France Ski Vacations

The French Alps are famed for their skiing. From charming alpine villages, to modern complexes, and huge Alps mountains, France is an amazing place to for family ski holiday. Massive ski resorts like Val D’Isere Tignes, and Les 3 Vallées – the largest interconnected ski resort in the world – offer 100s of miles of groomed trails, high capacity trams and gondolas, French on-mountain chalets for dining, incredible views, and some of the best ski schools anywhere.

French ski resorts and their ski lifts and lodging can be a mix of modern and older, chic to basic, so be sure to read our France ski reviews to find authentic alpine villages and sizeable ski resorts with contemporary lifts and snowmaking – a necessity these days in European winters, along with high elevation. You may encounter a little French attitude, cigarette smoking, but the amazing French cuisine served in mountain chalets makes it worthy.

Megeve and Chamonix are the most famous, but there are so many other great French ski resorts, less busy, and less expensive, but still big mountain skiing, for ski holiday.

Serre Chevalier is a surprisingly big ski resort in the Cote D’Azur Alps near Italy, with lifts connecting 4 villages. Nearby Val Cenis in the beautiful Haute Maurianne valley is a gem, big mountain skiing, with a small pleasant village. These special ski regions are near France’s more popular 2 Alpes and Alpe D’Huez.

See our Reviews of The Best Ski Resorts in France for planning your family ski vacation, your guide to high alpine skiing, French food, mountain hotels, plus fun things to do after skiing – from elaborate waterparks, igloo village, Folie Douce parties, to old fashioned sledding, and exploring historic ski villages. Parents can enjoy French après ski, while kids play in the snow, sled or build a snow man.

Courchevel is part of Les 3 Vallées Ski Region, along with Val Thorens and Méribel, creating a massive fantastic resort destination for families. Staying in the charming Savoyard village of Courchevel 1850 is very upscale, where the rich and famous Europeans ski, you have access to vast high elevation terrain,and can ski to neighboring, historic Méribel and the more modern Val Thorens where there’s vast freeride skiing, and lots of basic lodging.

Val D’Isère and Tignes, also called L’Espace Killy for the famous French ski racer Jean Claude Killy, has over 300 kilometers of skiing connecting the two resorts by 70 lifts. Val D’Isère is home to some of the most famous ski terrain of the French Alps like the men’s Olympic Downhill Bellevarde Face. Val D’Isere’s medieval village is more lovely for lodging, apres ski, shopping and dining than Tignes (which has banal architecture).

La Plagne and Les Arcs is the second biggest linked ski resort in the world, behind Les Trois Vallées, with skiing on two glaciers, 425 kilometers of skiing, and a highest elevation at Aiguille Rouge of 10,583′. While the architecture is not your anticipated alpine charm, ski and stay deals abound at La Plagne and Les Arcs, and the vast ski terrain and scenery will satisfy everyone in the family.

France hosted the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924, Grenoble in 1968 and Albertville in 1992, and continues to host annual World Cup ski events as well as fun family festivals all winter long. See our French Alps Ski Videos and our Top Family Ski Resorts in The French Alps for planning your French family ski holiday.

See our European Ski Reviews:
French Alps Ski Videos
Top French Family Ski Resorts
Top European Ski Resorts for Family Ski Vacation
Top Swiss Ski Resorts for Families
Top Austrian Family Ski Resorts
Top Family Ski Resorts in the World