Ski Holidays in Val Thorens, France

Snow report issued:	27th Mar 12
Last snowed:	19th Mar 12
Fresh snow depth:	5cm
Depth at resort:	135cm
Mountain depth:	215cm
Piste state:
Excellent (Very good piste conditions, best at top)
Weather report:
Another glorious day
Temperature:	-2°C
Open lifts:	31 of 31

View Val Thorens snow history

Slope Direction	N S E W
Very Easy Runs	8
Easy Runs	26
Medium Runs	27
Difficult Runs	8
Toughest Run Name	Caron
Skiable Vertical	900m
Number Of Lifts	26
Top Lift Height	3200m
Night Skiing	N
Snowboarding Parks	1
Half Pipes	1
Swimming Pools	1
Night Clubs	2
Mountain Restaurants	11

Geneva:	2 hours
Lyon:	2 hours and 15 minutes

Whether it's worth starting your ski career at the world's largest ski area is open to debate, but Val Thorens is well set up with special classes at the ski school and the option of purchasing a special beginners pass covering eight lifts by the village is available. There is also gentle terrain next to the resort and easy to use lifts to get at it. Your tour operator may offer inclusive packages for first-timers with lift ticket, equipment rental and ski school classes included, which is likely to be much better value than buying these separately, and more convenient.

Nowhere else in the world offers more piste kilometres than the Three Valleys and intermediates have about 250 easy and intermediate grade runs to explore, quite a lot to fit in to a week. The opportunities are endless but the long reds around the funitel and on the Peclet glsacier are not to be missed. You can time your speed with a self timing camera on the Peclet piste (free service) or tackle the floodlit Yannick Richard slalom piste.

The world's largest ski area of course has plenty to entertain advanced skiers amongst its repertoire, with endless off piste and 28 black runs including famous pistes such as La Combe de Caron, La Combe de Rosael, Pierre Lory and le Col de l'Audzin.

If the local skiing is not enough, a six day ticket also gives access to a day in neighbouring resorts, including La Plagne, Les Arcs, Tignes and Val d'Isere. This means that overall more than 1,500km (nearly 1,000 miles) of piste in the area and much more lift-served off-piste is available to you.

Other choices from Val Thorens itself include the local mountain guides office organising daily excursions to the powder fields on the area's six glaciers, as well as famous off piste courses and the opportunity to tackle the legendary '12 Valleys' circuit.

Val Thorens has a long standing reputation as a top destination for boarders with excellent terrain parks and big events that attract thousands to pre-Christmas boarderweek celebrations and gear tests. The Menhir terrain park accessed by the 2 Lacs chairlift is open to all from beginners to experts and the layout varies according to the snow conditions. However expect big air, half pipes, various rails, hip and a ski/boarder cross course.

There's lots to do besides skiing and boarding in Val Thorens. The resort has a six kilometre (four mile) long toboggan run, the longest in France, of which is it is proud. It also has one of the country's few ice driving circuits, the highest in Europe, where you can learn to drive on ice in relative safety, or just have fun taking a car or a kart around the course. The sports centre (the largest in the Alps) was fully renovated a few years ago and many other activities are available including paragliding, scenic plane flights, ice climbing and snowmobiling. There is also an excellent swimming pool complex, one of eight swimming pools to choose from, with many spa, health and beauty treatments and activities to choose from. The resort has build a reputation for musical performances with at least one concert (classic or jazz) each week. And there are more than 70 shops.

There's a good selection of more than 50 bars and restaurants with a wider range up to gourmet level compared to many purpose-built resorts. The Frog and Roast Beef is Europe's highest pub and later on the Underground Disco is popular.

For diners Val Thorens has built up a reputation for gourmet restaurants, along side plenty of more affordable establishments serving standard mountain fare. If you want to splash out however, try the restaurants in the Fitz Roy, Montana or L'Oxalys.

The range of alternative activities, good choice of restaurants,
family-friendly accommodation and largely car-free nature of Val Thorens (cars must be left in car parks) all make Val Thorens quite a good choice for families. On the slopes there are two children's villages run by the ski schools, a special toboggan slope for kids complete with snow sculptures and daily entertainment and a junior area for children. In the swimming pool special activities are arranged for children and the swimming pool has baby swimming classes. The sports centre has a 600 square metre indoor area especially for kids with ball pools, trampolines, bouncy castles and so on. There are also special snowshoe outings for children. There's a choice of non-ski care (from age three months) and beginner ski classes (from age three). Older children can sign up for special ski classes tailored to their age group too and your tour operator may offer a package discount inclusive of lift ticket, tuition and rentals.

Unfortunately lift pass costs in France are high for families as even young children (age five and older) have to pay for a ticket that costs little less than the full adult price. But in recognition of this Val Thorens does offer some relief with a 15% discount on the combined cost of tickets for a family of four and the child price extended to age 18 for family groups.