Resorts We Love: Tignes
Our lovely team here at Love & Piste; Julie, Neil and Karen, regularly visit Tignes, choosing to ski towards the end of March when demand in the retail shop quietens down thanks to the high altitude at Tignes guaranteeing good snow, even later in the season.
We always stay at Tignes Le Lac which has a selection of hotels, bars, shops and restaurants and is an ideal spot for heading off each morning on the Toviere Lift with mimimum effort, with short walks to the lift areas from most of the hotels.
The Tignes – Val d’Isère ski area is one of the most beautiful and extensive ski areas in the Savoie region and in the Alps. On piste skiing, freestyle, freeride or free-rando – whatever you like doing, there’s a perfect spot for you!
The Skiing in Tignes
The pistes gradually open up around Tignes at the start of the season, until the Tignes-Val d’Isere link opens and the official winter season begins.
One of our favourite things about skiing in the Tignes area is being able to cover an extensive area at a high altitude without always confronting a challenging ski run.
Tignes is full of wide, open red and blue pistes that allow the less adventurous skiers amongst us to experience the magnificent views of the Grande Motte and surrounding area without having to tackle a tricky black run.
Having said that, there are some amazing black runs in the area to test those intrepid skiers amongst you!
The Weather
Being at high altitude, snow is the least of your worries in Tignes as you are pretty much guaranteed good snow right up to the end of the season, with some runs open from late September all the way through until May!
Typically though, snow usually begins to fall in October at the Grande Motte Glacier and as temperatures are usually lower, snow can be created artificially lower down.
The Tignes area is also known for summer skiing with its Grande Motte glacier open between June and August.
(Check out the Grande Motte webcam: https://tignes.roundshot.com/grande-motte/#/?imgid=37600699)
The Après Ski
Should you decide to head over to the Val d’Isere area then a stop off after a full morning’s skiing has to be ‘La Folie Douce’- the most amazing experience, you won’t believe what you are seeing!
It is literally a Cabaret Show on the Mountains in all weathers, with dancers, acrobats and singers to entertain you whilst you dine, drink and dance outside on the tables! And when the show finishes and you feel you just can’t ski back in to Tignes from there, there is a cable car to take you back down, phew
It doesn’t stop at La Folie Douce though, skiing into Val d’Isere for some Après Ski is always a good plan!
There is a bus to take you back to Tignes at the end of the day when you find yourself done for the day enjoying the bright lights of Val d’Isere. The bus runs regularly all evening until about 8.30pm.
Media courtesy of: La Folie Douce