La Rosière is the only resort in the Savoie to boast an international ski area, due to its liaison with the La Thuile in Italy. This friendly resort is a great choice for beginners and families due to its terrain and well-designed village base. Our loyal client and her family headed to La Rosière for Easter 2022, read all about it below!
We chose to return to Hotel Alparena in La Rosière for our Easter ski holiday having enjoyed an excellent Christmas stay there back in 2019 with an epic snowfall during the week. This time we looked forward to skiing over to Italy in warmer spring conditions. Although as we stopped in Bourg St Maurice for self-catering supplies for our April ski holiday, the weather seemed decidedly wintry. Once again, we found ourselves driving up to La Rosière in a blizzard and thankful for winter tyres as we counted down the hair pin bends.
On arrival at Hotel Alparena the friendly receptionist found us a trolley and helped transport our luggage to the fourth-floor apartment and ski locker. The one-bed alcove apartments have a spacious carpeted master bedroom with an ensuite jacuzzi bath, a state-of-the-art kitchen and a cosy living area with a log burner. The children slept on sturdy bunks in an alcove off the living room and had their own shower room. We loved the panoramic view of the Tarentaise valley from the balcony and on clear nights we were able to enjoy watching the lights of the snowploughs in several resorts. However, on the first night the snow fall continued as we unpacked our belongings and a few hours later we were able to relax in the outdoor hot tub under the snowy sky.
Waking up on the first morning of the holiday to sunshine and over half a metre of fresh snow, the whole family rushed to get ready for skiing at 9am and from Hotel Alparena one can ski from the ski room door to the Les Eucherts lift in a few turns. We then made our way over to Le Fort area and took the two new lifts up Mont Valaisan. It was a perfect morning to enjoy the breath-taking view from the highest point of the Espace San Bernardo at 2800 metres. Far below we could make out the draglifts carrying skiers over to Italy. After taking in the view the other way towards Les Arcs and La Plagne, we enjoyed skiing the fresh snow on the Mont Valaisan runs.
In the second week of April everything was open in La Rosière apart from the lowest two runs down to 1190 metres. Whilst most of the terrain on the French side is ideal for intermediate cruising, our teenagers were able to find a few more challenging runs such as the short unpisted black Chevreuil and they also enjoyed the snow park.
With the snowy conditions of our arrival replaced with wall-to-wall sunshine and mild temperatures, it was not long before we ventured over to La Thuile, where the slopes were so quiet that it was still possible to make fresh tracks on the soft corduroy at lunchtime. As we crossed the frontier to Italy at the top of the second drag lift, we enjoyed schussing most of the way down to the Chaz Dura Express chairlift. One of our favourite itineraries was to ski from the top of Chaz Dura to La Thuile village on the red Gran Testa and La Nouva runs, with the latter winding through a scenic forest in its lower section.
We also enjoyed the blue Terres Noires run and stopping for a drink at the café next to the Chalet Express lift. The children’s favourite mountain restaurant on the Italian side was the pizzeria on the Promenade piste. We also like Maison Carrel near the Argillen Express lift, which has a pleasant terrace and friendly waiter service. In the afternoons we often skied the runs off Mont Belvedere, above Le Col du Petit Saint Bernard, before heading back to La Rosière.
La Rosière has some excellent options for family orientated après ski including a small ice rink and bowling alley in Les Eucherts. However, this holiday we decided to try the resort mountain coaster (The X-Treme Luge) for the first time. The ride descends 700 metres through the forest at speeds of up to 45 miles an hour. Unsurprisingly our teenage daughter loved it but even her aging parents found themselves going back for multiple turns. Later in the week we enjoyed watching an ice hockey match and the local team, Les Tigres Blancs, has so many supporters you need to get there early for a good viewing spot.
We also made the most of the excellent leisure facilities at Hotel Alparena, which included a good size pool, steam rooms, saunas, jacuzzis, hot tubs and a spa.
An advantage of driving to La Rosière is that its proximity to several other resorts enables one to visit a different ski area on the final Saturday. After dropping our son at the railway station in Bourg St Maurice we parked at the foot of the funicular and spent the day in Les Arcs. Starting our day’s skiing at the summit of the Mont Blanc lift in Arc 1600, we were amazed to see some intrepid tightrope walkers high above the valley. We then headed over to Peisey Vallandry to ski the long tree lined red runs there before taking the Transarc lift to Col de la Chal. We stopped in Arc 2000 for lunch on the sunny terrace of Le Savoy restaurant where we enjoyed listening to music we hadn’t heard since the 1980s! Our daughter then discovered it was possible to ski all the way down to Villaroger at 1200m in mid-April, even if the piste was a narrow snowy ribbon by the end.
After a fantastic day’s skiing we drove to our en route hotel in Dijon. The next day was Easter Sunday and we enjoyed strolling round Reims in glorious sunshine before making our way home via the Eurotunnel LeShuttle.
If you're ready to book your next ski holiday or if you need some advice on where to stay, call us on 023 9283 9310 or request a quote and we will find you the perfect Alpine holiday! Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter to get all the latest news and deals.