The French Alps are famed for their skiing, France hosted the first Winter
Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924. The French Alps are renowned for their ski
slopes and luxury resorts. Resorts like Val D’Isère and
Tignes, Les Trois Vallées including Courchevel, Chamonix Mont Blanc, and Verbier
St Bernard are among the largest, many of them connecting several ski villages
for hundreds of kilometers of alpine skiing. The French invented “après ski” so
after the lifts stop, the fun continues with dancing and drinking, spa
treatments and fine French dining in ski villages at three to five star mountain
hotels.
Chamonix is the epicenter of skiing, and home to the highest
mountain peaks in The Alps of Europe, including the famous 15,632-foot Mont Blanc. Located just 25-minutes
from Italy's Courmayeur through
the Mont Blanc tunnel or to Switzerland via the Col des Montets, Chamonix offers
vast skiing. Chamonix's 145 prepared ski trails include the most famous Vallée-Blanche, Grands
Montets and Le Brevent, plus over 30,000 acres of off-piste skiing and snowboarding terrain.
Les Trois Vallées makes up the largest ski resort in the world
with interconnected lifts.Courchevel is the best know of Les
Trois Vallées Ski Areas, which also includes Val Thorens and Meribel with 200
lifts and more than 600 kilometers of trails. Les Trois Vallées are ranked in order of elevation,
starting with Courchevel 1300 (meters) and a charming Savoyard village.
Courchevel 1850 is the highest, with the most upscale resort featuring the best French
ski hotels, restaurants, and nightclubs – this is where the rich and famous
Europeans ski. Méribel is France’s most well-designed ski resort among Les Trois
Vallées with extensive nightlife too.
Verbier St Bernard in France offers 410 kilometers of runs and 89 lifts on
one ski
pass known as Les 4 Vallées, including the ski resorts of Verbier, La Tzoumaz
and Bruson, Nendaz, Veysonnaz and Thyon. The highest skiing at Verbier is
Mont-Fort glacier at 10,925-feet. The ski village of Verbier is renowned for its
French après ski and beautiful alpine atmosphere.
Val d’Isère, also called Paradiski and L’Espace Killy for the famous French ski
racer Jean Claude Killy, has over 300 kilometers of skiing including the resort
of Tignes - all interconnected by 90 lifts. Val d’Isère hosted the 1992 Winter
Olympics, and provides some of the most famous ski terrain of the French Alps like the
men’s downhill Bellevarde Face. Val D'Isère's après ski and nightlife is impressive
too - very Savoie faire as they say.
