France offers holidaymakers an eclectic mix of charming towns, modern metropolises and beautiful Atlantic coastal scenery, not to mention its snow-capped mountains, which provide some of Europe's best skiing. The mountainous regions known as the Alps and the Pyrenees are the most popular ski areas, with November to April constituting the main ski season; however, some resorts offer year-round ski facilities.
Offering one of the world's largest ski centres, Les Trois Vallées is situated around 100 miles from Geneva in the famous Savoie alpine region. The area comprises seven resorts in total: Brides-les-Bains, Courcheval, Les Menuires, Meribel, Orelle, La Tania and Val Thorens. Courcheval is the largest of these resorts and is renowned for its ski school, which is both large and capable of teaching a variety of disciplines in up to eight languages.
Chamonix is situated at the foot of Mont Blanc and besides being home to Europe's highest peak is renowned for being one of the Alps finest ski resorts. Previously the host of the first Winter Olympics, the Chamonix resort offers a total of 76 varying ski runs.
Les Deux Alpes in the centre of the Oisans is France's second-oldest ski resort. This charming ski centre offers world-class ski facilities, including Europe's largest skiable glacier. Après-ski options at Les Deux Alpes are plentiful and skiing is available throughout the year.
France's main air connections are via Paris, which offers both Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports, while alternative connections can be found at Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseilles, Nice, Strasbourg and Toulouse. Train connections operated by SCNF link the region with European cities including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Madrid, Milan and Munich. Meanwhile, road connections are well developed and highly dependable.
In order to avoid incurring unnecessary expenses in the event of snow related accidents or other unfortunate incidents, travellers are advised to take out holiday insurance before embarking on a ski trip to France.
