Chamonix/Switzerland for honeymoon

S

SkiSicko

Member
Hey everyone. My fiance and I are thinking about taking our honeymoon to europe skiing. I feel that we are solid skiers, with off piste experience, including St. Anton, Jackson Hole, Lake Tahoe, whistler, etc.

I know that Cham has sick skiing, but in terms of all of the honeymoon stuff, how does it scale? Our priorities are sweet skiing first, good nightlife with nice pubs, restaurants second. We do want stuff to do after skiing, but we don't want to party hard because we're there to ski. St. anton was perfect if you've ever been there.

The other major destination is Zermatt. Switzerland seems incredibly expensive, but how do these two places compare in terms of our priorities? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for any help.
 
Chamonix and Zermatt are both incredible towns and incredible ski areas.

With chamonix you have a bigger ski area, and there's a shit ton of off piste there. It's such a pretty town too, the apres ski is decent and you can basically get whatever you want in Cham.

Zermatt however is rediculous, it's so beautiful and you have the matterhorn as part of the skyline. They have really good skiing too but it is rediculously expensive, I went a few years back on a last minute deal with Crystal but otherwise it would have cost a fortune. Their ski area is really good but not as big as chamonix, but you don't have to bus to the ski areas.

Weigh up how much money you want to spend, both are incredibly pricey resorts, with amazing skiing in both. I'd probably go with Chamonix, but I'm in love with the place.
 
Hey, i have spent lots off time in both resort (live in Geneva), Chamonix has incredible off-piste skiing however it's not a very nice town, Zermatt on the other hand is a really nice town with really great skiing with great night life only thing is that it's super expensive. If price is no issue i would say Zermatt, if not i would advise Courmayeur on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc Tunnel, lovely Italian town, nice skiing, and a 30 minute bus ride or 20 min car ride through tunnel to Chamonix ski domain, aswell as that Courmayeur has the Helbronner cable car, from the top of which there are incredible off-piste routes ( you'll need a guide for them tho). So if i had to choose for a skiing honeymoon i would go Courmayeur ; cheap for Europe, Pizza-Pasta, Great Skiing, Incredible views, Lovely town. Hope that was helpfull.

 
I haven't checked this thread in a while. We did decide on Chamonix becuase of price of Zermatt, as well as the terrain; the down side is the bus ride to the ski areas, as stated above.

I am planning on doing one day for the valle blanche tour. My wife is probably going to do a ski lesson. Does anybody have any experience with any of the guides that will do back coutnry tours/ski lessons? I am mostly using the offical chamonix site as well as www.chamonix.net. any help would be appreciated.
 
again use courmayeur guides, and do the vallée blanche tour from the Italian side. French side is a long walk, italian side u get to ski more
 
ive been to chamonix a couple times.......a bunch in the spring an once in February.. I would strongly recommend not going in feb because thats when the british holiday is an they all flock to chamonix an no offense to british ns skiiers i can stand them.... but the conditions were great a little crowded.... the town life is pretty good i have a friend there so he showed me some of the bars... theres alot of British bars...I stayed at the hotel alpenia...the food sucked there an im not gonna lie the food sucked in town. the only good thing they in town was the pizza im not much for the "french quizzene"....an it is very exspensive shopping wise. but enough down playing chamonix. when it snows there it snows last years winter wasnt so great.. i skiied valle de blanche and off the back of gran monte phenomianlhttp://vimeo.com/11578277... ull have funn there boot seriously try to plan around school breaks cause it is not worth going durring these times. also chamonix is about hour hour 30 from geneva id deffiantly goo there to just very $$$$.. well i hope this helped and didnt want to down play chamonix but just let you know but ull love it especially on ur honey moon...
 
didnt read the whole thing iff u need any help with guides for off piste skiing pm i used one to ski off the back of gran monet
 
Hey, I really liked your video. I hope I get the same snow!

My wife is going to be doing a few days of lessons, so one day I have a guide to do the Vallee Blanche and another day I am doing the "freeride tour" withhttp://www.chamonix-guides.eu. Another day we will be going to Verbier skiing, and then maybe another day on the Italian side, Courmayor.

Her and I ski a bit differently. I do a lot of off-piste, but she is very excellent on piste and getting adjusted to off-piste. would areas like Brevent and Flegere be good for the both of us? Les Houches seems too mellow. Besides the days with lessons, we are going to be skiing together quite a lot because it's our honeymoon, so I just wanted to make sure we are going to the right areas that give us both something to ski on!!

Any info on good bars/restaurants would be appreciated as well!!

Thanks!
 
Ya when you go to chamonix you should check out la tour (ski mountain) it would be good for you an you wife to ski not to tricky terrain id stay away for la houche unless you wanna ski park which going to chamonix isnt smart don't go there that is where the British tend to flock to and its get OVER crowded plus it is the lowest in elevation at chamonix and seems to be "flat" now i assume you wont be renting a car so ull be able to take the bus all over chamonix. it is a fairly small town in the center no cars are accessible so you pretty much walk around im not sure the street but towards the hotel alpina which u cant miss there will be a whole stretch of english pubs. these are pretty nice not too expensive. club wise not to much, you have to know somebody. restraunts theres a place called the cavern it has GREAT pizza its kinda hidden but its right next to a Chinese restraunt hahaha. but if you have any more questions just let me know.
 
La Tour? I think it's callec Domaine de Balme now, but everything I have read about it seems to say it's pretty mellow. I definitley want to stay away from as many Brits as possible, no offense, because I know that I will most likely be hitting it on one of their breaks. same thing happened to me in St. Anton two years ago, but I found that if I stick to higher up on the mountain and ski the more difficult terrain I didn't have many problems.

What was anyone's experience skiing at Brevent and flegere like? And any experiences traveling on bus from Chamonix to Courmayour, Italy? (probably spelled wrong, sorry).

 
Again, thank you to everyone for the information.

I have been reading that conditions have been the best in years in Chamonix. We are getting excited! What have you all been experiencing there in Chamonix for ski conditions?
 
im heading there next week...how was your trip? any pointers for an american who has never been to chamonix? where was the best skiing to be had? how about the nightlife scene? ill be in amsterdam for a few days prior so ill already be working on my buzz but if theres a way to keep it going while skiing in chamonix id welcome that :) congrats on the marriage and hope your honeymoon was spectac!
 
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