France Guide

Skiing in the Alps

With their long and varied runs, extensive lift networks, and world-renowned après-ski, the French Alps offer some of the best skiing in Europe. Skiing first became a recreational sport in the early 1900s but the industry really began to boom in the Alps during the 1960s with the construction of dozens of high-altitude, purpose-built resorts that ensured good lasting snow cover. Some of the resorts have their detractors: the modern architects often created sprawling concrete settlements that had little in common with the traditional farming villages lower in the valleys, and in so doing they earned France a lasting reputation for "ski factories". Nonetheless, few can knock the efficiency of these resorts. They have an abundance of hotels, equipment outlets and ski schools, while at many you can simply clip your skis on at the hotel door and be skiing on some of the most challenging pistes on earth within minutes. If you are looking for more peaceful accommodation options, the villages at the foot of the valleys are now often linked to the major resorts by fast, modern lifts.

Unsurprisingly given the size of the French Alps, you'll find opportunities for many different kinds of skiing. Downhill skiing is the most common form of the sport at all the resorts, but cross-country or nordic skiing has become increasingly popular on gentler slopes (particularly around Morzine and in the Parc Naturel Régional du Queyras), although the real magnet for cross-country skiers lies further to the north in Franche-Comté. Back in the Alps, there are also several famous routes for ski touring (a form of cross-country skiing with uphill sections and across much longer distances), not least the Haute Route between Chamonix and Zermatt (Switzerland) and the Grande Traversée des Alps, which leads south from Thonon-les-Bains on Lake Geneva through several national parks. There are also plenty of opportunities for snowboarding; many of the resorts now have snowparks expressly designed for snowboarders to refine their jumping technique.

The ski season runs from December to late April, with high season over Christmas and New Year, February half-term and (to a lesser extent) Easter; the weekends are also busy with crowds descending on resorts close to big urban centres and those with short airport transfers. During the summer more and more resorts are trying to attract mountain bikers and hikers; many ski lifts stay open during the summer, which makes many hiking and VTT (velo tout terrain) biking trails more accessible.