Val d'Isère
A high village at the head of the Tarentaise, with the Face de Bellevarde above the rooftops and snow into May
Val d'Isère sits at the very end of the Tarentaise valley, at about 1,850 metres, and in winter the road goes no further: from autumn until summer the Col de l'Iseran lies buried under snow. Nobody passes through; people come here for the mountain. With Tignes, the village shares a ski area of some 300 kilometres of piste that climbs to more than 3,400 metres, and that altitude buys a long season, from late November to early May. Jean-Claude Killy grew up here, on the slopes of the ski area of Tignes and Val d'Isère.
In winter the lifts set the pace of village life. In the morning skiers clump down the main street to the Bellevarde and Solaise gondolas; by late afternoon they are coming back down the Face. Shuttle buses link the centre with La Daille, Le Laisinant and Le Fornet. On a day off skis there are snowshoe trails and cross-country loops in the Manchet valley. The chalets stand in the village or in the hamlets, most within walking distance of a lift.
Our Val d'Isère residences
The Val d'Isère experience
Beneath the Bellevarde
The old centre gathers round the baroque church of Saint-Bernard-de-Menthon, its houses built of stone and timber, its main street lined with shops, bakeries and ski hire. The Bellevarde rises straight above the village, and the finish of the Face lies at its foot. Down the valley is La Daille, where a funicular runs through a tunnel to the top of the Bellevarde. Further up are Le Laisinant and Le Fornet, the quietest of the hamlets, with a cable car towards the Pissaillas glacier.
Beyond Le Fornet the road simply stops, for the pass to Bonneval-sur-Arc is closed all winter. With no through traffic, the evenings away from the main street are hushed. For a day without skis there is the Centre Aquasportif, with a pool, climbing walls and a spa, and at La Daille an ice circuit offers lessons in steering and sliding, in a car or a kart.
From the Face to the Grande Motte
According to the lift company, Tignes-Val d'Isère has about 300 kilometres of piste, 160 runs and 71 lifts. On the Val d'Isère side there are three sectors: Bellevarde, Solaise and Le Fornet, with the Pissaillas glacier. Over the Bellevarde you ski across to Tignes, where the Grande Motte cable car climbs to 3,456 metres, the highest point of the area. From there to the village is a vertical drop of more than one and a half kilometres.
The most famous run is the Face de Bellevarde, designed by the Swiss Olympic champion Bernhard Russi for the men's downhill of 1992: steep from top to bottom, without a single flat section. Every December the men race here in the Critérium de la Première Neige, a World Cup fixture first held in 1955, while the women race at La Daille on the OK, named after Henri Oreiller and Jean-Claude Killy. Val d'Isère is also known for its off-piste, much of it reached by lift; go only with a mountain guide.
Lunch on the mountain, evenings in the village
On the mountain the cooking is Savoyard: fondue, tartiflette with reblochon, crozets and diots braised in white wine. Above La Daille, by the top station of the gondola, the very first Folie Douce opened, and next door is La Fruitière, done up as an old dairy. Across the valley, just below the top of the Le Fornet cable car, the Edelweiss is a small hut beside the piste where booking ahead is wise.
When the lifts close, après-ski moves to the bars on the main street and the terraces at the foot of the Face. With the cheese comes a white Savoie wine, a Jacquère or a Chignin-Bergeron, and after dinner a glass of génépi. In January the Classicaval festival brings classical concerts to the village.
A week in Val d'Isère
The 1992 Olympic downhill, from the top of the Bellevarde right down into the village.
The cable car from Tignes to 3,456 metres, the highest point of the ski area.
Lift-served terrain beyond the pistes, explored with a mountain guide.
Loops in the Manchet valley, and a high-altitude circuit by the Lac de l'Ouillette, reached by the Solaise gondola.
A lesson in steering and sliding on an ice circuit, by car or kart.
Groomed paths through the village and into the quiet Manchet valley.
Did you know
The first Folie Douce, now a string of mountain terraces across the Alps, began as a self-service restaurant above La Daille.
Heli-skiing has been banned in France since the Loi Montagne of 1985: dropping skiers on a summit by helicopter is not allowed.
Jean-Claude Killy, who grew up in Val d'Isère, won all three Olympic alpine titles at Grenoble in 1968.
The Face de Bellevarde staged the men's Olympic downhill, super-G and giant slalom in 1992; the World Championships followed in 2009.