Cross-Country Skiing La Féclaz

Have you ever wanted to go skiing in France? Cross-country skiing La Féclaz offers a gorgeous tranquil spot in southern France to get away from it all. It’s located one hour south of Annecy, and it takes just under two hours of driving to reach Lyon. Many accommodations can be found in this region depending on what you’re looking for. The snow conditions can vary depending on how much it snows in the region but that’s to be expected with winter activities. The trail conditions were great for us once we got further into the forest. The town offers several restaurants for your choosing. It’s a great place to relax, get exercise cross-country skiing and spend time with your family!

Stayed at Chalet Nordique 26

Reservation Details

We stayed in this quaint chalet. To reserve it, click here. Depending on the week you would like to book, it costs between four hundred and nighty euros and eight hundred and fifty euros. The chalet consisted of one room with two single beds upstairs for my brother and I and an additional room with a double bed for my parents to sleep. We accessed the upper floor by going up a narrow circular staircase. There isn’t a substantial amount of room to go up the stairs. Keep that in mind for people with mobility difficulties.

Main Floor

The main floor consists of a sitting area, a kitchen, a living room, and a bathroom. There’s a patio to enjoy if it’s sunny. We had the opportunity to soak in the hot sun rays and enjoy some family time outside together. The chalet has been updated since we visited. Check out the website for current pictures. The chalet was snug for four people, but we managed. We didn’t spend a lot of time in the chalet but when we did, my family and I played games, ate our meals, and chilled. We were mostly out skiing or visiting the surrounding areas.

Made our own Meals

It was wonderful to be able to make our own meals and buy groceries in town. The chalet included the dishes we needed to make our food. This helped save on costs instead of eating out at restaurants. We did on occasion enjoy the French cuisine at a restaurant, of course!

Walking Distance for Cross-Country Skiing La Féclaz

Similar chalets are located along the downhill ski hill, for easy access, in case you choose that activity. It’s a longer walk to reach the Nordic skiing centre. To reach “l’office de tourisme” (tourism office), it is a ten-minute walk from this location and a fifteen-minute walk to “le Domaine Nordique” (nordic cross-country skiing area).

Rentals for Cross-Country Skiing La Féclaz

The tourism office offers information of things to do in the town and places to visit, including restaurant suggestions. Most importantly, it has rentals for cross-country skiing La Féclaz. You can also purchase a single or consecutive days ski pass at this location.

For the entire day, it’s free for children younger than six years old. It costs seven euros for young adults aged six to sixteen years old and ten euros for adults (aged seventeen to sixty-nine). For more information, check out Savoie Grand Revard’s prices.

Our chalet didn’t offer wi-fi, so we accessed our emails in the Tourism office lobby, every so often.

Le Petit Canada: Savoie Grand Revard

We found le Petit Canada (Little Canada) with the maple leaf in white surrounded by red (opposite from the maple leaf on our Canadian Flag) inside the Savoie Grand Revard visitor centre. The reason is that this region reminds them of Canada’s landscapes. Never thought we’d find Little Canada in France, but it was an awesome and welcome discovery! It totally deserved a picture! We were thrilled as Canadians!

Domaine Nordique La Féclaz – Savoie Grand Revard

This is the main gate to access cross-country skiing La Féclaz. Here is a map that shows you where to go. You can cross-country ski to the other three regions (Porte du Revard Station, Porte du Revard/Crolles and Porte de St. François de Sales) in one to two hours. These other areas can also be accessed by driving to them.

The different trails are indicated by level of difficulty. Green is easy, blue is moderate, red is difficult and black is very difficult. Green trails generally imply flat terrain with mild hills. Skiers should be comfortable skiing consistently in the tracks. Blue trails indicate going up or down hills of moderate difficulty. Red trails will require more skilled skiing to ascend and descend steeper hills. Black trails involve the most difficult types of hills. Skiers need to maneuver through narrow and possibly bumpy hills. The trails can be incredibly steep with sharp turns. Skiers need to be able to maneuver quickly on skis to adapt to trail challenges.

Back when we visited in 2013, there wasn’t much snow and the temperatures were mild, but we had an awesome time and made the best of the conditions. We did have to watch out for icy sections.

Classic Cross-Country Skiing La Féclaz

Tracks for Ease of Cross-Country Skiing La Féclaz

Classic cross-country skiing at La Féclaz stretches across one hundred and forty kilometers of trails meandering through forests and pastures. Tracks are provided for your skiing pleasure. This will allow you to go faster and have control when moving forward. It’s a lot of work to move if you don’t have tracks to guide you.

Waxless Skis

We rented waxless skis when cross-country skiing La Féclaz. It was nice not to have to deal with applying wax but a weird feeling having less traction and control when skiing.

Chaos Multi Tubular Headwear

My ears were kept warm while airing out my head by wearing Chaos Multi Tubular Headwear – Unisex. A toque would have been too warm on a mild weather day like we experienced. The light fabric is lovely to keep the wind from howling in one’s ears and protects them from getting cold. The headwear has a tubular shape allowing a re-adjustment and folding it onto itself for a double layer. You can purchase it as a present for yourself or for someone in your life who loves cross-country skiing.

Clothing Layers

I was wearing a lightweight jacket with a merino wool underlayer to keep me warm but also to prevent me from overheating while cross-country skiing. My brother sporting the green fleece chose this option to keep him warm with a light base layer underneath. It wasn’t very windy; he didn’t require a windbreaker. A light pair of mitts helped keep our hands from getting cold to the outside air.

Skate Skiing La Féclaz

As you can see in this picture, the two parallel lines on both sides of the trail are specific to classic cross-country skiers. You’d ski in the right tracks as you head out from the start and then head back on the opposite left side. The same rules as walking apply to skiing. Skate skiers move aside for each other when travelling in opposite directions as they share the skate skiing inside space. If you go, pay attention to the signs. Sometimes, they’ll have directional arrows to set up one-way traffic and avoid collisions.

My mom decided to try skate skiing. Turns out, it was quite a workout! This type of skiing requires specific skis that are geared to skate skiing. They allow a skier to push each ski off to the right and then to the left in opposite directions to easily move forward. Unfortunately, my mom landed on her butt when her two skis ended up too far apart from each other. Skate skiing requires a lot of space and is done within the parallel classic skiing tracks.

Winter Wonderland

As you can see, more snow had fallen further into the cross-country skiing area, in the woods and the shade. It made for spectacular scenery to ski and take pictures. Consistent grooves for skis were enjoyable in the well-preserved tracks. The day pass fees allow the maintenance crew to keep these spectacular tracks in excellent condition by track setting when new snow falls, or when the tracks need to be refreshed. The further into the trails we progressed, the fewer people we encountered. People who are just starting out tend to stay on the inner trails.

Tip: The snow conditions should be better the further you ski from the starting point. Near the beginning, skiers overuse the tracks and as fewer people go further, the tracks tend to be in better shape. Plus, if the tracks are in a wooden area, they are subject to less sunlight meaning that they will not get as crusty or icy compared to tracks in the pastures.

This overview shows the benefits of going further into the woods to cross-country skiing La Féclaz. Having accommodation options, knowing where to purchase ski day passes and rentals, you will be prepared for a week of skiing in La Féclaz, France. It’s wonderful to explore a different region and it will give you the opportunity to try cross-country skiing in another country. I normally tend to travel in the summer but it’s fantastic to explore in the winter. It’s an opportunity especially if you’re a cross-country skiing fanatic like my mom and I. Flight prices might be cheaper in the winter. La Féclaz encourages you to remember the simple things in life by spending quality time with your family and enjoying those connections.