Mercantour National Park - Alpes-Maritimes. The Ski resort of Auron is beautifully situated at one and a half hours drive from Nice on a plateau at an altitude of 1600m, surrounded by mountains rising to over the 2500m mark. This is a great place for a winter or summer holiday, away from the fast moving world of the Mediterranean towns on the coast below.
Surrounding the resort you will find 135 km of down hill skiing, divided into 49 pistes including 10 black, 16 red, 17 blue and 3 green runs, enough to keep you happy for a weekend or more. To get you around and about there are 19 lifts spread over the resort and if you a looking to take a bit of air, a snowpark with handrails, half pipe and table is open for everybody with 2 areas; beginner and advanced.
If you need a place to stay there are 7 hotels including the 4 star "Chalet d'Auron" hotel with restaurant and spar and views over the resort. If you find the time the chapel of St Erige d'Auron (found on the boulevard de Saint-Erige) and its frescoes from 15 century are well worth a visit.
The off-piste skiing and snowboarding is easily reached from the ski lifts and if you are looking for a bit more adventure snowshoes can be rented from one of the ski shops found in the village. But go with a guide or ski instructor who understands the mountain, here snowpack layers can easily form to produce dangerous slabs due to the variations of temperature and wind.
So a bit outside the main and still growing Paris tourist trade, but well in to the daily life with beautiful avenues and parks hidden amongst the prestigious cosmopolitan Parisian townhouses intermixed with the local markets and shopping scattered through this neighborhood. Here you will find some of the best restaurants of the region including Michel Rostang and Guy Savoy (near the Metro Charles de Gaulle Etoile), a pleasure just with the name..!
written : 2016 / latest update : 2021
