Val d'Isère or Zermatt: more skiing at the door, or the Matterhorn above it
The Ski Snug teamUpdated 12 October 20266 min read
Ask our numbers which resort is most like Zermatt and they say Val d'Isère. Of the 55 we cover, it is the closest match in our similarity engine, and you can see why. Both are upmarket, both are high and snow sure, both sit in a linked area of 300 kilometres or more, and both are in the top ten of the 55 for marked off piste itinerary.
Then they split. Val d'Isère is a real village of stone and timber, with a loud evening if you want one and a mountain that tests you on the piste. Zermatt is car free and calmer, under the Matterhorn, with skiing that climbs as high as at any resort we cover and pistes far gentler than its name. Here are the numbers, and then what they mean for your group.
The numbers, side by side
| Figure | Val d'Isère | Zermatt |
|---|---|---|
| Village altitude | 1,850 m | 1,620 m |
| Top of the skiing, measured | 3,205 m | 3,869 m |
| Linked ski area | Espace Killy, 300 km, shared with Tignes | The Matterhorn area with Cervinia: 322 km by our measure, quoted at 360 km. The Italian side needs the International pass |
| Piste we measure around the village | 158 km | 150.5 km |
| Easy piste | 90 km green and blue, 57% of the piste | 33 km blue and easier, 22% of the piste |
| Black | 21.8 km | 11.2 km |
| Marked off piste itinerary | 29 km | 23 km |
| Piste steeper than one in four | 29% | 12% |
| Piste gentler than 15% | 28% | 35% |
| Piste at or above 1,800 m | 100% | 99% |
| Season | Late November to early May | Year round on the glacier |
| Nearest airport | Geneva | Zurich or Geneva |
Val d'Isère takes most of the rows. Zermatt takes the top of the mountain, the gentle row and the season. Whether that is a rout depends on who is in your group. One caution on the easy row: France and Switzerland colour their runs to different scales, so trust the steep and gentle rows, which we measure from the gradient, when you compare across the border.
Altitude: the village to Val d'Isère, the summit to Zermatt
Val d'Isère's village sits at 1,850 metres, the fifth highest of the 55 resorts we cover and 230 metres above Zermatt's 1,620. Its piste starts high, too. All of the piste we measure there, 100 percent, is above 1,800 metres, up to 3,205 metres, the joint highest share of the 55. Zermatt is snow sure as well, with 99 percent above 1,800 metres, up to 3,869. Nobody can promise snow, but on that measure these two sit joint first and joint third of the 55 resorts we cover.
Zermatt takes the top. Its skiing reaches 3,869 metres by our measure, the joint highest of the 55, level with Cervinia on the same top station, against 3,205 at Val d'Isère. You will see 3,456 metres quoted for Val d'Isère. That is the top of Espace Killy, on the Tignes side, and you can ski it on the same pass. Even counting it, Zermatt's skiing goes 413 metres higher. More of Zermatt sits up high, too: 85 percent of its piste is above 2,200 metres, against 75, and half of it is above 2,634 metres, against 2,451.
So Val d'Isère's skiing starts higher and Zermatt's reaches higher. In February the difference is mostly academic. After Easter, Zermatt's glacier, open all year, is the stronger hand, though Val d'Isère itself runs to early May.
Size: close on the ground, simpler on one pass
We measure 158 kilometres of piste around Val d'Isère and 150.5 around Zermatt, so the skiing at the door is close, with Val d'Isère a little ahead. Across the linked area, Espace Killy is 300 kilometres, a figure we have checked against our own measurement, and all of it comes on one pass with Tignes. The Matterhorn area measures 322 kilometres by our count, against the 360 that is quoted, but that includes Cervinia on the Italian side, which needs the International pass rather than the Zermatt one.
Size, then, is near enough a draw. The pass is the difference: Espace Killy gives you all of it on one ticket, while Zermatt needs the bigger International pass for Italy, and gives you an Italian lunch in return.
The skiing: Val d'Isère has more bite, on the piste and off it
Twenty nine percent of Val d'Isère's piste is steeper than one in four, above the 26 percent at a typical resort we cover. At Zermatt it is 12 percent, the smallest share of the 55. Val d'Isère has 21.8 kilometres of black, counting double black, almost twice Zermatt's 11.2. And La Face de Bellevarde, the downhill from the 1992 Winter Olympics, rises straight out of the village.
90 km blue and easier 57%46 km red 29%22 km black 14%
33 km blue and easier 22%107 km red 71%11 km black 8%
Marked off piste itinerary, kept out of the piste totals: Val d'Isère 29 km, Zermatt 23 km.
The measured gradients say the same. They are averages per run segment, and a run's grade is set by its steepest pitch, so take them as the feel of a week rather than a verdict on one run. Val d'Isère's reds average 23.9 percent, close to the French average of 24.3. Zermatt's average 17.2, below the Swiss average of 19.9, and only one of the 55 resorts we cover has gentler reds.
Off the piste, Val d'Isère still leads. It has 29 kilometres of marked off piste itinerary, the fifth most of the 55 we cover, against 23 at Zermatt. Its longest, the Col Pers, runs 4.9 kilometres with 917 metres of vertical. Beyond the markers, both are big off piste mountains for anyone with a guide.
Where Zermatt wins is the gentle end. On our measure, 35 percent of its piste is gentler than 15 percent, against 28 at Val d'Isère. Val d'Isère has more easy piste by colour, 90 kilometres of green and blue with 22 of it green, but its blues are not soft, and that matters more than the colours suggest.
Who each one actually suits
Val d'Isère suits almost any group that skis. Beginners start on the greens up at Solaise, strong skiers have La Face, the couloirs and the Pissaillas glacier out at Le Fornet, and the après runs from a quiet vin chaud to cabaret and ski boot dancing at La Folie Douce, above La Daille. Pick your corner with care. La Daille is practical and empties at night, the Centre puts the Solaise and Bellevarde lifts and the restaurants within a walk, and Le Fornet is the quiet one, with its own cable car.
Zermatt suits people who want the setting to carry the week: the car free village, the Matterhorn from the window, long lunches at Findeln and a day over the border in Cervinia. Mixed groups and intermediates do well on its long, kind reds, families like the quiet streets, and strong skiers hire a guide. The evenings have life in them, at a calmer pitch than Val d'Isère's. Few beds are on the piste, so the day starts with a stroll or an electric taxi.
The colours are not the same currency
Val d'Isère's blues average 16.9 percent. Zermatt's reds average 17.2. So a typical red at Zermatt is within half a point of a typical blue at Val d'Isère, and Zermatt's blues, at 13.8, are gentler again. Each country colours its runs on its own scale, and these two scales sit a long way apart.
This matters most for improvers. At Val d'Isère, the step from the Solaise greens to the blues can feel bigger than it looks on the map, and the reds above them are properly French. At Zermatt, a skier happy on a Val d'Isère blue will find most of the mountain open to them. Complete beginners are still better off in Val d'Isère, with 22 kilometres of green and nursery slopes in the middle of the village. Improvers who are past that stage may get more from Zermatt.
So, which one
your group runs from beginners to experts, you want steep piste, black and marked off piste in quantity, a big area on one pass, and the choice of a loud night or a quiet one.
you want the joint highest skiing we cover and a car free village under the Matterhorn, your group likes long, kind reds, or you are going late in the season.
It gives you more of almost everything on one pass, from the first green to the last couloir, and the evening is yours to choose. Zermatt is the right answer when the setting is the reason for the trip, and for plenty of people it is.