Serre Chevalier Ski Area France

Serre Chevalier Ski Resort is a massive ski resort complex, actually 4 combined, in France with 59 interconnected lifts, 250 km of prepared pistes and big vertical drop. This French ski area, Serre Chevalier, maybe the best ski resort you’ve never heard of! It’s huge, vast, high-elevation, beautiful. Big mountains, big lifts, long runs, four beautiful base villages and stunning views. The four interconnected ski villages are: Prorel – Chantemerle – Villeneuve and Monetier.

Serre Chevalier has amazing modern lifts (which is not the case in much of France or nearby Italy). Lots of six-packs, a new gondola, a tram, bring skiers to huge ski bowls, chutes, plus wonderful, fun, long ski trails, connecting the entire resort.

Serre Chevalier’s upper mountain bowl skiing skis bigger than Vail’s Back Bowls and the steeps of Big Sky, Montana. The terrain we witnessed makes Jackson Hole look small. Serre Chevalier, pronounced like Sara’s Chevrolet, lol, should be on your freeride European ski map.

Serre Chevalier’s highest Yret lift takes you to 2830-meters, 9200’, steep and mind-blowing terrain when the snow is right. From here to the base is an impressive 3800′ vertical! Most of our ski runs at Serre Chevalier were over 2200′ vertical-feet, its fun to ski to each base village to feel the full drop.

We stayed in the charming central town of Saint Chaffrey, also referred to as Chantemerle. We thought this town was the best, centrally located with a pedestrian village, nice ambiance, charming but contemporary with ski shops, and several nice restaurants like Loup Blanc, Le Petit Chalet, and Le Floucat. We stayed at the beautiful four-star Grand Hotel Serre Chevalier, with its Nuxe spa, ask for a ski-slope facing balcony. From here you are steps to the Ratier gondola in the morning, and an easy walk to the pretty village for relaxed après ski drinks at Holiday, Le Royal or Le Trappeur, shopping, and a market.

Another thing we loved about Serre Chevalier resort is the many charming on-mountain restaurants and chalets, we counted 17, from cozy and classic to modern and chic. We loved L’Aravet 2000 for its contemporary alpine ambiance and beautiful food and drink! Next door La Cabane is more traditional, with homecooked food and a wonderful sun terrace. Le Bivouac was another great chalet, go to the restaurant side, versus self-service, for a lovely lunch – the local beef burger with fondue fromage is superb!

Serre Chevalier also snow fun parks with terrain elements and skier cross, a wild summit zip line called the Tyrolean Geant, and an igloo maze. The ski school is big, and well-adapted to various languages, French, English Italian.

From Serre Chevalier, you are in close proximity, under an hour, to other French and Italian ski resorts, so a ski safari to The Milky Way – Vialattea’s Sestriere and Montgenevre, Les 2 Alpes, Alpe d’Huez.

If it is overcast and you want a fun day off the slopes, visit the medieval village of Briancon at the base of the resort on the left side looking at the trail map. This fortified city is remarkable, the Cite Vauban was built as a military fortification under King Louis XIV reign. It’s the highest European city, at 1326-meters. Briançon’s amazing architecture is worth a few hours of exploring on foot. Stop at the Tourism office for a city map. Visit the 1700th century church. Be sure to walk up around the fort, the castle is not open to tour, but continue up the hill to the Pont Asfeld – a bold arched bridge that defended the upper Forts, its spectacular over the Durance River gorge. Just strolling the cobbled streets of Briancon, visiting shops and boutiques, is a delight in this UNESCO World Heritage site. Its apparently packed in summer with tourists, but pleasant in winter, though some establishments have minimal hours off-season. Make reservations to dine at the charming Le Gavroche.

Serre Chevalier and this amazing Alps region is on the Tour De France bike route.  

Serre Chevalier Ski Resort Ski Stats:
Elevation: 1200 – 2800M
Vertical Drop: 1600M – 5,249′
Lifts: 59
Trails: 250 km – Serre Chevalier