Oliver Lynch

Oliver Lynch

Content writer, language nerd and board sports enthusiast.

Les Deux Alpes Review: Glaciers and Epic Pistes

Back to the mountains, and one of the French Alp’s OG ski resorts – Les Deux Alpes. My post-Covid bags are packed, so how does this Alpine playground fare?

I’ll be honest, Les Deux Alpes wasn’t my first choice. I had actually booked a trip to Folgarida in Italy, with Sunweb, but my booking wasn’t confirmed so I found myself looking for a place I could book outright.

I wanted snowsure, a good variety of pistes and an afforadable hotel package. And sure enough, Les Deux Alpes came up with the goods.

Having shopped around, Snowtrex is usually one of the best options, along with Sunweb. Both these sites offer ski packages including lift passes as standard, and finding the best deal is pretty easy if you know roughly where you want to go.

With a deal on Snowtrex coming in at £329 for 5 days half board for one person, including lift pass, it had to be good… Right?

How to get to Les Deux Alpes?

Deep in the Isere department of the French Alps, Les Deux Alpes is around 170 kms from Lyon and 210 kms from Geneva.

The closest airport to Les Deux Alpes is at Grenoble, at 68 kms. But there are limited flights, meaning it’s easier to fly into one of the bigger airports (unless you’re coming from mainland Europe, in which case the train to Grenoble with a bus transfer).

I flew into Geneva and booked a hire car – which was pretty much the only option when I was hunting for transfers.

A transfer with Alps2Alps was coming in at around €700, or thereabouts, so a car hire at €250 seemed like the sensible option.

As a drive, that translates to around 2hrs 40 on mostly fast roads. The last approach up the mountain gets pretty twisty, but isn’t too bad.

Now… I had a debacle getting my hire car. As a non-credit card owner, and having booked cars before, I wasn’t able to pick up my booked car. Basically, don’t use RentalCars.com to book your car as if you have a problem the customer service is pretty rude and useless.

The lady at Avis in the French Sector of Geneva airport sorted me out at short notice. Thank you Amina!

Another option for getting to Les Deux Alpes is to take the train. There is a Eurostar from London which serves the Alps, and if you’re anywhere in the European mainland it’s easy to connect by train via French cities including Paris and Lyon.

First impressions of Les Deux Alpes

The town of Les Deux Alpes is quite sprawling, sitting in a broad valley at the top of the mountain. Framed by two skiable mountains, the centre of town is actually relatively flat. Rue de Muzelles runs through the resort, as the main street, and is lined with the usual assortment of ski rental places, boulangeries and Casino supermarches, bars and restaurants.

My hotel, Jam Session, was on the north west edge of the town – right on the piste pretty much. From here you have a short walk down the fairly steep road to the town. Or take the free navette (shuttle bus) to the centre.

Les Deux Alpes was definitely quite buzzing. Once the lifts close, there is very much an apres party vibe. I wasn’t here for apres, so didn’t dig into the scene that much. But if that’s an essential part of your ski package, then Les Deux Alpes will be right up your ski lift.

As part of my Les Deux Alpes review, I had hoped to get into town to do some nightlife – however – this never quite materialised I was a little way out, on my own and ended up socialising in the hotel instead.

A view of Les Deux Alpes, France

Hotel Jam Session review

My hotel was a bit of a bargain. Offering half board in the French Alps, which is kinda rare for the price, I thought I’d check out Hotel Jam Session.

Run by an Italian family, the Hotel Jam Session promised hospitality and a cosy stay. So how did it go?

I arrived late, as part of that car hire debacle. No fault of the hotel, but I did have to phone ahead and let them know I’d be arriving late.

But arrive I did, and I was happy to find the hotel easily with free parking under the building. I checked in quickly, and headed to the bar for a well earned post-travel beer. Everyone very friendly and hospitable.

The room itself was pretty basic, but comfortable. A double room, heating, TV and a simple shower were to be my home for 5 days. It’s not the ritz, but considering the price, it was perfect for my needs. Oh and the free WiFi was a good speed too – this was key as I was working in the evening. The joys of being a freelancer.

How about the food?

Actually, it was very good. The breakfast buffet was everything you’d expect from a continental breakfast, with croissants, fruit, cheese, ham, eggs, bread and cereal.

But it was the evening meal where the Hotel Jam Session shone. With a set menu, the catering staff, led by Carmelo, offered classic Italian fare. Think gnocci, pasta and soup. The wine was also very good.

The Hotel Jam Session also has a small bar attached, which is quite useful due to the distance from the centre of Les Deux Alpes.

Prices for food and drinks outside of the included fare was very reasonable. I believe it was about €5 for a beer or wine (I don’t recall exactly as I settled up on departure).

Hotel Jam Session in Les Deux Alpes
My room at Hotel Jam Session, Les Deux Alpes

Les Deux Alpes Mountain Review

OK – so what about the ski and snowboarding in Les Deux Alpes?

That’s what we’re here for right?

Frankly, the mountain itself is exceptional, with some great runs from short learner friendly greens and blues, through to marathon length rides from the glacier at the top back to town.

The jewel in the crown is the glacier sat atop the mountain. From here, you can take in the breathtaking views and ride literally from top to bottom using a number of different routes. Although view was obscured by cloud and haze during my stay, I was assured that you could see Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest peak, on a good day.

As for the terrain, the majority of the runs are blues. At the top of the mountain you have wide open runs with meandering routes and zero trees. One of my favourite runs was to come down off the glacier following the blue runs to the Pierre Grosse lift, a good ten minutes at least of thrilling snowboarding.

For snowboarders, the terrain offers some excellent opportunities to really pick up some speed. There are a few flat sections, which might catch out beginners, but generally speaking these are manageable even if you aren’t the fastest rider.

If you’ve read my review of Grandvalira in Andorra, you’ll know I like to explore. And while this wasn’t on the scale, area wise, there is definitely enough to discover over a week of snowboarding or skiing in Les Deux Alpes.

How is my Les Deux Alpes review? Snowboarding view

My favourite runs in Les Deux Alpes

For me the best runs to review in Les Deux Alpes were from the top all the way back into town, taking the route:

Pay Salie 1 > Jandri 4 > Jandri 3 > and Jandri 1 back to town.

Another fun and fast run is

Jandri 4 or any of the glacier runs, then taking the Pierre Gosse detour and then taking the gondola back up onto the glacier.

Ski in/Ski out in Les Deux Alpes

From Les Deux Alpes main station, you have several options to get onto the mountain.

Jandri Express is the larger gondola that whisks you deep into the mountain, with another gondola Jandri Express II taking you to the glacier. Queues in the morning for the express are pretty solid – and I skipped the Jandri Express until later in the day.

Les Oeufs Blancs are a more retro style 2 person cable car that drops you onto the learner friendly section at the top of the mountain. This is where all your ski schools start, but it’s also a good spot to find the ski legs and get riding after time off.

There were two other options to get onto the mountain, including Diable – at the far east of the valley, and Belle Etoile/Village 1800 at the west. These are both chair lifts, although I didn’t use either of them (despite one of them being right next to my hotel).

As for ski in at the end of the day? Much of the village is built backing onto the slopes, so generally speaking your hotel is quite likely accessible from the slopes. The Hotel Jam Session where I was based was at the base of a fairly slushy black run, or a green run which was impassable by snowboard when I was there. It was basically a river of slush so I had to take the black run back.

However there is also an access route via snow into the west of the village, which drops you within very short walking distance to most chalets and hotels on this side of the resort. So it is possible to arrive back into the village via a blue run, with the same track taking you pretty much down to the main street – and even (as far as I can tell from the map) to the lifts for the other side of the valley.

Les Deux Alpes ski trail piste map
Les Deux Alpes piste map

Is Les Deux Alpes Snow sure?

In 2022, the snowfall in the Alps has been pretty below par. Especially compared to the Covid lockdown years of 2020 and 2021. So although Les Deux Alpes is often touted as ‘snow sure’, and there surely was snow, the coverage on the lower slopes was kinda thin and slushy.

That’s not to say it wasn’t adequate. Quite the opposite, there was plenty of snow to slide along – but you could see areas on the lower pistes where it was getting a bit bare. And at the end of the day, it did start to slush up quite a lot, with puddles in places.

I feel like my Les Deux Alpes review about the snow quantities might be unfair as I found plenty of snow above 2000 metres. And even for most learners, the top of the mountain station is more likely to be where you spend most of your time.

So even though it was pretty sparse on my visit, there was plenty of snow.

Summer skiing in Les Deux Alpes

One of the benefits of a glacier is the late season skiing possibilities. In fact, Les Deux Alpes has one of the best summer skiing glaciers in France. I’ll need to update my Les Deux Alpes review with a visit later in the season, maybe… But the opportunity to ride the Les Deux Alpes glacier until June is definitely an option.

Who is Les Deux Alpes for?

With such varied terrain, I think Les Deux Alpes is ideal for every level of skiier or snowboarder. With broad and forgiving blue runs, some gnarly reds and a huge snowpark, snow fans will find plenty to keep them occupied for days.

In fact, that run from top to bottom is SO FUN. You could do that ten times a day and still not get bored.

If you’re looking for a great deal in Les Deux Alpes or the French Alps, check out Ski holidays at Snowtrex.

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