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.