la joue du loup

We rented a chalet for 14 here and really enjoyed it for a week. Even during one of the most crowded times of the season skiing on the La Joue du Loup side of the mountain was not overcrowded and is very pretty. There are not as many lifts here was you would expect which makes for unobstructed mountain views. A few nice restaurant on the mountain and nice family fun. It is a drive up but would recommend for a family. Not much nightlife so not cut out for those who want to go out at night.

enjoyed the pleasant, small village where all the buildings are made (or at least faced) with wood - looks much nicer than adjoining devoluy.although the snow wasn't great when we went in the second week of january it didnt spoil the holiday too much and for the better skiers there were still enough slopes open.booked our accommodation through sunweb- would highly recommend it. appartment was much nicer and more spacious than i had expected and price included ski passes- excellent value.

I can say I'm a very good skier, yet I just throughly enjoyed my second week on the slopes at 'La Joue Du Loup'. The slopes are very varied, and will appeal mostly to average skiers and families. For more experienced skiers, there are some black slops worthy of that color. The first time I was there, the black slopes were not open (not enough snow), yet some red slopes were left unprepared with very good moguls, so they could have passed as black at that moment.The village itself is small with mostly challet-style houses. Don't go there if you want to party, but do if you want some quiet nights to recover from the ski runs. Rent material at the local Skiset: very good prices and friendly owners: we were sick one day, and they just didn't count that day when we told them.Visit 'Le petit Galou' for local cheeses, jam and prepared dishes: it's a bit hard to find in the building of the cinema

This is the third February that I have spent in La Joue du Loup. The ski-ing is lovely and I really enjoyed the easier slopes as I am getting older and like to feel safe. The Vi Ai Pi restaurant and the Refuge higher up have reasonably priced hot drinks which are not a rip off and the service is pleasant. I also enjoy the sister resort Super Devoluy for ski-ing even though the resort buildings remind me of Stalin type towers at their worst. The best bit is the Racket walking that can be done on the 100kilometres of tracks. I really enjoyed walking from Super Devoluy to La Joue du Loup and also from La Joue do the Col de Festre. At this point I must say that the Maiso du Col de Festre is a very unwelcoming restaurant. My sister, 2 young nieces and I wanted a quick warm up snack before returning for the 8 km walk back to la Joue and the girl/female turned us away as all was booked, we sat outside for 80 minutes and only 4 people went in so she could have taken us in and said have something quick in less than an hour because we have bookings..... NO SHE pushed us out).Apart from this bad experience in the 10 weeks over 5 years I have spent ski-ing in the area I have only had superb service so it is a fantastic place to have a winter holiday with lots of different types of activities.

Need to advise that we own an appartment in LJDL so may be classed as totally biased. We bought about 3 years ago and ski there on average 3 times a year and also visit in summer. We are a mixed level family group where my sons have overtaken my ability and mock our "controlled" descents whilst they flow between on and off piste effortlessly. There are a number of on slope restaurants to break your descent but allow the more fit members of the group to continue whilst you relax. In the village, all the restaurants are of excellent quality as we have eaten in all and there is always a warm welcome from the locals. The queues at the lifts are more often light, only growing if a delay occurs. There are some fantastic through-forest ski runs.

What a great resort!! I've been skiing for over 30 years and must admit this is one of the most enjoyable ski trips I've ever had. OK so the snow was fantastic for the time of year, but beyond that the resort is very compact with plenty of variety for a mixed ability group and no queuing!!We flew from Gatwick to Marseille , booked a luxury chalet, hired a People carrier (very easy drive to resort (1 switch-back)), Ski lessons and lift pass, all for under £500 per person over the Easter week.Very attractive resort given that it's purpose built, and much more so than the Superdevoluy side of the mountain.A resort probably not for the solo advanced, but if you're looking for something that will give you a little challenge but still allow you to ski the mountain with your family then this is the place.Very friendly resort staff and a great ski school. We will be back!!

This was our second Easter ski trip here and I was once again delighted.We come here as my son loves the ESF school and happily does all day classes for the two weeks straight, so far he has done their Flocon, 1 star, 3 star and bronze and raves about his favourite teachers during the off season.The resort is straight forward, compact and quite pedestrian. It's all quite reasonably priced and has everything you need. Being that my son will sell his soul for nuggets and chips I can't comment much on the fancier restaurants but the little fast food place Rapido is very welcoming of children. The supermarket isn't horrific prices for the basics, although they clearly have the tourists sussed with 3.50 euros for a tin of Heinz tomato soup!For the two stays we have used the site at the entrance to the resort but I will be looking at the apartments overlooking the piste for next season. This year there was great snow cover right up to the end of the Easter holidays.Generally it just feels very well designed and perfect for younger skiiers and families. We have been trying other resorts but keep being drawn back here and as I say, will probably be back again at least once next season.

I've been skiing at Joue Du Loup and the neighbouring Super Devouly with my family all season and think the skiing is superb. I've also been to the much larger Les Deux Alpes and Alpe D'Huez this season which are bigger, busier but not, in my opinion, better.Joue Du Loup and Devouly have 100km of pistes which might not read well in a brochure but is actually a lot of skiing. The resort has a 1000 meter vertical drop and enjoys the benefit of having gentle slopes down to the resort and the more challenging runs up high.For the experts there are five black runs ranging from the relatively tame Myrtles (a great run for letting the kids go home to tell everyone they've skied a black without risking their necks) to the daunting, steep and hair raising Mur which is quite a challenge, especially when it is ungroomed (which is most of the time).There are some fabulous and varied red runs and lots of wide long blue runs which are great for both less confident skiers and those who just want to relax and feel in total control (and perhaps look good!).For absolute beginners I would recommend SuperDevouly over Joue Du Loup as it has better beginner facilities. There are also excellent english speaking instructors. I recommend asking for Yves who teaches both skiing and snow boarding and has taken my family from basics to powder skiing.The resorts are linked by blue runs so it's really easy to ski the whole area.There are a few reasons to choose La Joue du Loup or Super Devouly for your holiday. Firstly there are no crowds, other than during the French half term holidays. During the holidays it got a bit crowded but no more than all the other French resorts. Outside the holidays it is perfect, no queues and no crowded pistes.Secondly it is very affordable. The lift pass is around 30 Euros a day, lunch will set you back about 12 Euros if you have the plat du jour, and drinks are at normal city prices. There are three restaurants on the mountain, all of which are great and a whole bunch in the two villages. There is also a great and loud apres ski bar half way up at the bottom of the Festore Chairlift. Thirdly, you won't be surrounded by English speakers. I don't mean this as an attack on English speakers but it makes a nice change to be in a ski resort where the native language is just about all you hear. It feels like skiing in France rather than in a suburb of London. I highly recommend these resorts for families and in fact for anyone other than those seeking wild and varied nightlife.

Lovely week in La Joue du Loup! Small compact resort with a variety of cafes, restaurants and shops. Everyone we met was very polite and friendly and patiently endured our attempts at speaking French. Enjoyed our stay in an apartment overlooking the centre of the village and only a short walk to the bottom of the slopes. There was a well stocked little supermarket and bakers shop - everything we needed at reasonable prices. Not a party location but that's not what we came for.

We have been to La Joue on 6 separate occasions. We have taken friends and Grandparents, our kids have grown up here (albeit one week a year) The nursery and Ski kindergartens are excellent (Pipi Penguins) and there are some great restaurants for your evening meals. We love the Lou Patou which does local dishes .The drive from the UK is a long one and we always do it in 2 days - trying it in a day would mean arriving in the dark and the last 60Km is very windy (you are climbing a mountain) . The skiing is good for UK Intermediates - the nursery slops are down in the resort but you MUST have the courage to go up the excellent chairlift to the huge ski area that La Joue shares with Super Devouly. When you get up there you are frequently above the clouds.My wife loves the little boutiques that sell Alpine chic ! Have a look for terracotta cookware and lavender oil - both locally produced.All in all if you are looking for a reasonably priced family ski holiday - La Joue is the place.

Two friends and I went to La Joue du Loup in January 2008 and had a fabulous time, much more relaxing than previous experiences of skiing in France.We stayed in one of the many newly built log cabins a little way from the centre of the village, which we booked directly with the management company. The chalet was cosy, spacious and comfortable for the three of us. Maximum capacity of six would have been a bit tight as two would have been sleeping in the main living room/dining area on the sofa beds (and only one shower).We hired sheets and towels locally and also had a stack of firewood delivered, which more than lasted us the week. We used the swimming pool at the top of the hill once or twice, which was a great way to relax the muscles after a day skiing.We had stocked up on essentials in a Super U just outside Grenoble on the way to the resort, so did not need to rely on the local supermarkets for everything, though they were fine for the few bits and pieces we needed whilst there, and there is a very good baker in the main shopping area. Prices were no more or less than we had expected for a small, remote mountain resort, especially bearing in mind that most of the skiers are local-ish and are not expecting great value facilities on piste.As the other reviewers have said, this is a quiet resort, which is great in that it meant hardly any queues for lifts, relatively uncrowded slopes and a more relaxing atmosphere all round. The downside, as also noted by the others, is that options for eating and drinking out were on the limited side, though we had a couple of excellent meals at "les 3 gourmands disent" (I think that was the name) and a few other places, where the owner was particularly pleased to meet us since he was a lover of all things Welsh and felt that we were a link with the place (not sure if this is a common passion in the Alps....). The bar at the bottom of the Joue du Loup lifts was also an excellent place to have a beer or two at the end of the day, and to watch the ski instructors posing....and to sample "genepi" the local (and extremely sweet) liqueur - we were told "40 spoonfulls of sugar, 40 leaves of the genepi plant and 40 % alcohol" - the bit about the sugar was right at least.Everyone we spoke too was very friendly, though this was helped a lot by the fact that we could all speak reasonable French. The resort was almost exclusively populated by French and Dutch skiers, and we saw four other English people during our entire week.As for the skiing, this is best for intermediates, rather than beginners or those with a taste for adrenaline. There was not a huge variety, though we were unlucky with the weather: it was too warm and rained on a couple of days at the bottom of the slopes, which made the return to the resort, normally a broad, easy green, quite hazardous, with large patches of ice and rock appearing. Not nice, especially for the beginners. The higher slopes are well provided with snow canons though, so there was plenty of skiiable ground most of the time. We also tried cross country on our last day, with a one hour lesson from the local ESF, and thoroughly enjoyed this (though were too hot!). Again, the cross country trails were affected by the warm weather, but later in the season with more snow this would have been excellent.There also seemed to be some walking trails, but these were closed due to the weather (not clear if they were meant to be open in summer or winter).I would defintely consider going back in both winter and summer. It seems an excellent resort for families doing their own thing and for those wanting to relax rather than party non-stop.

3 friends and myself have just returned from Joue De Loup and found this place a real gem. On arrival we had the usual "where is all the snow?" panic, but found that the runs were well groomed and in good condition. We had a fairly large dump of snow midway through our trip which gave us some pretty amazing powder and "off piste" runs. We found that the slopes were challenging enough for the advanced boarders in our party, and the green runs were ideal for inexperienced skiers/boarders.The town is small with 2 supermarkets, but this is ample as they stock all the essentials and are very reasonably priced. There were 2/3 late night bars, with "Gotcha" being the most visited. "Gotcha" is a Dutch bar, where the clientel are very friendly and like a laugh - the music is a little 80's rock, but they do requests.Restaurants are of a very high standard, and we found the food excellent. Again waiters and bar staff were very welcoming. I would thoroughly recommend going to "la Tania" - really nice food, and well priced. Equally good to have a nice lunch and a couple of beers, as having a meal in the evening.Can't recommend Joue de Loup enough, it really is a lovely little town, fairly quiet, but if you want to enjoy your time on the slopes and have a relaxing apres ski, then you could do a lot worse than going here.The only downside I would say, would be with the company we booked our holiday through - Crystal. They forgot to cater on the flight for vegetarians and on our arrival the driver of our connecting bus had no idea a.) where he was going and b.) where our apartments/rep was. Also our lift pass was supposedly included in the price, and again on arrival we didn't have these presented to us through some pretty bad administration on their part. So we lost about half a day boarding.

This is a very small ski resort that is linked to the Super Devoluy. There are a few shops two small supermarkets and only a three restaurants. The pizza place is the best and the most affordable so it might be an idea to book or eat late. There is one very quiet bar so Après Ski is non-existent. The pistes have a good variety and your pass is valid for both JDL and Super D. It is entirely possible to all the runs on the piste in 1 week. You wouldn't really wanto t go there for more than the 7 days as it could get a bit dull. This is a very French resort so you should try to brush up on your French. Everyone was very friendly and helpful when you tried to have a go at speaking, even if your not very good like me. We went as a group of snowboarders and skiers and I would say that it was not ideal for boarders. There were lots of flat parts attached to some great red and blue runs that just spoilt it for us. In addition loads of the red runs are at the top of the dreaded button lifts. If you are a total beginner who is a bit nervous so is unlikely to progress past the green runs - you should stick to the Super D side of the resort as you will not be able to cross the mountain without using blue runs. All in all it was a pleasant holiday but I would not choose to go there again.

Cette station est très sympathique. Très bon restaurant et bonne ambiance conviviale. Je recommande les bars car ils offrent de bons verres !

C'est la 2eme fois que nous allons dans le massif du devoluy . La 1 ere fois dans la station de super devoluy et cette année a la joue du loup ( le même domaine skiable ) . cette station est a dimension humaine et beaucoup plus charmante que super devoluy .le domaine est très accessible avec très pistes pour tous les niveaux . Peut être un repproche des remontées souvent a l'arrêt mais sans gravité . En ce qui concerne le chalet l'horizon blanc . le rapport qualité prix est excellent en fonction de votre site de réservation . En ce qui nous concerne nous avions reservé par le site ski horizon pour un montant d'environ 1200€ pour 4 avec les remontées mécaniques incluses ..les plupart des autres vacanciers avaient loués dans cette même residence pour ce prix mais sans les remontées mécaniqueen ce qui concerne la résidence l'horizon blanc c'est une résidence sympa a environ 100 mètres des pistes mais plutôt bruyante . Il y a beaucoup de Hollandais qui une fois la nuit tombée font la fête . Notre appartement était au 4 eme étages et nous étions plus tranquille . Ce qui n'était pas le cas de nos amis dont le logement était au 1er .. un parking est disponible derrière la résidence ( gratuit) Il n'y a pas de télé dans l'appartement . Ce n'est pas une blague .Nous sommes en 2015 !!!! Vous pouvez en louer une au magasin du coin pour 70€ la semaine .... un décodeur est nécessaire donc impossible de ramener la sienne .....Pour 1200 € avec les remontées pour 4 c'est imbattable .. + cher je suis pas sur d'y retourner ....