Like Davos, but in France: more mountain, less town
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20266 min read
Davos is a town first and a ski resort second, and that is what its regulars love. You walk to dinner past a high street and proper supermarkets, the evening does not end when the lifts close, and a non skier has a natural ice rink and a whole town to fill the day. Above it sits a huge amount of skiing on separate mountains, the Parsenn with its long runs down to Klosters and the Jakobshorn with its parks and louder bars. Our read of it is busy and practical, best for a big area, snow sure skiing and town amenities.
In its own figures: around the town we measure 145 kilometres of piste, and 21 kilometres of it is black, the most of the 15 Swiss resorts we cover. There are 13 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary. It is snow sure on our measure: 78 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, up to 2,808 metres.
The honest headline: none of the three French resorts our matching puts closest is a town in that sense. La Plagne and Tignes are purpose built for skiing, and Serre Chevalier is a string of old villages. What France gives back is the mountain, joined up, where Davos's mountains are reached by train or bus. La Plagne carries the most of a Davos week across.
| Resort | Village | Top of the skiing, measured | Ski area | Piste we measure around the village | Black | Marked off piste itinerary | Piste at or above 1,800 m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your benchmarkDavos | 1,560 m | 2,808 m | Davos Klosters, separate mountains: 300 km official, 224 km measured | 145 km | 21 km | 13 km | 78% |
| La Plagne | 1,800 m | 3,022 m | Paradiski, 425 km, linked | 202.5 km | 28 km | 3 km | 80% |
| Tignes | 2,100 m | 3,449 m | Espace Killy, 300 km, linked with Val d'Isère | 130 km | 20.5 km | 14 km | 97% |
| Serre Chevalier | 1,350 m | 2,751 m | Not classified in our data | 153 km | 17 km | 2 km | 72% |
One thing will feel different underfoot. Measured by gradient, Davos's reds are kind, averaging 20.7 percent, and the French picks' reds average 23.1 to 24.9. Those are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, but they are fairer across a border than the colour on the map: across the resorts we cover, a French red averages 24.3 percent and a Swiss one 19.9. Expect a French red to ask a little more of you.
La Plagne: the closest on the mixed group week
- VillageVillage
- 1,800 m 240 m higher
- Highest liftTop lift
- 3,250 m 406 m higher
La Plagne: 203 km of piste we measure. 128 km green and blue 63%47 km red 23%28 km black 14%
La Plagne is what Davos's skiing would look like if someone joined it all up and made it bigger. We tag both modern, our read on La Plagne is practical and friendly where Davos is busy and practical, and it is best for families, value and beginners. Davos's great strength for a mixed group is that everyone finds their level; La Plagne is built around exactly that, ten linked villages with wide, gentle skiing up high and the Vanoise Express across to Les Arcs.
The numbers back it. We measure 202.5 kilometres of piste around La Plagne's villages, the fifth most of the 55 resorts we cover, and Paradiski as a whole is 425 kilometres. There are 127.9 kilometres of green and blue, about twice Davos's 62.5 of blue and easier and also fifth of the 55 we cover. And the serious end grows rather than shrinks: 28 kilometres of black, about 7 more than Davos, the fourth most of the 55 we cover, averaging 25.5 percent against Davos's 25.8. Same kind of black, more of it.
It is higher, too. The village height we hold is 1,800 metres, 240 above Davos, the skiing reaches 3,022 metres by our measure, 214 higher, and 80 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres. It is snow sure on our measure, as Davos is.
What you give up is the town and the off piste. The high centres are purpose built and the lower villages are traditional and quiet, and neither is a town with a high street. The evenings are sociable rather than wild, with an Olympic bobsleigh run and pools for the day off. And there are 3 kilometres of marked itinerary against Davos's 13.
Tignes: the closest on the serious skiing
- VillageVillage
- 2,100 m 540 m higher
- Highest liftTop lift
- 3,456 m 612 m higher
Tignes: 130 km of piste we measure. 76 km green and blue 58%34 km red 26%21 km black 16%
Plus 14 km of marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste total.
If you go to Davos to ski hard, Tignes is the French match on the measures that matter to you. Black kilometres are all but level, 20.5 against 20.7, and so is the marked off piste itinerary, 14 kilometres against 13, the third most of the 17 French resorts we cover. A quarter of the piste is steeper than one in four, against 23 percent at Davos, and 30 percent is gentler than 15 percent, against 31. We tag both modern, and our read on Tignes is practical and high.
The difference is height, and it is a big one. The village is at 2,100 metres, 540 above Davos and the second highest of the 55 resorts we cover. The skiing reaches 3,449 metres by our measure on the Grande Motte glacier, the highest of the 17 French resorts we cover and 641 above Davos's top, and 97 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres, the joint fifth biggest share of the 55 resorts we cover. The season runs from late November to early May. All of it links to Val d'Isère on one pass.
What you give up is the town, more completely than anywhere on this page. Tignes is built for skiing and looks it, with Val Claret and Le Lac as the busy centres. There is an aquatic centre and an ice rink out on the frozen lake, but nothing like a town's worth of things to do. And around the villages we measure 130 kilometres, a little less than Davos's 145.
Serre Chevalier: the closest on the shape of the mountain
- VillageVillage
- 1,350 m 210 m lower
- Highest liftTop lift
- 2,830 m 14 m lower
Serre Chevalier: 153 km of piste we measure. 91 km green and blue 60%45 km red 29%17 km black 11%
Our matching puts Serre Chevalier closest to Davos of all the French resorts we cover, and on the raw shape of the mountain it earns it. We measure 153 kilometres of piste around its villages, a touch more than Davos's 145, and the skiing tops out at 2,751 metres by our measure, only 57 below Davos's top. It is snow sure on our measure: 72 percent of the piste we measure is at or above 1,800 metres. And there is a lot of easy ground, 91.4 kilometres of green and blue.
It is also the only one of the three built from old villages rather than purpose built centres. Our read is relaxed and sunny, best for tree skiing, sunshine and value.
What you give up is the serious end and the bustle. There are 17 kilometres of black against 21, and 2 kilometres of marked itinerary against 13, the biggest difference our matching finds. The village sits at 1,350 metres, 210 below Davos. And we tag it quiet, not modern: a calmer, sunnier week than Davos's busy town.
What makes Davos work, before the town, is a big amount of snow sure skiing that a whole mixed group can use, and La Plagne does that on a bigger scale: the fifth most piste of the 55 resorts we cover, about twice the easy ground, more black, a higher village and all of it linked. Go knowing there is no town at the bottom and little marked off piste. If you ski hard and the itinerary is half the point, Tignes.