3 Valleys, France

Hi all,
We are a mixed family group going to the 3 Valleys in early April.
We are staying in a hamlet between Les Menuires and St Martin.

I am wondering how easy it is to drive to Val Thorens and park, or is that too much hassle.
Are we better off driving to Les M or St M and accessing the lift system from there?
And how easy is it to park in the villages? Is there a daily parking cost and do you have to catch a bus from the car parks to the lifts?
I've had a good look at the website and can't really see this info.

We aren't worried about the snow conditions as we know the area is pretty good but has anyone come back recently who can pass on some info?

Any recommendations on a decent ski hire shop in either village would be appreciated.
Any info gratefully received.
Thanks in anticipation.

Hi,

I just returned from Val Thorens, and think that for both Val Thorens as Les Menuires you can quite easily park close to one of the bottom lifts and continue on from there, but they will cost money. I would let which one you choose depend on the snow conditions of the day and where you want to ski. Connections to Meribel and beyond are generally easier from Les Menuires, which offers plenty of good skiing itself. However, judging by the snow conditions when I left you might want to go to Val Thorens to seek out the best snow. Les Menuires was looking quite brown and slushy even after a few days of snowfall, whereas we had good conditions in Val Thorens throughout. Finally, you can also grab a lift from St Martin de B. if that is closer and you don't mind taking the lift back down.

No tips on hire, as I used a shop at the very top of Val Thorens, which doesn't sound practical for you.

Hope that helps.

PrivateBryan wrote:Hi all,
We are a mixed family group going to the 3 Valleys in early April.
We are staying in a hamlet between Les Menuires and St Martin.

I am wondering how easy it is to drive to Val Thorens and park, or is that too much hassle.
Are we better off driving to Les M or St M and accessing the lift system from there?
And how easy is it to park in the villages? Is there a daily parking cost and do you have to catch a bus from the car parks to the lifts?
I've had a good look at the website and can't really see this info.

We aren't worried about the snow conditions as we know the area is pretty good but has anyone come back recently who can pass on some info?

Any recommendations on a decent ski hire shop in either village would be appreciated.
Any info gratefully received.
Thanks in anticipation.

Depends which hamlet you are in but there is either a shuttle bus to St M or les Menuires first thing and last thing.
Parking probably easier at St M as long as you are prompt and the walk is less, circa 50m... but the lift connections are much better from les menuires where there is a place you could drop off the other skiers before parking a couple of hundred metres away. Neither places have daily parking charges.

Driving to VT isn't much more effort if you are driving anyway - an extra 10 mins in the car. Free daily parking at the first big carpark you get to.

Snow is good high up and there was a top up earlier this week.

Good choice of resort!

Mark

Thanks for the responses.

We'll be staying in Praranger which looks slightly closer to ST M.

Snow looking good - and hopefully the slopes won't be hopelessly overcrowded as many schools are already off for spring break
Ours don't break up until the 4th.

Bryan.

Hiya Bryan,

Praranger is on the Les Menuires bus loop rather than the St M loop.
Snow is good - but a bit wind blown at the top. More falling today though.

Mark

Take snow chains if its snowing. The police are particularly strong on that point on the road up from Les Menuires.