ALBERTVILLE: Gateway to just about everywhere

It's now 21 years since the Albertville Olympics, and it's not hard to see the legacy (for example the upgraded RN90 through the Tarentaise or indeed the La Plagne bobsleigh track).

Albertville may struggle to make a claim to be a ski resort in its own right, but has options stretching out in all directions - more here.

Its setting, at the confluence of the Isere and Arly, is a beautiful one.  But one would struggle to describe the town as attractive.  With one exception.  The medieval city of Conflans, just above the town, is quite something:

The Wikipedia guide to Conflans is here.

The Auberge de Costaroche sits just below, and is a budget base for visiting some of the following:

• 30 mins: Brides-les-Bains, with direct access to Méribel and the Trois Vallées
• 30 mins: Areches-Beaufort.  Here's an appreciative write-up in today's Sunday Telegraph
• 35 mins: Valmorel - if you want to be a bit different, you can access the skiing via access via Doucy-Combelouviere or (even more daring), Celliers
• 35 mins: Crest-Voland and the Val d'Arly

PS: If you are buying ski equipment, the Decathlon, just off the RN90, is well worth a stop - both for the range (including ski rando and ski de fond) and the prices.

FRENCH SKI RESORTS: The Premiership for 2013/14

The 2012/13 season saw Wigan (Areches-Beaufort), Reading (Valmorel) and QPR (Les Gets) relegated from the Premier League - which means we need to identify the French ski resort partners of the new teams.

Looking at the three promoted clubs, it seems reasonable to say that Hull City are Areches-Beaufort: off the beaten track, quietly doing some good things, strongly patriotic locals.

And Crystal Palace are Valmorel: getting back to where they were in the 1980s, but still not entirely convincing.  Just as Palace market themselves at their south London catchment area, Valmorel targets its marketing at the south too (of France, that is).

Cardiff City is a tricky one.   I don't really see them as Les Gets.  So I've opted for Montgenevre, mainly because there seems to be some serious money going in there, but (until now) nobody really talks about them much.