Samoëns Reviews & Ratings

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.

I went over new years which was a very busy time which didn’t help for ski lifts efficiency. Also hadn’t snowed in a while which didn’t help. Other than that, loads of slopes and great runs. Great food aswell

Samoens is connected to Flaine and Les Carroz offering a wide skiing area and network of lifts with varied terrain and required skill levels. Flaine is a purpose built resort in the centre of a bowl with the majority of runs. Samoens is a charming town 2 valleys away in a plataeu with great choice of resturants, bars, shops and accomodation. There is one big cable car up from a big car park on the edge of town so it can be a bit of a bottleneck in the morning. However if you want the best of both worlds - charming town / not concrete resort with access to a large ski area? Samoens is perfect. I've also stayed in Les Carroz, a smaller, higher village one valley closer to the Flaine bowl. Equally charming but quite a bit smaller. Personally I prefer it as its further in to the ski area.

Lovely resort. Stay in Samoens and get the Grand Massif Lift up. Plenty of runs to explore. A lot of icy runs due to tree coverage lower down the mountain but excellent conditions higher up. Samoens is a lovely small village to stay in - plenty of accommodation options, great restaurants and other activities to get up to.

We have brought our children up skiing in Samoens. It has got great connections to other villages so you can ski somewhere different every day. Runs for all levels. And its a gorgeous village to wander round when yourr not skiing.

It’s a lovely resort part of the Grand Massif - a charming village with a very relaxed family feel. The skiing is ok - can get slushy especially at lower levels in Morrillon but you can usually find good snow on the higher slopes in Flaine

Great trip, really quiet slopes with loads of kilometres. Flaine was busier but best slopes. Great food and drink options all very well priced.

Stayed here twice in Feb once with friends and then with family.

Stayed in the village which is a beautiful French village full of charm, coffee shops and croissants! There was an amazing burger shop which served delicious cheap wine and an extensive burger menu.

As we were in the village we had to make use of the buses to the lifts, but it was incredibly straightforward and never really encountered much of a queue at the base lifts - even in school holiday.

The slopes were well looked after and lots of options for all abilities.

Overall a great resort with short transfer times and I would visit again

A charming mountain town with great access to a huge ski area. A really good option if you’d like to experience stay somewhere a little less hectic but still has great lift connections.

Fabulous resort for lots of skiing; very large area and easy to navigate. Some runs need either taking care of better or re-labelling as more difficult but overrall lots of good skiing.

W elove Samoens for it's huge beginner area that is excellent for building confidence and enjoying the scenery. Out of school holidays, it is nice and quiet. It is perfect for families.

Great ski resort with a mixture of runs for all abilities. Runs are very quiet with small lift queues.

We love the village and easy access to the whole grand massif ski area!It is a beautiful resort with a wide range of runs, plenty of cafes along the slopes too!

Such a gem of a resort. Very accessible from Geneva, only an hour. Great accommodation near ski lift. Beautiful restaurants in the village. Very economical. Returning for second time next week.

I learnt to ski this year at samoens at 34. Loads of great slopes to learn on and plenty to progress onto where my more experienced fiancé coupe have fun as well. The town is lovely and the bus service works a treat and is free. Looking forward to getting back out there next year.

Great family friendly place.
Supermarket on outskirts of town is normal prices good for self catering.
We hired skis that had storage at the bottom of the Main ski lift really handy / made things easy

Love Samoens, family friendly, great little bakeries and eateries and close to the lifts going up to linkages to flaine and the like. We loved it so much that we are going back in April.

Samöens is an overall good resort with relatively high snow reliability from mid December- March, with a great ski area in the Grand Massif.

However in Peak weeks like New year or February holidays, queues for lifts such as Chariande Express can be upwards of 30+ minutes, with the runs at the summit of the mountain (Tete des Saix) being very congested and being full of moguls come lunchtime, not ideal at all and is quite frankly dangerous with experienced skiers mixing with beginners inevitably resulting in collisions.

This is caused by the other chairlift at Samöens 1600 the Chariande 2 being unserviceable as one of the pylons has since moved, thus being deemed unsafe. But lift queues can be avoided by accessing the Coulouvrier lift. However this lift has been built slightly too low, so the snow quality isnt always the best and can be a very icy run, however I would ski down (if able) to access the Coulouvrier lift to save queue time. So in terms of the ski side of things, Samöens is an excellent resort if visiting outside peak weeks, but still a good resort during peak weeks (as unfortunately queues are inevitable nearly everywhere in the Alps at this time).

There is a great selection for ski lessons as well, personally I believe the best school in Samöens is 2skifly, they teach skiing and snowboarding to a high quality in different languages. But of course you can find others e.g ESF.

In the village after skiing there is a vast range of restaurants and bars as well as Apres Ski Samöens which has always got a good vibe to it and regularly holds a live DJ set. Pricing is pretty standard averaging 6-7 euros a pint of beer, and 18-20 euros for burger and chips. However when having lunch at Samöens 1600 be sure to eat at Brasserie des Saix which is cheaper and always quieter as Im fairly sure it can only be accessed via the red (marmot) run.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Samöens with some great bluebird powder days and would like to come back and would recommend it 100% outside of peak weeks but still during peak weeks just as long as your know what your doing and a confident skier.

Stewart.

Lovely family ski resort with a range of pistes. Good restaurants up the mountain with traditional feel and good food. Reasonable resort wit options for apres.
Good bakeries for breakfast.
Pretty pistes and a very unspoilt resort.