Val d'Isère vs Val Thorens: Which High-Altitude French Base?

From our visits

Every photo on this page is our own, shot on the ground in these places.

The practical footing

Common questions

Val d'Isère or Val Thorens: which should you choose?

Choose Val Thorens if the snow matters more than the setting: it is the highest resort in Europe, the most reliable week you can book in the Alps, and it opens onto the largest linked ski area in the world. Choose Val d'Isère if you want somewhere that feels like a village rather than a ski station, with harder, more storied terrain and a real summer season. Both are expensive and both ski brilliantly, so the honest question is whether you are buying certainty or character.

Which has the bigger ski area?

Val Thorens, and it is not close on paper. It sits in Les 3 Vallées, the largest linked ski area in the world, shared with Courchevel, Méribel and their neighbours on one pass. Val d'Isère shares the Espace Killy with Tignes, which is large, high and superb but noticeably smaller. For a week without repeating a run, Val Thorens; for terrain you want to ski properly rather than merely cover, Val d'Isère holds up well.

Which is more snow-sure?

Val Thorens, by virtue of altitude. Its village sits around 2,300 m, higher than the top of many alpine resorts, which is why it opens early and holds condition late. Val d'Isère is no slouch, sitting near 1,850 m with terrain climbing well above 3,000 m and glacier skiing above that, so the upper mountain is reliable even when the valley is not. If your dates are late November or late April, Val Thorens is the safer booking.

Which is better for expert skiers?

Val d'Isère, and it is one of the reasons people become loyal to it. The off-piste reputation is genuinely earned, the terrain off the back of the mountain is serious, and the Face de Bellevarde, the men's downhill course from the 1992 Olympics, is there to be skied when it is open. Val Thorens has plenty of steep ground and superb high bowls, but Val d'Isère is the one experts talk about.

Is either worth visiting in summer?

Val d'Isère very much so, Val Thorens far less. Val d'Isère keeps a real summer season: glacier skiing into the early summer, high hiking, and the Col de l'Iseran, the highest paved pass in the Alps, climbing straight out of the village, which makes it a pilgrimage for cyclists. Val Thorens at that altitude has little to offer once the snow has gone, and a good deal of it simply closes.

Which has the better village atmosphere?

Val d'Isère, comfortably. It grew out of an old mountain village and kept its stone core and its church, so the centre has something to walk around in the evening. Val Thorens was built from nothing in the 1970s for the skiing and looks it, which is a fair trade for what it delivers on snow but not somewhere you would linger for the streets.

Can you ski both in one trip?

Not on one pass, and not easily in one day. They sit in different valleys and different ski areas, roughly two hours apart by road with a descent and a climb in between, so this is a change of base rather than a day trip. If you want both on one holiday, split the week, and give each at least three nights so you are not spending your best weather in a transfer van.