Valmorel

A 1976 station in the Tarentaise

Valmorel is a ski resort in the Tarentaise Valley of Savoie, in France’s Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, spread across the communes of Les Avanchers-Valmorel and La Léchère. The station opened in 1976, and it is tagged in our data for traditional charm and scenic views, a useful signal about the kind of place it is: a resort of a certain age that has kept a village feel.

The Grand Domaine

Valmorel’s ski area is connected to the Saint-François-Longchamp station on the Maurienne side, and together they form the area known as the Grand Domaine. That link is why a resort of Valmorel’s size carries 165 km of pistes and 34 lifts in our data: the skiing crosses from the Tarentaise into the Maurienne, and the two valleys share one domain. The base is at 1,400 m and the top station at 2,550 m, a vertical of 1,150 m. A top above 2,200 m means altitude helps snow reliability on the upper slopes, though the runs back down to 1,400 m will be more variable at either end of the December to April season. Our data does not break the pistes down by difficulty, and no terrain parks are recorded.

Who it suits

Thirty-four lifts for 165 km points to long runs rather than a dense lift grid, so expect fewer rides and more skiing per lift. The combination of a village tagged for character and a linked domain of respectable size makes Valmorel a sensible choice for families and intermediates who want a full week of varied skiing from a single base. Strong skiers will find plenty of ground to cover across the two valleys, although without a difficulty breakdown in our data we cannot say how much of it is steep, so a look at the current piste map is worthwhile before booking.

Setting

Valmorel shares the Tarentaise Valley with some of the biggest names in French skiing, but the Grand Domaine is its own separate network, reached from the Maurienne side at Saint-François-Longchamp as well as from Valmorel itself. That makes it a choice for those who want the valley’s snow and scenery without the scale of its largest resorts. The 1,150 m of vertical is respectable rather than dramatic, and at 165 km the domain is large enough that most visitors will not ski all of it in a week, which is the right size for a resort that trades on charm rather than superlatives.

Practical

Chambéry (CMF) is the nearest airport in our data, roughly 48 km away as the crow flies, a relatively short transfer. The season runs from December to April.