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Flaine Reviews
23 reviews of Flaine in France.
Voted 19th out of 29 reviewed ski resorts in France
- Superb(7)
- Good(13)
- O.K.(3)
- Poor(0)
- Awful(0)
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Brilliant skiing with Grand Massif pass
Reviewed 25 May 2016
Really enjoyed our week here, the skiing is fantastic and the area covered by the Grand Massif pass is brilliant. The snow was brilliant for the end of March and we had 5 days of sunshine. There are lots of reds, blues and greens but I think the rating of the slopes is underestimated – a blue in Flaine would have been a red somewhere else, which is surprising as it’s said to be so good for families. About food, there is a Spar food shop at each end but you need to be aware that it’s quite pricey.
Lots for intermediate skiers, and lots of snow when we were here
Reviewed 6 May 2016
We liked Flaine, there’s lots of skiing - mainly for intermediates, we didn’t manage to go on all of the runs by any means. It was a very snowy week (1 metre of fresh snow) and we only had one day of sunshine. Generally visibility was low and you couldn’t distinguish between the ground and the sky, so we didn’t end up skiing full days all week.
It’s a good resort, there’s not much night life but as I was there with my 11 year old son we weren’t looking for any. There are a few places to eat out but as we had a half board hotel we didn’t need them. We did find some good mountain restaurants. One of the hotels has a swimming pool that’s open to the public which we enjoyed. There was also ice skating but the rink was covered in snow that week!
We did lessons with ESI who were good, though they had to bunch up groups a little bit and we both found ourselves at the top end of the group, waiting for other people. The ratio was about 1:9.
Some of the best off piste!
Reviewed 20 Apr 2016
Flaine is a big resort with a massive ski area and something for everyone. It’s quiet so not the best place if you’re planning on going out and getting leathered but there are a couple of decent bars if you want a drink.
There was a big dump when we arrived and we spent the week on 4 feet of powder, right up to the top of our legs. Even though it was late March it was some of the best off piste I’ve ever been on! You can also speedride here which we did all week and was really fun.
Great family resort
Reviewed 20 Apr 2016
Snow was a bit touch and go over Christmas but we had lots here in January – it was almost too good to be true. Flaine is a really family friendly resort, the private lessons we had were good and you’re only a short transfer from Geneva which makes a difference. Have skied here on 2/3 occasions and would recommend to other families.
Flaine April 15
Reviewed 22 Jun 2015
Flaine is a great resort for families and we had a fantastic week of amazing April sunshine!
The kids had skied once before so we booked them into ski school, after the first day they moved the little one down a class which ended up being a good thing because it meant both children got the relevant tuition they needed. Their instructors’ English was good enough as well, so they could understand everything and the kids were chuffed to get their badges at the end.
For us, the runs were a lot harder than we anticipated. We can ski blacks but ended up staying away from them as the reds were quite difficult – even some of the blues were trickier than we expected. There’s still a good variety and though it’s good for those who are more experienced, there are still some good runs for beginners. The access to all of them is so easy, we didn’t have to jump on any buses.
Flaine’s a nice little town – it’s great for kids because it’s such a short distance from Geneva airport (though we did have to wait at the airport while another flight came in).
Great for families and self-drive
Reviewed 16 Jun 2015
Having skied the 3 Valleys I wasn’t as keen on Flaine but I think places like the 3 Valleys spoil you! Having to get on gondolas the whole time isn’t ideal with children and on the whole lifts aren’t very fast or easy to get on – the lift passes cost just as much as the 3 valleys anyway so I’d rather go somewhere like that where the process is a lot smoother.
If we’d gone last year, which was our son’s first ski holiday, it would have been limited, but with him being able to do more runs this year it was fine.
What Flaine is great for is families, the ski bus is convenient and there’s a lot of other stuff for children to do. The Ski School (we used ESI) is good and easy to find with good class sizes. It’s not too horrendously expensive either.
Why we chose to ski here is that it’s a good one to drive to, very easy to find straight off the motorway with an easy mountain road.
Try the sledding & torchlit skiing
Reviewed 6 May 2015
We had a good week (could have done with more snow but you can’t control that!). It’s a nice wide ski area – more intermediate to advanced around Flaine with more runs for beginners over towards Les Carroz. We had a go at some après ski sledding which was pretty fun and some other people in our chalet did torchlight skiing which they said was amazing.
Fantastic for families
Reviewed 29 Apr 2015
I had a lovely first ski holiday in Flaine and I would definitely go back to the same place again. We couldn’t have asked for better weather really, it snowed a lot on the Sunday so they closed a lot of the lifts in the afternoon but the rest of the week was lovely.
I broke my elbow on the third day but the ESF instructor was really good and took me straight to the medical centre, where the staff were fantastic. It was only 2 hours from the time I fell to the time I got back to my apartment, and they’d had me x-rayed, plastered up and with medication from the pharmacy in this time.
Our experience of ESF was amazing and the instructors were absolutely fantastic. My youngest daughter is 6, she had lessons all week and by Friday she was up the gondola and skiing all the way down which was brilliant.
After my accident, I’d spend the mornings going for a walk and then meet up with everyone else at lunch – there are plenty of good places to eat and everywhere was really welcoming to the children.
There was a lot on for children like an outside pancake and hot chocolate evening, with mulled wine for adults – I’d definitely recommend the resort to other families.
Fabulous weather, would ski here again
Reviewed 7 Apr 2015
We had fabulous weather, it snowed on the first and last day and between that we had sunshine. The resort itself is quite ugly but we were expecting that anyway. It’s not buzzing, and I wouldn’t recommend it to a group of 25 year olds, but we’d go back. The skiing is pretty good, we went down to the lower resorts of Samoens and Les Carroz (although the lifts are a little slower over there). There are loads of mountain restaurants which we thought was great.
Good family resort
Reviewed 31 Mar 2015
We’ve been to Flaine a couple of times and have already booked to return again, the reason being that it’s a short transfer to the airport and the area is pretty family orientated. The skiing’s good for all abilities and there was a dump before we arrived, so we timed it perfectly! Both children used ski school and the instructors were good, no problems there. Overall very happy with our week here.
Good value beginner skiing
Reviewed 25 Mar 2015
Flaine isn’t the best resort in the world (it doesn’t come close to Meribel or Tignes) but we went for beginners and it was perfect for that. The only thing was that the snow wasn’t great so not all the lifts were open when we were here. The ski school was very good with the older kids (9 & 10 y/o) who loved it, but not so much with the younger two (3 & 4 y/o), they weren’t very sympathetic and we ended up taking the girls out of lessons. I think we’d book one on one lessons for the little ones next time. One tip would be to check the timetable of the big gondola that takes you to the top, they were doing maintenance while we were here and if we’d known when it was running, we would have been able to pick the right days to use it!
Overall, it was the perfect resort for our needs, great for beginners and cheaper than other resorts – good value and at the end of the day, you get what you pay for.
Flaine - TJ
Reviewed 29 Oct 2014
I have been to Flaine on three occasions. There are loads of lifts up the mountain so mornings and evenings aren't too busy. It's pretty high up and hence I have never had any issues with a lack of snow even in late April. Overall a very good resort with a good choice of runs.
Loads of great runs!
Reviewed 4 Sep 2014
We go to Flaine every year because it’s snow-sure and not too busy; you never really have to wait long for a lift and there are always loads of runs open. Even really late in the season the skiing is pretty good – especially higher on the mountain. Get the Grand Platieres bubble all the way to the top and cruise down Serpentine, a long, easy blue. At the bottom it splits up – stay to the right where there are massive, rolling dunes and a rapid, narrow path and their base. The top’s pretty slow, so we usually miss it out and come down Lucifer – which is a lot quicker – before re-joining. All the reds on this part of the mountain are good fun, with plenty of variety; although the last section of one of them (I think Faust) can get pretty icy and difficult. The Diamont Noir is the run we usually steer clear off – it’s an impossibly steep and icy black that just terrifying – really good skiers will love it though. One of the best things about Flaine is the size of the Grand Massif ski area; it’s great for a day out to other resorts. We’ll often head up the Grands Vans and take runs like Marvel and Marmottes to get to one of the other villages for lunch; Morillon’s great for that and so are Samoens and Les Carroz. Then you can stay and have a go at more runs in the area or mosey on home however you like. Tourmaline’s our favourite run at the end of the day; it twists around under the Grands Vans, starting out really wide and spotted with moguls, before contracting and widening again loads. If you time it when the sun starts to get low, then it’ll glisten beautifully off the massive slope on your right – it’s fantastic. The town itself is pretty quiet – just how we like it! There are a couple of bars though; the aptly named ‘Flying Dutchman’ (because it’s rammed with plastered young Dutch people) is a good laugh, or there’s Perdrix Noir (above the bowling alley) where you can pick up a quiet pint. We pop down the funicular from Flaine-Foret to a place called Chez Danielle (next to the little ice rink) for a meal every time we go. They do the best traditional Alpine food – the tartiflette is amazing! I’ve never had a bad meal in Flaine – all the restaurants have got great pizza and pasta options.
Not best for non skiers, brilliant if you do ski
Reviewed 30 May 2014
It was our family’s first experience of Flaine and we had an excellent week. Everyone who was skiing thoroughly enjoyed themselves, there was more than enough for them all to explore. I go as a babysitter for one of the children, there's less to do here as a non skier during the day than you get in other places. Usually you can get the bus to visit other resorts but that isn’t much of an option here.
good intermediate+ skiing but not great for snowboarding
Reviewed 20 May 2014
Unfortunately I don’t think I would go back, the area isn’t that great for snowboarders as there are a lot of flats and half of our group were boarding. The rest who were skiers were absolutely fine and I’d definitely recommend it for intermediate skiers. We went out most nights and there was just about enough for the week including a few hotspots that were OK. If you are going here, I recommend you explore, get out of the Flaine bowl with the area pass – there are some really nice runs that go towards the resort lower down including a nice forest one.
Huge amount to ski
Reviewed 19 May 2014
We’ve been to Flaine before and like it because our two young girls are learning to ski and there are an awful lot of blue and red runs. The ski instructor they have (Catherine Pouppeville) is great and we’ve already booked her for next year. Snow over Christmas was really good.
Great ski resort, really interesting history
Reviewed 16 May 2014
There wasn’t a lot of snow when we went so there were quite a few runs that weren’t open, I don’t ski but my son did -he still skied all week and had a good time.
Flaine is a great resort, I didn’t know anything about it before the holiday but it’s not just a resort, it’s really interesting in terms of why it’s there and how it’s there. I would definitely recommend someone who hadn’t been before to do the historical tour through the museum as I really enjoyed it.
Lovely, pretty resort
Reviewed 16 May 2014
We have some friends who own an apartment out there who we visited for a few days over New Years. It’s a lovely resort and really pretty. We all had a bit of a scare on the drive there as there was an unusual snowstorm which added an extra 3 hours onto our 9 hour drive and was quite stressful. I skied one morning but I’m not really a skier, it was nice to explore the area and I used the new hotel spa complex which was lovely. We went out for a meal on New Year’s Eve to a really nice restaurant and the kids went out for a boozy evening, overall we had a good few days.
Very good skiing. Apparently better than the Rockies according to our American friends!
Reviewed 16 May 2014
I researched high resorts before booking because I was a little worried about the snow conditions this year. Flaine worked very well for us, the snow on the higher levels was good, even though we had noticed that some of the lower resorts in the valley had no snow at all when we came from the airport. It also snowed about 12 inches while we were there.
The skiing was very good. It was varied which was what we needed. We are more experienced skiers but my daughter was learning, and she found there were sufficient runs to get started. She had a few lessons and then progressed very quickly. Towards the end of the week she even tried some red and black runs. She has caught the ski bug now after going to Flaine, and later in the year she went on another ski holiday to Tignes. There were some very picturesque runs down through the woods in the Flaine ski area, and you could ski over to other resorts so the area is quite large. There were a few difficult drag lifts where the terrain was rough and heavy, I actually got lifted up off the ground by the T-bar! These lifts were not ideal for beginners because if you fell off the only way down was through the trees and onto a black run. But the resort is a good place to learn.
We met a group of Americans while we were there who were adamant that the ski area in Flaine is better than the Rockies!
In the town of Flaine there was everything we needed: shops, restaurants and so on. We liked it, we would definitely go back.
Good group skiing
Reviewed 16 May 2014
We picked Flaine because it looked like a good big resort and we liked it. We were skiing as a group of different levels and it was fine for everyone, there wasn’t much hard stuff on piste but there was a bit of off-piste. The weather was quite warm which was unusual considering we were here at the start of January. We went out one night, the village is nice with quite a lot of things to do.
Short transfers and good variety of slopes not so pretty
Reviewed 24 Apr 2014
The weather wasn’t brilliant this time round, we’d been the year before and it was really sunny but this time we had quite a lot of snowfall during the day and it was quite windy which was hard work when you went out to ski!
The access to the slopes gives quite a lot of variety from a central location. In theory there’s guaranteed snow because we had quite a lot of strong winds this made it a bit unpleasant. The ski area is intermediate but there are also areas for advanced skiers. As a beginner, I think it would have been quite tricky to find a number of slopes you’d like as the beginner runs they do have were always busy and quite chopped up.
The transfer times are good, about an hour and 20-30 minutes. I wouldn’t go here for scenery, it’s quite full of concrete block apartments and so on.
Five out of five
Reviewed 24 Apr 2014
Flaine is very good and the ski school were great (we had the blue people instead of the red people).
The only thing was that it’s slightly difficult to get back to the Flaine bowl in time for the ski school pick up as there’s only one lift that comes all the way back.
Overall we'd really recommend it.
A really great resort
Reviewed 18 Mar 2014
This is a really good resort, it has guaranteed snow - you can never not have snow in Flaine. Flaine is great for all sorts of skier; there are blacks around for advanced skiers and lots for families. The ski schools are really good from what I saw of them.
There isn’t a great deal of nightlife so it probably wouldn’t suit a 22 year old snowboarder who wants to party all night, but there is lots around for families.
We did snow shoeing one evening that was organised by the resort reps which was great. The rep met us in the evening in a restaurant on the bottom of the slopes, where the guide then met us, gave us the snowshoes and took us up in a minibus to the middle of nowhere. Doing it at night was amazing; we snowshoed high up under the full moon on deep virgin snow. Then the bus took us back to the resort where we had a fondue in a restaurant, a fantastic evening and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone staying there!
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