Resort information for Flaine

Flaine is made up of concrete Bauhaus-style blocks that form the core of the resort and were conceived in the sixties as ‘an example of the application of the principle of shadow and light’. They look particularly shocking from the approach road – a mass of blocks nestling at the bottom of the impressive snowy bowl.

The Grand Massif is an impressive area; but the greater part of the domain lies outside the main Flaine bowl and the links can be closed by excessive wind or snow. However the slopes are a big white playground. A jumbo gondola speeds you in a single stage up the north face to the Flaine bowl, with a magnificent view of Mont Blanc – most of the runs are reds. The main part of Flaine’s slopes lie on the wide north- and north-west-facing flank of the Grandes Platieres, and keep snow well. Many of the trouble queue spots have now been eliminated even in high season, but there can be problems when the resorts are full and at weekends.

In the Flaine bowl, the few restaurants available are overcrowded, so go back to base or to other areas of the mountain. In Flaine proper, everything is close by: supermarket, sports rental shops, ski schools, main lifts out etc. There are children all over the place; they are catered for with play areas, and the resort is supposed to be traffic-free. For eating out, there is enough choice for a week and you can eat and drink into the early hours here if you move around a bit – but you don’t have much choice of venue.