Last updated on July 10, 2023
For this past New Year’s Eve, JC and I planned a ski trip with our good friends Sapo and Dennis. This was our second year in a row planning a New Year’s ski trip with them. We went there last year Bichlbachwhich is located in the Tyrol region of Austria. This year we decided to try the French Alps Le CorbierFrance. Le Corbier is one of six mountain peaks that comprise it Ski area Les Sybelles. The advantage of Les Sybelles is that you can easily ski all the connected peaks with one ski pass. It’s also incredibly family-friendly with ski lessons for children and childcare. And skiing in Les Sybelles won’t cost you anything: the prices for ski rental and passes are very reasonable. Read below everything you need to know about the area and how you too can plan a ski trip to Le Corbier and Les Sybelles.
How to plan a ski trip to Le Corbier – how to get there?
Le Corbier is located in the French Alps, on the border between France and Italy. The nearest airports to Le Corbier are Turin (Turin), Geneva And Lyon Unfortunately, there are no direct flights to Turin or Lyon from Berlin. And although there are direct flights to Geneva, renting a car in Switzerland is incredibly expensive. That’s why we chose to fly to Milan. Milan Malpensa Airport is closest to the French border. Unfortunately at the time of booking all flights between Berlin and Milan Malpensa were mysteriously cancelled. That’s why we ended up flying there Milan Linate Airportthe airport closest to the city of Milan. We rented a car from Milan Linate airport for five days for about 50 EUR per day, excluding the baby seat. The ride should last 3.5 hours from Milan to Le Corbier; however, we got stuck in a big traffic jam and it almost cost us 5 hours to get there! If you have the option to fly into one of the three nearest airports (Turin, Geneva or Lyon), do so as you will save a significant amount of driving time.
How to plan a ski trip to Le Corbier – Where to stay
When planning our trip to Le Corbier we found the Airbnb before choosing the destination. We’ve taken this approach a few times before, including our trip to Crete. Airbnb now has a great feature where you can filter by property ‘category’, so in our case we filtered by ‘skiing’ and then filtered by properties that were 2 bedrooms and located in Europe. Once we had our favorites, we compared the ski resorts and chose Le Corbier because of the number of slopes (it had the most). You can find the advertisement for our Airbnb on Le Corbier here. We paid EUR 765 for 4 nights with 4 people and a toddler. That is EUR 191 per night or EUR 95 per night per couple. Not so bad for the prime location right on the ski mountain.
For overall convenience, the location can’t be beat. There is a restaurant in the chalet, as well as a ski rental shop. Free ski lockers are also available on site and you can easily ski a few meters to the nearest chairlift up the mountain. The prices for ski rental were also reasonable, we paid 41.50 EUR for 3 days including skis, poles and helmets. One tip: go to the ski rental early! My husband and Sapo waited too late and had to go to another rental location because they ran out of skis! The ticket office is also located right next to the chalet, so you can buy your ski passes on the same day. However, I recommend purchasing your Saturday ski pass in advance (before Wednesday). online to obtain a 50% discount (25 EUR instead of 50 EUR!). You can then easily pick up the online ski pass at one of the ticket machines.
How to plan a ski trip to Le Corbier – Where to eat
There are many restaurants to choose from right in front of the Le Corbier ski slopes. However, our favorite by far was The Bear Fountain. We ate there on our last night in Le Corbier and it was the perfect restaurant to end our trip. We ordered cheese and meat fondue in advance (you have to tell all restaurants with anticipation whether you want fondue or raclette). For the cheese fondue I chose the truffle cheese and it was heavenly! If you like cheese and especially if you like truffles, this is a must! Our waiter was also incredibly friendly and attentive and spoke great English. Make sure you come here if you make a trip to Le Corbier and make sure you book in advance!
Options for children at Le Corbier
I desperately wanted my 2.5 year old daughter to get on skis for the first time in Le Corbier. I have emailed the ski school and they told me it was possible to teach my daughter at 9am (until 11am) or 11am (until 1pm). Prices are EUR 36 per lesson and can be purchased at the ESF ski school desk. I decided to wait to buy the lessons until I saw that I could actually get her on skis. The ski rental had her size (the smallest boots there) – for reference she has a shoe size of 25 EU. And I was even able to have her measure and try on the boots. However, when I tried to put the boots back on with her skis, she absolutely refused. I was devastated, but decided to rent her a sled instead, which she reluctantly got into.
What I didn’t know until too late was that Les Sybelles actually did that childcare facilities (daycare center) where you can leave your child for half or even a whole day. Oh well, next time! But a great option for parents who want to spend some ski time without their baby. JC and I alternated between going to Isabella and skiing (and we shared a ski pass accordingly), but it meant we never got to ski together.
And so we planned our trip to Le Corbier for New Years and everything you need to know to take a ski trip at Les Sybelles. Let us know in the comments if you have any favorite ski resorts in Europe that you think we should try next!
