Les Houches

Les Houches (pronounced “layzoosh”), is a village situated about 9km from Chamonix. The ski bus runs between les Houches and Chamonix roughly every 20mins. The rolling hills here make for a different style of skiing than you find in Chamonix and it is excellent for families. The wide, well-dammed pistes meander below the tree-line, providing much better visibility in white-out conditions than you will find in Chamonix’s other areas.

Les Houches is home to the Kandahar – a downhill competition in the men’s world cup. Try the black run, “La Verte des Houches”, yourself! Due to the high quality of the pistes, les Houches is an excellent area to practice your carving, and in good conditions you can have great fun skiing the powder in between the trees.

The ski area is large, linking over the back to another area, St Gervais. There really is something for everyone here – a snowpark, 4 green runs, 6 blues, 12 reds and 2 blacks. Because of its reputation as a family ski area, it is often less crowded than other areas (except during school holidays), and you have a much better chance of cutting fresh tracks here on a powder day than you do at the Grands Montets!

Considerably cheaper than either of the day passes offered by the Compagnie du Mont Blanc, les Houches is also excellent value for money. Adult day pass: 30.8 euros

In summer, les Houches also provides fun for the whole family. Hiking, mountain biking and paragliding, you can do it all from here. The Tramway du Mont Blanc takes you up the Bellevue and Col de Voza, which has stunning views. From here, lots of mountaineers start their ascent of the Mont Blanc.