Within the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, lies Val d’Isère, a ski resort with a typical charm of a Savoyard village. Union nationale des centres sportifs de plein air (UCPA) Val-d'Isère, France, was where i spent my week long ski trip at. In this blog, i will be sharing my experience at UCPA, how i got there, how much did it cost, along with many other FAQs about a ski trip. Also, this is the first time i am trying skiing! One major highlight of the ski trip was partying on the mountains, which you could read about in another blog post.

About Val-d'Isère

Val-d'Isère (pronounced like 'vaal dee sair') and Tignes (pronounced like 'tings') together form the ski area known as Espace Killy. This was my first time being in a ski resort, and what does the general vibes feel like? Think of a typical christmas-vibed village filled with people skiing around merrily, except that this was towards the end of spring with the sun in your face.

While our ski pass allowed us to access both ski areas, we spent most of our time at the Val-d'Isère of Espace Killy. The entire valley was said to have about 82 lifts and 300 kilometers of slopes with all sorts of difficulties, that is alot of slopes! I know that not everyone is good with maps, but here is an annotated version of the piste map so that you could follow this blog a little more clearly :) Refer back to this map when you are reading the blog and wondering "Where exactly did this happen?".

In summary, we spent most of our time in Village because thats where UCPA is located, but the classes were held at various locations depending on your instructor. Locations could vary from the Village Ski Area, Solaise or even Olympique. Cocorico and La Folie Douce are just the names of the clubs which we had lots of fun during our après-ski.

Getting in and out of Val-d'Isère

Most of the friends we met on the ski trip got there via a flight into Genève Aéroport (GVA) AKA Geneva airport. From the airport it was fairly straight forward to get to the ski resort, everyone uses a bus provider called Ben's Bus. It costed about 49GBP (~80SGD) for a one-way bus ticket that goes directly from the GVA airport to Val-d'Isère. While you may think this is rather expensive, this would probably be one of the cheapest and most straight forward options that you could find (we cross compared prices for SNCF trains, flixbuses, and renting a car).

Leaving Val-d'Isère we opted for a different option as we were headed to Milan to continue our month-long spring break, this was a combination of buses and trains that lasted from the first thing in the morning until evening.

Here is a summary:

1) Val-d'Isère -> Bourg Saint Maurice (Bus)

This cost 12 Euros for a one-way ticket from the provider Altibus. The journey took about 1 hour and leaves from Val-d'Isère Gare Routière. We left at 7am and arrive in Bourg Saint Maurice to enjoy some nice croissants for breakfast while waiting for our next train.

2) Bourg Saint Maurice -> Chambéry (Train)

This costs about 12 Euros for a one-way ticket from the french national railway, SNCF. The journey takes about 2 hours and winds through the beautiful French alps! The train arrives at Gare de Chambéry (Challes-Les-Eaux), just in time for a delicious lunch of Savoyarde cuisine. After that, you could take your time to explore the lovely and quaint town of Chambéry while waiting for the next train.

3) Chambéry -> Milan (Train)

This costs about 55 Euros for a one-way ticket also from SNCF. The journey takes about 4 hours and crosses from the French to the Italian alps, you could stare out the windows as the landscape changes drastically while the sun sets. We arrived in Milano Porta Garibaldi at about 8pm in the evening, just in time for a delicious pizza dinner.

The Accomodations

Ok enough about how to get there, one of the biggest questions is: Where do we sleep? Nothing fancy. But with the price we paid, it was very decent!

Our room had 3 bunk beds (which sleeps 6), of course each of the beds had a set of pillows and duvet (really warm ones because the ski resort gets pretty chilly at night). Everyone had their own lockers which locks with a pass code that you set on your own. There was also a sink in the room so that you could brush your teeth at without going to the toilet.

This blog post has not been completed yet :(

Unfortunately, i am still in the midst of writing this blog post. Do let me know if reading about this trip particularly interests you, and i could expedite the writing of this particular blog post. You could also contact me for an itinerary or help planning a simillar trip, i would be glad to help you out!