Those seven days of the year again. The most battery charging holidays of the year. Our wishes for this year were either Austria, Japan or Val Thorens. Because of the ease of planning we chose to go to Val Thorens. We were always traveling for skiing beginning of March, but since we’ve learned that you can ski in Val Thorens till mid April, we’ve decided to try it out. Hoping to have less crowds.
The best airport connections to the French Alps are either Geneva in Switzerland or Lyon in France. Especially if you are arriving on a Saturday, the possibilities to reach your ski center flawless are endless. Services like Alpine transfers, Ben Bus UK and similar offer direct bus transfers. As every year before we’ve booked our ski holiday with Snowtrex.

My expectations were super high about the skiing center. Almost nowhere you can find an info about the size of the ski center itself. It was always taken in consideration as a part of the largest ski center in the world the 3 valleys, that offer 600 kilometers of piste. I’ve heard from friends that there were endless slopes and zero crowds. Reality was a bit different. It always depends what you are comparing to. I do not say it was not good, just that it was not picture perfect as in my head. Another point for me was the village itself it was just made for the winter months and that’s that. I wanted to see a bit more of a local life. For that reason in the area is the Saint Martin village.

Last complaint before we turn to the good stuff: the price of the french fries. Usually 8 euros for a portion, sometimes even 9. No I can’t forgive this. There were some nice places on the slopes like De Peclet. Also the one that you will most probably approach it first on the blue slopes, that had the best fries, Chalet de la Marine.
For parties there are La Folie douce, and 360 degrees. The later one, had all kinds of cuisines during lunch time, we opted for crepes, price range 14 – 18 euros.

On top of your Val Thorens ski pass, you have the opportunity to buy addition for all the valleys, for 55euros for six days. You can do this only on your first two days of skiing. Or for 48 euros you can buy day pass for all of them. We took the first option, as I thought it is so easy to explore all the valleys. If you are slow skier like me well, not really. Getting there was kind of easy, but the way back tiny nightmare for me.
For the first trip we took the Signal viewpoint in Courchevel, from where you can see Mont Blanc if it is not hiding it the clouds. Have drink in Bel Air chalet there and then start planing you way back. My biggest enemy was the wet snow in some lower parts, especially in Les Menuires.

One of the best excursions for me was going to the Cime de Caron summit. Officially home of the biggest cable car in the world, but even though closed, there is another way to reach it through Orelle. The visitors center consist of restaurant, roof top bar, a store and exhibition space,and it has amazing views. AS well the slopes on this side were much less crowded compared to Val Thorens and Meribel.

Another day we had an excursion to Meribel. The first point of interest was the Mont Vallon. View on Mont Blanc included. We explored some slopes, then went down to Meribel Mottaret, which was very lively with restaurants. At this day the snack break was at Chalet d’altitude Restaurant Le Grand Lac. The skiing day ended at La Folie Douce for a St- Germain Spritz and some beats.
What I found very nice was the market days Tuesdays and Thursdays at Val Thorens, Tuesdays and Fridays at Meribel.

Eating out except on the slopes was weirdly not part of this trip. Usually we are all about eating out. We had the feeling we’ve tried it all from the Savoyard cuisine. However, the last day we decided to have an honest steak. We went to La Maison for the cut of the day.

As we decided to spend one day in Lyon, we didn’t want to use the shuttle busses again, as they drop off only at the airport. Instead we took a bus to Moutiers, and then train to Lyon. The bus ride was about 30-40 minutes, and waiting time of around an hour. There is not much to do in Moutiers, but coffee and breakfast and one round around the central part is enough.

Our accommodation in Lyon was right next to Part Dieu station. We made this decision, because the Rhone Express runs here, unfortunately, in the period we were there this station was canceled. This time we didn’t visit the old part of the town, we just stayed on one side of the river. This meant long stroll through Bocuse market. Perfect place for local life, hiding from windy weather and tasting delicacies. We went through flea/food markets and around the 3rd arrondissement.
Lunch in Lyon is between 11-14 o clock. Dinner starts from 19, in the inbetween time, you can either shop or choose from not so many open places.
As we were lazy to book in advance, we were waitlisted for some restarants. We didn’t make it,so we went to a cocktail bar. “You” cocktail bar was great experience. Focused on smell rather than taste, but both were great. We ended up the night with a Taco de Lyon. The sibling of the Berliner Kebab.

To get to the airport from the city center the most straightforward option is by Rhone Express which costs 16 euros online or 17.10 on the spot. There are Bla Bla bus and Flixbus options from Lyon Perrache or take a metro to Vaulx en Velin, then move to the tram to Meiziey ZI and from here to take the bus 47. It’s complicated, I know but also the price makes huge difference.

Lyon was great, even though we didn’t experienced it for less than 24 hours. We would definitively be back. As for the skiing part, I think we need to make our debut in Austria and check how the slopes there next year.