Top 5 Tips for Booking A Ski Chalet in France

Over the years, we’ve picked up some great tricks for sifting through the huge choice of ski chalets on the market and finding the one that’s right for you and your family or group of friends. This is especially useful when it comes to France, as there’s just such a variety and number of ski chalets available. To give you a head start with booking your next ski chalet holiday, here are our top five tips for booking a ski chalet in France.

1. Never book your flights first

It’s a common mistake. You look for some flights online and find something which looks too good to be true, so you book those Stansted to Geneva flights on the spot and then try to find chalets to fit around the flights. Generally speaking, the airlines know more than most about how to price their flights and if you find something cheap then there is generally a very good reason for it. The most common reason is that they know it’s very tricky to find accommodation to match their flights. The other negative side to this tactic is that it makes your dates very rigid. You have to leave on whichever day your flights have been booked on and that therefore means your ski chalet options will be much more limited than leaving your flights unbooked and sorting your chalet out first.

Our recommendation for a ski chalet in France: Chalet Serpolet in Meribel – it’s run by a smaller chalet company and offers a great holiday at a good price and includes the flights too. It also has a hot tub and a games room!

2. Earmark your dates…

…but try and keep an element of flexibility. If you are set on a school holiday date, consider Easter as an alternative to half term. Ski chalets in France are a lot better value at Easter, and late season snow has been great for the past few years. If you are part of a large group, being flexible can be tricky as most groups will pick a date first based on leave available at work. However, we really recommend keeping two dates open for the trip as it can literally double the amount of options you’ll have to choose from.

3. Decide on your must-haves and nice-to-haves before you start your ski chalet search

It’s really useful to know what is an absolute pre-requisite and what would be bonus. This may seem pretty obvious but many group organisers tend not to ask this question of the group before they start putting the feelers out, and it tends to lead to a smaller choice of ski chalets.

The alternative is to go for the perfect chalet in France and look for the holy grail, ski in/out with a hot tub. If that’s the case, try the Du Bois in Morzine.

4. Make your peace with a long transfer!

Most of the resorts in France, especially the popular ones such as Val d’Isere and Courchevel, will mean your transfer time will be 3 hours plus. Whilst there are shorter transfer times available to other resorts, this tends to mean you need to compromise on altitude because it takes a long time to drive halfway up a mountain!

You can get a decent altitude, a great ski chalet and short transfer if you look at the Southern Alps. There are some great options in Les 2 Alpes such as the Chamois Volant.

5. Set a budget

This may seem obvious but so many group organisers don’t ask this question, and it’s been known to end in tears! It’s a tricky subject to broach tactfully but if this isn’t done before you start looking then the process in finding the right ski chalet for you can take twice as long.

As a catered ski chalet specialist, we have been sending skiers and snowboarders to France for years now and we think we are pretty good at it! To find your perfect ski chalet in France, contact us and let’s have a chat.