holiday

Family ski holidays are on the rise, but our salaries are not — so with the Easter holidays just around the corner, why not pick a traditional resort off the beaten track, says French Alps specialist Peak Retreats.

“Ways to beat sky-high prices include staying away from the glitzy A-list resorts,” says Nicole Eves from Peak Retreats. “Instead find traditional resorts with top skiing for your family holiday, and you will benefit not only from cheaper prices but also less crowded slopes so your skiing will be more enjoyable, too.”

Because Easter falls late this year, French school holidays start later, though UK school holidays do not — so UK families will have the slopes to themselves on the week of 5 April.

Valloire is one such traditional resort ideal for a good-value family holiday. The old mountain village, built around a 17th Century Baroque-style church, is the best known of the Maurienne valley resorts. It retains a quiet, rustic charm with shops and restaurants set around a lively market square.

Valloire, the home of French slalom champion Jean-Baptiste Grange, has offered skiing for more than 100 years. Today there are 150km of well-groomed piste shared with nearby Valmeiner, 70 per cent of which are above 2,000m. Although it has many north-facing slopes, Valloire also has more than 400 snow cannons to ensure good snow conditions into the end of the season. The slopes are spread widely across three sunny sectors, with plenty of intermediate cruising.

One Peak Retreats customer reported: “The height of the ski area was a huge advantage for late skiing in warm sunshine.”

Prices in the small village are massively cheaper than the bigger resorts in France. Peak Retreats estimates that an evening meal in Valloire will cost between €10-15, compared with between €15 and €30 in Chamonix. Six half days in ski school in Valloire costs from £104pp, whereas Chamonix starts at £137 for a child and £171 for an adult. Seven nights’ self-catering accommodation with Peak Retreats starts from £110pp in Valloire, compared to from £251pp in Chamonix — both including Eurotunnel.

If all this tempts, you, Peak Retreats is offering the extra incentive of a free six-day ski child ski pass (worth £128) when an adult six-day pass is bought with accommodation bookings for Easter ski week (5 April) onwards.

Peak Retreats is offering ski apartments in Valloire from just £110pp for seven nights’ self-catering including Eurotunnel for the week beginning 5 April.

For more information visitpeakretreats.co.uk

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