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PeterE587
Excellent little resort with a good variety of runs especially those linking Clavier. For this that like touring then links into the Milky Way provide extended opportunity. Only a couple of average mountain restaurants on the Montgenevre slopes though more when you venture into Italy. Nice little market in Montgenevre selling meats, cheeses, etc but beware pickpockets. Interestingly my wife had her purse stolen here and at the lost property there were numerous purses, all that were empty of cash and cards! Just be careful in what is otherwise a delightful ski village.
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SwishyMichy
We found Montgenevre to be a good sized resort for intermediates for a week's skiing. There are a good variety of runs and plenty of lifts although some are incredibly slow. L'observatoire in particular - it's quicker to take the Querelay drag lift next to it! Les Gondrans is a high speed chair as is Serre Thibaud. We did seem to spend far too long on lifts instead of skiing! It's worth getting the Rocher De'Laigle over to Claviere (another slow lift but dramatic views so worth it). Claviere is small in comparison to Montgenevre but there are some good wide red runs are to be had there. Just watch the red run no 99 getting back it's very steep towards the end - it's more like a black in our opinion. The resort itself is charming enough with a few shops and cafes and is aimed at families rather than the clubbing crowd.
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JimboD66
Relatively easy skiing, best suited to an intermediate improver. Nothing really steep. It's a high resort, so the snow should be good. Some lifts are a little old/slow, but have the capacity, as the queues are quite short. Some off piste opportunities, but you don't see many real expert skiiers in this resort.
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spena
It appears to be France's best kept secret. Never heard of it until this year when a cheap deal popped up. Great skiing for intermediates with easy access to Italy. Very quiet resort after 6 pm with little après after 6.It looks and feels like an alpine resort with little concrete to be seen.
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i_buckley
Skied in Montgenevre over February half term & had a great time. There were loads of long scenic greens, blues and reds. We particularly enjoyed the challenging red runs over to Italy. Even though it was half term (both UK & France) the only lift queue was at the main lift at ski school start time (10mins), otherwise you skied straight on to lifts. We had 4 days of glorious sunshine but due to a big dump of snow before we arrived and the grooming of the slopes conditions were perfect.
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MRW7026
Runs too easy for me but then been spoilt by Espace Killy. The reds here are like blues in Tignes and the blacks more like difficult reds. BUT, its a lovely place and plenty of skiing to be had. You can flip over to Claviere and away days are to Sestriere and Serre Chavallier. Would I go back? Yes as its very good value for money
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Ali24
This is a super resort for skiing of all ability. The slopes are varied and mixed and wide and not crowded! There is easy access all over and the views are just beautiful. Lots to do, lots of places to toboggan once the lifts are closed, including the Luge. Many varied restaurants, not many bars and quite quiet at night, but overall a lovely resort! Restaurants need to be booked in high season!
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letter1
After a good experience in Montgenevre last year our family returned for a second stay over the new year 2014-2015.Christmas 2014 was bare for snow in the alps and the snow arrived on the Saturday before new year when we arrived in the resort.We were delighted.My main criticism is not of the resort or the snow but of the management and commmunication.This is one of the busiest weeks of the year and despite large queues of 200+ people the main Chalmette lift did not open until 9.15.The Tremplin lift did not open for three days after the snowfall. In Austria by contrast on a recent visit the lifts opened at 8am. This could easily be remedied. Shockingly the entire Serre Thibauld side of the mountain and the link to Italy remained closed for the week. The resort as a result was reduced for the week to 40km of piste.When I asked at the main office I was told it was for securite reasons. When I asked to speak to senior management for an explanation I was dismissed by he staff member.On the third day we decided to visit the Serre Chevalier for a day which is included on the ski pass. When I went to validate my skipass for this I was told this offer was off.No explanation. No website information to this effect.Lovely village. Nice people. Good ski school. Great location.However very poor information, no communication, no explanation. Thats fine. Next year we will ski elsewhere.
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ChrisW929
Montgenevre is at one end of the Via Lattea (milky way). It is possible to ski from one end to the other on the lift pass we had, but only in one day. The pass covered all of Montgenevre and most of Claviere (the next village along the Via Lattea) but once you'd gone beyond the borders of Claviere the clock was ticking...To get to Sestriere, Sansicario and Sauze-D'Oulx and back in the one day would be tricky and the lift pass for these three resorts expired at the end of the day you first used one if their lifts (but continued to work in Montgenevre and Claviere for the whole six days.)Montgenevre had enough to keep us occupied, particularly with our trip over to Claviere. We did most of the runs available a number of times, but found that towards the end of the day (and occasionally at the start of the day) the pistes were pretty rutted and lumpy.The "Le Chalvet" side of the resort got the sun in the morning and the opposite side had the sun in the afternoon. We often skied the Le Chalvet side in the mornings as the other side was still a bit icy and the slope definition wasn't as good in the flat light, whereas we'd ski the other side in the afternoons as the Le Chalvet side could get a bit slushy in the afternoon.Claviere was great too. The resort is smaller than Montgenevre and therefore a bit quieter. We did find that a lot of pole-pushing was needed on the main blue run from Montgenevre to Claviere and that at the end of the red run back to Montgenevre was busy and tricky on tired legs.On the whole lift queues were not especially busy, queue times of less than 3 minutes were the norm and often you could ski straight on to the lift.The main gripe was the transfer from Grenoble to Montgenevre. The day we arrived it was snowing heavily and the road through the Alps was covered in snow. What should have been a three hour transfer turned into a six hour one and apparently we were lucky because it had been known for the road to be shut and the diversion adds another six hours to the journey!
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Sarah00056
We have just returned from Montgenevre where we stayed in the Hameau des Airelles apartments in the Obelisque end of the village. The village itself was pleasant and had a good range of cafes and restaurants, a couple of gift shops and lots of ski hire/wear shops. A nice older section near the church. The skiing is based on two sides of the valley. The Hameau des Airelles is right at the end of the village but is very handy for the slopes- from the door of our building it was about 20 m to the point where you could ski down to take the Serre Thibaud chair up to the Chalvet ski area or the Tremplin lift to the other side of the valley. There was also an excellent small supermarket right beside the apartments (Coccimarket) and Skiset ski hire beside it. We found as a family of intermediates that the range of skiing was very good. The runs over into Claviere through the trees were favourites (an easy black Los Rhodos) and the long blue Pharo run down from the Serre Thibaud lift past the Chalvet chair back to the apartments was great. We had good snow - it had snowed the day before we arrived and the piste grooming ensured they remained good right through a week of sun and freeze-thaw temperatures. We took advantage of being able to ski into the Vialattea wider area for one day and skied across to Sangalonga and Sansicario; we could have gone on down to Sestriere but enjoyed the skiing above Sansicario. All possible on blues if you don't fancy reds/blacks. With the Monte de Lune ski pass this was a free add-on (you don't need to get a separate voucher for this as their ski pass machines are synched with Montegenevre/Claviere). We also took the opportunity for a day in Serre Chevalier which Crystal organised as a day trip which was 25 euro for the bus and day pass- excellent value and we managed to get round quite a bit of the skiing in that resort too. Otherwise 6 days just in Montgenevre might have been slightly restrictive.Food and drink: prices were average, mountain restaurants not too bad either- liked the Bergerie at the Chalvet chair, the one above Sansicario (Soleil Boeuf? Great hot chocolate) and in Serre Chevalier, a tiny one with great views on the Briancon sector near the Serre Blanc lift, and Le Bivouac at the top of the Casse Boeuf lift. In Montgenevre we struggled to find a restaurant to book for Sat night (get in early!) but went for lunch twice at Le Graal and thought their food was excellent for adults and kids.
