Ski schools in Samoëns: group, private & children's lessons

The four schools

The tourist office lists four ski schools in Samoëns. Three of them meet at Samoëns 1600, where the beginner area is, so you ride the gondola to your lesson.

ESF Samoëns

It has 150 instructors through the season, a children's snow garden and three sales offices between the village and the slopes. The main office is on the place de l'Office du Tourisme.

It teaches every level in age groups: children from 3 to 5, children from 6 to 12, teenagers from 13, and adults. Group lessons run in mini-groups of six, snowboard groups start at age 10, and private lessons run from one to four hours. Beyond the pistes it offers off-piste, ski touring and the Vallée Blanche in Chamonix, plus handiski, biathlon, cross-country and snowshoe tours.

On Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, from 17:15 to 19:15, the ESF runs private lessons after dark for beginners up to third-star level.

ZigZag

An independent school with a bilingual team and an office on the Grande Rue, open all year. Children's groups are capped at eight. Mini Mouse groups take four to six children aged four and five, and for three-year-olds ZigZag recommends private Tiny Tots lessons.

It teaches skiing and snowboarding, runs off-piste guiding and coaching, and offers telemark, ski touring, cross-country, snowshoeing, ice climbing and heliskiing. It also has a meeting point at Morillon 1100.

360

An independent school that has worked in Samoëns since 2005, with its office on the avenue Cognacq-Jay. Its first-lesson groups for beginners aged four to six take at most ten children, with an instructor and a childcare assistant. It also teaches snowboarding and telemark and offers off-piste, ski touring, the Vallée Blanche, heliskiing, snowshoeing and cross-country.

2 Ski Fly

A ski and paragliding school on the route du Lac aux Dames. It gives ski, snowboard, off-piste and ski-touring lessons while the Grand Massif lifts are open, and tandem paragliding flights all year, including combined ski-and-fly days.

Lessons for children, by age

• Under 3: none of the Samoëns schools lists group lessons. The village crèche only admits children of local families, so look for accommodation with its own childcare.
• 3 years: the ESF's Club Piou-Piou, or ZigZag's private Tiny Tots lessons.
• 4 and 5 years: Club Piou-Piou, ZigZag's Mini Mouse or 360's first-lesson groups.
• 6 to 12 years: the ESF's children's groups, and the independents' children's classes.
• 13 and over: the ESF's teenage groups, or any school's adult and private lessons.

The beginner area and passes

The nursery slopes are at Samoëns 1600, not in the village. The lift company counts the area among the largest beginner zones in France, with about ten lifts including a covered carpet.

You don't need a full lift pass to learn. The Samoëns beginner pass covers two gondola return trips on the Grand Massif Express or Vercland gondola and the beginner lifts, and the Oratoire carpet is free. At the time of writing, children under eight ski free for the day if you buy their pass at a ticket office with proof of age.

Booking

Book early if you are coming during the French February holidays. Each school has its own website, and the tourist office's ski-school page lists all four.