Grenoble Ski Region - The region

Photo: kate kate

The land of 4 000 meter peaks welcomes each year over 7 million visitors to over 200 ski resorts from south Grenoble to Lake Geneva. You’ll find charming villages, with no modern buildings, preserved natural spaces and offering all of the mountain activities, or large domain resort, allowing you to go from one domain to another on skis, through a modern ski system for all types of skiing.

The Northern French Alps region attracts skiers and snowboarders from all over the globe and is surely in all of Europe the best skiing destination in terms of variety and features. Due to location and high altitudes up to 3 600 meters above sea level, French resorts are busy for a very long part of the year. The skiing season usually starts in late autumn and ends in the first days of May.

Skiing business in France arrived as late as in the mid 60´s and the very fast and well-planned development allowed the resorts to provide the skiers with incredible choice of skiing trails through ski pass systems, as well as training, snow park areas, everyday during their holiday. Skiing in the Alps is simply an amazing experience. There is evertyhing for everyone, including a wide range of “après-ski” activities like fitness, ice-skating, an intense nightlife and excellent local specialities in warm and friendly restaurants. Some will prefer new gliding techniques resorts, featuring safe areas especially for new gliding while others will fancy large domain resort, like the “Three Valleys”, where a week is not even enough to explore the entire area. And if you look for more authenticity, there are smaller places featuring preserved natural spaces, some resorts featuring both.

Finally, most of the resorts are in easy access, thanks to an excellent and efficient regional infrastructure and transfer network that links the major regional airports to them. The present guide presents just a few of the better known French ski resorts. Courchevel is a typical purpose-built alpine spot founded for winter sports lovers, and linked to the world’s largest ski area of the ”Three Valleys”. Les Deux Alpes is one of the highest resorts in Europe, popular with younger skiers wanting good skiing, lively “après ski” and not too pricey. And Alpe d’Huez offers 236 km of runs with average elevation of 2 210 metres, and 3 000 hectares for skiing.