mytravelbugbite

This year I went to Les Deux Alpes, France for the first time with my mum. We flew to Grenoble airport which is pretty small, then took the transfer bus up to resort.

We stayed in the Hotel Le Berangere, run by Mark Warner. Although the décor was somewhat tired, the rooms were large, had plenty of wardrobe space and had great views from the balcony over the piste and down towards the main art of town. The location was amazing as it was completely ski in, ski out. I had high expectations for the service and meals because I did my ski season working in a Mark Warner hotel where we were expected to give a top class service and the kitchen/ front of house staff here did not disappoint. The breakfast was a large selection of hot and cold options including baked by the batch pastries, the afternoon tea included a soup, gateaux, biscuits and a small cake option daily and dinner had either a buffet or 3 choices of each course. On the chalet day off the receptionists were helpful in booking our meal out.

We had ok but not amazing conditions for our week there but we were able to ski most days. The resort itself is by no means the largest in the French Alps which meant that by the second day we had skied all the pistes that were open. It is really good for beginner to intermediate level skiers but a little more limited in terms of advanced runs. What did baffle us was the fact that on the glacier (which allows for summer skiing) where the snow was good, only 1 of the lifts was open which meant everything bottlenecked at that point.

There were some nice mountain restaurants but our favourites included the one under the snow park where we sat on nice days in deck chairs in the sun watching people wipe out over the jumps. On a day where the weather was miserable we discovered the Diable restaurant which is a posh sit down food place but also has about 10 seats around the fire for people who just wanted a drink. It was super cosy and this was enhanced when I discovered they had slippers to borrow so I could take my ski boots off.

In terms of the après-ski there are a few options. We saw many people snowshoeing although we could only find limited information on routes but we did manage a local hike to do. There was also parapenting and skidooing for thrill seekers. In the town itself is a public pool and an ice skating rink. There are also plenty of restaurants and bars but overall it is fairly small compared to other resorts.

A weeklong ski pass includes the option to spend a day skiing in Alpe D’Huez, having stayed there a few years ago I would probably recommend staying there though and doing Les 2 Alpes as the day trip. Saying that I had an awesome time and loved exploring a new ski area even if I am not in a desperate hurry to go back there soon.

Have you skied Les Deux Alpes? How did you find it as a resort? What is your favourite ski resort?