With challenging skiing, fantastic après ski and a large bustling town Chamonix has been attracting winter sports enthusiasts for well over a century.

With Western Europe's highest mountain, Mont Blanc, towering over the town, the skiing here will challenge the very best although there are also enough options for lesser mortals. The Chamonix area is a series of separate resorts - Les Houches, Le Brévent, La Flégère, Grand Montets, and Balme, with only Le Brévent and La Flégère linked by lifts.

Indeed, there's no actual ski area that goes by the name of Chamonix - this is the large bustling town around which all the skiing is focused.

Chamonix is situated in the Haute-Savoie region of France in the French Alps. It is bordered by Switzerland and Italy and dominated by the Aiguilles de Chamonix mountain chain, which peaks at the top of Mont Blanc (4,807m/15,771ft).