We are delighted to introduce Valloire –

a genuine mountain village that has developed into a lovely family summer resort. It’s brilliant value for money with so much to do!

At a glance

• Saturday flights to Geneva airport
• Flight time from Gatwick: 1 hr 15 mins
• Airport transfer: 2 hours 15 mins
• Teens & Childrens clubs
• Train Station: St Michel de Maurienne (20 min)

Valloire

Sitting on a ledge in the mountains at about 1400m high in the Maurienne valley is the old farming village of Valloire. Once just a simple farming community, Valloire has been transformed into a substantial ski resort but with aspirations of fame in the summer as well. Valloire is located on the famous Route des Grande Alpes, the route through the French Alps that links up some of the most celebrated resorts as well as the high level cols. At the end of the Valloire valley is the 2700m Col du Galibier, one of the great cycling challenges in the mountains.So, while the village is still low enough to be well within the tree line, with flowers, burbling streams and all the prettiness of a true mountain village, all you have to do to get up high is to take one of the ski telecabines and within minutes you can be above 2000m and into the world of high level lakes, rugged peaks and sensational walking territory.Look hard on your walks and you may see bouquetins or marmottes – you’ll certainly find high level mountain cafes and superb views in all directions.

Touring Hotel

Our hotel is the Touring Hotel, one of the original hotels in the village, but now modernised to a comfortable 2 star standard, without aspiring to luxury. It has a brilliant location, right in the centre of town. On the ground floor there is a bar/café spilling out onto the street in true French style with a separate dining room as well. There are 32 bedrooms, mostly twins, but with 3 four bedded rooms (2 singles plus bunks) and a few rooms with a double and a single bed. Most rooms have showers en-suite while just a few have a bath. All have been recently updated and are clean and tidy without being luxurious. Most rooms also have a south facing balcony.

Nine rooms in the oldest part of the hotel have had a more basic level of renovation and include very small shower rooms and no balcony. These rooms are available either as single rooms with no supplement or for two people at £5 per night discount per person.

This hotel will be under our management and our Christian staff team will be on hand to provide an excellent and friendly level of service. We can offer this hotel at surprisingly low prices for our guests even at high season.

Walking and Activities

Valloire is teeming with things to do all summer and the village is very active in laying on an interesting programme of events all through the summer. This truly is a resort where you can have a fun filled active holiday without spending a fortune in the process.

The brilliant 1€ Multipass

The key to everything is the 1€ Multipass. Yes, for just 1€ you can have unlimited use of the ice rink, the heated open air swimming pool and the two telecabines giving access to the mountains. The card also gives you discounts on many other activities such as tennis, golf, cycle hire, bowling and paragliding. There’s a 2€ deposit for the pass, refundable when you hand the pass back at the end of the week.

So, with just this 1€ pass you could access the high level mountains all around, and enjoy a fully active holiday with spending very little money. But don’t discount the other activities as there are some real excitements available.

Ropes, Climbing and Via Ferrata

Rock climbers have a selection of no less than 169 routes to climb ranging from grades 3 to 7. Some are right in the village, within walking distance of the hotel. There are also two Via Ferrata trails, a sort of cross between walking and climbing, where you are clipped to a wire for safety, but climb steep steps and traverse narrow ledges in the rocks.

The Adventure Park also just a few minutes walk from the hotel is an aerial ropeway park with six levels of difficulty, featuring rope ladders, zip wires and a huge variety of ways of getting from tree to tree without touching the ground. There is a course for all ages and abilities as long as you are at least 1.3m high.

Cycling

In France cycle road racing is a major sport – Tour de France style, and from time to time races sweep through the town. You can hire bikes too and see if you can conquer the Col du Galibier – if you go down the other side eventually you would get to Briancon in the southern Alpes, officially the highest city in the Alps.

There is also mountain biking and you can take your bike on the telecabines (but not free of charge) and cycle down the prepared tracks back into the village. Officially there are 155kms of marked cycle trails in the Valloire Bike Park, so you would do well to cover all that in a week!

There is also a kids’ cycle obstacle track laid out in the town square four days each week and you’ll find free use of a selection of go-carts, monocycles, giant chess and so on.

Walking

The mountains give a huge variety of walking trails – wooded pathways lower down leading to open hillsides higher up. Immediately south of the town is La Setaz des Pres rising to 2548m. Follow the valley to the end and you will find Le Grand Galibier at 3228m guarding the Col and the link to the southern Alps. Too strenuous? OK, there’s a lovely wooded trail that follows the valley road alongside the river, perfect for a non-demanding stroll.

On the Crey du Quart Mountain to the eastern side you’ll find a mountain restaurant conveniently located at the top of the telecabine and it would be a decent walk over to Valmenier in the next valley.

How to get there

Our holiday prices do not include flights, but we do provide a complimentary transfer to Geneva each Saturday. We will use the same selection of flights to Geneva Airport as we do for Lauterbrunnen so it means you have a choice of 6 airports to fly from. Our transfer will leave as soon as the last arrival is ready which we expect to be around 5.00pm, so as long as you are in Geneva by this time you will be able to use the resort transfer. Our return transfer will be in Geneva by about mid-day.
Driving is easy – you could drive from Calais to Valloire using Autoroutes all the way until just 20 minutes from Valloire. Alternatively, slow the pace down and stop off en route for a night or two and enjoy some of the sights on the way – Champagne country, Dijon, or even Paris with a slight detour. We have free parking available at the hotel for a few cars, so please request a space in advance.

And you can travel by train – the station to alight is St Michel de Maurienne and it would be a taxi ride up the hill to the hotel.
 

Prices

This hotel is not available in2012