Serre Chevalier, France

Visitor reviews for Serre Chevalier

• February 19, 2008
  Linden Galsworthy from Guernsey, Channel Islands from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Arrived Chantermerle, Serre Chevalier 19th January 2008, stayed at the new Hameau Du Rocher appartments which were excellent. Good location and excellent pool/sauna/steam room. Skiing excellent. Quiet pistes most days and had a piste to yourself. Good lifts. Resort nightlife quiet.however, a good night was had at La Grotte in Villeneuve, a 5 min taxi drive. Overall, a nice resort with excellent skiing for all levels. Excellent restaurants and skiing equipment shops.

• February 13, 2008
  Loxley from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Visited Serre Chevalier last week of Feb in 2007 and am heading back for Easter 2008. I can't comment on hotels as I take my motor-home. But I can recommend the Yeti bar for excellent value food and a lively atmosphere. My teenage sons certainly preferred it to the other restaurants and bars. It does cater more for the French which I do't think is a bad thing. The runs back to the town are tricky for snowboarders in the lower middle section as they are basically lanes between trees and only about 10-12 foot wide. But get above the 2000m chairlift and it's a lovely open playground. Certainly a large varied terrain and while we were there last year (2007) we had a great dump of snow which really made for a great week.

• December 28, 2007
  David Parry from FRANCE
  

  Serre Chevalier, Villeneuve
  Purpose built ski village. Can be rather, rather bland but skiing good and for apres-ski try La Baita bar and disco under Mont Thabor Hotel. Great atmosphere and English spoken.

• December 13, 2007
  BILL from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Area is open early, loads of snow, great place, what a secret.

• March 01, 2007
  Roy Nash from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  The best stay in Chantemerle. Very friendly, good access to whole area and new lifts. No queuing. Good food. Loads of snow. Lovely apartment. So good I am going to buy an apartment here.

• March 07, 2006
  Arjen from NETHERLANDS
  

  I was there in the period of 24th February for 10 days. It had snowed big about 1,5 week before we came and after that not very much. But we had still good snow the first 5/6 days and 4 of them were sunny, the first 4 days we even still found good powder. The 7th and 8th day, it began to snow very much, there fell about 1,17 meter. But visibility was very very bad. Above the trees the area was also not permitted to go on the 8th day and avalanche scale was 4/5. But under the trees the slopes were open, and we did go out (it snowed very hard and you could see about 10 meter max.) but it was definately worth it. We had so much powder, there were total slopes with about a meter powder and it rocked!

• January 30, 2006
  Ben from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Have just returned from a week in Villeneuve, skiing was much improved to the end of our week by a foot or so of snow in the mountains, very icy before that.
  Travelled with Crystal, never again, chalet was a shambles and well below our expectation...
  Pleasent villages but most definitly NOT a ski resort, so don't expect the typical facilities... although the Yeti bar goes some bar to correcting that in Villeneuve :-) Piste grades are dubious in general, a blue designation means blue "on average" although it may have green and red sections! Pistes in the Monetier area are the best, then progressively worse as you head down the valley. Skiing around the top of the mountains Cucmelle, L'Yret and Cibouit is excellent. Food on the piste is highly variable in price, L'Avert cafe being very overpriced in particular, ski down to the towns at lunch time and save 50%. Be aware that this many of the home runs include long "flat" sections not suitable for snowboarders, (unless you are good enough to take the narrow roadways at top speed) also the drag lifts are beyond evil, fortunately you can do 90% of the runs and still not have to use them :-)

• January 10, 2006
  Rick Lomas from FRANCE
  

  I live in Serre Chevalier and I think it is a great place to spend the winter AND the summer, sure it doesn't have the same nightlife as Val d'Isere, but there is a great community of UK and European people here which makes a difference. As far as the ski area goes, it has loads of lovely runs with trees that make it well pretty and to be honest if people want to go elsewhere, just based on altitude, then that suits me! Read more on my <a href="http://www.serrechevalier.org">Serre Chevalier Web Site
  </a>

• January 04, 2006
  Tim Chappell from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  I stayed in Chantemerle from Christmas and to over the New Year period 05/06. For me as a fairly new skier the conditions were very icy although it did greatly improve with the 50cm of snow near to New Years Eve, which meant fabulous skiing for everyone. I found the Green runs through the trees for my level very dangerous in icy conditions. Be warned that the Green/Blue/Red runs do all have much higher gradients than is suitable for the level indicated, The Aya run in Chantemerle is a red run although indicated as a Blue run on the piste. Great runs all over the place, fab people, good food. Highly recommended. Yes I would go back.

• December 08, 2005
  Russell from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Serre Chevalier is a fantastic resort. The villages are unspoilt the people are friendly and most important of all the vast ski terrain offers literally something for every level of ability, whether snowboarding or skiing. We stayed in Chantemerle with www.h2oholidays.co.uk and would recommend it to everyone.. It looks like the snow is going to be good this year too.. We've already booked two holidays for this season..

• December 02, 2005
  ash Strain from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  I have worked on both Fall-Line skiing magazine and Document Snowboard magazine for many years and it is my opinion that Serre Chevalier is a great resort, one of the best that I have visited! The skiing and the nightlife are improving year upon year but I still consider it one of the Alp's best kept secrets!

• December 01, 2005
  benoit from FRANCE
  

  Je pense que Paul, de Hollande, n'a pas eu de chance. Il arrive parfois que la neige manque, à Serre Chevalier comme ailleurs....
  Cela dit, le comportement souvent tres irrespectueux de certains de vos concitoyens peux provoquer une réaction de rejet, bien regretable.
  Alors peut etre a bientot Paul

• November 26, 2005
  michael horner from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  We just love it - winter and summer. The skiing is terrific but try to avoid February as it dies get verybuisy - but I guess everywhere's going to be crowded then Some of the lifts and drags are a little archaic so the resort has invested heavily in improving things with six new mega-fast chairs in key locations plus an extended artificial snow network.
  It's also a pretty place to ski because so much of it is through the trees. In fact, we adore the place so much that we bought an apartment there a few years ago and spend 10 weeks a year skiing and another six weeks hiking in the surrounding ranges in the summer. Not that great on the night life bit who cares?

• March 22, 2005
  Peter Rodney from GIBRALTAR
  

  A super place. Even with rather thin snow it is still skiable because their artificial snow cannons are very efficient. Friendly, still French, and I strongly recommend the Hotel Plein Sud (which is English owned!) in Chantemerle about 100 metres from the lifts. Mountain restaurants are only bettered by Zermatt, and even that is close run because the prices in SC are rather more reasonable. I will be back again and again.

• December 22, 2004
  paul from IRELAND
  

  The Irish crew is growing by the year in our second home. This resort is an amazing place and is well recommended. Yes its much quieter then other resorts, but are you there to party or ski. If you spend a little time getting to know the area it has some of the best off piste anywhere. But don’t go in Feb, January is the time to be there….

  The following good points
  Great ski area
  Great off piste
  Still very French
  Good size resort
  It a great place to base your self for lots of valleys

  Bad Points
  You need a car
  Lift queues at crimbo and Feb

• November 28, 2004
  Cam McKinnon from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  I lived in the shadow of Serre Che for the 2003-04 season. It is an incredible resort (although we did have an epic snow season) with practically inexhaustible options to ski. I got in over 50 days and still didn't get everywhere (gave it a good nudge though). Serre Che is particularly appealing if you enjoy endless off-piste powder through the trees. A skiing dream if ever there was one. It does take a few days to get your head around the enormity of the resort and exactly where you are within that but that's not a prob as when you're finished you simply drop down the hill where you are and jump on the free bus back to wherever you got yourself lost from. Highly recommended (get in the trees).

• October 26, 2004
  H Beaumont from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Although spread out along the valley, all villages are linked across the mountain, and as the bus servie is so good, it doesn't matter where you end up at 4 o clock. A good intermediate could ski from Briancon to Monetier and back in a day anyway. A great unspoilt and very friendly resort. We visited again in the Summer and were greeted like long-lost relatives.

• October 15, 2004
  Kevin from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  We have been skiing at Serre Chevalier for the past 6 years and still not covered the whole resort. Fantastic off piste skiing, miles of quiet slopes (out of the holiday periods)and almost guaranteed snow.
  Night life a bit non existent but with sooo much great skiing you'll be too tired to want to party anyway. Lots of cosy restaurants serving great inexspensive food.
  Not on the map yet with the Brits and that's the way I like it. Keep it to yourself, it's an undiscovered gem.

• September 15, 2004
  Colin Benson from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  I think Paul from Holland must have mixed up his resorts! We have an apartment in Serre Che and have spent 10 years skiing these brilliant mountains. Mid Feb is very busy but go in Jan, March or April and you will have a fantastic time.We are there most of the winter so if anybody wants some free ski guiding just email me.

• July 05, 2004
  Paul from NETHERLANDS
  

  The worst resort that I've ever visited. The runs were poorly maintained icy, narrow and just plain nasty. The people were unfriendly and it was far too overcrowded. There are *much* better resorts to be found.

• January 16, 2004
  Ben Scales from FRANCE
  

  Has Ady been following me around? Serre Chevallier is a bit like Chamonix in that it's fairly spread out along a valley, so transport is an issue and you need to choose your spot to ski and pretty much stick with it for the day.

  Unlike Chamonix, there's no real decent choice of nightlife, but visitors looking for some top skiing won't be disappointed. The red run 'Casse de Boeuf' is well up there for an awesome technical 'cruisey' red - a bit like the decent into La Daille at Val d'Is?re though longer, more exciting, not nearly as icy (generally) and not teeming with as many muppets.

  The scenery is spectacular, which is a nice distraction when you're combing the piste map trying to figure out where you are.

• January 08, 2004
  Ady Keeble from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Great ski-ing area with one major complaint - the piste map combined with the inconsistent piste marking makes for THE most infuriating instances of getting lost. It took a good 2 days for us to even start to find our way round. In addition the queues in the French school holidays are often lengthy - in that respect everything you will read in the guide books is true - be very careful where you ski around lunchtime as we encountered some real bottlenecks, especially at Frejus.

  Other than that - excellent!! Well worth a visit.

• August 15, 2003
  Melanie Kerslake from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  Serre Chevalier is a large resort made up of unique and friendly villages.

  Le Mon?tier les Bains is Serre Che's highest village at 1500m and offers the best off-piste, extensive mid-terrain tree-skiing and nursery slopes right at the bottom.

  Still a farming village, you'll love the rustic stone buildings, traditional restaurants and excellent hotels, and the smiling locals that live there all year round.

  Other villages include Villeneuve (Serre Che 1400, built up but with lots of nightlife), and Chantemerle (Serre Che 1350, a bit more charm and lots to do but getting busier and busier each year).

  Le Mon?tier les Bains is definitely my favourite.

• 
  alun evans from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  went there new years day 2007,absolutely fab ski area suitable for everyone,really would recomend the whole area

• 
  Colin Benson from UNITED KINGDOM
  

  We have been skiing in Serre Chevalier for 15 years and have also skied over 100 other resorts worldwide.
  In good snow conditions Serre Che is one of the best. Great varied piste skiing,easily accessed off-piste, some lovely 17th century villages (spoiled, to some extent, by some 1970s indiscriminate building), a quickly improving lift system and friendly locals.
  Not for party animals. Generally quiet apres-ski based around small bars and locally owned and run restaurants. Those looking for wild apres-ski should go elsewhere.
  We rent a luxury 3 bedroom duplex apartment in the old village in Villeneuve, 2 mins from the slopes. Full details can be found on holidaylettings.co.uk. Ref 16349.