Ski full south in Auron
Two things are now almost certain in Auron… Always find the sun on the slopes (300 days of sunshine) and be sure to have snow, between November, when the resort opens, and April, its closing. 1 hour and 45 minutes from Nice, from which it joined the Metropolis, an exceptionally beautiful road leads to this area of 46 tracks (135 km) which is shaken by novelties. While an aquatic center will be inaugurated in the coming weeks, the Partouche group is preparing to transform an old small hotel in the heart of the village into a luxury 5-star dedicated to the mountains and open all year round.
A second 5-star hotel project, merged into a luxury real estate complex, with a 1,200 m2 spa, should open concomitantly. Begun in 2002, the modernization phase of the chic Mercantour resort, carried in particular by the Nice Côte d'Azur metropolitan area, of which it is one of the 49 municipalities, is nearing completion. "Ninety-two million euros have been put in to modernize all the ski lifts and provide the means, in case, to cover 60% of the field in artificial snow", explains Pascal Lequenne, director of the 'tourist Office. Born in 1937 on a plateau once occupied by fields of wheat, of which there are some old grain barns and a delightful 14th century chapel, Auron was the third station in France to be equipped with a cable car. People, she welcomed Georges Pompidou in the 1970s - the former president slept at the legendary Le Pilon hotel, which has since disappeared - then, more recently, Princess Stéphanie, who owns a chalet, and Prince Albert II, accustomed tracks. Accessible from Nice (train station and airport) by shuttles at 1.50 euros, with a daily rate at 35 euros, exceptional weather conditions and rather inexpensive après-ski activities, the resort ends up attracting an audience each year more numerous, up to 10,000 customers per day in season. Above the heart of the village, eclectic architecture of the years 1960-1970, in the Puy district, luxury chalets have been developed, occupied in particular by Monegasque families.
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Long slopes
On the ski side, the site scores points. With 8 black runs, 16 red runs, as many blue runs and only 3 green runs, Auron (1,600 m) is not an ideal place to start. We are quickly on the slope, the tracks are long and the elevations are impressive on the four sectors. The Donnas, the snow front, from which rises an eponymous cable car that leads to 2,450 m, is the first. From the summit, skiing is panoramic. Opposite us, the chain of Alps bordering Italy. At our feet, steep, black, red runs, and long blue roads that descend to the resort. Another option is to take an impressive beauty pass (Traversée 2000) to reach the second sector: Sauma Longue, which is served by a detachable six-seater. Then comes Demandols, the third and preferred by skiers, because full sun, served by the Dôme chairlift.
Beautiful tracks run through the larches in a breathtaking panorama. Same wonder on the last sector, the Lieuson, less frequented, including a blue track (Gaudissart), doubled at the midpoint of a red (La Croix), offers in an impressive elevation a walk through the fir trees to Saint -Étienne-de-Tinée, the town in which the Auron station is domiciled. You do not reach the village on skis, a chairlift allows you to cross the last rocky obstacles before reaching it. Apart from the vintage cable car which takes you from the heart of the resort to the Chastellares snow front (1,650 m), the rest of the ski lifts have been given a facelift. Many alpine chalets, transformed into an altitude restaurant, with Mediterranean cuisine, terrace in full sun, provides a change of scenery in this pretty resort in the Southern Alps whose southern accent and the uniqueness that accompany it have not finished seducing… PVD
"The Arabian Nights" in the dunes of Oman
Magic Camp, an exceptional destination, in the Wahiba Sands desert. Karim Hesham
At the end of the camels, perched between their bumps, you can see the cones of the khaïmas coiled in a crescent of dunes. Twenty tents surround a majilis, the Arabic term for the center of the house where family and friends meet. The 4 × 4 dropped us off halfway up the last 11 kilometers to cover in the sands after the last asphalt road in the village of Bidiyah, at the gates of the Wahiba Sands, in the eastern region of the Sultanate of Oman. Muscat, the capital, is around 250 kilometers away. Closer still on the coast, Sur is a must-see, for its ancestral shipyards where we build dhows like in the time of Sindbad, the sailor of the Arabian Nights, who was born in Sohar, north of Muscat . The Wahiba Sands Desert is a drop in the ocean of sand. If the deserts of Arabia cover more than 1.6 million square kilometers, it extends over 150 kilometers long by 90 kilometers wide. But that is enough. The human eye cannot see any further.
It is aptly named, Magic Camp, the private camp where we arrived. Its concept was created by a local agency, Magic Travel, founded on another land of stories and legends, Syria, in 1985. Its logo speaks volumes, oil lamp like that of Aladdin. And also the prose of Gustave Nadaud placed on the bed among other welcome messages: "To stay is to exist, but to travel is to live." It is a new camp, the most distant of all those in the region, but also the most elegant and respectful of the environment. "Welcome," says Jad Naaman, its French-speaking manager. Refreshments await us on the crest of a dune with a lounge. It is climbed by a wooden ladder placed on its side. Rattan sofas, carpets, bamboo coffee tables are arranged like seats facing a cinema screen. Our projector is the sun which paints the sky and then the dunes. The immensity captures us. Silence too. In this undulating landscape like a wrinkled body of water, the emotion rises as the gaze embraces the voluptuous curves, the colors that vary, pink, ocher, orange, over the light of the wind and mercury.
It is 25 ° C at the heart of the day in this month of January. Tonight he will do ten less. Tread on the still hot sand. Barefoot, the energy of the earth feels better. Impossible to instagram the images of this world that we photograph instantly with our mobile phone. There is no network (but an emergency satellite phone in the camp). Speech circulates as in ancient times when the Bedouins in the desert spoke of poetry. Abdullah recounts the rites and customs of the country. "It is up to the guide to explain that we travel in nature but also to meet a people", emphasizes ours, the only Omani of the "crew" who mainly counts Lebanese, Egyptians, Filipinos .
»Also read - 48 hours in Salalah, palm trees and white sandy beaches on the Omani Riviera
A divine surprise
The installation in the khaïmas is a divine surprise. Each traveler has two gathered by a small enclosure. The largest, 20 m2, houses a double bedroom with a sober and chic design with natural wood furniture, small tables, chairs, floor lamps, hangers, coconut carpet, large comfortable bed with woven wicker base, woolen blanket with greige, ecru, anthracite tones. Luxury is in delicacy: before the guests come to bed, a small hot water bottle is slipped into their bed. The other tent is a private bathroom in the desert, private, with semi-dry toilets as in a boat and a walk-in shower, with water drawn from a tadelakt jar, terracotta sink, soft towels and mirror on a dressing table. Almost everything comes from Morocco. Under the majilis decorated with sofas, armchairs, poufs adorned with cushions, and variegated with straw lamps, dinner is a highlight, riot of refined dishes based on fish and meat served in white porcelain which , comes from Switzerland.
Tonight, Bedouins will come to dance, sing, share their culture a bit. Tomorrow, one of them will receive us for a lunch in his tent in Bidiyah, a tourist spot evoking a ski resort where the buggy would have replaced the snowmobile and the 4 × 4 surf on the dunes. This will be an option, like that of the excursion to Wadi Bani Khalid, an hour's drive from our camp, where we will bathe in the green and clear water of natural pools populated by small skins-eating fish. feet, between the high rocks. But the best option is that of the astronomer who comes to the stars. Travelers around the fire will listen to this passionate, inexhaustible, blue laser that seems to touch the moon. We will see it, in its telescope, like that of Méliès. We will want to listen to it until dawn, as in a true tale of the Arabian Nights. VS
Travelogue
AURON, GO
From Nice airport and the SNCF train station, shuttles (weekends) and regular bus (weekdays) take you between 1 h 45 and 2 hours to the station from 1.5 €. lignesdazur.com
TO SLEEP
The Auron chalet, the only 4-star resort, contemporary decor with a superb view of the resort. Hammam, sauna, jacuzzi and good food. Phone: 04 93 23 00 21; chaletdauron.fr
GOOD TABLE
Le Grizly , on the slopes of Lieuson, a mountain chalet with a beautiful fireplace and icons of local gastronomy. 240 € package for two, snowmobile transfers included. Phone: 04 93 02 49 67.
SKI PACKAGES
Adult / day: 35 €, week: 170 €; Child / day from 5 to 11 years old: € 26.90, week: € 130.20; Young 12-17 years old and golden age (62 years) / day: 24.90 €, week: 143.90 €.
ASK ABOUT
Tourist office, Tel .: 04 93 23 02 66; auron.com
Station closed April 19, 2020.
OMAN GO
With Oman Air, daily flight from Paris to Muscat from € 903 per person in economy class, € 2,715 in business class. Departures also possible from six other cities: Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nice and Toulouse. Prefer the night flight, 6:30 am for an early morning arrival. omanair.com
TO SLEEP
From € 765 per person for one night at the Magic Camp with breakfast and dinner. Sales via tailor-made travel specialists including Club Faune Voyages (club-faune.com), Tselana Travel (tselana.com) and Maisons du Voyage (maisonsduvoyage.com)
Camp closing April 20, 2020. Reopening in October.
ASK ABOUT
magic-camp.com