Courmayeur, Italy

Andrew Downes from UNITED KINGDOM writes:

Courmayeur is unique in my experience. An easy motorway from Milan means lots of wealthy Italians have weekend homes here, which has resulted in a pedestrianised street of boutique (luxury) shops and a big sprawling town stretching up the valley. It feels like a proper town, not just a ski resort - the main ski hire shops are actually up the mountain at the first lift stations, though there is at least one hire shop at the bottom of each of the two cable cars. The presence of "old" money means that although the locals know what they're doing, we felt their attitude to customer service was a bit lazy (with some notable exceptions), a feeling confirmed by talking to a Milanese guy who said he has seen attitudes decline over 30 years. You will probably need to reserve a table at restaurants, either in the town or on the mountain, or you'll be greeted with snooty looks and a corner table at best. English isn't widely spoken but, being on the border, French is.

The main Courmayeur cable car takes 130 people at a time but is inadequate in the Italian holidays. We went at New Year and there was up to 90 mins wait by 10:30am, though I believe there is a plan to build another lift by the 2006/7 season. I agree with Simon Taylor's advice to use the Val Veny cable car if you can, it's smaller (45 people) but there were no queues when we were there. There's a car park or if your hotel is at the Mont Blanc end of the resort like ours you can use a public bus. You'll probably be wearing your normal shoes for the car journey or walk to and from the bus stop, having left your skis and boots in a locker at your ski hire shop. You can't ski back to the town - you have to come down in the cable car, or ski down and get a bus.

We went on a late deal with Crystal to the Hotel Astoria, a pleasant 3* with attached night club called Jimmi's open from 11pm most nights. This is allegedly the only club in the resort though lots of bars are open late in the centre. We never really went to the club, but the soundproofing is great and it never disturbed our sleep either. Hotel food was fine, very traditional, service was mixed. The hotel is a 45 min walk out of town but does run a free minibus to the Courmayeur cable car. It ran 4 times an hour when we were there, although I believe it normally runs only twice an hour. There's also a public bus to either Courmayeur or Val Veny cable cars (free with a lift pass or €0.80 single) but they don't run as often as you would like - only once every 40 minutes or so.

The Astoria is just metres from the Mont Blanc cable car. Covered by a separate pass, this goes up and over the big mountain to Chamonix. You can sight-see and take lunch at a mountain restaurant or if conditions are right you can get off halfway and ski the legendary 22km Vallee Blanche run down to Chamonix - a guide is advised as it's not pisted and there are apparently plenty of crevasses. We didn't do this run, unfortunately. Getting back would either be via the same cable car or by arranged pickup - if you go with a guide it will probably be the latter.

An interesting destination, one I'm glad I went to but not one I'll be back to in a hurry. The pistes were slightly ordinary and the lifts (even once up the mountain) largely antiquated, but the food, location and scenery were all excellent.

2006-01-18

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