Where should we go for a weekend break?
 

I'm going to be in Lausanne for business for 10 days ending on a
Thursday evening. Obviously my boss wouldn't send me to Switzerland in
winter if he didn't intend that this should be followed by skiing, so
my other half will join me on Thursday night.

Where should we go, leaving Lausanne (earlyish) Friday morning,
returning from Geneva/Zurich/anywhere else Monday evening? We would
prefer to travel by train, but are prepared to drive.

We ski reasonably competently on piste, mainly on reds & blacks, and
incompetently off piste.

Verbier looks obvious, but we've been there a few times and would like
to try somewhere new.

On 21 Jan 2005 03:25:38 -0800, wrote:

I'm going to be in Lausanne for business for 10 days ending on a
Thursday evening. Obviously my boss wouldn't send me to Switzerland in
winter if he didn't intend that this should be followed by skiing, so
my other half will join me on Thursday night.

Where should we go, leaving Lausanne (earlyish) Friday morning,
returning from Geneva/Zurich/anywhere else Monday evening? We would
prefer to travel by train, but are prepared to drive.

The closest Swiss resorts would be the Gstaad/Diablerets area, but
these are not particuarly convenient to get to, and particularly not
to get around if you don't have a car.

Verbier is probably easier to get to by rail (look at www.sbb.ch for
train times) and offers just about anything you could wish for; then
there's the French resorts of Portes du Soleil, Grand Massif (Flaine,
Samoens et al.) and Chamonix within about an hour and a half by car.

We ski reasonably competently on piste, mainly on reds & blacks, and
incompetently off piste.

Verbier looks obvious, but we've been there a few times and would like
to try somewhere new.

Well any of the French ones I mention would be suitable, although you
may be better off not going to Chamonix 'proper', but there are
several resorts (les Houches, St. Gervais, le Contamines, St. Nicolas
etc. etc.) at the near end of the valley which also have some good
skiing for a day or two.

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.

Ace wrote:
On 21 Jan 2005 03:25:38 -0800, wrote:

I'm going to be in Lausanne for business for 10 days ending on a
Thursday evening. Obviously my boss wouldn't send me to Switzerland
in
winter if he didn't intend that this should be followed by skiing,
so
my other half will join me on Thursday night.

Where should we go, leaving Lausanne (earlyish) Friday morning,
returning from Geneva/Zurich/anywhere else Monday evening? We would
prefer to travel by train, but are prepared to drive.

The closest Swiss resorts would be the Gstaad/Diablerets area, but
these are not particuarly convenient to get to, and particularly not
to get around if you don't have a car.

Verbier is probably easier to get to by rail (look at www.sbb.ch for
train times) and offers just about anything you could wish for; then
there's the French resorts of Portes du Soleil, Grand Massif (Flaine,
Samoens et al.) and Chamonix within about an hour and a half by car.

We ski reasonably competently on piste, mainly on reds & blacks, and
incompetently off piste.

Verbier looks obvious, but we've been there a few times and would
like
to try somewhere new.

Well any of the French ones I mention would be suitable, although you
may be better off not going to Chamonix 'proper', but there are
several resorts (les Houches, St. Gervais, le Contamines, St. Nicolas
etc. etc.) at the near end of the valley which also have some good
skiing for a day or two.


Thanks for the advice. Champery looked attractive (and an easy train
journey) but there seems to be no room in any hotels there.

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of
the Ski Club.

On 21 Jan 2005 05:14:26 -0800, wrote:


Ace wrote:
snip

Thanks for the advice. Champery looked attractive (and an easy train
journey) but there seems to be no room in any hotels there.

I hadn't realised you could get their easily by train. It would be a
good choice, giving access to the whole of the PdS area. I'd be _very_
surprised if it were actually full - have you tried ringing the
tourist office?

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of the Ski Club.

Felly sgrifennodd Ace :
The closest Swiss resorts would be the Gstaad/Diablerets area, but
these are not particuarly convenient to get to, and particularly not
to get around if you don't have a car.

Doesn't the Motreux-Oberland-Bahn (MOB) serve this area well?

You could also consider the Jungfrau region (train via Bern - Interlaken).

Adrian
--
Adrian Shaw ais@
Adran Cyfrifiadureg, Prifysgol Cymru, aber.
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Cymru ac.
http://users.aber.ac.uk/ais uk

There are some nice little hotels in Vallorcine too, and with the new lift
it links you up to Le Tour. A lot of people may not have discovered this yet
so it may not be too busy. My brothers off there in a couple of weeks so
I'll soon find out. I would have joined him, but had already booked into
Chamonix town as I didn't think of it first!

wrote in message
oups.com...

Ace wrote:
On 21 Jan 2005 03:25:38 -0800, wrote:

I'm going to be in Lausanne for business for 10 days ending on a
Thursday evening. Obviously my boss wouldn't send me to Switzerland
in
winter if he didn't intend that this should be followed by skiing,
so
my other half will join me on Thursday night.

Where should we go, leaving Lausanne (earlyish) Friday morning,
returning from Geneva/Zurich/anywhere else Monday evening? We would
prefer to travel by train, but are prepared to drive.

The closest Swiss resorts would be the Gstaad/Diablerets area, but
these are not particuarly convenient to get to, and particularly not
to get around if you don't have a car.

Verbier is probably easier to get to by rail (look at www.sbb.ch for
train times) and offers just about anything you could wish for; then
there's the French resorts of Portes du Soleil, Grand Massif (Flaine,
Samoens et al.) and Chamonix within about an hour and a half by car.

We ski reasonably competently on piste, mainly on reds & blacks, and
incompetently off piste.

Verbier looks obvious, but we've been there a few times and would
like
to try somewhere new.

Well any of the French ones I mention would be suitable, although you
may be better off not going to Chamonix 'proper', but there are
several resorts (les Houches, St. Gervais, le Contamines, St. Nicolas
etc. etc.) at the near end of the valley which also have some good
skiing for a day or two.


Thanks for the advice. Champery looked attractive (and an easy train
journey) but there seems to be no room in any hotels there.

--
Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
Ski Club of Great Britain - http://www.skiclub.co.uk
All opinions expressed are personal and in no way represent those of
the Ski Club.

Ace wrote:
On 21 Jan 2005 03:25:38 -0800, wrote:


I'm going to be in Lausanne for business for 10 days ending on a
Thursday evening. Obviously my boss wouldn't send me to Switzerland in
winter if he didn't intend that this should be followed by skiing, so
my other half will join me on Thursday night.

Where should we go, leaving Lausanne (earlyish) Friday morning,
returning from Geneva/Zurich/anywhere else Monday evening? We would
prefer to travel by train, but are prepared to drive.


The closest Swiss resorts would be the Gstaad/Diablerets area, but
these are not particuarly convenient to get to, and particularly not
to get around if you don't have a car.

Not the closest either :-) That's Leysin for anywhere of any size, next
stations in PdS (the Swiss side obviously). Loads and loads of stuff in
a car, Verbier, Crans etc etc.There's a couple of closer places but
they're pretty small.


Verbier is probably easier to get to by rail (look at www.sbb.ch for
train times) and offers just about anything you could wish for; then
there's the French resorts of Portes du Soleil, Grand Massif (Flaine,
Samoens et al.) and Chamonix within about an hour and a half by car.


Be a strange choice from Lausanne though.


We ski reasonably competently on piste, mainly on reds & blacks, and
incompetently off piste.

Verbier looks obvious, but we've been there a few times and would like
to try somewhere new.


Well any of the French ones I mention would be suitable, although you
may be better off not going to Chamonix 'proper', but there are
several resorts (les Houches, St. Gervais, le Contamines, St. Nicolas
etc. etc.) at the near end of the valley which also have some good
skiing for a day or two.

Ian Spare wrote:

Ace wrote:

On 21 Jan 2005 03:25:38 -0800, wrote:


I'm going to be in Lausanne for business for 10 days ending on a
Thursday evening. Obviously my boss wouldn't send me to Switzerland in
winter if he didn't intend that this should be followed by skiing, so
my other half will join me on Thursday night.

Where should we go, leaving Lausanne (earlyish) Friday morning,
returning from Geneva/Zurich/anywhere else Monday evening? We would
prefer to travel by train, but are prepared to drive.



The closest Swiss resorts would be the Gstaad/Diablerets area, but
these are not particuarly convenient to get to, and particularly not
to get around if you don't have a car.


Not the closest either :-) That's Leysin for anywhere of any size, next
stations in PdS (the Swiss side obviously). Loads and loads of stuff in
a car, Verbier, Crans etc etc.There's a couple of closer places but
they're pretty small.


Yes, for smaller resorts the nearest is Rochers de Naye (aka "Les
Pleiades"). Rochers is very small but I hear also quiet and underused -
and has easy access by train from Lausanne.

Villars is a bit larger, and also has links up to Diablerets.

There's a nice collection of links here (most of the links are in
French): http://www.leleman.com/english/paget...stationski.htm

In the Jura stations (St Cergue / La Dole and Lelex / Crozet) you ski
right up to the peaks - Crozet is great for views of the Alps but in my
experience there's either not enough snow, or the snow's great but high
winds close the lifts. Having said which, there are some wonderful
cross-country tracks, especially the Lac de Joux, if you fancy something
a bit different.

Verbier is probably easier to get to by rail (look at www.sbb.ch for
train times) and offers just about anything you could wish for; then
there's the French resorts of Portes du Soleil, Grand Massif (Flaine,
Samoens et al.) and Chamonix within about an hour and a half by car.


Be a strange choice from Lausanne though.

Especially for a day or two - it's more worth the journey for a week.

We ski reasonably competently on piste, mainly on reds & blacks, and
incompetently off piste.

Verbier looks obvious, but we've been there a few times and would like
to try somewhere new.

Sarah Eggleston wrote:


Yes, for smaller resorts the nearest is Rochers de Naye (aka "Les
Pleiades"). Rochers is very small but I hear also quiet and underused -
and has easy access by train from Lausanne.

Les Pleiades is probably the closest station to Lausanne as well.
Rochers is tiny though, it's got about 7km of runs IIRC and half a dozen
runs. There's Les Paccots as well, about 20km of runs, I've hiked
round there in the summer but not actually skied there (note to self, go
there while there's some snow) and it actually looks pretty nice.


Villars is a bit larger, and also has links up to Diablerets.

There's a nice collection of links here (most of the links are in
French): http://www.leleman.com/english/paget...stationski.htm

Also
http://wispo.stnet.ch/requests/MySwi...=en&vhost=chdt