Resort Review – Puy St Vincent
View of Puy St Vincent
It’s been a while since I’ve been to Puy St Vincent but it’s such a lovely little ski resort I thought I would spend some time telling you guys about it. If, like me, you prefer to drive to the alps, Puy is slightly further off the beaten track as ski resorts go. Probably about 10 hours from Calais, rather than 8 to the northern most resort or you can fly Ryanair to Turin. The route there will take you through the Frejus Tunnel and straight through Montgenevre, so the perfect opportunity to have a quick nose around there or catch a days skiing on the way through. Puy is about 1 hour, maybe slightly more, from Montgenevre.
Puy is in the Pays des Ecrins region and is next to the resort of Pelvoux-Vallouise a smaller resort (unlinked.) We stayed in Puy itself at 1700, slightly above the main resort, but directly on the piste, so a short ski down to the lifts. With 5 chair lifts and 11 other surface lifts, it is a relatively small area but you’ll still find plenty to do. It’s definitely an intermediates playgrouds with mainly blue and red slopes with a couple of tester blacks thrown in. Their is a great beginners chairlift with two blue runs running back down to it again, which provides the perfect safe haven for the beginner later on in the week.
The resort itself is quite 70′s looking and is certainly not a picture perfect ski resort, however this somehow adds to it’s charm. All the accommodation that has been built in recent years does have the French chalet feel and it all seems to work well together.
Where we stayed in Puy St Vincent
One thing that disappointed us though was the lack of transport back up the mountain to where a lot of the accommodation is late at night. Nightly we stopped for a drink at one of the quiet bars in town and then took the daily trudge up the windy road, about 1km perhaps. One night we risked the 100m scramble up the piste instead but after several glasses of wine and dinner that probably wasn’t the best idea either. I suggest either running a later bus, or put a drag, travelator up the side of the piste to save our weary legs!
It seems to be an ever popular resort with families, no doubt accentuated with the extremely popular Snowbizz holidays. Snowbizz runs a hotel, with creche, ski school and activities thrown in and everyone seems to rave about it.
Overview: Definitely one to visit again, the perfect small resort for those that don’t want, big, expensive and British!
