What's Alpe d'Huez Ski Resort Really like？ And can you ski before Xmas？

We're staying at Le Cristal de l'Alpe with Peak Retreats. Quite a luxurious place, convenient. The base is just about 200 metres from the ski slopes. It's about 50-75 metres to the nearest lift and it's one of these 3 or 4 person bubble lifts that you can jump on. It's quite open air that takes you along to the main base station. It's pretty much ski in, ski out with convenience. It's got the shuttle bus to take you to the slopes if you want to just go directly there. Loads at the complex here, which is very cool. It's got a whole reception and lounge area, the cosy open fireplace. It's great if you want to just come back and relax after a long day skiing. It's got a wellness area as well, so private indoor swimming pool. It's a heated pool, nice and warm, with a hot tub as well. And it's got the sauna and steam room and all that sort of stuff. And there's also a fitness room which is handy if you want to go a bit of stretching before skiing. You've also got a spa centre where you can book massages and beauty treatments, so you've got to pre-book those. There's also free Wi-Fi throughout, which is handy. We've got a 3 bedroom apartment, which is really nice, with a big open plan lounge, kitchen, diner. 3 separate bedrooms, one with an en suite and a lovely balcony that I'm stood on right now. Ski lockers with boot dryers, so you get your gear nice and warm and dry for the next day. And underground parking, which we've taken advantage of on the lower third floor. I think you pay an extra fee for that as well. There is a laundry room and bread pastry service if you want it delivered to your apartment. But there is also a Carrefour on the ground floor of the hotel, which is absolutely fantastic. Anytime you want anything, you can just quickly shoot down, get yourself a freshly baked baguette, croissant or orange juice first thing in the morning, which is really nice. We're also right by the town, you can probably see in the background there. So you're literally walking distance to all the restaurants. Off that main roundabout there is the main street. There's also the ice rink as well, which they had the ice hockey playing last night, which was super exciting to watch as well. And then just a short walk down that street, you can turn off to the left at the bottom and head down to the smaller village of Loes, where there's a couple more restaurants. The Moose Bar, which is a bit more of an apres bar. There was a bit of good going on down there last night, which was fun. So we're here just pre-Christmas in 2024, in case you're watching this much later. We've been super lucky with the weather because we've had snow during the afternoon and the evening and then beautiful sunshine in the daytime. I'm going to turn the camera around so you can see what a beautiful day it is behind me and what fantastic views we've got out of this apartment. Super lucky, look at that, that's what we're looking out on at breakfast time in the morning. The roads are starting to clear up a bit, it's warmed up a little bit more today, which is great. Very happy with the hotel and its location because we're right on top of it. We literally walk out and we're a five minute walk to all the restaurants and bars. We've had some great meals out, I'll leave those in the description. Pizza takeaways as well, so if you just want to grab a piece and bring it back to your apartment. Of course, we've got the kitchen here as well, so if you want to pop down to Carrefour and get a bag of pasta for the kids and get an early night, you can easily do that as well. So we're going to head out to this expansive ski area, a bit more skiing in today, in this beautiful sunshine. It's going to be a sunglasses day, so let's see how we go. We have arrived in Alpe d'Huez, sitting on a sun-drenched south-facing plateau in the French Alps. This is a premier ski destination, offering more than just impressive slopes. There's 250 kilometers apiece here, 84 lifts, and it's a world-renowned resort that boasts exceptional sunshine, huge amount of terrain and something for everyone. From a seasoned skier to complete beginners, there is something for all types of skier here. It's a choice for everybody. It's a high-altitude setting. The resort itself sits at 800 meters and the glacier reaches up to 3,300 meters, so it's not only sun-drenched, there's absolutely stacks of snow covered too, from December to April. In fact, we're skiing before Christmas. To prove it still can be done, you can ski before Christmas. Plenty of snow-making equipment here. One of the standout features of the Alpe d'Huez is its location. It's a fully south-facing plateau. It means that the resort enjoys glorious sunshine throughout the day, up to seven and a half hours a day, they say, in December, and a stunning 11 hours in April when you get to that spring skiing. So, yeah, absolutely beautiful. The resort's made up of five lift-link ski resorts. You've got Alpe d'Huez, you've got Oris-en-Oiseau, La Garde-en-Oiseau, Oz3300, and Villard-Réculasse, which makes a massive ski area. And that's something that's definitely surprising when I arrive here, how big the ski area is and how great looking it is. Loads of alpine trees. The resort is really great. So it's a huge ski area of over 250 kilometers apiece. The main bowl of Alpe d'Huez is particularly appealing, offering wide open runs. For those looking for more exciting terrain, the resort offers a range of black runs and off-piste areas. And the crowning jewel of Alpe d'Huez is the ski area offering, is its legendary 16 kilometer long Sarenne black slope, considered one of the longest piste runs in the world. Starting at 3300 meters from the Pic Blanc summit, it descends through the spectacular alpine scenery all the way to 1510 in the Sarenne gorges. So in addition to the Sarenne, other long runs like Faire and Chateau Noir, both around 14 kilometers in length, offer equally stunning views and fantastic skiing. Alpe d'Huez is also renowned for its vertical drop with runs offering over 2200 meters of descent, allowing skiers to glide down from the summit to the valley without needing to take a single chairlift. There is also a shuttle bus service and they are trialing hydrogen-powered vehicles too, which is great to see in the resort. The glacier at Alpe d'Huez reaches an impressive 3300 meters. There's two main ways to access this snowy area. The Marmot Free Funitel, it takes you to an elevation of 33,060 meters, while the Pic Blanc Cable Car whisk you to the very top at 3300 meters, where the panoramic views are nothing short of absolutely spectacular. From the top, you'll be treated to unrivaled views of the surrounding peaks, including Mont Blanc, La Merche, and the perfect reward after a long run. If the weather closes in on Alpe d'Huez, head for the tree-lined piece of Vosgenet and Horizon Oiseau. The trees here provide the much-needed definition when you can't otherwise tell what's ski and what is sky. So some favorite runs there are the village, which is a blue, down to the village of Huez, and the red run starting at the Huez tourist office. This drops you down to the same return lift. Even if the valley is shrouded in cloud and fog, the top of the mountains can be super sunny like it is today. Check out the webcams, and also don't forget that if it's lashing down with rain at the bottom, it's probably snowing up top. If you can take advantage of days like these, you'll often have great stashes of fresh powder all to yourself. Beginner and family areas in Alpe d'Huez with more nursery slopes than anywhere else in the Alps, Alpe d'Huez is a superb place for it. If you're new to skiing or haven't been in for a while, the gentle slopes on the outskirts of the resort are perfect beginner terrain for you to build your confidence. You don't even have to pay for a lift pass at Alpe d'Huez if you're a complete beginner. The Petit Riff Nel and Ecole 2 or Ecole 2 drag lifts and the Grenouille rope tow all are free of charge. I'll put all those into the description for you. Once you're ready to explore further, you can buy a beginner's pass, which allows you on all drag lifts and chairlifts except the old Paris and the Marmot 1 chairs. If you're looking for gentle rolling green runs, head to Le Berger via the Romaine chairlift. This area is a low-speed zone, so you don't need to worry about someone taking you out from behind. But long, wide green runs look no further than Les Jeux in the DMZ. Located at the end of the Lobster Pot lift system, there are no less than seven green pieces here, all leading back to the centre of the resort. If you're after something a little more challenging, you can try Couloir. This is a busy blue with a long, flattish section that starts at the top of the DMZ, like Deuxième Tronco at 2,700 metres. Chamois, a red run that returns to the midpoint of the DMZ and eventually back to resort. The red Les Rousses run that acts as Vosgenet slopes beginners in the Grande Domaine. In addition to Alpe d'Huez, the villages all have good areas for beginners, especially Oris, Anoison and Vosgenet. In Villard-Ricoulas, you can choose from seven green runs. Alpe d'Huez has some epic off-piste skiing. We've already mentioned areas like the Gorge de Sarenne and Glacier de Sarenne. In total, you'll find more than 20 high-altitude off-piste trails here, with gullies and tracks of fresh powdered snow. From Alpe d'Huez, you'll also get the possibility of visiting the famous La Grave off-piste area. Be sure to take a guide there, you don't want to be going there on your own, and make sure you're well-versed for off-piste skiing. And if you're into snowparks in Alpe d'Huez, there are two snowparks here. A larger one beside the beginner runs above 1800m, most easily accessed from the DMZ first station. A smaller one in Montfrey, better for beginners. When you get to the Snowpark des Jeux, you'll see a sign indicating four difficulty levels. Beginners, Green, Easy Blue and Intermediate Red, and of course the Expert Black. Each route has three to four boxes or rails, and four kickers and jumps. There's also an airbag jump, half-pipe and border cross, which is fantastic. After you run, you can chill out in the cool zone, deck chairs at the bottom, which is really nice in the sun-drenched area. The Montfrey Snowpark is superb. So we are at the top of Pic Blanc, the highest point in Alpe d'Huez Grand Ski Domain, reaching an elevation of 3,330m, that's nearly 11,000ft, off of stunning panoramic views of the surrounding mountains. It's also the starting point of two legendary ski runs. La Sarenne, which is the longest ski run in Europe, stretching 16km, that's 10 miles from the summit, of Pic Blanc down to the valley. As you can see, the scenery behind me is absolutely breathtaking. Just check out those views around me. It looks absolutely spectacular. We've chosen an absolutely fantastic day to come up here. We're up at 3,330m, just in the early weeks of December 2020-24, and the conditions are absolutely superb. We arrived, it was a nice snowy afternoon and evening, and woke up to beautiful sunshine and lovely skiing. There we are, at the top of Pic Blanc. Let's go and see what this 16km, 10-mile run, La Sarenne, is like. We'll chat to you when we get down to the bottom. For those wondering whether you should tackle Pic Blanc in Alpe d'Huez, when you get off the lift, the very first bit, which is about, I would say about 20 or 30m, is steepish, quite narrow, but you can just sideslide or snowplough down if you're not feeling confident. The next 100m is a big, wide-open, fast red, stroke black, but to be honest with you, it's a fast red, really. And then you come down and it smooths out. So actually, so far, if you're an intermediate skier, you can definitely manage this. So don't be put off by the altitude or the fact that everybody says, oh, it's a massive run, and it's a black. If anything, the views are absolutely exceptional, and that very first little bit, you can get down. If you're a decent intermediate skier, you don't have to be a pro by any stretch of the imagination. We'll let you know what it's like as we get further down. So still coming down from Pic Blanc here, still graded as a black, but as you can see, it really levels out here a lot. We're coming down with a 13-, a 15-year-old and a mum and dad. If you're intermediate skiers, I'm pretty comfortable with controlling your speed. That's all it's about. As long as you can control your speed, you're going to be safe on this slope. I wouldn't be videoing while I'm going down. Very, very scenic, very beautiful. Seeing the surrounded villages embedded in the mountains. It's really, really pretty indeed. There you see, so it's just a sort of fast-walking, very straight road. Nice. And towards the end of the Serenne Gorge, you can come down by the river that's flowing. There's a lovely little bar restaurant you can grab. A hot dog for the kids, if that's what you want. And it levels out into a beautiful tree-lined run, as you can see behind me now. Glorious. Great snow, great conditions. And pre-Christmas skiing, can't beat it. And it's quiet. Look at the runs behind us. There's never anybody around. Every time we go somewhere, we think, is it supposed to be closed? Amazing. So great time to come skiing. We're about to pick up the lift to head back up over to Alpe d'Huez. So having survived Serenne, the 16km black, the longest black in the Alps, 10 miles, we've managed to get to the base, and no problem getting down. And as you can see, the Alps down behind us, stretching out as far as you can see up here, and Alpe d'Huez down at the base. We've rewarded ourselves by coming up to the Signal lift, up to the Signal restaurant, which is just behind me. Really nice restaurant, which has just got a terrace, overlooking Alpe d'Huez, for a nice little rest before we go out skiing this afternoon. So yeah, lovely little spot up at the Signal here, great restaurant. You've got more of a, I don't know whether it's Michelin-style, but a Michelin-style restaurant upstairs with tablecloths and napkins, and a nice bar area. But really nice food, looking really good actually. Some nice curries and Pad Thai, and some more basic food as well, if you want it. Beautiful view overlooking Alpe d'Huez. Check out that view of the Alps, right behind us, absolutely stunning. So let's go take some lunch at the Signal restaurant at 2,108 metres. One of the places you might want to check out for food are Le Cabane, which is just down from Marmot 2, directly behind me, and has the most awesome terrace and fantastic views. The French onion soup, absolutely gorgeous, and also the Caesar salad. Caesar salad was great as well. And just a really, really nice cabin-style place. Sort of slightly higher end than your average place to eat. Another recommendation, the Follies Douce restaurant, which was really, really nice. They've got Le Foutaire there, so they've got the sort of higher end restaurant inside, and more bar eating outside if you want it as well. And another one of our favourites is Champs-Élysées at 2,100 metres. Really nice big terrace, beautiful food, real nice panoramic view, and you can choose to eat outside, inside, a couple of different dining areas inside. Traditional cuisine, really, really nice, right at 2,100 metres, really easily accessible as well. So we're in the resort town of Alpe d'Huez, really, really nice feel about it. Loads of bars and restaurants, loads of stuff to do. There's a swimming pool and an ice rink, lots of hotels and accommodation around. It's probably bigger than I was expecting. It's been a while since I've been here, I've forgotten what a great place it is. It's a good looking place, mix of architecture, wooden chalet-style buildings like you can see behind, and stone buildings as well, really nice. It's big, plenty of on-street parking if you're bringing a cast or if you're staying in one of the nearby villages as well. So yeah, lots to do in the evenings, there's plenty of apres going on, some nice bars and music on the slopes as we come down, so yeah, really enjoying it, a lot of fun. We loved eating out at Eidelweiss Restaurant, you can meet straight on the stone, really nice atmosphere, loads of people doing fondue, so all the smells were absolutely fantastic. Another great restaurant that we really liked was Chalet du Persilie, a really lovely mid-restaurant where we had fantastic steaks, very quaint, very helpful staff, really rated that place, very nice indeed. If you want that proper apres then you can come to the Folly Deuce, just at the top of Marmot's One, or you can do the Moose Bar down in town, or possibly Smithy's Tavern or the Underground Bar, will all give you great vibes, tasty cocktails and plenty of bars racks. We came out to show, yes you can get great skiing before Christmas, it's a long time since I've skied before Christmas and I will definitely do that, we've had superb ski conditions, quiet slopes, quiet restaurants and fantastic snow, but still all the atmosphere of a really cosy Christmassy chocolate box resort. We chose to drive down in an electric car and you can see the details about that in another video, we stayed with Peak Retreats and these guys are absolute specialists in the chocolate box resorts, so definitely look them up for that really personal touch, friendly team to help you with your next ski holiday. I personally think outdoors is particularly good for families with a great amount of easier terrain and plenty of fast terrain as you gain confidence which is super important. It's also a fact that the Greenlands aren't all based at the bottom, so you're going to still get a really nice ski and mountain feel with excellent views, even when taking their early turns. Also, by having a lovely apartment in the town with lots of facilities on hand means non-skiers really can take advantage of a mountain holiday without having to ski. Will I be back for pre-Christmas skiing? Of course I will, I love the fact that it's not as busy as peak times and the conditions have been great, it snowed the day before we arrived and the day of arrival, we then had bluebird days followed by more snow topping things up nicely on our last day. From me, it's a big thumbs up for Alpe d'Huez and Peak Retreats, look out for where we'll be going next on our next ski trip.