Overview
Set within the beautiful Savoie region of the French Alps, between the Beaufortain mountains and the Val d'Arly, opposite the Mont Blanc Massif, the Espace Diamant ski area comprises 6 beautiful and traditional hamlets and quaint villages where you'll find some stunning ski-in, ski-out chocolate box ski chalets that have stood the test of time.
Arriving via the Autoroute Blanche via St Gervais and Megeve, the first resort you come to is the pretty village of Praz sur Arly, famous for its balloon races. A little further on brings you to Flumet - St Nicolas and then as you climb the mountain, the villages of Crest Voland & Cohennoz, Bisanne-1500, Notre Dame de Bellecombe and Les Saisies come in to view.
Hautelauce is on the other side of Les Legette and connects to Les Contamines - itself part of the Evasion Mont Blanc chain of resorts that offers 220 pistes covering 445km with 112 lifts!
| Mountain facts | |
|---|---|
| Pistes | 185kms |
| Slopes | 253 |
| Green | 31 |
| Blue | 63 |
| Red | 48 |
| Black | 10 |
| Snowparks | 8 |
| Lifts | 82 |
| Mountain Restautants | 32 |
Skiing Around Espace Diamant
The ski area enjoys exceptionally good snowfall from mid-November to the end of April, with an average of nearly 8m of powder every year.
Beginners
For the complete beginner, there are some excellent nursery slopes across the entire region with many of the green and blue pistes accessed directly from the villages.
Intermediate
Long cruising blues and red pistes link all the resorts around the Espace Diamant which means ski safaris are extremely popular. Starting off early morning, its possible to ski around all 6 resorts in one day.
Advanced
For the advanced skier there are 10 blacks around the circuit! Off-piste is where you'll have most fun and given the scale of the terrain, hiring a local guide is a good investment if you want to get the most out of the Espace Diamant.
Snowboarding
With 8 snowparks dotted around the slopes, the Espace Diamant carousel has a lot to offer snowboarders whether you are a beginner or expert.
Other activities
If you don't fancy skiing or boarding, there are plenty of other activities to keep you busy around the villages of the Espace Diamant including...
- Sledging
- Snowshoeing
- Snowmobile
- Winter walking trails
- Paragliding
- Leisure and spa centres
There are also many day trips to tempt you away from the slopes. Megeve is very popular and just 15 minutes drive up the Val d'Arly past Praz sur Arly. It has a fantastic car free centre with great shops, bars and restaurants.
Wellness & spa
Les saisies is the main resort offering wellness and spa facilities and for the 2014-15 season, the new Acquasportif Centre will open its doors. Offering state of the art facilities including a 200m fun pool, spa, sauna, gym and squash courts, the centre is the perfect retreat for those bad weather days.
Après-ski
All the villages offer typical apres-ski bars and restaurants where you can enjoy a few beers after a days skiing and sample some traditional Savoie cuisine. However, don't expect rocking parties until the early hours as you find in the mainstream international resorts such as Chamonix, Val d'Isere and Les 2 Alpes. For a more sophisticated evening, Bisanne is getting a big reputation as the next Megeve with trendy champagne bars and fine dining.
Featured ski chalets
Espace Diamant holiday rentals
With a mixture of traditional chalets and new style apartments, the accommodation options around the 6 villages cater for all budgets and tastes. Many of the self-catering apartments and ski chalets in Les Saisies offer ski-in, ski-out whilst the pretty hamlets of Notre Dame de Bellecome, Bisanne-1500 and Crest Voland Cohennoz have many picture postcard rustic chalets with roaring log fires that make you want to indoors!
Whichever village you choose for your ski holidays and whether a chalet rental or apartment, the scenery is spectacular and you are never far from the slopes and local apres-ski bars and restaurants.
Featured ski resorts
Offering a warm and very friendly stay, the 6 villages within the Espace Diamant area are excellent value and provide nothing less than the highest quality in service and fantastic chalets for you to enjoy your ski holidays. The skiing terrain is simply fantastic and ideal for all levels of skier or boarder.
Families & children
As far as family ski holidays go, the Espace Diamant area is the ideal destination. Uncrowded slopes, great ski-schools and lots of gentle terrain to practice your turns. If you think of the Chamonix Valley with its steep valley walls and infamous off-piste terrain, the Espace Diamant is the complete opposite with confidence building pistes.
In Les Saisies, there are themed ski trails for children in the enchanted forest and for older kids, there is the alpine twister - an 800m toboggan run on rails!
Our view
The Espace Diamant is probably one of the best kept secrets in terms of skiing holidays. With 185km of uncrowded linked pistes, forest trails, rolling meadows and an excellent standard of accommodation with many ski-in, ski-out chalets, its hard to beat. This might explain why the pace of new chalet developments has picked up in recent years as the word gets out that there are excellent alternatives to the expensive yet popular carousels such as Paradiski and The 3 Valleys. Our suggestion is to visit this lovely part of the French Alps soon before it gets overrun with tourists!
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