Samoëns

Samoëns, in Haute-Savoie in the French Alps, is a typical mountain village where you can enjoy a French lifestyle with quality accommodation, goods and services. For nature lovers, Samoëns offers more than 900 kms of hiking trails and 11 mountain huts. Rafting and paragliding will delight adrenalin junkies while those who prefer nature and heritage can discover the history of the stonecutters and the Jaÿsinia alpine botanic garden.

Samoëns and the Area

Samoëns in the Northern French Alps, sits between Morzine and Chamonix, just 1 hour from Geneva. This spectacular and beautiful area is protected and hence hasn't been spoilt by tourism. Samoëns has been awarded a "Coq d'Or" for being one of the prettiest villages in France and is the only ski resort classified by the Caisse des Monuments Historiques. Samoëns is full of character and charm with stonemasonary and farming at the heart, yet still provides the centre for almost every outdoor activity imaginable.

Based at the heart of the Grand Massif mountain region and nestled in the stunning valley of the Giffre river, Samoëns the area provide spectacular scenery including mountain lakes, national parks, waterfalls, botanical gardens and an abundance of wildlife. Just minutes up the road at Sixt Fer a Cheval are over a dozen enormous waterfalls. It has a great deal to offer families and individuals of all ages seeking adventure or alternatively, just sheer relaxation.

Samoëns is conveniently located in the Grand Massif, which is made up of some other beautiful villages, including Morillon just 5 minutes away, the fascinating village of Sixt and Les Carroz on the way to Flaine. Both Morillon and Samoëns hold weekly typical French markets for locals and tourists alike. Samoëns has a beautiful church, a few chocolatiers, health spas and beauty parlours, 3 banks and cash points, doctors, 6 sports hire shops, 2 chemists, about a dozen bars, over 40 shops, a cinema, an ice skating rink, creche, swimming pools in the summer, 3 fantastic bakeries, 3 supermarkets and everything else you would expect from well equipped mountain resorts are all here. The Tourist Office puts on various entertainments in the village square ranging from kids' events, to antique and crafts fairs throughout the year.

Ski area

Samoëns is in the heart of the Grand Massif, one of the largest ski areas in Europe. Made up of Flaine, Morillon, Les Carroz, Sixt and Samoens. It offers extensive skiing and snowboarding, with an excellent snow record which is one of the best in the Alps. The super fast gondola from Samoens village takes you up to Samoens 1600m ski resort in just 8 minutes. This delivers you directly into Samoens own extensive ski area, which joins with over 265 km of piste, 140 individual pistes plus 80 lifts. Winter 2010/11 sees 230 new snow canons in the Grand Massif, guaranteeing snow sure runs throughout the season! Winter 2009/10 saw the opening of a new 6 seater high speed chair taking you from Samoëns 1600 to Tete de Saix in 6 minutes cutting the time it takes you to get to the top by 2/3's!

The ski area is varied and offers runs for all abilities. The area holds the lowest ratio of accommodation capacity to number of ski lifts, which explains the small amount of queues encountered here. The resort has breathtaking views and non skiers can take the grand massif lift from Samoëns to 1600 m and watch family and friends on the pistes. Beginners are well catered for on the extensive groomed nursery slopes at 1600 m, this plateau is one of the largest beginners areas in Europe! Intermediates have a whole host of runs to chose from locally in Samoëns, or that take you far a field to neighbouring resorts and beautiful tree lined runs including Europes longest Blue run, the cascades. There are numerous reds and black runs locally in Samoëns and Les Carroz and of course over in Flaine, where experts are catered for even further.

The piste consists of 14 blackruns, 51 red runs, 54 blue runs, 15 green runs. A recent 11m Euro investment saw the introduction of a massive free car park at the main Samoëns Grand Massif Express lift and a new children's ski area at Samoëns 1600. The area is undergoing major investment throughout which is massively improving everything year on year. In a weeks skiing holiday, you'd be really hard pushed to cover all the runs in this huge area.

Snowboarding

The area is great for boarders, its easy to get fresh powder and there has been new investment into 3 snow parks and 3 half pipes. There are numerous events including the Bolle Winter Tour, open contests with some of the worlds best riders. Samoëns has very few drag lifts compared to other resorts, so is a snowborders heaven.

Off-piste skiing

Samoëns is increasing in popularity with those who seek the thrills of off piste skiing with qualified local guides who know the back country and secret powder spots.

In summer

Samoëns offers the perfect destination for a summer holiday for all the family and sports enthusiasts. If you are bored sitting on a beach all week but still want good weather, a host of activities and breathtaking scenery then Samoëns is the place to come. From May -September temperatures average between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius, so you can enjoy everything from swimming in the lifeguarded mountain lakes and pools, to hiking, climbing, mountain biking and road biking, the region offers it all. The evenings cool down nicely so sleeping is never a problem too! 2009 saw the opening of the Grand Massif Express lift in summer taking you from the village to 1600m in just 8 minutes. The leisure area has climbing walls, tennis courts, golf driving range, lakes, rafting, adventure parks, archery, fishing, playground, football pitches, swimming pools with slide and plenty of sunbathing areas, snack bars, picnic areas, the list is endless...

Food and Drink in Samoëns and Morillon

Food and drink is an extremely important part of your holiday. On nights where you are not eating in your own accommodation, you may like to sample the Samoëns and Morillon local restaurants. There are around 30 local restaurants to choose from.These include cosy French Savoyard restaurants, bustling Pizzerias, informal Bistro style restaurants and even Gourmet and Nouvelle Cuisine. Here's a selection of some of the restaurants all in the village centres. We recommend pre booking at peak times. All restaurants in France are now non smoking.