Explore 66 ski resorts in France. Every card links to a full resort page with pictures, terrain and the numbers; the arrow opens the description without leaving this page.
The Sarenne is the headline. A black run of sixteen kilometres drops off the back of the glacier and it is the longest of its kind in the Alps. Beyond it there is wide intermediate terrain, reliable sunshine and good gentle areas for beginners right in the village. Alpe d'Huez sits on a south facing balcony above the Romanche valley. It is large, purpose built and functional, with apartments dominating and hotels at the top end, plus a swimming pool and an ice rink in the resort itself. It shares lifts with the quieter old villages below at Vaujany, Oz and Auris, and Vaujany is a real village with a cable car of its own and a good answer if you want quiet without losing the area. Take the Pic Blanc lift on a clear morning for the view, which reaches across a fifth of France on the right day. The twenty one hairpins of the road up are famous from the Tour de France, and the resort has an aerodrome that takes light aircraft directly.
A village that became a resort rather than the other way round. Ancelle sits in the Champsaur valley in the Hautes Alpes, with hotels and guesthouses run by people who live there all year. It is one of the better places in the southern Alps for cross country, with its own trail area alongside the downhill slopes, and Orcières Merlette is close by when you want a bigger mountain for a day. Prices sit well below what you pay further north and the valley has kept an ordinary French rhythm to it.
The cheese comes from here. Beaufort is made in this valley and the dairy in the village takes visitors, which makes this one of the few ski areas whose name you also find in the cheese aisle at home. Fifty kilometres of piste reach up to 2300 metres, with a snow record better than the altitude suggests and a view that draws as many touring skiers as downhillers. The Pierra Menta, among the hardest ski mountaineering races in the world, is held here every spring. Two villages, 15000 hectares of open country and 500 kilometres of marked trail. Genuine and family run, in a Savoie that was otherwise built at scale.
High above Saint Étienne de Tinée in the Mercantour, in the southern French Alps. The unusual thing here is how close the Mediterranean is. Nice and the Côte d'Azur lie a couple of hours away, which makes a combined trip possible in a way it is not anywhere else in France. The sun is the great advantage. These are southern Alps, lighter and milder than Savoie, in country that belongs to the Mercantour national park. The village has kept a local French tone and a medieval mountain church, and the markets down the valley are worth a day out of ski boots.
A car free resort of dark timber buildings that grow out of a cliff edge, built in the 1960s to a single architectural vision and unlike anywhere else in the Alps. Snow lies on the streets all winter and luggage moves by horse drawn sleigh, which you can arrange for your own bags on arrival. It sits high for the Portes du Soleil, so it holds snow when Morzine below is thin. The terrain parks are excellent, the children's area is superb, and the Swiss Wall, one of the most famous mogul faces in the Alps, is on the doorstep. A day crossing into Switzerland is easy from here. Accommodation is almost entirely apartments, and nearly all of it is ski in and ski out because everything is. There is an aquatic centre for the bad weather afternoon. Very good for families who want no cars at all, and for anyone who would rather ski from the door than take a bus.
Three sectors called Bonascre, Saquet and Les Campels, above the spa town of Ax les Thermes in the Ariège Pyrenees. Big enough to hold you for a week, and a place that has kept a plain and unpolished tone about it. You can get here by train. Skirail is an arrangement between the resort, the Occitanie region and SNCF that puts the fare from Toulouse and the lift pass in one package, and the cable car leaves from beside the station. Few French resorts make the car this unnecessary. There are three ski schools at the foot of the slopes and a snowpark above. The country around is still largely undeveloped, which is much of the appeal.
The area has two sides and two entirely different moods. From Le Tour, eleven kilometres from Chamonix, the Charamillon side runs down wide gentle slopes bathed in light, with the whole Chamonix valley below you. Cross to the Vallorcine side and you drop into fir forest and hushed, wilder skiing right against the Swiss border. This is the part of the Chamonix valley known as Ski Nature. Open ground and easy gradients, which is the opposite of what Chamonix is otherwise known for, and that makes it the place in the valley for families and for anyone who would rather ski well than ski brave. There is a timed slalom course in the piste that films your run and sends you home with the video. The pass is Chamonix Le Pass.
The sunny side of the Chamonix valley, facing directly across at Mont Blanc and the Bossons glacier, which is the finest view from any lift served terrain in the Alps. Brévent is reached by cable car from the middle of Chamonix and Flégère from Les Praz, and the two are linked along the mountainside. The skiing is steeper than it looks from below, with genuine off piste and long descents, and it suits confident skiers best. The Chamonix pass covers the whole valley including the Grands Montets and the Aiguille du Midi. Chamonix itself is a town rather than a resort, with a mountaineering history, good restaurants and a life outside the ski season. Geneva is roughly an hour away.
A resort in the central French Pyrenees above the spa town of Cauterets, reached by cable car from the middle of town, in a natural amphitheatre of peaks. The terrain sits high in a bowl at over 2400 metres with a good snow record for the range, and the skiing is mostly intermediate with wide open ground. Cauterets is a nineteenth century thermal town with grand facades and baths that are still in use, and it has a life outside the ski season. The Pyrenees national park begins right above, and the Pont d'Espagne nearby is one of the best known walking areas in the range. Lourdes is around forty minutes away.
A high plateau in the Hautes Alpes formed by two linked resorts, Superdévoluy and La Joue du Loup, sitting in a limestone bowl that looks quite unlike the granite peaks further north. The skiing is high, snow sure and mostly intermediate, with a broad range of easy terrain and pistes that stay quiet even in French school holidays. The altitude means the season is more reliable than the southern location suggests. La Joue du Loup is built in wood and stone and is much the more attractive of the two bases. Superdévoluy is functional but puts you straight on the snow. Prices are among the lowest for an area this size in France, and Grenoble is around ninety minutes away.
The mountain above Grenoble in the Belledonne range, half an hour from the city, and the venue for the alpine events of the 1968 Winter Olympics. That proximity to a large university city shapes it. There is a strong local following, prices are low, and the pistes fill at weekends and empty midweek. The terrain is varied with a good vertical, wooded lower slopes and open ground above, and there is a well built snowpark. The Olympic downhill course is still there. Chamrousse itself is a functional resort spread across several levels rather than a village, but Grenoble below is a real city with everything that brings, and Lyon is around ninety minutes away.
An hour and a quarter from Nice and the Côte d'Azur, at the edge of the Mercantour national park, which makes Valberg one of the few places where a morning on snow and an afternoon by the sea are both realistic. It is a family resort by design and holds both the Famille Plus and Flocon Vert labels, the second of which is awarded for environmental commitment. The terrain is gentle and sunny with good learning areas and wide intermediate runs through larch forest. The village is small and purpose built but built in stone and wood rather than concrete, and the southern Alps light here is quite different from the north. Prices sit well below the Savoie resorts, and the surrounding gorges and perched villages are worth a day in the car.
Two villages in French Catalonia, Eyne and Saint Pierre dels Forcats, sharing an area on the flank of the Cambre d'Aze in the Cerdagne. The mountain is a glacial cirque, which gives the skiing a natural bowl shape, and the terrain runs from 1600 up to nearly 2400 metres with mostly intermediate runs and good sunshine. Eyne is known for its botanical valley, a protected reserve with an unusual concentration of plant species, and the whole Cerdagne is Catalan speaking with its own food. Font Romeu is close by on a separate ticket. Prices are low and the crowds are almost entirely regional.
Five small villages between the Beaufortain and the Val d'Arly, with an uninterrupted view of Mont Blanc from much of the area. Les Saisies hosted the Nordic events of the 1992 Olympics and still maintains an extensive trail network, which makes this an unusually good choice for a group where not everyone skis downhill. The downhill is easy and pleasant rather than demanding, with a great deal of blue terrain, open ground above the villages and woods lower down. Strong skiers will cover it quickly, but for families and improvers it is one of the best value large areas in France. Small hotels and apartments are French run and inexpensive, and the area is barely known outside the country. Beaufort cheese comes from the valley below and the cellars take visitors.
Almost nobody outside France has heard of this valley, which is much of the appeal. Six resorts share a pass at the head of the Maurienne, including Val Cenis, Valfréjus, La Norma, Bonneval sur Arc, Bessans and Aussois. Bonneval sur Arc at the very top is a listed village of stone and slate, closer to a museum piece than a resort. Valfréjus sits among fir trees and gets early snow. The others are small, French and inexpensive in a way the Tarentaise over the mountain has not been for decades. It is unusually good for beginners and improvers. Val Cenis has one of the longest green runs in the Alps, which lets a first week skier come down from the summit on their own terms, and there is plenty of red mileage for people who have found their feet. Gîtes, apartments and small hotels cost a fraction of what you pay an hour north. There are cross country trails and snowshoe routes across the plateau, and restaurants where the menu comes in French only.
Châtel sits at the French end of the Portes du Soleil, right on the Swiss border, and keeps more of a village feel than most places with this much skiing attached. Old farm buildings still stand between the hotels and the cows come back in summer. The Linga and Pré la Joux sectors on one side are the ones strong skiers use, and the Super Châtel side connects towards Morgins in Switzerland. The whole twelve resort circuit is on the same pass, so the ground available is enormous. The altitude is moderate, so midwinter is the safer bet. Chalets and family hotels dominate, prices sit below Morzine and Avoriaz, and the atmosphere is calmer than either.
Pra Loup and La Foux d'Allos share a large area in the southern Alps above Barcelonnette, in the Ubaye valley on the edge of the Mercantour national park. The valley has an unexpected Mexican history, because nineteenth century emigrants returned rich and built villas you can still see. The sun is the selling point. Wide tree lined intermediate skiing through larch forest, a good spread of easy terrain and quiet pistes, with off piste rather than marked runs for the strong skiers. Apartments and small hotels are inexpensive, and Barcelonnette below is a real town with restaurants and a market. The Mercantour park is there for a day away from the lifts. You will want a car, because this valley is a long way from anywhere and the transfer is the price of the value.
A resort in French Catalonia on the Cerdagne plateau, with more sunshine hours than almost anywhere in France and an altitude training centre used by athletes from many sports. The skiing is sunny and mostly intermediate with extensive snowmaking, which is essential at this latitude, and there is a large Nordic area alongside. Font Romeu is a substantial town with schools, shops and a year round life, and the surrounding Cerdagne is Catalan speaking with its own food and architecture. The solar furnace at Odeillo, one of the largest in the world, is right there and open to visitors. Perpignan is around ninety minutes away.
Sunny, snow sure and wooded, which is a rare combination in France. Vars and Risoul face each other across a high ridge in the southern Alps and share one large area. There is a great deal of intermediate cruising, good beginner terrain, and a speed skiing track on the Vars side that has held world records. Most of the runs are cut through larch forest, so flat light is less of a problem here than at the high treeless resorts. Vars is spread across several hamlets with an old village, Sainte Marie, at the bottom worth the trip down for dinner. Risoul is a single purpose built base of wooden buildings right on the snow. Apartments dominate on both sides, mostly ski in and ski out, at prices well below the northern Alps. February is a safer bet than April, because the south catches spring early.
Valloire and Valmeinier share a large quiet area at the foot of the Col du Galibier, one of the great climbs of the Tour de France. Valloire is a genuine old Savoyard village with a baroque church and a working centre. Valmeinier is newer and more functional but puts you closer to the snow. The skiing is broad, sunny and mostly intermediate with a decent range of easy terrain and short queues, and the off piste towards the col is worth a guide. Valloire has run an ice sculpture week for decades and it is worth checking against your dates. Chalets, apartments and family hotels cost well below the Tarentaise an hour north.
The best known resort in the Vosges, above the lake of the same name in eastern France, and one of the oldest ski areas in the country with a tourist office dating from 1875. The terrain is wooded and mostly gentle with a good number of lifts for the size of the hill, thorough snowmaking and night skiing. Gérardmer is a real town with a lakeside setting, a strong textile history and a food tradition that mixes French and Alsatian influences. Prices are among the lowest in France and the crowds are entirely regional. Strasbourg and Nancy are both within a couple of hours.
A resort in the French Pyrenees at the Col d'Aubisque, in a natural bowl surrounded by steep limestone walls, with a good vertical for the range. The terrain is mostly intermediate with steeper ground higher up, and the setting is more dramatic than most Pyrenean areas manage. Eaux Bonnes below is a small thermal village and Laruns further down is a working Béarn town with a market and a strong local cheese tradition. The Aubisque is one of the classic Tour de France climbs. Pau is around an hour and a quarter away and prices are well below the Alps.
The biggest area in the French Pyrenees, spread across the Tourmalet pass with La Mongie on one side and Barèges on the other, and the two joined over the col. Barèges is an old spa village with thermal baths and a working local life. La Mongie is a purpose built base higher up and closer to the snow. The two are very different places to stay and the pass covers both. The terrain is wide and open with a good vertical and enough variety for a week, and the Pic du Midi above it offers lift served off piste from an observatory at 2877 metres, which is one of the more unusual descents in Europe. The Tourmalet is one of the most famous climbs in the Tour de France, and Lourdes is around forty minutes away.
A purpose built resort high in the Mercantour, and the closest snow to Nice, which is around ninety minutes away. Skiing in the morning and the Mediterranean in the afternoon is genuinely possible from here. The altitude is what makes it work. The base sits at 1800 metres and the runs climb to 2600, which gives a snow record far better than the latitude suggests and a long season for the southern Alps. The terrain is open and treeless with a broad range of intermediate runs and wide beginner areas, and there is a strong local following from the coast. The base is functional rather than pretty, but prices are moderate and the surrounding Mercantour national park is protected wilderness.
A small, unpretentious resort above La Morte, less than an hour from Grenoble, with a big vertical drop for its size and a devoted local following. It has been through difficult times and reopened through the determination of the community around it, which tells you something about how much the place means locally. The skiing is varied and steeper than the size suggests, with wooded lower slopes and open terrain up high, and it has long been used as a training ground by skiers from the city. Prices are low, the queues are short, and the surrounding Matheysine plateau has cross country trails and snowshoe routes. A place for people who would rather ski somewhere real than somewhere famous.
The largest ski area in the Vosges, in eastern France near the German border, on a range of rounded granite summits that are quite unlike the Alps. The terrain is wooded and mostly gentle with a large number of lifts for the size of the area, thorough snowmaking and a good learning operation. There is night skiing and a rail toboggan. The Vosges have a strong local culture with Alsatian influence and a food tradition built on cheese and charcuterie. Prices are among the lowest in France and the crowds are entirely regional. Strasbourg and Nancy are both within a couple of hours.
A working Savoyard village of stone and wood an hour from Annecy, with a church at the centre and a market that serves the people who live there. It has resisted becoming a resort in the way its neighbours have, and the local following is strong and French rather than international. The skiing spreads across five sectors around the village, wooded and varied, good for families and improvers with enough steeper terrain to keep confident skiers busy. The altitude is modest, so aim for midwinter. Chalets, apartments and family hotels fill the village, with Annecy close enough for a day by the lake and Le Grand Bornand next door for a change of hill. Buy Reblochon at the market, because it comes from this valley, and find somewhere doing tartiflette properly.
One of the most successful family resorts in the Alps. Eleven villages spread across a mountainside, joined to Les Arcs by the Vanoise Express cable car, with enormous quantities of gentle blue skiing and a huge ski school operation. Blue and easy red skiing dominates, which makes it ideal for a family with mixed abilities or for anyone in their second or third season. The glacier above Bellecôte reaches 3058 metres and gives height when the lower slopes soften, and 70 per cent of the Paradiski pistes sit above 2000 metres. The high villages are plain to look at, but almost everything in them is ski in and ski out, and that matters more than architecture when you are moving small children in ski boots. Montchavin and Champagny are older and prettier and sit a lift ride away. The Olympic bobsleigh run from 1992 is open to the public, and children remember it long after they have forgotten the skiing.
A resort in the Belledonne range above Allevard, less than an hour from Grenoble, with the runs facing west across the Grésivaudan valley towards the Chartreuse. The terrain is wooded lower down and open above, climbing to just over 2100 metres, and it is mainly intermediate with a good learning area. Night skiing runs on certain evenings. Allevard below is a thermal spa town with baths still in use and a settled French life. Prices are low, the crowds are local, and weekends fill with Grenoble traffic while midweek stays quiet.
Valmorel is what purpose built French resorts might have looked like if anyone had cared. It was built in the 1970s in wood, slate and painted shutters, arranged around a car free pedestrian street, and linked over a col to Saint François Longchamp. That pedestrian street genuinely works with young children. Nothing crosses it, everything is within a short walk, and the ski school meets at the bottom of the slope. The skiing is comfortable and family oriented across a series of open bowls, with well protected beginner areas and a good ski school worth reserving early. There is enough red mileage to keep an improving skier busy for a week. Apartments and a couple of hotels sit within walking distance of the snow, at prices well below the neighbouring Trois Vallées. Half board is the easy option if you would rather not cook.
The closest large French area to Geneva, around an hour away, which makes long weekends realistic. Five villages sit above the Giffre and Arve valleys, and the summit at the Grandes Platières above Flaine reaches 2500 metres with the whole Mont Blanc range in front of you. Flaine at the top is concrete Bauhaus that people either admire or cannot look at, and it is the one closest to reliable snow. Samoëns and Les Carroz below are proper villages with old squares and weekly markets, and Morillon sits between lake and alpine pasture. Confident intermediates do best here. The long blue that drops from the top station into the gorge at Sixt is the run everyone remembers afterwards, and you can ski a full tour of the area without taking your skis off. Keep a morning free for the Samoëns market, and take lunch at a mountain restaurant on the Grandes Platières when the weather is clear.
The largest area in the Massif Central, on the slopes of an extinct volcano in the Cantal, and a landscape that looks nothing like the Alps. The terrain is wooded and mainly intermediate with a good deal of gentle runs, and a cable car climbs to the Plomb du Cantal at 1855 metres. Snowmaking covers a substantial part of the area, which matters at this altitude. The Cantal is a region of old volcanoes, gorges and cheese, and the food here is worth the trip on its own. Prices are among the lowest in France and the crowds are almost entirely French. Clermont Ferrand is around an hour and a half away.
A resort above Barcelonnette in the Ubaye valley in the southern Alps, one of the older ski areas in France with a history going back to the 1930s. The skiing is sunny and wooded lower down with open terrain above, running up to nearly 2400 metres, and the terrain is more varied than the size suggests with genuine steeps for people who look for them. Barcelonnette in the valley is a real town with a market, restaurants and a curious Mexican architectural legacy from returning emigrants. Prices are low, the pistes are quiet even in French holidays, and a car is more or less necessary because this valley is a long way from anywhere.
A resort in the Belledonne range close to Grenoble, spread across a high plateau dotted with the seven lakes that give it the name, and one of the better options for people who live in the city. The terrain is varied with a good vertical, wooded runs lower down and open ground above, and it is more serious than most resorts this close to a city. There is a well known night skiing operation and a strong freeride following. Prices are low and the crowds are local and French. Weekends fill and midweek is quiet. Grenoble is around forty five minutes away and Lyon a little over an hour and a half, which makes this an easy long weekend rather than a week.
A resort in the Pyrénées Orientales in French Catalonia, sitting above a village of the same name on the Capcir plateau. The area faces north, which keeps the snow in good order despite the southern latitude, and the sunshine here is remarkable. The skiing runs from the village up towards the Roc d'Aude, with a decent range of terrain and a snowmaking system that covers most of it. There is a wildlife park at the foot of the slopes with brown bears, bison and wolves, which children remember longer than the skiing. The Catalan culture on this side of the border is strong and the food follows it. Prices sit well below the Alps, and Font Romeu and the other Capcir areas are close enough for a change of hill.
Four villages strung along the mountainside above Bourg Saint Maurice, linked by cable car to La Plagne to form Paradiski. Around 70 per cent of the pistes sit above 2000 metres, so the snow record is strong, and two glaciers sit at the top of the system. Arc 1950 is the one to look at first. It is pedestrianised, built in warm stone and wood rather than concrete, and almost everything in it is ski in and ski out. The other villages are more functional, and 1600 and 2000 are plain by comparison, though they put you straight onto the snow. This is a mountain for confident intermediates and experts. The runs are long and steep and rarely flat, and the tree skiing low down is unusually good for a French resort. There are also ungroomed NATUR' pistes for people who want the mountain left as it fell. A funicular from Bourg Saint Maurice station reaches the snow in seven minutes, which makes this one of the easiest big French resorts to reach by train from Paris or London.
A quiet Savoyard village in a valley off the Mont Blanc massif, with a working local life and none of the polish of Megève or Chamonix nearby. The skiing is more serious than the size suggests, with a good vertical, long descents and terrain that keeps confident skiers busy. It is north facing in parts, which helps the snow, and the setting beneath Mont Joly and the Mont Blanc range is superb. The village is strung along the valley with a baroque church at its heart, and the Contamines Montjoie nature reserve above it is protected ground with ski touring routes. Prices sit well below the neighbouring resorts and the atmosphere is genuinely local. Geneva is around ninety minutes away.
Enormous vertical, among the biggest drops in the Alps, and a glacier at the top that gives near certain snow and keeps the resort running into summer. The odd thing about the layout is that most of the easy skiing is high and most of the hard skiing is low, which catches people out on the first morning. Ski the glacier early, before it softens, and save the lower runs for the afternoon. If you are experienced, La Grave is fifteen minutes down the road. It is a legendary off piste mountain with a single cable car and no pistes at all, and it is a mountain to take a guide on. The village is a long high strip along a shelf above the Romanche valley, functional rather than pretty, with apartments and hotels along the main street, a lively bar scene and a young crowd. The altitude is real, so a spa afternoon early in the week is not wasted.
Two linked villages on the French side of the Portes du Soleil, low in the trees. Morzine is a real town with a year round population, a busy bar scene and a large British contingent. Les Gets is smaller, prettier and better suited to families. Geneva is around seventy five minutes away, so short breaks work. The skiing is broad, rolling and mostly intermediate, with proper wooded runs that stay pleasant when cloud sits on the high resorts. Access to the wider Portes du Soleil circuit means the terrain on one pass is enormous, and a day crossing into Switzerland is easy from either village. The altitude is low, so aim for January or early February rather than December or April. Chalets fill Morzine and apartments and family hotels fill Les Gets, and there is a mechanical music museum in Les Gets for the bad weather afternoon.
The lower and more sheltered end of the Chamonix valley, with Les Houches sitting in forest beneath the Mont Blanc massif and Saint Gervais over the ridge. The wooded terrain here is the answer to a bad weather day in Chamonix, because the trees give definition when the high mountains are in cloud. The Verte des Houches is a World Cup downhill course and one of the more serious runs in the valley. The area is on the Mont Blanc Unlimited and Chamonix passes. The Mont Blanc Tramway leaves from Saint Gervais and is one of the more scenic rail journeys in France. Geneva sits an hour away.
A small family resort in the Maurienne at 1600 metres, set in a larch forest beside the Lac de Pramol, and run on a cooperative model that keeps the prices low. The terrain climbs to 2500 metres with 34 runs, mostly gentle and intermediate, and the area is quiet even in French school holidays. The resort is deliberately built around families and groups, with everything within walking distance and a strong emphasis on shared activities rather than nightlife. It is one of the better value weeks in the French Alps, and the Maurienne valley below has a working life that has nothing to do with tourism. Saint Jean de Maurienne is on the railway.
A resort in the Hautes Alpes above the Serre Ponçon lake, in a landscape of larch forest and southern light, with a reputation for sunshine that the surrounding southern Alps generally deserve. The skiing runs from 1550 up to 2700 metres, which gives a good vertical and a reliable snow record, and the terrain is mostly intermediate with wooded lower slopes and open ground above. Serre Ponçon is one of the largest reservoirs in Europe and the view down onto it from the upper runs is the memorable part. The base is purpose built but in wood rather than concrete, prices are moderate, and Embrun and Gap in the valley have real French life going on.
Combloux, La Giettaz, Sallanches and Cordon share this area on the sunny side of the Arve valley, directly opposite Mont Blanc. The view is the defining feature and it is in front of you on almost every run. The skiing is gentle and wooded, with a great deal of easy and intermediate terrain, which makes it a good place for families and for anyone in their first few seasons. It links to Megève on the same pass, so a bigger day is always available. Combloux is a real Savoyard village with a baroque church and a Saturday market, and prices sit noticeably below Megève next door. Chamonix is half an hour away for a change of scale.
A family resort in the high Jura on the Swiss border, spread across four villages and four separate mountains, in a landscape of forest and plateau that is quite unlike the Alps. The downhill terrain is gentle and wooded and suits families and beginners well. The real strength here is Nordic skiing, because the Jura has one of the largest cross country networks in Europe and the Grande Traversée du Jura passes through. Geneva is around forty minutes away, which makes this one of the easiest French areas to reach from that airport. The villages have an ordinary Jura life built on watchmaking and cheese, and Comté is made all around.
A large linked area made from several small Maurienne villages, none of them famous and all of them inexpensive. La Toussuire and Le Corbier are purpose built and plain, while Saint Sorlin d'Arves and Saint Jean d'Arves are old farming villages with churches and working barns. Choose a village rather than a resort if you can, because the difference in atmosphere is large and the lift pass is the same either way. The skiing is a great deal of easy and intermediate cruising across a wide sweep of open mountainside, with quiet pistes and short queues. The off piste around the Ouillon is the part strong skiers come for, and it is worth taking a guide for. Apartments and gîtes go at some of the lowest prices for an area this size in France, and the Maurienne valley below has a working life that has nothing to do with tourism.
Three valleys above Moûtiers in Savoie, joined by lift into the largest connected ski area in the world. Seven resorts share the pass, and where you book changes the holiday completely. Courchevel 1850 is one of the most expensive addresses in the Alps, with the hotels and the Michelin kitchens to match. Saint Martin de Belleville is a stone and slate village with the same lift pass at a fraction of the price. Val Thorens sits highest and holds snow longest. Les Menuires is built for ski in and ski out apartments, Méribel has the chalet tradition, and Brides les Bains at the bottom is a thermal spa town with its own gondola into the system. Intermediates get the most out of it. The blue and red network is enormous, and crossing between valleys is within reach of anyone comfortable on a red run. Beginners do best by picking one village with good nursery slopes rather than trying to use the whole area at once. Take the train to Moûtiers if you can, since it leaves you twenty minutes from the lifts. And give up one morning's skiing for a long lunch on a terrace somewhere, because the mountain restaurants here are part of what you are paying for.
A medieval market town bought and remade by the Rothschild family in the 1920s, and still the most elegant address in the French Alps. Cobbled square, horse drawn sleighs, a covered market, and shops that have nothing to do with skiing. Dinner is a large part of the point here. There are several serious kitchens in town and the tables go well ahead in high season. The skiing is gentle, wooded and unhurried, spread across three separate sectors with Mont Blanc in view from most of them. It suits families and improvers particularly well, and there is enough red mileage to keep a confident skier occupied for a week. Grand hotels, converted farmhouses and chalets fill the town. The altitude is moderate, so midwinter is the safer bet, and Geneva is around an hour away.
A small resort in the Jura at the Col de la Faucille, less than half an hour from Geneva, with a view across the lake to Mont Blanc that is the best known thing about the place. The terrain is wooded and mostly gentle with a modest vertical, and the area suits families and beginners rather than people looking for a challenge. The Jura around it has one of the largest cross country networks in Europe, and that is at least as much of the reason to come. Prices are low and the crowds are largely local. Geneva airport is remarkably close.
A high resort in the Champsaur valley in the Hautes Alpes, with the base at 1850 metres and the top at 2725, which gives it a snow record well above what people expect of the southern Alps. The terrain is open and treeless with a broad range of intermediate runs and wide gentle areas for beginners, and the sunshine here is a large part of the appeal. It is a purpose built resort rather than a village, but everything is close together and most beds are on the snow, which suits families. The Écrins national park surrounds it. Ancelle and the other Champsaur villages are close by, and Gap is around forty minutes away.
A resort in the central French Pyrenees formed from two older areas either side of a col, at Peyresourde and Les Agudes, with the runs facing in different directions. The skiing is sunny and largely intermediate with a good vertical and open terrain above the treeline. An altiport at the top was used in a James Bond film and the runway is skiable, which the resort makes a point of. Bagnères de Luchon in the valley below is a thermal spa town of some standing with a real French life and its own gondola into another ski area. Prices sit well below the Alps, and Toulouse is around two and a half hours away.
The highest resort in the French Pyrenees, sitting at the head of the Aure valley right against the Spanish border, which gives it the best snow record in the range. The buildings are frankly modern and the setting is high and bare above the treeline, so this is a place you come for the conditions rather than the architecture. The terrain suits confident intermediates well, and there is genuine off piste for people with a guide. The Néouvielle nature reserve is next door, with dozens of high lakes, and the thermal baths at Saint Lary down the valley are the standard rest day. Everything here costs less than the equivalent in the Alps.
Pra Loup sits above the Ubaye valley on the edge of the Mercantour national park, surrounded by larch forest and linked over the ridge to La Foux d'Allos to form a large shared area. The 1600 base is the lower and older of the two levels, built among the trees, and it is the more pleasant place to stay. The skiing from here is wide and sunny, with tree lined runs that hold up in flat light and a good spread of easy and intermediate terrain. Barcelonnette down the valley is a real town with restaurants and a market and an unexpected Mexican architectural history. Prices are low for an area this size, the pistes are quiet even in French school holidays, and a car makes the week considerably easier.
Two linked areas on a high plateau above the Giffre valley, an hour from Geneva, and almost unknown outside the region. The skiing is sunny, open and gentle, well suited to families and improvers, with an unusually good view of Mont Blanc for a resort this size and Nordic trails running across the plateau. Chalets and apartments here rent for less than half what you would pay an hour away in the famous Haute Savoie names, which is the main reason people find it. Evenings are very quiet. A dog sled outing and a fondue at one of the plateau restaurants is the shape of an evening. A family place rather than a group one.
A compact resort in the Hautes Alpes at the edge of the Écrins national park, with the runs climbing from 1400 to over 2700 metres, which gives it a vertical drop out of proportion to its size. The skiing is wooded lower down and open above, mostly intermediate with steeper terrain up high, and it has a strong following among people who want a quiet week without paying Tarentaise prices. The resort is built on two levels, with 1600 being the more pleasant place to stay, and most beds are on the snow. Briançon is around forty minutes away, and the Écrins is protected wilderness with serious ski touring in it.
The Roc d'Enfer stands over the French side of the Portes du Soleil, the first cross border ski area in the Alps and still one of the largest. Twelve resorts share a single pass, eight in France and four in Switzerland, and you can ski from one country to the other and back in a day. Avoriaz sits highest and holds snow best. Morzine and Les Gets are proper towns with a life outside the season. Châtel sits on the border, and the Swiss side around Champéry and Morgins is quieter and less visited by international guests. The terrain is mostly wooded and rolling, which is a real advantage when cloud settles on the high resorts further south. The altitude is modest, so midwinter is the safer bet, and the sheer size means you can ski a different sector every day for a week without repeating yourself. The Pass'Portes du Soleil in June is one of the best known mass mountain bike events in Europe, and gives a sense of how far the network reaches.
One of the largest resorts in the French Pyrenees, above a genuine old village in the Aure valley, with three linked sectors climbing from the village up to nearly 2500 metres. A cable car runs from the middle of the village, so you can stay in a working Pyrenean settlement with stone houses and a Saturday market rather than in a purpose built base, and be on the snow in minutes. The skiing is varied with good beginner areas at Pla d'Adet, long intermediate runs and steeper ground at Espiaube. Snowmaking is extensive, which matters at this latitude. The thermal baths of Sensoria in the village are the standard end to a day, and the Néouvielle nature reserve nearby has dozens of high lakes. Prices are well below the Alps.
A small resort between the giants of the Tarentaise, with six lifts and a reputation among people who ski off piste that is out of all proportion to its size. The lift served terrain is modest and mostly intermediate, but the off piste from the top lift is what draws people, with long descents through larch forest that hold powder for days after a storm because so few people are here. Guides are easy to arrange in the village and worth using. The village is built in stone and wood in traditional Savoyard style, quiet and small, with chalets and a handful of hotels. Tignes, Val d'Isère and Les Arcs are all within half an hour, so a big mountain day is always available if you want one.
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Tree skiing all the way down to the valley floor, which most high French resorts cannot offer and which makes a real difference on grey days. There is genuine beginner terrain, a great deal of red skiing through forest, and steep open ground above Le Monêtier for stronger skiers. Briançon at one end is the draw. It is a working town with a Vauban fortress on the UNESCO World Heritage list and the highest old quarter in the European Union, with restaurants and shops that exist for the people who live there rather than for visitors. Three freestyle disciplines of the 2030 Winter Olympics are due to be held here. The valley is long and the villages are spread out, so choose where you stay carefully to avoid spending the week on a bus. Le Monêtier les Bains at the far end has thermal baths that are worth booking ahead. Prices sit well below the Tarentaise, and the Hautes Alpes get more sun than the northern Alps do.
A resort on the flank of the Sancy massif in the Auvergne, built on the slopes of an extinct volcano in the middle of France, which gives it a landscape unlike anywhere else in the country. It shares a pass with Le Mont Dore on the other side of the massif. The terrain is wide and mostly gentle, well suited to families and beginners, with extensive snowmaking and a good learning area. The Auvergne is a long way from the Alps in every sense, with volcanic lakes, thermal spas and a food culture built on cheese and lentils. Clermont Ferrand lies about an hour off. Prices are among the lowest for a resort of this size in France, and the crowds are almost entirely French.
A resort above Bagnères de Luchon in the central French Pyrenees, on a plateau reached by cable car directly from the town, which is an unusually convenient arrangement. The terrain is sunny and chiefly intermediate with a good vertical down towards the valley and open ground at the top, and the view across the Pyrenean chain from the plateau is the memorable part. Luchon below is a thermal spa town of some standing with a grand nineteenth century centre and baths still in use, and staying there rather than on the mountain is much the better option. Toulouse is around two hours away and Peyragudes is close by on a separate ticket.
A small resort above Évian on the French shore of Lake Geneva, with the runs looking straight down onto the water and across to the Swiss shore. That view is the reason to come. The terrain is modest and mostly intermediate, climbing to just under 1900 metres, and it is quiet even in French school holidays. Évian below is a thermal spa town with grand belle époque architecture, famous for its water, and the boat across the lake to Lausanne takes about half an hour. Geneva is an hour or so away, and prices are well below the Chamonix valley resorts.
Come here when you want near certain snow in December or late April. Few other places in the Alps can promise it, and the Grande Motte glacier keeps running when everything else has closed. Two very different villages sit either side of a high col. Val d'Isère grew from a real village and still reads like one, with good restaurants, a lively and expensive bar scene, and chalets and hotels to match. Tignes is functional high altitude building from the 1960s, with the advantage that almost everything is ski in and ski out and apartments are the norm. The skiing is exceptional for strong skiers. Enormous vertical, the Face de Bellevarde which held the Olympic downhill in 1992, and some of the most extensive lift accessed off piste anywhere. The blues are more demanding than the grading suggests, so second week skiers should treat them with a little respect. Val d'Isère also has one of the best mountain restaurant scenes in France, and the good ones book up weeks ahead.
The largest of the Haute Maurienne villages, spread between Lanslebourg and Lanslevillard at the foot of the Mont Cenis pass, with old stone houses, a frescoed chapel and a valley that stays quiet even in French school holidays. It is unusually good for beginners. The Escargot is one of the longest green runs in the Alps and it lets a first week skier descend from the summit on their own terms, which does more for confidence than any amount of nursery slope. Confident intermediates have plenty of red mileage and experts have touring rather than lift served steeps. Apartments, gîtes and small hotels cost well below the Tarentaise over the mountain. There are cross country trails and snowshoe routes on the plateau, and you will want a car, because the valley is a long way from any airport.
A high sunny resort in the southern French Alps, far from the famous names and priced accordingly. Apartments and small hotels cost less than you would expect for an area this size. La Foux d'Allos is a small purpose built base right on the snow, and Allos village below is older and quieter, in a valley leading into the Mercantour national park. The two are linked to Pra Loup over the ridge, which gives a genuinely large area for the money. The skiing is broad and intermediate with good easy terrain, and the pistes stay quiet even in French school holidays. The south facing aspect means sun most days, so February is a safer bet than April if you want the snow at its best. Bring a car, because public transport into this valley is thin, and expect very quiet evenings.
One of the few purpose built French resorts that people describe as pretty. It was built in the 1970s and deliberately rejected the concrete of its neighbours, using wood, slate and painted shutters instead, arranged along a car free pedestrian street. That street is genuinely pleasant with small children in tow. Nothing crosses it, the ski school meets at the bottom of the slope, and everything is a short walk from everything else. The skiing is comfortable and family oriented across a series of open bowls, with well protected beginner areas and a good ski school worth reserving early. It links over a col to Saint François Longchamp for extra ground. Apartments and a couple of hotels sit within walking distance of the snow, at prices well below the big Tarentaise names half an hour away.
A resort in the Vercors, the limestone plateau above Grenoble, in a landscape of cliffs and forest that looks nothing like the high Alps an hour away. The skiing is wooded and mostly gentle, well suited to families and improvers, and there is one of the largest cross country networks in France on the plateau above. That combination makes it a good choice for a mixed group. Villard de Lans is a working town with shops, a market and a life outside the season, and Corrençon at the other end is quieter and prettier. The Vercors was a centre of the wartime resistance and there are memorials and a museum. Grenoble is around forty minutes away.
