My view while lunching. I can see skiers and snowboarders passing through and coming down the pistes.
One of things I look forward to during is being able to hop from one mountain restaurant terrace to another. And I love people watching from the outdoor terrace as well! Not just any kind of people watching though, but skiers and snowboarders watching. It is very entertaining.
In Vaujany, on the Montfrais terrain you will find 3 cafe restaurant terraces and all three are situated on different altitudes with approximately 500 metres distance from each other. The first restaurant you will encounter from the piste if you are coming from l'Alpette is Restaurant Les Airelles which has the biggest and best outdoor terrace on Montfrais. The restaurant looks out to 3 pistes. Great for watching the skiers and snowboarders pass by and come down the mountain.
I passed by this restaurant the day before this lunch whilst skiing and I told myself that I will have lunch here the next day.
This was actually a very late lunch because before coming here I was hanging out at a different restaurant terrace in a nearby mountain. With cable cars travelling from one mountain to another is made easy and fast. Fact: It is quicker for us to reach Alpe d'Huez from Vaujany skiing and snowboarding than with the car which will take us approximately 45 minutes.
For lunch I decided on some local chevre cheese, myrtille jam and green salad, paired with some French bread and a local house (red) wine.
January is still low season for wintersport so the pistes are not that busy, although in the weekends it can get a bit crowded because many locals come over for a weekend ski. Because this is France, the terrace scene is also a bit quiet (compared to Austria for example).
And lo and behold, guess who I saw come gliding down the piste? The Dutchman, haha. It was almost the end of the day so he joined me and then we went back together to our apartment chalet. The lifts usually close between 16:00 and 16:30, while the bigger ones are open until 17:00.
To get here at Les Airelles, take the Montfrais gondola-lift in Vaujany, then take the glasstube escalator and walk uphill for a few metres. You can also ski down from l'Alpette on the Chalets and les Travers pistes.
A glass tube escalator. Many beginneers use this on this slope but its the best way to reach Les Airelles with this if you are on foot.
The view of my lunch on the piste.
Green salad with local chevre (goat) cheese and myrtille jam, paired with French bread and red wine.
The sign means PICNIC IS NOT ALLOWED here at the terrace. You must buy food at the restaurant of course.
The right slope (Etourneaux) was very horrible today because it is very icy with almost no snow. Dutchman fell down here whereas I almost fell down twice!
After lunching I settled nicely in one of the sun loungers with my red wine. There were barely anybody at the terrace. I gather the peak season must be different.
Pictures of the mountain restaurant taken on a different day from the piste.
Travel Period: January 2017
Destination: Montfrais, Vaujany (Isere - Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes), France
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Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)
All pictures were taken by a point and shoot pocket camera or a smartphone.
