Destination sun & ski: it's time to head south

Auron is just one of the resorts on the Riviera [copyright: Auron]

Despite their popularity within the region itself, the southern Alpine resorts have always played second fiddle to their more northern counterparts, without the cachet and a long way behind when it comes to overseas visitors. This is reflected in the figures that suggest 80 per cent of the clients at Auron are day-trippers, 60-65 per cent at Isola.

From a pure skiing perspective, the reasons for this are logical: the higher altitude the resort the longer the season and the fewer anxieties there are about there being enough snow. If an individual or family is going to splash out on one skiing holiday a year, then it makes sense that they plump for the locations promising the best conditions. 

It may come as a surprise then to hear that for the past few years, the best snow conditions in the whole of France have not been found in Les Trois Vallées or Val d'Isère but at Isola 2000. The resort, with its 120km of pistes, quite rightly has a reputation for being one of the country's sunniest and snowiest. The latter characteristic results from damp winter winds off the Mediterranean that cause large amounts of snow to fall on the high peaks of the southern Alps at times when the northern Alps get very little or nothing at all.

"We have unique sun and snow conditions here," explains Krystal Biret, Marketing Director for the Mercantour National Park resorts, Isola, Auron and St Dalmas-le-Selvage. "You get the best of both," she continues before her colleague Pascal Lequenne adds, "When you ski all day long in the Northern Alps and its overcast and very cold, it’s often not that pleasant."

Weather aside, there are numerous other factors that make skiing in the South an attractive option. There’s the bus from Nice for example, which few other resorts can rival in terms of value, being only 4 euros each way, for a transfer from the airport.

“One of the keys for these resorts is the transport." Biret explains. "We have the second largest airport in France, with many flights coming in and out and used by a lot of low budget airlines."

This year the Counseil Général has improved the bus system and created a new package, which is marginally more expensive (four/five euros instead of one) but arrives at the resorts earlier and departs later. More importantly, the system of having to book a bus ticket in advance has been scrapped, with people who can't get around to reserving in time able to get on anyway and pay only one euro more.

Lequenne points out that most transfers from airports to Northern Alps resorts will cost around 30 euros one way. "Plus there's the time it takes, most journeys will take well over two hours, it takes under that to get to Auron or Isola.

The cheap transfers and air fares have made these resorts popular winter destination for Parisians. In recent years there has also been a more focused  marketing campaign based around the terminals at Nice Côte d'Azur, in the airport and easyjet inflight magazines.

The transport is not the only aspect in which the regional authorities have invested: thanks to a 35-million euro cash injection, there are many more artificial snow cannons and last year, Isola 2000 opened a new lift.Next they would like a new  six-seat chair lift in Auron.

So they have the snow, the transport, they are improving the services yet there is still one issue that prevents these ‘Southern’ stations from competing with other major French resorts: a lack of large hotels. This means that the  tour operators, who tend to bring large groups and generate considerable revenue are reluctant to come. Although authorities in some resorts are trying to work on this issue by constructing further accommodation, acquiring planning permission often proves difficult.

On the plus side, less tour groups mean more intimacy. There is the chance in these small stations to get to know the people operating the ski lifts or working the bars. “This changes your perception of the holiday,” Biret flashes a smile that could melt the snow outside.

Another plus of the resorts being less busy is that you can find great deals if you do want to stay, especially  midweek and outside of holidays. The Stations du Mercantour have packages starting from as little as 151 euros for three days of skiing and two nights half board.                               

       HM