The Skiers' Guide to Samoëns

Lovely quaint French town easily accessed by a short transfer from Geneva Airport of just over an hour.
The town is low lying, around 700 metres, and surrounded by snow capped mountains. Our apartment was a short walk away from the main access gondola. From there it would take around 30 minutes to reach the slopes of Flaine and the stunningly beautiful tree lined routes of Les Carroz. There was a good variety of reds and blues, probably less choice for the advanced skier. Mountain restaurants got busy at lunchtime but other quieter spots available too. Night life in Samoens not as lively as some bigger party resorts but there are some good bars and restaurants- although for the latter it’s advisable to book ahead. If you want to cook there is a well stocked supermarket on the outskirts of town. We took in an ice hockey match on our holiday which was a fun night. Highly recommend Samoens.

A beautiful and unspoilt resort with a traditional French feel. Very family friendly and good skiing. The slopes are well maintained and there are lots of lovely restaurants to choose from on the mountains

Stayed on 1600m plateau, lots of good green slope learning spaces. Resort had lots of adaptive skiing with experienced lifties who were very helpful during load/ unload of sit skis and upright adaptive skiers.

Wonderful ski area. It has an easy to access lift to town with a bus system that picks up around town and drops off at the main gondola. You can access 4 other ski areas from this point. Amazing alpines runs and some beautiful tree runs on way down the the village. The restaurants on the hill are incredible. The town has a great apresski and is filled with different activities and events every night not to mention the incredible dining options.

Nice small resort. Easter to get to than some of the large French Alps areas. More of a genuine small French ski village.

Samoens is a lovely small town. If you are ok having to take a (10 min) gondola up to ski base then it’s great.

Very local/family friendly. Definitely not the place if you’re keen for apres ski and partying. There are a few pubs in town and one more party place but even saying that is a stretch. The people are lovely and the grand massif is a great and manageable area. The reds are great but the blacks are limited. There are great off piste areas but the conditions weren’t great for off piste when I was there (not enough snow).

There is of course less snow than if you are higher up, but the slopes are well groomed and not too busy which is area blessing.

Amazing views of mont blanc and surrounding area.

Chair lifts are all a little old to be honest, slow and few have any cover which is hard on the colder/shadier days.

Out of school holidays this is an amazing ski area, with good links to other resorts for a variety of beginner to advanced skiing! Unfortunately it gets too busy to cope in my opinion in school holidays. You get this with all resorts but I find the infrastructure can't cope as well here with long queues for main lifts and pistes too busy. I've spent many ski holidays in this area and if you avoid school holidays it really is a dream to ski here.

Samoens is my favourite French value-for-money resort with a quick transfer via Geneva. Samoens is a pretty Savoyard village with a bubble lift up to the pistes.

Beautiful historic village, with masses of charm.
Great food, not too lively, but very friendly.
Magic place!

Really nice resort, loads of pistes and options. Great for intermediate skiers. Very family friendly and good accommodation. Nightlife isn’t great but morzine is close and that’s good.

Wonderful resort. Beautiful with amazing piste options and good transport. ESF was an excellent ski school

Great place for beginners and intermediate with great town but limited restaurant and bar options. Apres ski was great every Thursday and Saturday on the mountain, they have a dj playing with a Hypeman on the bongos

Gorgeous family friendly resort. No big apres or anything like that - wouldn’t recommend for a group of young adults! Lovely but quiet town.

Hour transfer from Geneva and grand massif pass gives you a lot of skiiing. Been coming since my teenagers were babies and the debutant pass has give. Them lots of independence and confidence . Zig zag is the ski school to use

A beautiful, not too large ski resort and friendly quaint town. Samoens has all you need if you just want to ski and have nice food. It is not insanely busy nor is the place for bustling apres. Very good for families and groups of skiers/boarders of all levels.

Go here every year and love it, lots of runs and Mountain to explore with amazing scenery. Amazing food, people are lovely with loads of options for all levels of skier.

Was not as much snow the week I went but still plenty of long runs open, pistes are fun and well maintained, there's always beginner snow parks open to try some jumps, and you can easily access other resorts in the mountain

Really lovely ski town with great connections to flain and some smaller villages which are worth a visit. Super family friendlyespecialy marvel run to morillon for kids. 5km long with great views and picnic benches along the way. Great food options in town. Ice skating rink also there. Plus food market on Wednesdays.

Not alot of snow at the very beginning of January so hard to properly review all areas but the groomed slopes are nice and were visably maintained every day, lifts are run well and overall would return for another visit

We are lucky enough to have friends with a chalet in samoens so we have been there for the last 4 years. It’s a tale of 2 resorts, outside of school holidays it is lovely, peaceful well groomed and friendly, in the holidays there are areas that are mayhem, especially getting down from tete de saix to 1600 where the first bit can be a bit scary especially at the end of the day. If the snow is not good you can ski over to flaine which has better snow and nice wide pistes. The link over to flaine is not easy for beginners but manageable.

Samoens itself is a lovely town, lots of nice places to eat out, probably not great if you are into crazy night life, but great for families.