Your guide to: Tignes and Val d'Isere
The French resorts of Tignes and Val d'Isere combine to make up the famous Espace Killy ski area, offering winter and summer skiing as well as a whole host of other sporting and leisure activities.
The figures speak for themselves : 300km of piste, over 156 ski runs, accessed by 88 ski lifts and encompassing two glaciers, two snowparks, a slalom stadium and 44kms of cross country skiing routes too. The ski area is always snow-sure with the lowest point at 1550m, reaching right up to 3550m at the top of the Grande Motte.
Skiing and snowboarding in Val d'Isere runs from the end of November to the beginning of May, before opening for summer glacier skiing in July. Over in Tignes, the season starts in September with the pistes opening on the glacier first before the full ski area opens in November. You can also ski right through the summer with both Tignes and Val d'Isere glaciers opening
A winter holiday in Tignes or Val d'Isere is a delight. The whole area is totally geared up for holidaymakers with car-free resort centres, a full range of accommodation styles and budgets and a modern, expansive lift system that means you can move around the mountain efficiently and easily.
If you're looking for a more relaxed holiday in a typical alpine chalet-style resort, Val d'Isere is for you. Originally a tiny alpine village, by the 1930s the area was becoming popular with skiers. The resort really become developed in the 1980s for the 1992 Winter Olympic Games. Nowadays, the resort boasts a mix of smart shops, restaurants and bars all clustered around the main snow front area.
Much of Val d'Isere's best value self-catering accommodation is in La Daille, just a couple of kilometres down the road. The area has direct access to ski lifts and good transport links day and night to the bustling centre of Val d'Isere.
For those dedicated skiers and boarders, Tignes can't be beaten. You feel like you've landed on the moon when you arrive in Tignes le Lac or Val Claret. The resort is at 2100m, so expect snow under your feet. Being purpose built, it may not be the prettiest of mountain resorts, but from pretty much every hotel, chalet or apartment in Tignes you can ski right to and from the door and the choice of lifts and pistes is immense.
If you're looking for a more village-style atmosphere on the Tignes side of Espace Killy, try accommodation in Tignes les Boisses or Tignes les Brevieres at 1550m. Both offer direct access via efficient lifts to the main Tignes ski area.
Of course, skiing is on offer during the summer months in both Tignes and Val d'Isere, but the resorts also offer an enticing amount of walking, mountain biking, paragliding and other activities too, making both resorts excellent year-round destinations.
Mountain Drop Offs offers private and VIP transfers from Geneva and Grenoble airport to all areas of Tignes and Val d'Isere in the Espace Killy, transporting up to eight passengers in comfort and safety direct to your door. All airport transfers to Val d'Isere and Tignes are available to book through Mountain Drop Offs online.
Things to do in Val d'Isere and Tignes
* Learn to make gorgeous gateaux and tasty tartes with celebrated patissier Patrick Chevallot at his Maison Chevallot boutique and bakery in Val d'Isere
* Take a helicopter to the top of the plateau de Toviere at the end of the skiing day, have a meal in an igloo then ski down under the light of the moon - amazing!
* Go for a swim and sauna at the new Oxygen watersports centre in Val d'Isere or Le Lagon in Tignes le Lac - one free entry with a minimum two day lift pass at Val d'Isere
* Party hard on the pistes at La Folie Douce restaurant and bar by the top of the funicular in La Daille - THE place for mountain apres-ski with DJs and live music on the rooftop
* Get the wheels of a Subaru sliding on an ice driving experience at the purpose-built circuit in Tignes les Brevieres
* Climb into a wetsuit and go ice diving under the two metre thick ice of the lake at Tignes le Lac - not for the fainthearted
* Play beach football or volleyball at the 'Sports Beach' in Tignes le Lac during the summer - you may even bump into Eric Cantona!
* Hit the jumps and berms of the Tignes bike park at the Palafour and Toviere areas during the summer months
Useful websites for Tignes and Val d'Isere
- Evolution 2 - a ski and adventure school based in Tignes le Lac and Val d'Isere offering all the ski and snowboard lessons you need in winter and outdoor adventure activities in the summer
- Val d'Isere Tourist Office - a summer and winter website ready to wow you with details of events, accommodation and more
- Tignes Tourist Office - a full agenda for the season (inc the European Winter X Games!), webcams, videos, weather, lift info and more on the Tignes side of the valley
- Neilson Holidays - the well-known tour operator has catered chalet, hotel and self-catering holidays in Tignes and Val d'Isere for accommodation only or full package holidays
- Radio Val d'Isere - the website for the local radio station in Val d'Isere offers listen live links, webcams, video news, and even a jobs bulletin
