The Inside Track: A multi-family ski holiday in La Toussuire

Alison talks about taking her multi-family group to La Toussuire, part of the relatively unknown Les Sybelles ski area (310km) in the French Alps. Discover what they enjoyed in the ski area, all about the accommodation and what the resort is like. 

Getting to La Toussuire

Almost all of our group drove to resort, with most taking the Eurotunnel. The great thing about taking the tunnel is the flexibility offered in terms of how you manage the drive down. For example, in our group, there are a couple of different ways that we do the journey. 

Some prefer leaving Thursday evening and stay in Folkestone before getting the Eurotunnel early Friday morning, then stopping the night in Chambery, which means they can get to resort early on Saturday. 

Others who aren’t able to get away until Friday evening, drive to Folkestone to catch a Eurotunnel around 8pm, then head to Reims for an overnight stop. This means a longer drive on Saturday but still means getting to resort for check-in time around 5pm. 

Taking advantage of Eurotunnel’s premium FlexiPlus service is well worth it. It means you can turn up and board the next available shuttle on the day you have booked to travel so there’s no stressing about making a set departure time. Even better, you can pop into the FlexiPlus lounge to pick up snacks and hot drinks before boarding.

My children love the choice on offer; from wraps and sandwiches to noodle pots, macaroons and more. We find this snack stop saves time as you can pick up a light tea to enjoy en route, which is great if you’ve rushed off straight after school! 

Driving also means you can pick up shopping down in the valley before getting to resort. We try to make a list on the way down, as I find it easy to get distracted in a French supermarket! For La Toussuire, we stopped down the valley in St Jean de Maurienne at the Carrefour Market, but there is also an Intermarché and Auchan in the town so plenty of choice. 

This trip, we also had some extended family of one of our party coming over from the States. They flew to London then took the Eurostar to Paris, and the TGV (high-speed French train) down to St Jean de Maurienne, which is just down the mountain from La Toussuire.

It was easy for someone to go and pick them up from here (alternatively Peak Retreats could have organised a private taxi transfer), and the short transfer from a train station was another reason why La Toussuire worked well for our group. 

Checking-in, ski equipment and our La Toussuire accommodation

The drive down to La Toussuire felt smooth. It might be a little further than some other options, but the drive is easy and we arrived earlier than we thought we would. As we pulled up to the residence, we could see our friends had also arrived and some of them had already been out on the slopes to get their ski legs back. 

Having checked in, our priority was picking up lift passes and ski equipment. The ski hire shop was well located close to the snow front. There was an option to hire a ski locker at the shop, rather than take your skis back to the residence each day. This was a bonus as although you could ski back to close to l’Alpaga (subject to snow conditions), if you ended your ski day on the snow front, it was an uphill walk (or quick shuttle bus ride) back to the residence.

The ski hire shop staff were attentive, even though it was a busy period and the shop was pretty full. Later in the week, I needed an adjustment to my boots, and nothing was too much trouble. 

Lift passes were easily retrieved from the lift pass office, where we also picked up piste maps for everyone. Having worked out where we had to meet for ski school the next day, and picked up the weekly entertainment programme to see what the Tourist Office were organising, we were set for skiing and headed back to our apartment for dinner. 

A little more about our La Toussuire accommodation

We loved our apartment at l’Alpaga. The property is one of the newer ones in the resort and our apartment was comfortable and spacious; one of the nicest I’ve stayed in. A large entrance hall, with a handy cupboard for coats and boots, meant that we could keep the rest of the apartment feeling relatively tidy.

The sliding doors leading on to the balcony let in plenty of light and the views over the resort and surrounding mountains were beautiful. A well-equipped kitchen area meant that self-catering was a breeze. 

The wellness area at l’Alpaga was also impressive. The pool was a good size and had stylish hanging basket seating and loungers around it. There was also a separate children's pool which was great for the little ones. A sauna with a soothing backlit salt wall was my favourite space.

The team on reception were brilliant and happy to help with any queries. We wanted to arrange a meal out for our whole group and they were able to give some suggestions of restaurants that might accommodate us.

One of our party had an issue with their van just before their drive home and the receptionists went out of their way to help contact garages, look at car hire options etc. 

As with all Peak Retreats Directors’ Choice properties, there was a bread delivery service, which meant you could order croissants and baguettes each day before 6pm and they were delivered the following morning in time for breakfast. 

The communal lounge area was cosy and a pool table was a nice plus. Some of our party arranged a games night and there was a shared space to gather for that too. 

The Skiing in La Toussuire

I liked the fact that the ski area had a lot of shorter runs immediately above the resort, this was a great spot for warming up, or if it was windy/snowing, and from the top of these runs you had a bird’s eye view of the whole resort.  They weren’t all greens and blues either (although a fair smattering of these makes it good resort for those starting out).

There are reds off the Tête de Bellard lift and Ravières, as well as the Grande Verdette red off the lift of the same name. For those who like to stick to blues, you can get pretty much all around the ski area on blues (there are 59 blue slopes).

Higher up, the l’Ouillon area (at 2431m) had a fun snow park and a boardercross that was popular with my children. It was on the way ‘home’ so we often spent a bit of time there before heading back to resort. Also good were the little wooden pods where you could enjoy a picnic overlooking an amazing array of peaks. 

From the 3 Lacs chair (2620m) you could take on Vallons, a deceptive blue that offered a challenge, particularly in the afternoon after it had been well-skied in the morning! Some of my favourite cruisy runs were in this part of the ski area, including Blanchons, Myrtilles and Panoramique, which as you’d imagine, had superb views.

There was a choice of black runs to keep the expert skiers in our group happy, but they also loved the reds off the back of the 3 Lacs lift. 

The food

Whilst we often all eat in our apartments or go out in smaller groups, we always try to organise a meal out for our whole group during our week. In La Toussuire, we found a restaurant happy to host 45 for dinner just opposite the tourist office.

Book your La Toussuire ski holiday

Are you ready to book your La Toussuire ski holiday or would you like to pick our brains? Peak Retreats are French Alps experts and we have a small friendly team on hand to help with any questions you may have. Give us a call on 023 9283 9310 or email reservations@peakretreats.co.uk.