La Clusaz ski resort

La Clusaz is a village resort that cherishes its charm, maintains its traditions and takes pride in extending a warm welcome to all of its visitors. With such a wide variety of things to see and do, holidaymakers will find more than enough to make them happy here.

It is an authentic yet sporty resort, offering a wide variety of winter activities for skiers and non-skiers in a friendly atmosphere.

Part of the extensive Aravis ski area, with ski-able peaks of up to 2470m, this resort remains a well kept secret amongst the Swiss and French, despite it's excellent skiing opportunities. It is a quiet, pleasant resort, with space on the pistes! The snow record in La Clusaz is typically good from pre-christmas to late April and evening events such as torch lit processions, weekly night time and monthly full moon skiing, provide unusual and unmissable experiences.

The ski resort of La Clusaz is part of the 220km Aravis ski domain and itself offers 130km of well maintained slopes for all level of skiers, and an unlimited area for off-piste adventures. High altitude skiing is available up to 2470m at the Col de Balme and Aiguille and 2100m in the neighbouring resort of Le Grand Bornand (120km of pistes).

The north and west facing positions of most of the slopes means that snow holds well throughout the season, so don't be put off by the fact that the town is only at 1100m. Even at this low altitude skiing back into the town centre is possible throughout the winter season and recently installed snow making facilities on the lower slopes ensure a good snow covering on the lower runs returning to the town right up to the end of the season.

There are two dedicated cross country areas with prepared tracks and unlimited un-prepared areas to explore if you are really experienced and like a challenge. 

The season starts in 2008/09 on December 6th, with a stage of the x-country ski championships at Lac du Confins.

Then it's straight into Christmas celebrations with Pére Noel's visit to the town on Christmas Eve to deliver presents to the kids, while parents can sit back and relax, sipping mulled wine and sampling local goodies. The celebrations then continue for 2 weeks with puppet shows, circus workshops, street entertainers, and spectacular fireworks on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.

The seasons true sporting events kick off with the noisy but spectacular dog sleigh competition on Beauregard, Grimpé du Loup, FIS Grand Prix and the first of the season's Full Moon skiing nights on January 10th (also on the 07 Feb, 07 March and 11 April). March events include the tough Winter Raid and off-piste Grand Raid and the awesome Rossignol Air Tour (14 March), all topped off with the crazy Defi Foly at the end of the season in April. 

Set in a preserved natural setting, with chalets that are hundreds of years old, this village boasts all of the appeal of a large ski resort with the facilities to match; childrens creches, ski clubs, an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, saunas, hamanns, spa centres, ice skating rink, ice-karting, dog sleigh adventures, skidoos, horse drawn carriage rides and a cinema.

There are loads of shops of all kinds (supermarkets, ski hire, clothing, souvenir, arts and crafts) in the extended town centre, providing hours of shopping opportunities. You are sure to find gifts to take home to your family and friends, back a few local specialities, such as the famous reblochon cheese or smoked charcuterie, for which the Aravis region is renowned.

After the slopes close, the town really gets going with a lively apres ski atmosphere that extends into the early hours of the morning at the many restaurants, bars and nightclubs. 

Geneva is the most convenient airport for La Clusaz, located just over an hour away from our chalets. A wide range of airlines (BA and swissair), including many of the budget airlines (jet2, easyjet, bmi, flybe) fly into Geneva or Chambery (flyglobespan, flybe and jet2), providing plenty of choice for wherever you're based in the UK.

Annecy, is roughly 30 minutes from La Clusaz is the closest train station, to which TGV services arrive. There is a direct coach link to la Clusaz from Annecy. There is also the Snow Train service which stops in Chambery. We can pick you up from either station, if it is arranged in advance and does not coincide with any pre-arranged transfers.

Driving is a flexible option and it's nearly all motorway from Calais to La Clusaz until Bonneville, which makes your journey a lot easier. It takes roughly 8/9 hours with a few stops from Calais, and the motorways are pretty empty but do be prepared to pay the tolls. There is ample parking close to both chalets and the Manigod apartment.
You may need snow chains though and please check that your tyres are adequate for winter conditions - it is illegal in the alpine regions if you are driving without chains, and your insurance will be invalid.