Love Serre Chevalier? Where to go next for the easy miles, the quiet village or the sun
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20267 min read
The things people love about Serre Chevalier are mostly written in its own description: sun, trees and a string of old villages. It is relaxed and sunny by our read, tagged quiet, and we list it for tree skiing, sunshine and value. Under that is a mountain that does a lot without making a fuss about it: big, easy at the bottom end, honest in the middle, and high enough to pass our snow sure test.
So nothing in the numbers pushes you away. People leave Serre Chevalier because they fancy a change, and the useful question is which part to take with you: the easy miles, the quiet old village feel or the sun.
Serre Chevalier, measured
Start at the easy end, because that is where Serre Chevalier is strongest. There are 91.4 kilometres of green and blue, the tenth most of the 55 resorts we cover, and 40.8 kilometres of it is reliably marked green, which is a lot of first week ground. Thirty eight percent of the piste is gentler than 15 percent. The blues themselves average 16.8 percent, a touch steeper than a typical French blue at 16.2.
The reds are where it gets honest. They average 24.9 percent, the tenth steepest reds of the 55 resorts we cover, a little over the French red average of 24.3, and 27 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, about the median. Oddly, the blacks run the other way: 16.7 kilometres of them, averaging 27.8 percent, under a typical French black at 29.6. These are average gradients per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch. But the shape is plain: plenty of gentle ground, reds with some bite, and blacks kinder than the French norm. The longest piste we measure is itself a black, Tabuc, 3.3 kilometres with 632 metres of vertical.
Then the snow. The village is at 1,350 metres, exactly the median of the 55 resorts we cover, but 72 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres and the skiing reaches 2,751, so on our measure Serre Chevalier is snow sure. Half its piste is above 2,020 metres. Nobody can promise snow, but this is not a resort you leave to find it.
Its size is the one thing we cannot pin down. Our data does not confirm an area figure for Serre Chevalier, so we compare on the piste we measure around it: 152.7 kilometres, well above the 115.8 at the median resort.
La Plagne: if it is the easy miles and the value, higher up
- VillageVillage
- 1,800 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 3,250 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 425 km
La Plagne: 203 km of piste we measure. 128 km green and blue 63%47 km red 23%28 km black 14%
If what you love is a big, easy mountain that we list for value, La Plagne gives you more of it on nearly every measure, and it is the one pick here that keeps value on its list. It is a big, gentle area that families love, practical and friendly by our read, and we list it for families, value and beginners.
The skiing is built the same way. Twenty seven percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, exactly your figure, and 39 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against your 38. There is simply more of it. We measure 202.5 kilometres around La Plagne, the fifth most of the 55 resorts we cover and about 50 more than yours, with 127.9 kilometres of green and blue, also the fifth most. Paradiski, the area it shares with Les Arcs, is 425 kilometres, a figure we have checked against our own measurement.
It is higher, too. Our figure for the village is 1,800 metres, 450 above yours. The skiing reaches 3,022 metres by our measurement, 271 above yours, and 80 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800, against 72.
Two things change underfoot. Nearly all of the easy skiing is blue: just 4.3 kilometres is green, against your 40.8, though the blues are gentler, averaging 15.5 percent against 16.8. And the hard end grows. There are 28 kilometres of black, the fourth most of the 55 resorts we cover, averaging a kind 25.5 percent against your 27.8.
The trade is the character. We class La Plagne as modern and family, not quiet, and neither the trees nor the sun is on its list. You fly to Geneva or Chambéry.
Saint-Martin-de-Belleville: if it is the quiet and the old village, on a bigger map
- VillageVillage
- 1,450 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 600 km quoted
Saint-Martin-de-Belleville: 75 km of piste we measure. 50 km green and blue 67%19 km red 25%6 km black 8%
If the best of a Serre Chevalier week is the quiet and the old village feel, Saint-Martin-de-Belleville keeps both and adds the Three Valleys. It is an old Savoyard village inside the area, traditional and quiet by our read, and we list it as authentic, for people who care about food, and for its Three Valleys access. The Three Valleys is quoted at 600 kilometres and genuinely linked, though we have not measured that figure ourselves.
What makes it a fair swap is the snow. The two are close to twins: 75 percent of Saint-Martin's piste is at or above 1,800 metres, against your 72, and 55 percent is above 2,000, against 52. Half its piste is above 2,040 metres, against 2,020 at Serre Chevalier. The village is 100 metres higher, at 1,450, and the skiing tops out 60 metres lower, at 2,691 by our measurement. Both are snow sure on our measure.
The local skiing is smaller and gentler. We measure 75.1 kilometres around the village, against your 152.7, and two thirds of it is green or blue. Only 20 percent is steeper than one in four, against your 27, and its reds average 21.9 percent, the second gentlest of the 17 French resorts we cover, against your 24.9. The rest of the Three Valleys is there when you want it.
The trade is the doorstep. There are just 4.0 kilometres of green, against your 40.8, and 6 kilometres of black, against 16.7, so a first timer or a strong skier will be heading further into the Three Valleys sooner. Value gives way to food on its list, and you fly to Geneva or Chambéry.
Crans-Montana: if it is the sunshine, in Switzerland
- VillageVillage
- 1,500 m
- Highest liftTop lift
- 3,000 m
- Linked areaLinked
- 140 km
Crans-Montana: 85 km of piste we measure. 22 km blue and easier 26%50 km red 59%13 km black 15%
Crans-Montana is the other place on this page where sunshine is part of the description. It is a sunny plateau with wide views over the Rhône, sunny and smart by our read, and we list it for sunshine, golf and spa, and families. Our engine puts it third closest to Serre Chevalier of the 55 resorts we cover.
It is a little higher at every level. The village sits at 1,500 metres, 150 above yours, the skiing reaches 2,868 by our measurement, 117 higher, and 79 percent of the piste is at or above 1,800, against your 72. On our measure it is snow sure.
It is also gentler where it counts for an intermediate. Only 22 percent of the piste is steeper than one in four, against your 27, and its reds average 19.2 percent, against your 24.9 and under the Swiss red average of 19.9. The piste map will tell you otherwise, because Swiss grading puts most of the mountain in red and only 22.0 kilometres is blue and easier. Read the gradients, remembering they are averages, not the colours.
The trade is size and the quiet. Crans-Montana is one linked area of 140 kilometres, a figure three independent sources agree on, and we measure 85.2 kilometres around it, against your 152.7. There is less black, 12.9 kilometres against 16.7, though its longest piste we measure is a black of 4.0 kilometres with 843 metres of vertical. We tag it family rather than quiet, and you fly to Geneva.
So, which one
the easy skiing and the value are what you love, you would like more easy skiing and more height, and you can do without the old villages and the trees.
the quiet and the old village matter most, you want much the same snow figures with the Three Valleys around it, and nobody in the group needs much green.
the sun is the point, you want gentler reds and a little more height, and a smaller area suits you.
Of the three, it asks the least change of your skiing: the same steepness, about 50 kilometres more piste by our measure, more easy ground and more of it above 1,800 metres, with value still on the list. What you give up is the character, the old villages and the quiet. If those are the reason you go, Saint-Martin is the answer instead.