What up !

I'm planning a sick trip with my girlfriend: going to live in the French Alps for the whole winter (or so).. I have no idea of appartment websites or ways to find anything to rent for the whole winter.  I checked on Kijiji, and I basically found only weekly deals for holidays.   Has any of you guys already done that and could give me some advice/info? 


Thanks alot..!!!

Yeah man, but this season is gonna rock (i hope).. the thing is my gf is french, and she wants to go back, eventually to convince me to live in Europe!!   I'm gonna try living in the nicest resorts, for sure. I'm not going there to fuck around in some shitty resort.  I'm thinking Tignes or Avoriaz... Serchevalier also.. but I need so lodging/living advice first , and I can't find ads damnit.
Thanks for answering though
peace

bump..
anyone?!

there are plenty of options for accommodation in any european resort. so if you are focusing on france with no specific target you might take a look at www.skifrance.com where you can find further specific resort links. If you browse around you'll find similar sites..like: http://www.internet-cottages.com/France/ski-apartments-france.php

While most of the offers you'll find are hotels and pensions, a more suitable alternative for long term lodging is renting a studio or an apartment, which is considerably cheaper (i'd say way cheaper than in BC, if it's to compare with canada)

The idea is that as you narrow you search to a specific resort (ski area) you can search the local website for this kind of apartments or simply send an email the local tourist info with what you're looking for.


[Edited by orangerolls on 9/12/2008 at 1:12 AM]
[Edited by orangerolls on 9/12/2008 at 6:17 AM]

Will definitely look into these websites, I have already started browsing through them..
I actually chose 3 different resorts: Morzine/Avoriaz, Chamonix or the Three Valeys... I found a couple things,, my girlfriend is gonna call the tourist info down at Morzine, so we'll have a good idea of what they could offer/help us with. 
Thanks alot for posting this, its gonna help for sure!

Cheers!

Try looking on here...

http://www.natives.co.uk/travel/lets/index.htm

whats up.  dont listen to haters from canada trying to rain on your parade!  i'm from north america and have spent a bit of time living and riding in euroworld.  as for france, true to the point about snow conditions compared to a plcae like slc or spots in BC as far as total accumulation, but the fact is, riding and living somewhere like Chamonix (which I would recommend) is more about the experience itself.  Cham is flat out one of the worlds' winter "meccas."  If you haven't made it there to experience some of the steepest and gnarliest terrain in the world, then you kinda missed the boat when it comes to riding.  I guess its a 'right of passag' type thing.  kind of like AK in many ways.  There is a dsitinction between those who are there for mountaineering first-riding second, and those there for riding primarily and mountaineering secondary. I fall into the second category, but many of my friends (and subsequent drinking buddies) are the opposite.  Ultimately, if you spend enough time there, you'll mix the two together eventually.  if you don't, then you'll be wasting your time in what might be the winter adventure sport capital of europe.  Ride the world...and in your case ride the mega-massive French Alps!

what up dude..!  Yeah man, I obviously didnt listen to those haters your talking about, canada might be nice, but the Alps are for sure worth the spend! In fact, I figured cham might have been a bit small for 4 months, as from the comments everyone gave me.. instead we chose Avoriaz/Morzine :-D !   I think that is also a great choice.. it looks much bigger and everything is linked... really.  I'll probably go a day at La Grave and one in Chamonix...  I think i'm also in the second category, if i really get what your saying... so ill have a freakin blast at the portes du soleil! are you riding there this winter (alps) ? Ride the world for sure, thats the whole point of snowboarding!!!  The Alps are the first step for me.. thanks dude!

Yo! congrats on making the decision to move to euroworld.  you already took the first step finding a french girlfriend...from my experience I can only guess that she's hot considering most of the french girls are!  I live in Chamonix but will be cruising around france, switz and the aosta valley in italy all season.  yeah, avoriaz/morzine has tons of terrain so you'll be stoked.  drop me a line during the season (i think you can send a message directly to me in this site but i'm not sure) and maybe we can meet up for a day or two on the hill.  btw, not sure what you're doing for work or your language skills, but there is a huge english speaking population in the french alps so no worries on finding some help along the way if you need it.  good luck and give me a heads up when you roll into france if you want.  vive le france!

dude, defintiely stoked for you about getting to europe but i'd like to offer maybe a bit of guidance in terms of where to go in france (kind of thought about it after i logged off last time).  morzine/avoriaz is unquestionably large, but they've had some issues (especially two years ago) with snow coverage due to its elevation.  I would definitely head to Chamonix or Val d'Isere/Tignes (Espace Killy) if you're looking for a top notch season on and off the slopes.  The mountains in Cham and Val kick morzines ass in just about everything from snow to steeps to backcountry, and the party scene is WAY better, not to mention that cham in particular has all the amenities (albeit a bit spendier) that anyone would possibly need. These are things to think about when it comes time to find jobs or make some connections.  The terrain park in Val/Tignes is pretty sweet as well if you're into jibbing.  Either way, its going to be a great experience for you, but why not get the most out of riding in the Alps...you never know when you'll get the chance like this again.  i lived in europe for a couple of years, headed back to the states (for some great years mind you) but it took way longer for me to return to the alps and get re-established.  just looking out for a fellow traveler...do what you will with the advice and let me know if you have any questions about riding in euroworld. later.

yo dude,
Thanks for the advice but unfortunately we couldnt manage to find any affordable lodging in Tignes, as we found stuff in chamonix but I figured with advice from others that 4 months riding cham might become boring... I heard a lot of good of it but also a lot of bad, since there seems to be alot of unlinked areas... also the terrain is not as big.  I heard there was a huge seasonnaires community in morzine/avoriaz, so I figured they're there for something!! We found the best aaffordable apartment in morzine, actually right next to morzine.. the thing is booked and rented, actually i wouldve considered tignes a bit more if i would have had your advice before, damnit, but anyways i think its gonna be awesome anyways... i hope the snow issues wont fall on avoriaz this year, or i think ill go crazy... anyways looking forward to meet you on the slopes, actually i dont know if im gonna be able to travel between mountains really, since ill be pretty short on cash or at least on a very tight budget: ill be trying to work around 2 days a week, but i cant find part time job postings over the web.. anyways ill look deeper into that in the next days, but i have a lot things on my mind so maybe ill just finish off by finding one on the spot over there.. what about yourself? are you working full/part time and I guess you've found your job already?  It would be nice riding along and partying in morzine if you drop by!! well talk about that later for sure !
thanks dude, later


[Edited by hemper0r on 30/10/2008 at 10:19]

Posted by peakhopper
Yo! congrats on making the decision to move to euroworld.  you already took the first step finding a french girlfriend...from my experience I can only guess that she's hot considering most of the french girls are!  I live in Chamonix but will be cruising around france, switz and the aosta valley in italy all season.  yeah, avoriaz/morzine has tons of terrain so you'll be stoked.  drop me a line during the season (i think you can send a message directly to me in this site but i'm not sure) and maybe we can meet up for a day or two on the hill.  btw, not sure what you're doing for work or your language skills, but there is a huge english speaking population in the french alps so no worries on finding some help along the way if you need it.  good luck and give me a heads up when you roll into france if you want.  vive le france!

ahah forgot about that post,  my language skills are pretty good, actually I'm from Montreal, so French is my first language, but I speak pretty good english, i might not be perfectly bilingual, but I would say almost..! later

[Edited by hemper0r on 10/31/2008 at 9:17 AM]

Posted by hemper0r
Yeah man, but this season is gonna rock (i hope).. the thing is my gf is french, and she wants to go back, eventually to convince me to live in Europe!!   I'm gonna try living in the nicest resorts, for sure. I'm not going there to fuck around in some shitty resort.  I'm thinking Tignes or Avoriaz... Serchevalier also.. but I need so lodging/living advice first , and I can't find ads damnit.
Thanks for answering though
peace

I'm in Meribel at the moment, leaving on Monday. But 3-Valleys style Meribel/Courcheval/Val Thorens is pretty sweet. I didn't even get to ride most of Val-Thorens (Mind you that's because I'm using my friend's season pass - she's working here and broke her wrist, so can't really use it and I don't want to get pulled for it in another Valley.)

Courcheval is really laid back, but very expensive. Park is great. Meribel has an alright park, very nice rides, good powder areas when it dumps (Hopefully over-night. Fingers crossed). Way too many skiers for my liking though.

Avoriaz is sweet, were back off there in 3 weeks cant wait, the terrain is amazing and the snow 2 years ago when we were there was fine