The Region
Introduction
The house is in a mountain hamlet, surrounded by fields and forests, and overlooks the Belledonne mountain range, which is one of the most unspoiled of the alpine mountain ranges, with nearby skiing and other mountain activities (hiking, cycling, cross-country skiing, paragliding, …)
There are many walks both from the doorstep and nearby. There are lots of local activities including swimming, tennis, golf, the thermal baths of Uriage, restaurants, etc. etc.
Distances to nearby places (by car)
- 10 minutes from supermarkets / shops
- 15 minutes from the Grenoble University Campus
- 20 minutes from the center of Grenoble
- 20 minutes from Chamrousse, the nearby ski station
- 30 minutes from the Synchrotron / ILL research centers
- 90 minutes from Lyon airport or Geneva airport.
Public transport is available almost hourly to and from the hamlet Monday-Friday.
Our car is a 5-year-old Citroen Berlingo, which we can arrange to exchange if doing a house swap. It’s equipped with snow tires in the winter, and we’ve got chains “just in case” when going to ski stations. The roads around the house are very well cleared of snow in the winter, we’re not at a high altitude (610m) so only get significant snow 2 or 3 times in the year - although the snow in the fields and garden can last a month or two, the roads are completely clear.
In the house we have many books with walks and other things to do in the region, and a booklet we wrote for visitors with our favourite local places and things to do / see.
Skiing
The closest ski station is http://www.chamrousse.com, approx 20 minutes drive up the mountain. 90km of pistes, from beginners slopes to olympic downhill black runs, and plenty of fun in the powder between the pistes, there’s plenty for everyone. There are also over 40km of cross-country pistes, and plenty of back-country skiing. VIew their http://www.chamrousse.com/webcams.html.
There are numerous other ski stations near by:
- http://www.les7laux.com/fr/il4-webcams_p50-webcams.aspx - excellent black and off-piste runs - 50 minutes
- http://www.les2alpes.com/en or https://www.alpedhuez.com/en - excellent large ski stations, with glacier skiing, 90 minutes from home
- http://www.les3vallees.com/en/ - world’s largest ski area, 600km of pistes - 2 hours from home
- http://www.chamonix.com/chamonix-mont-blanc,0,en.html - 2 hours from home
… and many more smaller ski stations near by