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  4 of 5, "Full of contrasts but pleasently surprised" 27/01/2010 @ 14:20 |
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| 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: |
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| Price Paid |
| £244 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Neilson |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Travel:
We flew from Heathrow to Ostersund with BMI (about 3hrs travel time). Ostersund is only about an hour away from the resort so the transfer was a breeze. We got an idea of how off the beaten track we were by the fairly uncrowded coach and the 85% white landscape that flew by during the transfer. pretty scenic. Frozen lakes and stuff. Arty like. Probably the most stress free transfer i've ever had thanks to the quiet airport and resort proximity.
Resort Info:
Are is made up of 3 main villages: Duved/Tegefjäll to the west, Åre in the middle and Åre Björnen. A ski pass for the entire area cost us £145 for the week (Jan 2010). We stayed in Åre Björnen which is a very family-centric village (Allocation on arrival option with Neilson). As such night life is virtually non existant and it's about a 15 minute bus ride (free with a lift pass) to the main village of Åre. It's about the same from Duved to Are. Åre Björnen wasn't too bad tho as we had the use of saunas and a games room in our accomodation at the skistar hotel. There's a mini mart next door and a small supermarket at the bottom of the hill. But that's pretty much it. Looks awesome for families with young kids tho (baby runs with cartoon characters in the treas and bbq's on the slopes for the little people).
Are is the main village and, surprisingly, had quite a modern, upmarket look and feel to it. There are quite a few good pubs and clubs but it was also very clean and quaint. We were there during swedish student week and most places were rammed but there weren't any scenes of mass drunken idiocy that tends to follow our lot on hols. somthing to do with the strict alcohol rules me thinks.
There's also night time skiing and the location alternates between the 3 areas throughout the week. It's usually between 6pm and 8pm so if you have the energy then it's worth giving this ago. Best to have a spare set of slightly yellow or clear lenses as normal dark lenses dont help much and the visibility is actually better when boarding under white flood lights. Would be sick if the park was lit in the evening as well.
It is important to note that Are is pretty much a ski resort not cos of it's altitude but rather for the consistantly freezing climate. This has a few pros and cons: The snow is much finer and powdery due to the consistant tempearture levels (average was -12 while we were there). There's no thawing and refreezing resulting in icey layers and thin topsheets and the snow cannons (of which there are a lot) do a good job of topping up whatever snow gets windswept or moved as a result. It didnt snow while we were there and according to results it hadnt snowed 2 weeks prior to that but the entire landscape was covered with what looked like a fresh dump. pretty cool. (with reference to the temp, normal board wear - 3 layers top, 2 bottom - should suffice as as your gear doesnt get as wet as it would in warmer resorts. Came home dry most nights. just make sure your gloves are up to it, mittens were a must for me)
The downside of the low altitude is the vilages arent linked very well (Duved/Tegefjall is only linked to Are by bus) and there are a few flat runs which make journeys from one village to the other (via board) a major pain! It's more of a skiiers resort judging from the flat interconnecting runs at the top of the pistes (and the extensive lit xc ski network). Much easier to just use the bus to get from one village to the other. Another thing to be aware of were the number of T-bars and drag lifts. All but the main runs in Are serviced by drag lifts and T-bars. This isnt really a problem untill you get to Tegefjäll where there are some super long, cold, steep T-bars. Well worth it when you get to the top as you're rewarded with almost empty, wide fun runs; but you do find yourself wondering why they havent caught up with the rest of Europe and installed Chair lifts across the entire resort (i suppose it saves on costs for maintenace and staff).
Another downside is the top of the mountain also doesnt open till slightly later in the season as the wind tends to shift whatever snow there is at the beginning of the season. I think it's not meant to open till sometime in feb but it was open a couple of times while we were there. was all good apart from one section which was icey as sh1t! Pretty much everyone coming down there did so on thier backside, or on someone else (think bowling with boarders and skiiers on a slope, comical)
That being said, once you're in any one area, doing laps of the runs are quite fun. There hardly any blacks and i wouldnt really say there are that many reds even though they may be classed as such. The terrain wont be much of a challenge to intermediate to expert boarder but if you're into just cruising long, undulating, uncrowded pistes, with views of a frozen lake (Arty like) you'll have a blast. Read on tho for the Pièce de résistance!!
Now for the best part of the holiday (in my opinion). The park is prolly one of the best parks i've been to and deserves a review in it's own right. Yes ladies and gentlemen, it really is that good (compared to Val Thorens, Morzine, Les arcs and even Laax.....except the pipe which wasn't built while we were there). So much so that a healthy sized delegation of Norwegian park rats make the journey over regularly to sample it. The locals also rate it highly. If you want a sick kicker line (5 medium kickers in a row followed by a fun pole jam then another kicker) or varied jib hits (boxes, barrels, along and down boxes, kinked rails, down rails, kinked rails over stairs, bonks, tables etc), all maintained almost hourly and served by it's own T-bar lift, then Are is worth a visit. It never gets too busy which is good but also, there's always someone around to watch/ hang out with/ advise/ learn from. skiers and boarders alike were throwing down some sick moves and it's easy to see how progression is made a lot easier when you have really creative and well designed park to mess about in. (the park is served by lift 21 on the piste map. Jump off to the left 1/2 way up the lift for a jib jaunt or get off at the top and turn right for kicker carnage ^_^ )
The park is situated in the main Are village and isn't too hard to get to. Once there, you can really loose track of time as it's easy to just lap it all day. There is also a set of kickers and boardercross roly poly type bumps in Duved but i didnt spend much time there.
info:http://www.skistar.com/are/english/
piste map: http://www.skistar.com/app/projects/are/images/imlib/Pistkarta2010EN_LR.pdf
bus timetable: http://www.skistar.com/are/english/skiing/skibus.app
weather report: http://www.skistar.com/are/english/skiing/lifts_and_slopes/index.app
random:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/travel/skiingandsnowboarding/neilsonski/6642785/Skiing-in-Sweden-Visiting-re-and-Vemdalen---the-facts.html
http://www.onthesnow.com/news/a/9176/get-to-re-for-less-flights-51-transfers-15
The skistar site is pretty good. Nicely laid out and easy to find a lot of info. There're wasn't much that we couldnt gleen from there.
Nightlife:
The bees knees if you’re in the main Are village. Otherwise pack a laptop or a pack of cards! |
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| Strengths |
Extremely pleasant and friendly staff and locals.
The resort /slopes/villages aren't too c*ck heavy too, about a 50-50 split between lads n lasses
The park!
Reindeer sausage pizza (pricey but worth it)
The park!
Caters very well for families
Did i mention the park?
Good snow cover |
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| Hot Spots |
our sauna every night
our bog every morning |
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| Weaknesses |
quiete a few flat runs
the long T-bar lifts in Tegefjäll |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Pretty much in a class of it's own in my opinion |
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 3 of 5 05/02/2004 @ 14:16 |
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| 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: |
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| Price Paid |
| Can't remember |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Inghams |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
I stayed in Duved (in Feb 2003) which is about a 15 min bus ride from Are. Are is the bigger and livelier but Duved has its own slopes.
Duved is good if you want to be handy for the slopes (nearest was 100 yds from my hotel) and don't mind limited quiet nightlife (or a bus ride to Are and back).
The slopes are quiet - no queues. Tourists are mainly British. There's great floodlit boarding a couple of times a week. Drag lifts and T bars are the only way of getting up the slope from Duved - and some can be steep and long.
Food is cheap & good but mainly centred on meat so veggies beware. Beer is ok.
I broke my wrist mid-holiday and there was nothing to do but watch Sewdish TV (not good). But: I'd definitely go back. |
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| Strengths |
Quiet
Good snow
Cheap
Handy (short flight) |
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| Weaknesses |
Quiet
Drag lifts |
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| 4 of 5 07/04/2003 @ 11:54 |
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| 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: |
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| Price Paid |
| £250 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Nielson |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
Really cool place to go, people are layed back and the women are stunning. Good spread of varied terrain with stunning views and good boarding. Totally different to anywhere in france, austria etc..
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| Strengths |
| Quality of swedesh girls, On a sunny day is the best place I've ever been! |
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| Weaknesses |
| Consistency of weather, amount of flats, too mny drag lifts (grrr!). Price of Beer! |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Chamonix |
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