Les Arcs

Free, and worth knowing

Three escape game trails, one per village. Collect a booklet from the tourist office, bring a pen, and follow the clues around the village on foot. Arc 1600 has A Spy at the Academy from Place du Soleil, Arc 1800 has The Shadow of the Summits in five puzzles with booklets at Les Villards and Le Charvet, and Arc 2000 has The Attack of the Mekatron from Place Olympique.

The Palais de la Mine trail at Nancroix. An open air heritage trail across three hectares at Pont Baudin, freely accessible all year round and costing nothing to walk. What is left of the lead and silver works is still standing, the washing and smelting remains, the tomb of Knight Rosenberg, and the Mine Palace itself at the end of an avenue of larches. Peisey was the headquarters of the French School of Mines from 1802 to 1814, which is why a building like that is sitting in a hamlet like this.

The Christmas and New Year programme. Every village runs a free programme across the last ten days of December, and it is a real reason to take that week here rather than another one. Last season Arc 1800 sent ski instructors down the Chantel slope by torchlight at half five on Christmas Day, onto the Vagere snowfront, with a DJ and free hot drinks waiting at the bottom. Arc 1600 had Santa through the streets on the twenty fourth with chocolate handed out at the Christmas Village on Place du Soleil, Arc 1950 had a brass band and an enchanted parade, and Arc 2000 closed the year with a laser show at quarter past five and fireworks over Place Olympique.

The funicular, free with any pass. About seven minutes from beside the railway station at Bourg-Saint-Maurice up to Arc 1600, and anybody holding a valid ski or pedestrian pass rides it for nothing. The tourist office puts it plainly: with a valid pass you do not need to buy a funicular ascent or descent. That is what brings the town into range for a non skier, and the town is where the big pool, the market and the second cinema are.

Two free pedestrian lifts. Dahu and Cabriolet carry pedestrians with no pass at all, and both work as village to village transport rather than as a trip up the mountain. Dahu ran until ten at night last summer, which makes it the way home after dinner rather than a daytime lift. Villards, Jardin Alpin and Lonzagne are also listed as free to pedestrians, and we would treat those three as likely rather than settled.

Twenty kilometres of marked winter walking. The tourist office signposts around twenty kilometres of winter footpath and snowshoe itinerary and publishes a pedestrian guide to go with them, and the trails themselves cost nothing. On the Arcs side they are short and villagey: the Courbaton loop out of Arc 1600, the Sentier des Sapins and the chapel walk to Notre Dame des Vernettes from Arc 1800, and two small snowshoe routes up at Arc 2000.

The Minerals Gallery, Transarc mid station. An immersive walk through from flint to asteroids, built into the Transarc mid station above Arc 1800, and there is nothing to pay at the door. Beside it is a new relaxation area with ski lockers, a picnic space and hot drinks, which makes the mid station the obvious meeting point for a group that splits up in the morning. Entry is free, the gondola is not, so a pedestrian needs a pass to get up to it.

The Illuminated Murals of the Aiguille Rouge. A five hundred square metre cable car garage at the top of the Varet gondola, turned into a sound and light installation: a triptych of worlds built around the seasons. It has been running since winter 2022 and entry is free. Free at the door again, though, so a pass or a pair of skis is what actually gets somebody up to 2,730 m to see it.

Eight panoramic terraces. Eight signed viewpoints spread across the area, all free to walk onto once you are up there. The Balcony in the Clouds at 2,540 m at the top of the Transarc is the one to send people to: two terraces with tables and benches, binoculars, metal hammocks slung out above the slopes, a photo point, and toilets with a ceiling of stars. The Vanoise Balcony above Vallandry at 2,189 m has a carved bearded vulture on it, and the Varet terrace at 2,730 m is the highest of the set.

The Snow Maze. A maze cut into the snow at the Transarc mid station, beside the minerals gallery, free to walk into and good for half an hour with children who have had enough of skiing. It is a late season thing, carved once there is enough snow to carve, and it sits a few steps from the warm room and the hot drinks.

The Malgovert Giants. Three wooden giants over seven metres tall standing in the forest on the Mont-Blanc blue run above Arc 1600, and you climb inside them as well as over them. There are walls, secret doors, tree platforms, footbridges, rope nests and a giant game of Mikado laid out among them. It costs nothing to play in, but it is on a piste, so this is a ski access thing rather than a walk out of the village.

Ice stock at Sommet Vallandry. Bavarian ice stock, which is curling with a handle on the stone, laid out at the top of Vallandry and run by the lift company. Playing costs nothing and there is nothing to book. The listing has the right wording for it: free entry but a transport fee applies, which is the honest way of saying that the game costs nothing and the ride up does.

A few of the rest

The two toboggan runs. The strongest paid family thing in the resort, and both runs are reachable on foot as well as on skis, which is the part that matters for a mixed group. Luge 1800 is nine hundred metres from the top of the Villards telecabine. Luge 2000 is three kilometres from the top of the Arcabulle chairlift and it is the one people talk about at dinner. Both are groomed and made safe by the piste crew like any other run. Under 20 euros.

The Igloo Village. Two hundred and fifty square metres of ice cave, an igloo bar, rooms, dining areas and a dancefloor, above 2,000 m and reached on the Arcabulle chairlift. It is billed as the largest igloo village in the French Alps, and a look round costs two euros a head, the same for adults and children. It is rebuilt to a new theme each winter and last season's was an enchanted forest. Under 20 euros.

Laser rifle shooting. Eight euros for a go at biathlon shooting with a laser rifle at the Transarc mid station, from eight years old, and one session is free if you hold an Essential, Premium or Pieton+ pass and show it at the desk. It sits alongside the minerals gallery and the snow maze, so a family can genuinely spend a morning up here rather than just passing through. Booking and paying happen on the spot. Under 20 euros.