The Val d'Isere ski resort is a world-famous winter sports destination located high in the French Alps, offering excellent conditions and facilities for skiing, snowboarding and a range of other winter sports. Apart from skiing, you can try a variety of adventure sports such as parasailing, heliskiing or snow mobile safaris, or enjoy the after-ski in the lively Val d’Isere nightlife. Val d’Isere is also a perfect destination for hiking and mountain biking in the Alps.
A valley municipality with small villages and many ski slopes, Val d’Isere is located in the Savoie region of southeastern France, just a stone’s throw away from the border with Italy. Inhabited already before the Roman times, Val d’Isere remained a sleepy rural community until the 1930s, when the first ski lift was built up into the scenic mountain slopes around the valley. Today, Val d’Isere is a popular skiing destination and a scene for many international sports competitions, such as the 1992 Winter Olympics downhill race. Apart from Val d’Isere, the village of Tignes higher in the same valley is also a popular skiing destination.
Variety of activities. As a fully equipped winter sports paradise, Val d’Isere hosts a snow park that offers entertainment for kids, several cross-country skiing tracks, skiing schools and equipment rental, as well as dog sled tours, ice climbing, parasailing, heliskiing, and snow mobile safaris. The ski lifts operate also during the summer, taking hikers and mountain bikers up to the mountains. The historical Val d’Isere village has a beautiful old church, a swimming pool, as well as many interesting shops and boutiques to visit. You can also admire the beautiful alpine scenery of the surrounding Vanoise National Park, spend an evening in an igloo village, visit a local farm or pamper yourself at some of the several hotel spas in Val d’Isere.
A valley municipality with small villages and many ski slopes, Val d’Isere is located in the Savoie region of southeastern France, just a stone’s throw away from the border with Italy. Inhabited already before the Roman times, Val d’Isere remained a sleepy rural community until the 1930s, when the first ski lift was built up into the scenic mountain slopes around the valley. Today, Val d’Isere is a popular skiing destination and a scene for many international sports competitions, such as the 1992 Winter Olympics downhill race. Apart from Val d’Isere, the village of Tignes higher in the same valley is also a popular skiing destination.
Val d’Isere activities and attractions: skiing and winter sports, biking & trekking
Val d’Isere is a world-renowned ski resort with great possibilities for downhill skiing for both beginners and experts. Skiing in Val d’Isere is excellent in many mountains, and the resort offers 300 km of well-kept ski slopes, as well as gorgeous off-piste skiing routes. Together, the slopes of Val d’Isere and the nearby Tignes are known as l’Espace Killy, and you can access all of them with the same ski pass. Here, you can ski and snowboard in the beautiful mountain scenery of the Alps. Skiing in Val d’Isere has also been available during the summer, as there are two glaciers with permanent snow cover. Mountain biking and hiking in Val d’Isere are popular during the summer months.Variety of activities. As a fully equipped winter sports paradise, Val d’Isere hosts a snow park that offers entertainment for kids, several cross-country skiing tracks, skiing schools and equipment rental, as well as dog sled tours, ice climbing, parasailing, heliskiing, and snow mobile safaris. The ski lifts operate also during the summer, taking hikers and mountain bikers up to the mountains. The historical Val d’Isere village has a beautiful old church, a swimming pool, as well as many interesting shops and boutiques to visit. You can also admire the beautiful alpine scenery of the surrounding Vanoise National Park, spend an evening in an igloo village, visit a local farm or pamper yourself at some of the several hotel spas in Val d’Isere.
Val d’Isere travel information and practical tips
Located high in the Alps, Val d’Isere enjoys a cool mountain climate with long, snowy winters and warm summers.
Photo: wok, used under Creative Commons License (By 2.0)
The winter on the high mountain slopes lasts from late November to April, and then high glacier areas stay snow-covered throughout the year. Although there is some snow or rainfall in Val d’Isere throughout the year, the spring and late summer months are considered the sunniest.
How to get there. There are many ways for travelling to Val d’Isere: you can access this popular ski resort area either by flying into one of the nearby airports, such as Geneva, Lyon or Grenoble, or taking a high-speed train to Val d’Isere from Paris, the UK and elsewhere in Europe. Buses carry visitors to Val d’Isere from the train station and the airports, but you can also take a direct coach to Val d’Isere from many cities during the ski season, or drive there yourself. There is a free bus service for public transport in Val d’Isere, and taxis are also available. Car rental in Val d’Isere is available through local hotels. Note that the village center is for pedestrians only.
Services & entertainment. There is a large number of hotels in Val d’Isere, ranging from small to luxurious, accompanied with a great variety of other accommodation options, including rental apartments, ski chalets and traditional alpine huts. Restaurants in Val d’Isere serve an international mix of cuisines, including great French and regional dishes. Nightlife in Val d’Isere is quite lively in winter during the ski season, and you can find many bars, pubs and nightclubs in the valley. Val d’Isere is a small community with no major crime problems, where avalanches and poor driving conditions are the main dangers. It is also an international resort where English is well understood.
hint See also these nearby destinations: Meribel, Aosta Valley, Chamonix, Turin (Torino), Zermatt, Geneva, Grenoble, Lausanne, Interlaken
