| Reviews: 2 |
| West Yorkshire |
|
  5 of 5, "the GREAT unknown" 31/01/2010 @ 20:10:11 |
|
|
| Price Paid |
| £2000 |
|
| Booked Trip Through |
| independant |
|
| Times Visited |
| 2-5 Times |
|
| Review Detail |
Before i first came to this resort i'd never heard of it so it was a great surprise to see how good it is
Flaine itself isn't the worlds prettiest resort but it's not too offensive and it's more than makes up for it
Flaine itself has a good number of runs mainly aimed at the intermediate and if you add the Grand Massif area theres lots of variety and it's pretty easy to navigate your way around
Easy to get to(1 1/4 hour from Geneva)
Good lifts(you'd never have to use a drag lift if you didn't use the park in Flaine)
Not too busy/no real ques and a carefree attitude(no fashion victims or pretentions here)
|
|
| Strengths |
Easy of access from Geneva
Lots of good/long blue +reds with plenty of opportunity to sneek off piste beteween the runs for variety
Excellent for kids |
|
| Hot Spots |
| All the runs from the top of both gondolas in Flaine + Morillon worth a visit |
|
| Weaknesses |
Not much night life
Resort architecture |
|
|
|
|
| Reviews: 5 |
| South Yorkshire |
|
 4 of 5, "Imposing concrete strangeness in a great area" 16/10/2006 @ 22:35:30 |
|
|
| 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful: |
|
| Price Paid |
| c£500 |
|
| Booked Trip Through |
| Crystal & Thompson |
|
| Times Visited |
| 2-5 Times |
|
| Review Detail |
You can’t really love Flaine – it’s a bit lacking in charm!
It does, however, have some amazing runs, a huge area on the Grand Massif pass and a lot of off-piste (with lots of large holes if you don't have a guide)…so I’d go again!
It’s easy to get to the top on the DMC or the big chair over toward Samoens and when you get there the runs are great. It's not so easy to get up to an excellent board park close to Flaine on a drag lift that is like being fired out of a cannon!
The boardercross run above “Celestine” is a blast! Steep windy, long and between a few cabins. And Celestine herself is a delightful way to get back down to the town.
…which is a monstrosity. If it had a bit more life I think it might work but when there’s hardly anyone around it’s really quite clinical…though the “grain of salt” restaurant is pretty good.
|
|
| Strengths |
| Huge area, lots of off-piste potential, some really nice reds & blues with interesting stuff off the sides. |
|
| Hot Spots |
| The boardercross run, Celestine, view from the top of the DMC, long days of intersting reds & blues. |
|
| Weaknesses |
| Quite a few uphills & flats, nothing much to do at night, "distinctive" architecture! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 4 of 5 08/03/2005 @ 12:56:20 |
|
|
| Price Paid |
| £226 (flights and accommo), 168 euro lift pass |
|
| Booked Trip Through |
| Teletext Holidays, Neilson holiday |
|
| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
|
| Review Detail |
Went here last minute with 3 skiers friends. None of us had ever been before or heard much about the resort but I have to say I absolutely loved it. It was my second holiday after Soldeu last year and maybe it was just cos I was improving, maybe it was the very cute instructor, maybe it was the new found bliss of riding powder and the sense of achievement at (almost) conquering drag lifts but I had the biggest grin on my face throughout the week.
The area was big enough for me, I didn't really use the links into Morillon and Samoens although my friends said they had some lovely runs in that direction.
We stayed in Flaine Apartments in Flaine Foret, very basic and quiet.
|
|
| Strengths |
Loads and loads of snow
Off piste powdery goodness
L'Eloge restaurant just above the learner slopes does great chilli
Ireland beat England 19-13 when I was there |
|
| Hot Spots |
Lack of Hot Spots more like, The Flying Dutchman smelt of eggs according to my mates, The Diamant Noir was OK though dead except from during the Ireland England game.
Le Sucre Sale had excellent pitta things, tasty. |
|
| Weaknesses |
A bit quiet
our apartments were hardly luxurious
I wrenched my neck and had to sit out a day....OK OK so that wasn't the resorts fault
There are only drag lifts to get up to the boarder park. |
|
| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Soldeu |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 of 5 13/04/2004 @ 09:52:27 |
|
|
| 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: |
|
| Revision #1 (Last edited: 13/04/2004 @ 09:53:37) |
|
| Price Paid |
| Live here |
|
| Booked Trip Through |
| N/A |
|
| Times Visited |
| 15 Times + |
|
| Review Detail |
I was heading up Grands Montets in Chamonix when two chippy English guys said "oh - you live over towards Flaine way do you? We were thinking of going boarding over there, but we've heard its only for beginners". I told them they were spot-on - hopefully they'll never darken my closest resort if they are going to bring attitudes like that with them. And in my opinion, and those of my guests this season, is that the Grand Massif (of which Flaine forms a part) is better than Chamonix. Yes Chamonix is steep, but the accessible powder gets tracked out within hours of fresh snow. The bowl in which Flaine sits is huge, with vast amounts of powder. Just nip off to the left of Lucifer and run down the gully there (marker point 13, all the way to the lift). Or the same on Faust, through the trees, rejoining just before the cliff [above the great restaurant by the steep section]. Or the stuff of either side of Mephisto Supeurieur. Feeling more confident? - head over to Gers [same direction as Les Cascades and drop into the valley that links with Styx [the black]; beautiful 60' steeps, on a powder day makes you glad to be alive; the only bugger is the huge drag lift back up again. Other great bowls - down to the left of the Airon Lift, or under Vernant and through through the gulley - then a mad beeline for the last 500m to make the lift.
Some excellent Glade riding can be found around Morillon and Les Carroz, but obviously as they are a bit lower (descendig to 1,100m) you need to think about what the snow's going to be like. Recommendations here - the runs that feed into the Gron chair on the way down to Carroz.
I know people think Flaine is ugly - it is actually designed to blend in with the trees and rocks in the bowl and I think it works. Also, they have controlled the development of the bowl very well, so unlike some resorts where there are new chalets and cranes everywhere, this isn't happening in Flaine. The nightlife throughout the GM isn't a VdI or a 3 vallees; its a bit older crowd, its more French, and I for one prefer it that way. If you don't like concrete blocks, stay in Samoens - its a beautiful village with good connectivity to the GM now the 8 man bubble Grand Massif Express has opened (December 2003). |
|
| Strengths |
Great powder for newbies between the runs in the Flaine Bowl (off of Lucifer, Faust, the blues) - nip in and out and build your confidence.
Great for touring - no need to take buses (unless you do les Cascades - the 14km blue).
Gers valley is outstanding
Reliable snowfall
Not many package holiday-makers (Samoens at least) |
|
| Weaknesses |
Top of Grand Platieres could do with a rope pull for newbies trying to access the blues from the DMC [telepherique]
Perce Neige / Arete are quite narrow and flat for boarders - can get a bit dicey at the end of a busy day when there are some reckless fools around
|
|
| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Chamonix, Avoriaz, Courchevel, La Clusaz, Stowe, Verbier, Tignes, VdI, Morzine, Les Gets, Praz de Lys, Meribel, Val Thorens, Mt. Hutt, Megeve, Glenshee [is that really a resort?] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 4 of 5 22/03/2004 @ 21:59:32 |
|
|
| Price Paid |
| £150 |
|
| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
|
| Review Detail |
We went on the reccomendation of someone who had been last season, he informed us that it was cheap as chips and had wicked snow all the time.
This year however the prices in the resort have gone up by a fair bit and I'm not sure they can justify doing so. The resort is not particulaly pretty; lots of concrete and no real centre of town. The choice of bars, shops and restaraunts is fairly limited.
The accomodation was really cheap if slightly basic and on the whole the people were helpful. The lifts and pistes are fairly good as you can travel to neigbouring towns such as Samoens and Morrilion so there is plenty of mountain to choose from. Cascades is possibly the best run in the resort (takes about 2 hours to do if you're not caning it and you need to catch a bus back to the ski lifts so probaly one to do early morning)
There is something slighty odd about the atmosphere though. I can't quite pinpoint it. Maybe it's the fact that it is incredibly ski oriented or that most of the people their were older or had families, just something didn't quite feel right.
The nightlife was almost non existent. There can only be about 5 bars/clubs in the whole town and non of them are particularly great (we spent our time playing pool late into the night in Le Diamond Noir) they all seem to stay open until past midnight -1 am but there is nothing to make you want to stay out.
As it's one of the highest resorts in the alps, traditionally its had plenty of snow when other resorts are running out. This year however there were quite a few rocks and grassy patches poking out even at the top. |
|
| Strengths |
Good runs,
cheap accomadation,
good snow (traditionally) |
|
| Weaknesses |
So many skiers,
Little choice of entertainment, |
|
| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Meribel |
|
|
|
|