How to plan a group ski trip to the French Alps

Before choosing a resort, write down three things: how many people are coming, how well they ski, and how many of them do not ski at all. A group of strong skiers, a mixed group of colleagues and a multi-generation family trip lead to three different resorts and three different kinds of accommodation.

Then decide the format. A full week, Saturday to Saturday, is the classic French ski holiday and the easiest to book. A long weekend of three or four nights works well for corporate groups and for anyone flying in from the UK, Belgium or Switzerland.

This is the step most groups from abroad get wrong. French school holidays in February are split into three zones over four weeks, and during that period resorts are full, prices rise and accommodation for groups is hard to find. Christmas and New Year follow the same pattern.

• January, after the first week, is the quietest and best-value period, with good snow at altitude
• March brings longer, sunnier days and fewer crowds once the French holidays are over
• Early April still works well in high-altitude resorts such as Tignes

UK half-term often overlaps with the French February holidays, so check both calendars before committing.

The French Alps offer dozens of resorts, from the large linked areas of Les 3 Vallées and Paradiski to Chamonix, the Aravis villages and quieter resorts in the Maurienne valley. The right one depends on your group's level, budget, travel route and dates. Tignes for altitude and snow-sure skiing, Alpe d'Huez for sunshine and mixed levels, Serre Chevalier for its larch forests and Orcières Merlette for a compact, family-scale base are a few of the options we often suggest. Our guide to the best French Alps ski resorts for groups explains how to choose.

Most groups fly into Geneva, Lyon or Grenoble, then take a private coach to the resort. Turin is a useful option for Serre Chevalier. A private coach is the simplest solution for a group: one meeting point at the airport, skis and luggage in the hold, and a drop-off at the door of the accommodation. We time the transfers to your flights and build the return the same way.

By train, Bourg-Saint-Maurice serves Tignes, Grenoble serves Alpe d'Huez, and Briançon, at the foot of Serre Chevalier, is reached by the night train from Paris.

The single most important thing for the group experience is staying together. Accommodation that can take an entire group in one building is limited in every resort and goes early, which is why we start there. Depending on the group, that means a residence with several apartments, a hotel with a block of rooms, or a private chalet for smaller groups.

Aura Mountain is a brand of Aura Provence, a travel agency registered in France with Atout France under number IM013250009 and covered by a financial guarantee. You have one contact, in English, from the first quote to the last day of the trip, reachable on WhatsApp throughout the stay. If your group is a company, see our page on corporate ski retreats in the French Alps.