Don’t you hate it when you have avoided skiing somewhere and then when you finally do it turns out to be way better than you could have hoped for? Well that is Valmorel & St Francois Longchamp in a nutshell. Called the Grand Domaine in its cojoined form, this is a ski area that has appeal to every type of skier & snowboarder without breaking the bank. And skiing here during the French February school holidays showed us that despite being ‘busy’, the pistes, lifts and infrastructure were in no way under pressure. Most pistes were pleasant, lift lines were few (excepting when the Frene chair broke down for 15 minutes as the morning crowd was heading up )… car parking was limited but manageable if arriving early. But the real tasty story about this resort isn't the pistes, it is the off-piste & backcountry. Tremendous!

The Grand Domaine is certainly split into two halves to make the whole, although some might suggest it is a tale of thirds - Valmorel, St François Longchamp and then Lauziere with its vast sidecountry offerings as a separate entity.

The terrain at St Francois Longchamp is relatively wide open and gentle; perfection & fun for everyone up to intermediate. A high number of green trails is perfect for novices, and then there is enough of everything else to hold everyone’s interest. Everyone needs to ski the long ‘Route de Tour’, a pleasant 6km slide down the snow-covered summer road over the Col de la Madeleine. Cutting corners on powder days is mandatory.

Valmorel on the other hand, despite having a high number of beginner trails, has a diversity of terrain that is unlike anywhere else we have skied; and that’s saying something! We wonder what it looks like in summer because the many eroded canyons, steep inbounds freeride zones, lots of off-piste ‘shrub’ skiing, are incredible. The terrain accessible via the Mottet chair & the Riondet tow is fabulous, and any advanced or better powder hunter will be well pleased.

And finally, even though it is technically part of St Francois, the Lauziere sector is so different that it feels like another ski area completely. Massive alpine terrain served by one chairlift, the pistes will make intermediates quiver in fear, the bumps under the chair will make advanced skiers knees shudder, and the rest of the off-piste will make everyone salivate. When we say that, we mean for ski-tourers looking for sidecountry adventures & experts looking for anything, you can find it in this zone. Understand your exits though!

Just as the terrain is split into two halves (or three thirds as we postulate above!), the two main villages of Valmorel & St Francois Longchamp are almost total opposites. Strolling into Valmorel’s central Rue de Bourg I smiled the smile of someone that immediately felt at home. It has bustling vibrance mixed with old world charm that is extremely pleasing in a ski resort village. Further up the hill, and connected by gondola are more modern, and less enticing sectors of the village including a massive Club Med, but each to their own. What is surprising is the resort village is no ancient, traditional French mountain hamlet but a specifically designed ski village built in the mid ‘70s. Avoiding some of the abominable architectural mistakes of many other French ski resorts, Valmorel village is an example of how it should have been done. St François Longchamp is closer to the other end of the French ski resort village spectrum. Just avoiding the abomination moniker and edging toward utilitarian, it is best described as ‘totally practical & accessible without being pretty’. Both villages have fantastic access to the ski lifts and pistes. St Francois would be the sunnier of the two (if that’s important to you) and is more affordable. Valmorel would be our tip for the overseas ski tourist though, simply because of its look & atmosphere. For hardened ski bums like us, anywhere is good, and going cheap in the valley is just fine as long as one has a car to get around. We stayed in a gorgeous BnB in the pleasant village of La Chambre (located down the Maurienne side of the resort at the start of the road to St François Longchamp).

We loved skiing at Valmorel St Francois Longchamp. And most beginner intermediates will adore it too. It has been a long time coming to finally ski here, but now that have, we shall return to ride powder.

See our thoughts on the pros and cons of this ski resort via our Valmorel St Francois Longchamp overview page.
See our video here