Val d'Isère

Val d’Isère is a ski resort in Savoie in the French Alps, with the main village at 1,850 metres. The centre follows a village layout along Avenue Olympique, with shops, hotels, restaurants and ski services clustered around the main street and the snowfront. Accommodation extends into surrounding hamlets, including La Daille, Le Laisinant, Le Fornet, Le Joseray, Le Châtelard and Le Legettaz, and free shuttle buses link the village and hamlets throughout the winter season, including services towards Le Manchet.

Val d’Isère is linked with neighbouring Tignes, forming the Tignes–Val d’Isère ski area, which offers more than 300km of marked pistes across an altitude range of 1,550m to 3,456m. The local ski sectors are Bellevarde, Solaise and Le Fornet. The ski area combines larch-forest skiing on lower slopes with higher, open alpine terrain. For high-altitude skiing, the Pisaillas glacier sits in the hamlet of Le Fornet. The glacier can be reached via the Cascade detachable chairlift and the Les Montets drag lift, which takes skiers up to 3,197 metres, the highest point in Val d’Isère. Val d’Isère also offers summer skiing on the Pisaillas glacier on selected dates, with skiing between 2,725m and 3,197m, subject to snow conditions.

Views are an important part of the experience on the mountain. Val d’Isère maintains panoramic terraces on the Bellevarde massif, including the Bellevarde terrace at the arrival station of the Olympique cable car, built in 2018. The terrace itself offers binoculars and orientation tables. The resort also highlights the Solaise massif (around 2,450m), which boasts views across the valley and surrounding peaks. In the Solaise–Fornet link, the Leissières chairlift is a notable ride that follows the relief between sectors.

Val d’Isère has a strong race history. The Face de Bellevarde hosted the men's downhill at the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, and it remains the venue for men’s events at the Critérium de la Première Neige, held each December.

Away from skiing and snowboarding, the resort offers a wide choice of winter activities including paragliding, speed riding, dog sledding and ice driving. In the village, the Aquasportif Center sits at the foot of the Face de Bellevarde and provides a 5,000 m² sports, pool and wellness complex. Val d’Isère also operates an open-air ice rink in winter, and the Splendid cinema screens mainstream and family films. For family time outdoors, the resort has a sledging area on the snowfront (free access, open daytime hours, unsupervised).

In terms of heritage, Val d’Isère’s Saint-Bernard-de-Menthon church is a listed Monument Historique (inscribed in 1951). Val d’Isère also promotes a seven-chapel walk that can be adapted into shorter or longer routes. Dining ranges from casual mountain restaurants to fine dining, including La Table de l’Ours: a one-star restaurant featured in the 2025 MICHELIN Guide France. Nightlife is a recognised part of the resort, with venues ranging from après-ski spots like La Folie Douce Val d’Isère (at 2,400m) and Cocorico, to late-night options including Doudoune Club.