Les Saisies is a delightful and traditional Savoyarde village overlooked by Mont Blanc. The ski area is linked with the nearby resort of Crest Voland to form the Espace Cristal. Not the highest Alpine resort, but high enough to give confidence of decent skiing in the main season. There is a good choice of downhill and cross country areas.
Our likes/dislikes: A real “French” village atmosphere. Most accommodation within easy reach of the pistes and cross country runs provide a convenient short cut to the piste! Even at peak holiday time queues are bearable. Some areas are difficult to reach because of the layout of the lifts (there is only one lift connecting the village centre with the La Légette area). The Les Saisies / Crest Voland link may suffer from limited snow at times & isn’t ideal for novices
Les Saisies factfile:
- Resort height: 1650m – 2000m.
- Access: Only really accessible by car.
- Downhill runs: 12 green, 22 blue, 17red, 3 black.
- Size of domaine: 80km of maintained pistes.
- Snow cannon: amount covered
- Lifts: 15 drag lifts, 26 chair lifts
- Lift Pass: around €166* for adults and €124* for children (aged 5 to 15) for a 6 day pass
- Website: http://www.lessaisies.com/
Where to stay: Although it is not easy to get back from the village, we recommend the La Légette side as this has the widest choice of accommodation and there is a nice blue run down to the bottom of the La Légette run with no queues in the morning. Also there is a convenient small supermarché (Sherpa) at the end of the Rue des Prés. On the other hand, total beginners would be better off staying in the village in the VVF apartments as there are easy greens here (but busier lifts).
Skiing Lessons: The Ecole de Ski Francais (http://www.esf-lessaisies.fr/) staff are very friendly. You may find a problem in getting English group lessons as this resort is mainly frequented by the French. Private lessons in peak season are possible but must be booked well in advance.
Baby Sitting/Kindergarten: We didn’t use these facilities at this resort. However we don’t expect it to be ideally suited for non-skiers as there will be limited English spoken as this resort doesn’t feature in English package operators’ brochures, so it is not frequented by the Brits.
Ski Equipment: If you want to book ahead then use the Intersport service. They have a shop on the main street and you can reserve in advance on the internet. We purchased on arrival from Guy Sports, adjacent to the Sherpa supermarché. There was limited English spoken there.
Food Choice: There is limited choice of supermarkets although it is perfectly possible to purchase all necessities from the small ones that do exist. It is 12km to the nearest Intermarché.
The Four à Bois Patisserie in the village centre has delightful breakfast pastries and afternoon snacks. And we had delightful pizzas in L’Ecoelle pizzeria. Le Chardon Bleu offers nice crèpes.
Book your Friday evening meal in advance in season as it gets incredibly busy – when we were there literally every restaurant on the high street was fully booked (and there are quite a few of them!).
* please note that all prices are subject to change, so check the providers’ website for latest information.
Read more abut popular ski resorts in France: