UCPA Les Contamines — Hotel in Bonneville

I stayed with my son at UCPA Les Contamines for a week's skiing holiday in February 2022, booked through Action Outdoors.||||Pros: It was great value for a skiing holiday in half-term. I liked the food and was pleasantly surprised to find their were vegan options for dinner every night. My son would have liked more pain au chocolats at breakfast - it was normally ony cereal and French bread. It was useful to be able to make a picnic in the morning to take on the slopes. The rooms were quite basic but adequate and I'm glad we had our own sink. The shared toilets and showers were small but also adequate (on the first day the cold tap in our room didn't work and one of the toilets didn't flush but fortunately that was soon sorted out). I took a folding travel kettle so I could make cups of tea in the room.||||The staff were friendly and helpful. The ski hire was all done in the UCPA and there was a heated rack for ski boots. Ski and boot storage was organised by room number which worked well. The check-in process was quite efficient and we were then assigned to our lesson instructors.||||There was a jacuzzi which you could pay 8 euros to use. My son enjoyed the free climbing. There are various activities organised in the bar in the evening if that is your cup of tea.||||On the last day, we were able to ski in the morning and have a hot lunch as check-out is not until 2pm (you have to vacuum your room and wipe the sink).||||It was really helpful that the UCPA staff had put up lots of information on noticeboards. This included the bus timetables, photos of the bus stops and their names, and details of where to find the meeting point for the ski lessons.||||I liked the ski area of Les Contamines. It's relatively compact, has great views and there were lots of excellent blue and red runs. A lot of the reds were not much steeper than the blues.||||Cons: There are signs up asking people not to make noise or play music after 10pm However, on one night there was a noisy concert in the bar which went on until 10:45pm which we could hear from our room and which stopped us from getting to sleep.||||There was no wifi. The website says there is wifi in the bar area, but I was never able to connect to the network. ||||You have to take a bus to the ski slopes and then queue up for the gondola, which is a bit of a faff. Some of the morning buses are very crowded, although you can get a special UCPA bus on ski lesson days. On the Monday, the morning lessons left from the hotel due to the bad weather. We had been put in afternoon lessons. I wasn't sure if they would meet at the UCPA or at Etape (the lesson meeting point at the top of the first gondola) and couldn't get through to the UCPA on the phone to find out. We ended up coming back just in case and then trekking back up again when we saw the notice saying they would be at Etape. The lessons themselves were good, although having the lesson in the afternoon meant that we had to time our morning skiing around getting back to Etape on time. That said, Les Contamines is not a huge ski area so it does not take too...

I stayed with my son at UCPA Les Contamines for a week's skiing holiday in February 2022, booked through Action Outdoors.||||Pros: It was great value for a skiing holiday in half-term. I liked the food and was pleasantly surprised to find their were vegan options for dinner every night. My son would have liked more pain au chocolats at breakfast - it was normally ony cereal and French bread. It was useful to be able to make a picnic in the morning to take on the slopes. The rooms were quite basic but adequate and I'm glad we had our own sink. The shared toilets and showers were small but also adequate (on the first day the cold tap in our room didn't work and one of the toilets didn't flush but fortunately that was soon sorted out). I took a folding travel kettle so I could make cups of tea in the room.||||The staff were friendly and helpful. The ski hire was all done in the UCPA and there was a heated rack for ski boots. Ski and boot storage was organised by room number which worked well. The check-in process was quite efficient and we were then assigned to our lesson instructors.||||There was a jacuzzi which you could pay 8 euros to use. My son enjoyed the free climbing. There are various activities organised in the bar in the evening if that is your cup of tea.||||On the last day, we were able to ski in the morning and have a hot lunch as check-out is not until 2pm (you have to vacuum your room and wipe the sink).||||It was really helpful that the UCPA staff had put up lots of information on noticeboards. This included the bus timetables, photos of the bus stops and their names, and details of where to find the meeting point for the ski lessons.||||I liked the ski area of Les Contamines. It's relatively compact, has great views and there were lots of excellent blue and red runs. A lot of the reds were not much steeper than the blues.||||Cons: There are signs up asking people not to make noise or play music after 10pm However, on one night there was a noisy concert in the bar which went on until 10:45pm which we could hear from our room and which stopped us from getting to sleep.||||There was no wifi. The website says there is wifi in the bar area, but I was never able to connect to the network. ||||You have to take a bus to the ski slopes and then queue up for the gondola, which is a bit of a faff. Some of the morning buses are very crowded, although you can get a special UCPA bus on ski lesson days. On the Monday, the morning lessons left from the hotel due to the bad weather. We had been put in afternoon lessons. I wasn't sure if they would meet at the UCPA or at Etape (the lesson meeting point at the top of the first gondola) and couldn't get through to the UCPA on the phone to find out. We ended up coming back just in case and then trekking back up again when we saw the notice saying they would be at Etape. The lessons themselves were good, although having the lesson in the afternoon meant that we had to time our morning skiing around getting back to Etape on time. That said, Les Contamines is not a huge ski area so it does not take too...

We stayed here during the Easter 'families week'. I've been on many UCPA holidays as a young adult so knew what to expect. This isn't a luxury holiday but a great value ski trip if you embrace the UCPA culture. ||||Firstly, the resort while not one of the more well heard of resorts was great. Three supermarkets within walking distance, a nice patisserie and multiple coffee shops/creperies. Really nice and quiet. It's relatively low down but even in April it was snowing when we arrived! The snow higher up was typical spring conditions. ||||We were there in spring so it was actually really warm so we also hired a scooter for my daughter on a couple of mornings. (5e for half day from Ski 2000)||||During the family week it is ski only but i took my own snowboard and my partner was still allowed to use the rental snowboards from UCPA. It just meant unfortunately there were no groups to join. My daughter (7) did absolute beginner skiing and made good progress. There are some green runs in the village but these were closed as it was late season and the snow had melted. However, it was not much bother to get the 3 minute bus to the first gondola. The only time we ever queued when when we arrived before they had opened! ||||The accommodation is pretty basic and is probably due for a refurb like the other centres. There is one shower and one toilet between three rooms and this never really presented any issues. Each room has it's own sink. Our sink light did not work but as soon as I reported it to Cedric on reception it was fixed by the time we returned. ||||The ski area is relatively small if you're used to the 3 valleys etc but fine for beginners and families. I didn't get the chance myself but it has great potential for fresh tracks off piste (easy between piste) if there is snow.||||If you take your own kit it's worth utilising the great value technicians. They waxed my board for 5e! (Often up to 30e in the shops!). Otherwise the rental kit is generally less than a season old but does get heavy use!||||The food is great. Steaks, tuna, pasta, tartiflette, fish, chicken, calamari, salads and vegetables. Breakfast is pretty basic. There is a cooked lunch available which is great but we often opted to take a packed lunch which you make yourself at breakfast time. Freshly baked baguettes filled with ham and cheese etc||||You have to make your own bed and strip it at the end of the week. You're expected to clean, wipe and hoover your room on vacating. At dinner you are requested to wipe your own table and clear your own plates. This all helps keep the prices down! ||||I wouldn't hesitate to do another family week (in fact we've already booked winter 2023 in La Plagne) and just remember to take ear plugs if you're a...