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Visitor reviews for Val d'Isere Ski Resort
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(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
Latest
March 27, 2023
Baz from
United Kingdom
Baz from
United Kingdom
Ok, been in Val d'Isere for 3 and a bit weeks now, since arriving in town 4th March for a 7 or 8 week sejour. And since I arrived it seems I've brought the snow with me that was so absent for most of January and all of Feb. Think we've been well over 2m fresh now, and there is about another 60-80cm in the next 6 days or thereabout so the forecast goes. So what to say about the place?
1. The town and lifts: Val D is a rather nice place compared to many rival French resorts, like Tignes, La Plagne, Les Menuires and Val Thorens. It has some really nice old stone built chalets around the centre around the church, which is where we were located for the first 3 weeks. Very nice. The town also has lots of nice places to eat and drink. And the terrace areas on the main slope side area are south-ish facing so get the sun on those nice days. Costs for food are 25-30 Euros for a main of pasta type stuff in a nice restaurant or on mountain. But you can also find really nice bakeries for a sandwich in town for 5 or 6 Euros and there are takeaway places for burger and frites for 10 Euros 'round town. The choice is yours. I would say Val D resorts are rather spread out and there are a few different areas, being Val D centre, La Daille and Le Fornet. I would say the linking between these sectors is ok, but not the best I've seen. And for me there are too many gondolas, I defo prefer the convenience of detachable fast chairs for not having to get skis off and on. And in the post Covid era, I'm sure many older people would benefit from not being in a small poorly ventilated capsule with 6 to 100 people some with seasonal viruses. I know I don't want to waste a week in resort with flu or similar.
2. Skiing: I would say Espace Killy is a good resort with loads to offer. For me I think Tignes is the better part of it though, even though the town of Val is far nicer aesthetically. For me Val D is a little too spread out and much of the higher altitude skiing has a fair bit of flatter terrain, and lacks a little as a result. This applies both to off-piste and on. You will find there are long stretches of green run flats in many runs. The best terrain around for me are the Tignes areas around Tovier and The Grande Motte. The area off TSD Manchet in Val D looks great, but for me is too much pain to get too with gondola Solais, which means I tend toward Tignes. Park skiing here is well catered for with two decent parks, one in Val D and the other in Tignes Val Claret. My preference is DC park in Tignes. Another reviewer here mentioned it was closed for an extended period this season, which is true. It would be a bit of a let down if you were in Tignes for a week or two for that reason and find it shut for 2 weeks, disappointing and probably not good enough from a resort of that pedigree. Tignes after all has been synonymous with freestyle since the 80s and the Albertville Olympics. However, the Val D park is fun enough on its own, so can keep you going I would say.
3. Pass price - reasonable for the area you get, particularly a season pass for Tignes at 800 Euros. I think this is defo a good deal. Val D also is 800 notes, I would tend to opt for the whole area if I were in Val as I said I prefer the skiing of Tignes and feel the DC park is the better one, when its open. Compared to other large French resorts the cost is comparable to most, except a full 3V pass, which for me is mental at 1550 euros now. Weekly passes are similar most places.
Overall and comparisons: I would say if you are coming to Espace Killy, and you are good standard, Val is great if you also want a nice looking place. For me Tignes has the better skiing, is more ski in-ski out accomm (which is a defo plus), has the better park and also the better terrain, both on and off the piste (unless you need trees on low vis days - then its Le Fornet trees but its miles out of the way, even in Val). For me if you're an off-piste chaser there are better places to go in France for sure, mainly owing to the general lack of long steep sections at higher altitudes such as you will find in Les 3V, La Plagne, Les Deux Alpes and Alpe D'Huez. Similarly I would say there are better piste skiing options around, notably 3V again but this is possibly the best place in the world for such. Park skiing is a strong point here despite the closure of the DC park for a couple of weeks, so you'll enjoy this here for sure. Read More
February 07, 2020
Jørgen from
Norway
Jørgen from
Norway
Been there now for several winters (mostly March but 2018 also in April). Love the place and area.
Our favourite is; 08.5o the 1st lift on the Olympic to Bellevarde. Straight down to the Funival, up again and down the Face and back with the Olympic. Then down to the Toviere lift and so continuing to Tignes. Then start the up-and -down on the northern part:Tichot, Gratalui, Grand Huit and the Aiguille the Percee lift to the Aiguille de Percee( Eagleæ's eye). So down the Sache to Tignes les Brevieres and up again with the Boisses and MArais. Lunch on the nearest restaurant (around 11-11.3o). Down to Tignes 21oo up to Toviere and down again to take the Grand motte. You take the red down to Tignes and then the Fresse and down to Val. Up to La Solaise and over the mountain with the Laissiers and up to Col de Iseran on the lifts on the Glaciers of the Pisaillas. Then you end the day in Fornet around 16.3o. Beautiful.
The restaurants? Try La casa scara, The Avancher; La vielle maison in La Daille and also 1789 in Val.
Enjoy. Read More
February 14, 2019
Simon Eames from
United Kingdom
Simon Eames from
United Kingdom
Returning this year for at least the 20th time. For skiing (as opposed to boarding) Val is simply the best all-round resort for all except beginners (see below), and the apres, the bar scene and the restaurants are legendary. The lift system and bus services are also superb, giving easy opportunity to cover all areas of the Espace Killy.
For on-piste skiing, advanced and intermediates will never run out of variety. With excellent links all across the vast area from the left edge of the map with crisp corduroy on the lovely Fornet glacier area in the morning. All the way over to the extreme right of the map with the superb very long (partially) black "Sache" from up at the Aiguille Percee all the way down to Les Brevieres.
My only warning would be to beginners and intermediates of a timid nature. Val is a fairly challenging resort with a huge variety of reds and blacks. This, in my opinion, has resulted in the deliberate down-grading of some fairly difficult reds to blue status in order to get the right colour balance on the piste map and to encourage families and beginners who would otherwise be put off visiting. Some of the blues in Val would definitely be graded red in most resorts. This can result in unwelcome and exhausting problems for some less able skiers getting down back to resort at the end of a hard day, especially if conditions are poor.
I can't comment on the off-piste, but for piste skiing it's 5* for advanced and intermediates, 2* for beginners, and probably only 2* for boarders, who are not made welcome here and have largely stopped coming in the last couple of years. We can't stay away and will keep coming year after year. Read More
January 08, 2016
Ade from
United Kingdom
Ade from
United Kingdom
If you read these reviews you'll find that Val d'Isere clearly splits opinion. Here's another one.
It's a pretty town and the free bus service is the best I've ever encountered. The town is expensive though; for both drinks and food. The skiing is ok but, like another reviewer, we preferred the Tignes area. Although some lifts are quite slow by modern standards, there are some excellent key lifts that connect really well to the different valleys and getting across to Tignes is easy. The ski map though, isn't very accurate or easy to follow. Val d'Isere is a skiing resort and not a great resort for boarders, unless there's been a big dump and the off-piste is available to have fun. We reckoned boarders made up for less than 10 % of those on the slopes when we visited in December 2015. And finally (and probably it's biggest issue, as far as we were concerned), far too many British people seem to go there.
So, in summary, pretty resort, pretty expensive resort, pretty expensive resort for skiers and not boarders. Too many Brits. Read More
March 26, 2015
Martin from
United Kingdom
Martin from
United Kingdom
I'm in 2 minds about Val d'Isere. I've just returned from my second trip there and while I had a great time, for some reason it just doesn't stack up against other resorts for my kind of skier. I ski on and off-piste but haven't been ski-touring. I suspect it's terrific for touring and saw several groups in the distance, clearly on big trips into the wild.
For lift served off-piste I prefer La Plagne. There, I've said it. Essentially, because it has bags of terrain like Espace Killy but unlike EK it takes all week to get tracked out. It's probably marginally better than 3 Vallees for this though.
For pistes, I think it has some great runs, e.g. Face early in the morning is great and Trolles into Tignes is a fast, flattering run that's really only like an easy wide red. The blues below the Grand Motte feel pleasantly remote too. But a lot of pistes are quite short, a bit samey and not that scenic. It's nothing like as well connected as the 3 Vallees with some really obvious places where an upgrade is needed, e.g. the slow chairs above Les Boisses/Les Brevieres and the inexplicable slow Grand Huit chair. In fairness to Val, these are all in Tignes but they're a key part of the area and really slow you down. In our week the trees at La Daille were much appreciated as the clouds closed in at times. For a high resort, this area is a real bonus.
The village itself is generally quite attractive with shops, restaurants and bars to suit all tastes. The bar scene is about as good as any ski resort, i.e. a bit pants compared to any decent town back home. But it's good enough for a week. The buses were very good from town to La Daille.
Final point, I also had 3 days in Tignes in the summer as altitude training for some climbing. I had a great time and skiing the Grande Motte for a morning was actually great fun. The atmosphere in summer is entirely different and I really enjoyed that trip.
Would I go again? I reckon I would if my group insisted on it. But I'd prefer 3 Vallees, La Plagne or St Anton. Read More
November 02, 2013
graeme from
Australia
graeme from
Australia
I have skied at over 100 resorts around the world over the last 30 years and must have spent over a year in total at Val. There are a lot of great places to ski but nothing beats Val d'Isere for the quality of skiing unless you have a helicopter. BC has some wonderful areas but please don't include Whistler amongst them unless you enjoy crowded lifts, a village that has had a soul bypass and you like skiing the heaviest snow outside of Australia. Read More
March 26, 2013
AndyMac from
France
AndyMac from
France
With regards to skiing, Val d'Isere surpassed all my expectations.
It's quite clear why Val is ranked amongst the world's top ski resorts year after year, the quality of the lift accessed off-piste is superb; the person or persons responsible for planning Val's lift placement had a lot of heart and soul and obviously love skiing with a deep passion. As well, for two weeks in mid-March the longest lift queue was maybe 5-7 minutes and that was in the obvious places. 80% of the time it was a matter of skiing straight onto the lifts.
I would say that apart from village returns for novice skiers, the skiing is almost perfect for all levels.
Of course, Val is not flawless, it's crazily expensive at times, the drunk (mainly British) kids are an embarrassment and the pose factor in the village is laughably high but for the smart and creative it's easy enough to circumvent these.
If you really like actually skiing and especially if you want to really get into the off-piste, you owe it to yourself to visit Val d'Isere at some stage. Read More
March 04, 2013
jon from
United Kingdom
jon from
United Kingdom
Just returned from Val after a two week holiday.
First time back in Europe having spent the the last 5 seasons in British Columbia, Panorama, Louise, Revelstoke ,Whistler etc.
Seriously you should go to BC.
Val is crowded, expensive, windy, white outs, over-rated.
In terms of terrain it's not even close to the Canadian resorts and the snow, whilst there is a lot of it, gets skied off very quickly.
If you want to be seen then Val is the place, if you are serious about your ski holiday then get to BC.
We're in Panorama at Easter, can't wait. Read More
November 09, 2012
Laurence Verbier from
United Kingdom
Laurence Verbier from
United Kingdom
Having spent a total of 6 months there, the marketing is as usual for a town where the council is questionable. There is an ice-rink but it is so low down that it is rarely serviceable after January. In fact, it is shut even if the temperature drop and is very crowded at other times. Val d'Isere has to have some of the rudest piste 'policemen' out there. My ski knocked off after getting a chair lift, the operator saw it happen, and presumably notified the other side, who was day-dreaming while I was waving for him to stop the lift so I could dismount at a reasonable speed. I then went full speed into my neighbours ripping my ski trousers. To prove that he had slowed the lift (which he hadn't, otherwise I would not have collided with the 3 others also getting off) he then sped up the chairs, causing the next lot to fall off onto their knees. I could not believe the arrogance and disrespect for safety. Also, expect to have to clear off the pistes a good half hour before closing, the patrol come in 3s and 4s, skiing at high speed - as if they are going to crash into you- and then escort you down, giving you about 20cm of personal space. Incredibly intimidating and pressurising when you are a beginner on a snowboard. I had very bad bruises as a result, and I was quite angry considering the price of the pass and the ski hours actually advertised. I prefer Tignes myself.
PS To the reviewer below, there is no salt on the roads, because it is extremely bad for the environment, as it causes havoc for the plant and fishlife in the rivers.
[note from the editor : this post has been edited to maintain absolute relevance] Read More
November 01, 2012
Jess Brown from
United Kingdom
Jess Brown from
United Kingdom
Nearest