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Honeymoon Skiing

marymack

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
My fiance and I are getting married in September 2019. I'm a teacher so the plan is to wait until Christmas or February school vacation that winter to take our honeymoon. We are thinking it would be amazing to do a European ski vacation. At this point its still super up in the air, which is where you ladies come in! Help me Dream! Have fun with it (I certainly am enjoying looking at all the possibilities...its more fun than a lot of the other wedding planning details!)

Did you do a ski honeymoon or anniversary? What resorts would you recommend?

Important: Reliable snow conditions and weather, variety of upper intermediate and advanced groomers and off piste skiing (DH will ski anything, I'll ski anything without mandatory air/super tight chutes/avy gear needed). Reasonably easy to get to (we would be flying from New England, and with only a week, we wouldn't want to waste more than a day on either end with travel).

Less important: 5-star food/lodging/resort amenities. Not looking to stay in the Aspen equivalent in Europe, although romantic and rustic-chic (think fireside lounge and hot tub access) would be great for the evenings.
We are ok with slower lifts/less developed if it means a more locals vibe, less commercializtion and less crowds.
 
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Christy

Angel Diva
Congrats!!

This doesn't answer the question you actually asked (don't you hate it when people do that?) but if you decide to say stateside, Sun Valley Lodge would be an amazing place for a honeymoon. The mountains is famous for those steep groomers and it's one of the least crowded resorts you'll find at Christmas over a school break. The fireplace suites, especially one of the ones overlooking the ice rink, are honeymoon worthy. The hot pool is the BEST. They have the whole romantic, rustic chic thing down in spades.
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
Agree with @Christy about Sun Valley. That would be an ideal honeymoon spot. Also Banff and Lake Louise is so picturesque ... scenery is so amazing it reminds me of skiing in Europe.
Are you interested in a particular country? Italy has great resorts in Aosta Valley that are more low key (if that's possible anywhere) l
French ski resorts (many of them are purpose built) so not as charming as say Chamonix.
Austrian and Swiss resorts are really beautiful and there are so many. Wengen in Switzerland is absolutely charming and pedestrian free. Zermatt is quite a bit bigger.
You can also incorporate a "city" with a ski trip as flights into Zurich to go to many Swiss resorts and you can stay in zurich.
 

Kimmyt

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I mean, if it were me I'd probably do one of the hut to hut ski tours but on googling them, they're not usually done when you want to go. We considered a european ski honeymoon but instead went climbing in Thailand. I liked the sounds of the ones where you can't have a car.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
My fiance and I are getting married in September 2019. I'm a teacher so the plan is to wait until Christmas or February school vacation that winter to take our honeymoon. We are thinking it would be amazing to do a European ski vacation.
Congratulations!

No advice about where to go in Europe other than to note that snow will certainly be better in February. Perhaps @santacruz skier would have ideas.

Note that with so many different countries, school holidays are all over the calendar during the winter. Here is a table that is put out every season for people planning ski vacations who want to try to avoid holiday periods.

https://www.zigzagski.com/calendar2019/
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
Congratulations!

No advice about where to go in Europe other than to note that snow will certainly be better in February. Perhaps @santacruz skier would have ideas.

Note that with so many different countries, school holidays are all over the calendar during the winter. Here is a table that is put out every season for people planning ski vacations who want to try to avoid holiday periods.

https://www.zigzagski.com/calendar2019/
see post #3 and yes good idea to know when school holidays are as trains are very crowded when trying to get around as well as ski areas.
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
Good link @marzNC . I'll be skiing Jan26 - Feb6 in St Moritz and Davos/Klosters......Definitely missing most of school holidays.
 

nopoleskier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Congratulations!! another vote for Sun Valley if you stay Stateside. The Mt and town is fantastic!!
 

marymack

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Hi everyone!
I thought I would post an update as the wedding day is getting close and we just booked the hotel for our ski honeymoon which will be in February.

A couple of months back I found a good deal on flights into Geneva airport so we booked it, but hadn't decided where to ski. I decided to reach out to Scout ski https://scoutski.com/ and filled out their form. Literally the day after, Vail made their big announcement about acquiring Peak resorts, suddenly as a New England skier, getting an Epic pass made a whole lot of sense. (We had held out on getting a season pass until we figured out where we wanted to go for the honeymoon). So looked on Epic's website and determined that there were 2 options in Europe. We suggested to the travel agent (who was still researching some ideas based on what we had told her we wanted) that we were now interested in going to Les 3 Vallees. She said that made a lot of sense and suggested we stay in Meribel. Hotels were a lot more $ than we are used to paying, but decided its our honeymoon so it makes sense to splurge a little. We are staying at Hotel L'Eterlou which sounds like it has a really nice heated outdoor pool and hot tub. We are going with the half board option as well, so breakfast and dinner is included. (or we can swap a dinner for a lunch and eat out in town for dinner). We are very excited!

TLDR: Who has been to Meribel? What are some must do things?
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
DH and I skied France, but it's back in 1988, so I'm sure Meribel has changed a lot. I remember that Les Menuire was concrete and presented a cold image to the usual alp chalets etc. Lots of variety. Is Courcheval still on the pass? We had a 10 day pass for the whole area.
 

marymack

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
DH and I skied France, but it's back in 1988, so I'm sure Meribel has changed a lot. I remember that Les Menuire was concrete and presented a cold image to the usual alp chalets etc. Lots of variety. Is Courcheval still on the pass? We had a 10 day pass for the whole area.

Yes, The Epic pass gets you 7 today days that can be used at any of the resorts:
  • Val Thorens
  • Méribel
  • Courchevel
  • Les Menuires
  • Saint Martin de Bellevelle
  • La Tania
  • Orelle
  • Brides-Les-Bains
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
Heard great things about meribel and courcheval. Tres chic
 

alison wong

Angel Diva
No advice on "must do things" as I've never been to the 3 valleys (Courchevel, Méribel and Val thorens) . The place is known as St. Tropez of France in winter, has the highest concentration of Michelin star restaurants. Courchevel is Prince Charles' favorite ski destination.

Red Guide Michelin - Méribel

My only suggestion if you are interested in french cuisine and dining experience, check out the website (link above). There is Michelin Red Guide published every year for restaurants in France, but for your purpose, use the website is sufficient.

Screen Shot 2019-08-21 at 9.24.53 PM.png
Michelin restaurant guide is very spot on, much much better and reliable than trip advisor / yelp in that regard.

For good value of money, I'd consider the "Bib Gourmand". There is 1 in Méribel. They won't be cheap but they offer good value for the money. e.g. you may pay $50 per person per meal at a Michelin 1 star restaurant for 3-course meal, but at restaurant rated as "Bib Gourmand", you pay the same price but you will get 5-course with wine pairing.... The Bib Gourmand restaurants are the ones aspiring to get Michelin star.

3 Michelin star will be an once in a lifetime dining experience, you will feel like being treated as king/queen.... But they do get booked up. If you want to check it out, I suggest lunch, coz they are pricey. (same for Bib Gourmand" restaurant, try lunch.)

Others worth checking:
1) Michelin Plate - 4 in Méribel. Rest spread out in Courchevel, val thorens...
2) 1 Michelin star - 1 in Meribel

I would NOT bother checking out "Michelin Guide selection". There is no 2 star restaurants in Méribel, they are all in Courchevel.

Between your half board and the above small list, I think your meals are pretty well covered. :becky:
 

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