The Skiers' Guide to Valloire

Valloire is a great town, feels traditionally french with some beautiful houses, churches and riverside streets.

The selection of pistes off 2 main mountain summits is great with plenty for everyone. The two gondola are quick, large and modern meaning very small queues in the morning.

Visitors are largely french families the resort hasn't really been discovered by the international crowd so it's a great time to visit before others learn the secret.

It's one of our favourite holidays out of the 8 locations we've been too.

Great food choices on the evening, good supermarkets and a fantastic local brewery 10 miniature walk from the town centre.

Would highly recommend, to beginners or intermediates. Didn't do off piste but the mountains are large with plenty of options. Great lift network with only 1 compulsory drag lift to one of the 5 summits across the valley.

A great choice for intermediates, lots of interconnected blues and reds with quiet slopes and no queues.

The standout feature of Valloire is just how friendly the whole resort is; the hotel staff, the lifties, the mountain restaurant staff and everyone we met on the mountain or on the lifts - skiers, boarders, walkers.

Ideal for beginners who want a resort that isn’t too mainstream. There are plenty of runs that lead into the village as well as one of the most scenically beautiful blue runs ive skied - selles. A lovely windy blue that cuts through the valley makes the resort somewhere i’d come back to time and time again. The Apres life wasn’t too lively but if you want a really relaxing trip then that’s even better than going to tignes or Val D’isere.

My family and I had an excellent stay in Valloire and it has to be one of the best ski trips I have had. The atmosphere was great, food was excellent and everyone is very warm and kind. We went the week that it opened, and even though there wasn’t much snow, Valloire has excellent snow cannons and almost every piste was open because of it. Very family friendly and we even got to witness the Coupe d’Europe which was happening on the Meleze and JB Grange slopes. Overall great trip and will go again next year.

Unsung resort in the Maurienne Valley between Val Thorens and Alpe D’Huez. Most of the pistes are above 2000m so pretty snow sure with a decent mix of the slope grades. Hard core black run junkees will be disappointed but it’s a great family friendly resort with a good mix of bars and restaurants to enjoy.
Didn’t try the ski school, there is only an ESF option but seemed to accommodate all levels if required.
The pistes seem well organised so if you are a family group of mixed skill those wanting greens and blues can take one route and the rest wanting reds and blacks go more on the fall line and you have several meeting points for the pistes.
Those wanting mileage can go over to Valmenier to explore for lunch with a good lift system. There were only ever queues for the lifts at 9:30 when the ski schools started then barely any queues the rest of the day. A far cry from the three valleys or Val D’Isere / Tignes.
Great for: families and groups of mixed ability
Bad for: Hard core black runs or après ski late into the night

A great intermediate resortlots of long varied reds and blues with a network of lifts that make for an interesting days skiing. Prob not the best for total beginners as greens few and moderately challenging. Main lifts centred on lovely old Valloire town. Telecabins and chairlifts modern. A great family resort.

We're a family of 4 with 2 adult children who've skiied for 10 years or more.Went early January. Very quiet slopes, no queues for the lifts which were modern and efficient. Good blues and reds though reds a little on the short side. Most black runs were closed though. Good links to different parts of the resort like Vallmeinier. We skiied 6 days and didn't do every slope. None of the snow parks were open yet, no mogul fields.The resort is very French, in a good way. Usual choice of gift shops, gear shops, and food shops. Really good bakery. Decent supermarket with all the essentials and well stocked for wine and beer- the local Galibier IPA is good.Good choice of restaurants from pizza to traditional French. Decent aprés ski especially at the bottom of the Setaz gondola which is brand new.We stayed in an apartment in the Les Charbonniers area with good access to the slope down to Brive gondola. There's a frequent shuttle bus for much if the day up and down the hill.We flew into Turin and hired a car- about 2.5 hours with a stop off at an Aldi on the way for our food and stuff.Overall a good resort with enough for intermediate and just about enough for advanced. Experts should look elsewhere-little off-piste, limited blacks. The caveat I guess is it's early season.Good resort for young families and couples

Pleasant resort with good snow conditions and without the crowds found in the more popular ski areas nearer Geneva.

What an experience Valloire was. Went with my partner for 2 weeks. Lovely little set up with the most stunning views.

I really can't put into words how beautiful and picturesque this village was. The whole atmosphere was friendly and warm. Everybody we came across literally treated us with the up most respect and warmth.

We stayed at la maison d'angeline. It was really quirky with its wooden flooring and beams, absolutely spotless inside and out.

I'd recommend heading down the slopes on the mountain carts, we couldn't stop laughing between ourselves.

The lovely little shops and bars are great.

We both loved it that much we have already booked for next year.