Where to eat and drink in Val Thorens: lunch high, dinner booked
Lunch high and dinner in the village. Chalet Le Caribou, the highest of our picks, is a lunch people build the week around, Le Café Peclet is the dinner to book before you fly, Il Gusto is for the night nobody can face more cheese, and The Frog is the pub.
Val Thorens eats in two moods. On the mountain, lunch is an event, a long one on a sunny terrace, and at Chalet Le Caribou the set menus are where the value is. Down in the village there is more range than you would expect this high up: Savoyard cooking done properly, steak, Latin food, pizza, and a fondue for one if that is what somebody wants.
This is cheese country, and the first few nights should be. Book Le Café Peclet before you fly: fondue and raclette, and a kitchen that thinks about vegetables too. By about day four a change is a relief, and that is when Il Gusto earns its place: pizza and Italian, cheerful and loud, better for a group than a quiet two.
For a quieter night, Restaurant NEVA is small and owner run, and it shows in the service: somewhere you can hear each other across the table. At the other end of the night, The Frog is a British pub with a terrace, cooked breakfast and burgers, and the dog is welcome too.
Book dinner ahead. The middle of the village is busy at peak times, Le Café Peclet fills fast, and a table booked before you go beats queueing on the night.
Mountain lunch
Lunch is the event here: the highest of our picks, set menus for the value and a terrace for the view.
Chalet Le Caribou
The highest place on our list and one people plan their week around. The set lunch menus are the value, the terrace is the view, and arriving a little after the rush usually gets you the good table.
Dinner
Fondue done properly, a quiet room for talking, and pizza for the night the cheese runs out.
Le Café Peclet
The one to book before you fly. Fondue and raclette done properly, a local Roussette to drink alongside, and a kitchen that thinks hard enough about vegetables to put baked pumpkin with Reblochon on the menu. Children are properly looked after, and it fills up fast.
Restaurant NEVA
Small, quiet and run by the people who own it, which shows in the service. Lamb shank and the fish of the day are what get ordered. The one for an evening where you want to hear each other talk.
Restaurant Il Gusto
Pizza and Italian rather than Savoyard, which is a relief by about day four. Cheerful and loud, and it suits a group better than a quiet two. Good value for what it is.
Bars
A British pub at 2,335 metres, and the people behind the bar are the reason to go.
The Frog
A British pub at 2335m, and everyone writes about the people behind the bar, which tells you what sort of night it is. Cooked breakfast, burgers, bangers and mash, a terrace and the dog is welcome.
Cafes and quick bites
Homemade pizza and burgers, small and popular, and it delivers locally for the nights nobody wants to go back out.
Winter Café
The antidote to Val Thorens pricing. Homemade pizza and burgers at ten to twenty euros, and it delivers locally if you cannot face going back out. Small and popular, so get there before half seven.
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Opening times and ownership change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.