Three Ways to Make the Most of Your Three Valleys Ski Holiday

If you’re an avid skier and, like many others, your favourite place to go is the famous Three Valleys, chalets can serve as a great home base for your activities. There are plenty to choose from and they can set you up in the lap of luxury or provide a more budget friendly lodging. But your accommodation isn't all you need to think about; with a little understanding of how things work, you can enjoy a better skiing experience and circumvent much of the hassle other people may encounter. These three tips can save you a lot of time and help you get the most out of that ski trip.

Choose Your Time

Think about it: it’s about lunch time, and the crowds are retreating from the pistes to chow down and replenish their energy expelled on the slopes all morning. The Three Valleys chalets, cafes and restaurants will all be crammed to capacity with people enjoying their mid-day meal. So what’s the direct consequence of this? The pistes will be almost empty, of course! Between 12:30- pm and 2 pm, you can basically have the pistes to yourself! During this interlude to the day’s activities, you can enjoy a more enjoyable and deeper skiing experience and it can almost be as though you’ve paid for the entire resort for your own exclusive use! This, of course, requires some planning, so pack a sandwich or a lunch box that you can eat on the chair lift, or have a late breakfast and just break for lunch after 2 pm. Either way, skiing through lunch time is well worth the effort.

Leave Early On a Friday

Have you ever skied on a weekend? If so, then chances are you'll know that hordes of other people also take advantage of a quick break to the snow – and it's usually on the weekend. As a result, it’s far too common to see weekend holidaymakers gridlocked around the resorts by late Friday evening. By Saturday morning, you can have full-blown chaos: long queues at airport security, crowds at the ferry check-in, and general an incredible level of stress – it's really no way to start a holiday. If you can, book your Three Valleys chalets for an early check on the Friday - or even the Thursday night if you can. The trick is to get a flight or ferry crossing well before 5 pm on the Friday - those few precious hours matter. For example, if you take the ferry to Calais before the clock hits 5 on a Friday afternoon, you will be sparing yourself many hours of getting stuck in traffic on arrival in France. The bottom line is - the earlier you leave the UK, the better.

Get On the Day’s First Lift

If you think a ski holiday is best started with a leisurely sleep in, a drawn out breakfast, then a casual amble to the piste late in the morning, think again! While the Three Valleys chalets may lure you in to spending a good part of the morning just lounging around, the consequence is that by the time you hit the lifts, you’ll encounter huge queues, thus wasting a good part of the day. On the other hand, if you get to the lift station at 9 am (or if you can, arrive even 30 minutes earlier than that) then you’ll be among the first skiers on the mountain. You’ll enjoy at least an hour of pure bliss on freshly groomed pistes with not a soul in sight – and this can make for an utterly unforgettable experience.

Danielle Hodges is the Marketing Manager for Ski Amis, a specialist ski travel agency and booking service offering bonded holidays in La Tania and other fantastic locations. If you're looking for catered or self catered Three Valleys chalets we can help. For a luxury or good-value skiing holiday call Ski Amis.

Writer and Online Marketing Manager in London.