Alpe d'Huez or Flaine?
Alpe d'Huez takes 5 of 9, with 2 too close to call. That still does not settle it — only the categories you care about count.
France
Alpe d'Huez
300 days of sun a year, a huge south-facing bowl and the 16 km Sarenne run. The sun that sells it also wrecks the lower pistes by March afternoon.
Worth knowing. South-facing, so the lower pistes are wrecked by a March afternoon.
Choose it if
Snowboarders
About £1,133 a week from London
France
Flaine
A snow-sure north-facing bowl an hour from Geneva, and one of the shortest transfers to a big area in the Alps. Bauhaus concrete village that families forgive because everything is ski-in/ski-out.
Worth knowing. A treeless bowl and a concrete village. Families forgive both; nobody else does.
Choose it if
Families with young kids
About £1,084 a week from London
Side by side
| Alpe d'Huez | Flaine | |
|---|---|---|
| Snow reliability | 83/100 | 62/100 |
| Size of the ski area | 250 km | 265 km linked |
| Top lift | 3330 m | 2500 m |
| Cost before travel | €1085 | €1040 |
| Families with young kids | 7/10 | 9/10 |
| Snowboarders | 8/10 | 6/10 |
| A non-skiing partner | 5/10 | 3/10 |
| Budget and après | 7/10 | 5/10 |
| Off-piste | 8/10 | 7/10 |
Bold marks the winner. Rows where neither is bold are close enough that the difference would not change a decision. Cost excludes travel, which depends on where you leave from.
Piste kilometres, lift counts and prices are indicative and compiled from public sources — they have not yet been checked against the resort's own figures for this season. Costs are planning estimates, not quotes. Spotted one that is wrong? Tell us.