It was one of the best moments of the week the first time I was able to ski all the way down without stopping from our practice slope to the bar/restaurant that had adopted us. We went skiing for the very first time in January this year and it didn’t get off to the best of starts thanks to the ineptitude of our tour operator (Crystal). We were dumped on the side of a snowy road and the very friendly staff at Le Brasero fed and watered us and stored our cases while we waited and waited and waited for the rep. The Crystal service got worse all week, but Le Brasero got better and better: it has great beer, vin chaud and hot chocolate; happy hours, sky sports, decent food and excellent low key live music which we even managed to get involved with (one of our party helped out on guitar). The atmosphere was great and we happily stopped there every evening to refuel with a jug (or two) of Hoegarden. And we could ski out (wobbling for a different reason!) home to our apartment too.

www.brasero.co.uk/
www.lavachet.com/

Google map: tinyurl.com/yggzwgy

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The vast majority of skiers and snowboarders travel by air. Typicaly, that means getting up in the middle of the night to get a charter flight from a crowded airport. But Tignes is one of many resorts that can easily be reached by train - a journey that is comfortable, easy, good value and surprisingly quick. You'll be able to find more information about these train journeys at a new website, www.snowcarbon.co.uk.

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This is a brilliant bar decked out Aborigne style - think great log benches, animal furs on the walls (fake, I hope) and a really charismatic hosts. He plays digeridoo music and it's low lighting and cave-like atmosphere make it really cool place to hang out.

Really don't expect a bar like it in a modern resort like Tignes.

Val Claret

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I have several tips for 'Brevs'! We stayed in Chalet Chardon which I highly recommend - the atmosphere is really friendly, everyone eats together and the bar underneath (The Underground) makes for much late night chalet bonding ... for better or worse! There's an amazing bit of off piste at the top of Grand Huit chairlift - trek up the steep slope opposite and over the other side is pristine powdery magic. And if that isn't enough at the bottom of the piste leading into Les Breviere there's an amazing mulled wine stall - a few euros gets you a mug full and a fast track to après ski table dancing! Oh and one last thing - if you are like me and not the best at the coordination thing, bum pads come in handy!

Chalet chardon - www.chaletchardons.com/skiing-resort.html
The Underground bar is below Chardon.
Mulled wine - from outside L'Armailly restaurant.
Bum pads - available in most good ski shops such as Snow and Rock.

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