budget trip with family

To describe Les Gets as picture postcard :shock:

If you want to see picture postcard, visit Switzerland to get some perspective )

bandit wrote:To describe Les Gets as picture postcard :shock:

If you want to see picture postcard, visit Switzerland to get some perspective )

I believe the Soviets used to have postcards of tractor factories though.

There's no shortage of more charm in Austria or France for that matter, Vaujany for example as mentioned above.

Grandparents are also a fantastic way of saving money :twisted:

ise wrote:

bandit wrote:To describe Les Gets as picture postcard :shock:

If you want to see picture postcard, visit Switzerland to get some perspective )

I believe the Soviets used to have postcards of tractor factories though.

There's no shortage of more charm in Austria or France for that matter, Vaujany for example as mentioned above.

Yes, I see your point about perspective in the pretty village stakes.

Not visited Vaujany, so I can't comment. Les Gets though, is quite close to Switzerland so visitors could pop over the border quite easily. Les Gets is a sprawl, and there are some pretty chalets, though it's the main street that really lets it down IMV.
Samoens village centre is pretty, and nearby.

tino_11 wrote:Grandparents are also a fantastic way of saving money :twisted:

Que :?:

Dont take the kids, does wonders for the budget )

Only joking of course.

To describe Les Gets as picture postcard :shock:

If you want to see picture postcard, visit Switzerland to get some perspective :wink:

From my perspective, I think you're being a little unfair to Les Gets. I've been there quite a few times & always enjoyed it & thought it was a pretty village. You guys are clearly lucky enough to spend much of your time in the mountains & ski in some fantastic places so I guess your expectations are different to those of others. I for one, live in a North Nottinghamshire ex. mining town which I consider to be particularly unattractive, especially in the dark, miserable winter months. To visit a pretty, snow-covered village in the Alps is a breath of fresh air & I don't consider that anyone would be disappointed to find themselves there. Samoens is more authentic I suppose in terms of a 'typical' French village but I would happily return to either of them.

However, if you've only ever visited resorts like Flaine or La Plagne, then I'm sure you would find Les Gets charming. In fact, looking at many of the purpose built resorts, charm isn't an important factor to many people when choosing a ski destination. In conclusion, I guess it is all relative. If you live somewhere grotty then Les Gets is charming. If you live somewhere stunning in Switzerland then maybe it is less so )

Salski wrote:

From my perspective, I think you're being a little unfair to Les Gets. I've been there quite a few times & always enjoyed it & thought it was a pretty village. You guys are clearly lucky enough to spend much of your time in the mountains & ski in some fantastic places so I guess your expectations are different to those of others. I for one, live in a North Nottinghamshire ex. mining town which I consider to be particularly unattractive, especially in the dark, miserable winter months. To visit a pretty, snow-covered village in the Alps is a breath of fresh air & I don't consider that anyone would be disappointed to find themselves there. Samoens is more authentic I suppose in terms of a 'typical' French village but I would happily return to either of them.

However, if you've only ever visited resorts like Flaine or La Plagne, then I'm sure you would find Les Gets charming. In fact, looking at many of the purpose built resorts, charm isn't an important factor to many people when choosing a ski destination. In conclusion, I guess it is all relative. If you live somewhere grotty then Les Gets is charming. If you live somewhere stunning in Switzerland then maybe it is less so )

I'm sure a lot of visitors to Les Gets enjoy it enormously but it can't really be described as a pretty village or in any way unspoilt. As bandit observed the main street is just awful, shops selling English newspapers and English cars parked bumper-to-bumper all over the town. The skiing is OK and again something families and intermediate skiers might enjoy enormously but it's also fair to say that for all the claims of distances in the Portes du Soleil some of the skiing is going to be pretty uninspiring for some skiers.

If, for example, you were someone who'd spent some holidays in France in the summer and went to Les Gets for your fist ski holiday expecting to find some of the charm you were familiar with from the summer you'd be rather disappointed. I think most of us when seeing a description like "picture-postcard resort" don't automatically qualify that with "compared to a spanner factory in Gdansk"

Whatever the merits of Les Gets, and the Ported du Soleil in general, traditional charm just isn't one of them. I skied in Les Gets on my first ski trip to the alps some 25 years ago when it was a small village, seeing it now is like returning to the park where you played as a kid and finding it concreted over for a motorway service station.