Things to do in Val Thorens: the mountain without the skis
More than its purpose built look suggests, and some of the best of it is free: a signed walk from the village, a toboggan run in the middle of it, and an evening run down Peclet on the pass you already have. For anyone not skiing, the Cime Caron cable car on a pedestrian pass is the one to do.
Val Thorens is built for skiing, high and compact, and it looks it. What surprises people is how much there is to do without skis on, and how much of it sits in the village or a free carpet ride from it. Somebody who does not ski can keep busy here, and meet the rest of the group as they come off the hill.
Start with the free things, because they are the honest answer. The Montagnette trail is a signed walk onto the mountain with no lift to pay for, La Piste aux Etoiles is a toboggan run in the middle of the village, and Peclet by Night needs nothing more than the lift pass you already have.
For anyone not skiing, Cime Caron is the one to do. A pedestrian pass covers the cable car to 3,200 metres, and at the top there is a rooftop open to everybody, a restaurant and a wine bar. On a bad weather day, Le Board has pools, saunas, a hammam and a sports hall, enough to fill most of it.
The evenings are where Val Thorens earns its name, and not only in the bars. The Cosmojet runs in the evening, the ice rink stays open after dinner, and the igloo village at Combe Thorens is the most memorable night we found. Book the busy things early in the week rather than on the day.
Free, and worth knowing
Three things that cost nothing, two of them starting from the village, and one that turns a lift pass you already have into an evening out.
The Montagnette trail
The walk to do if you want the mountain without paying for a lift. It starts from the village, it is signed the whole way, and it is roughly three kilometres and a bit over an hour there and back. Proper boots rather than trainers, and take a layer more than you think you need, because it is a lot colder standing still than it is skiing.
La Piste aux Etoiles
A short toboggan run in the middle of the village, 250 metres with a few proper turns in it, and the two covered carpets that carry you back to the top are free. It runs into the evening on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from the middle of February, which makes it a good hour before dinner if you have children who are not tired yet.
Peclet by Night
The Funitel de Peclet stays open on Wednesday evenings and it costs nothing on top of a lift pass you have already bought. One run down in the dark with the village lit up underneath you is the sort of thing people put on their phone and then talk about at dinner.
On the mountain
Five kilometres of toboggan from the top of Peclet, and the evening runs are the ones to go for.
Cosmojet
Five kilometres of toboggan run starting at 3,000 metres at the top of Peclet, and it is the longest in France. Three quarters of an hour down. The evening descents on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are the ones to go for, and the second descent costs about half what the first one does, which is usually the point at which people decide they are doing two.
20 to 50 euros · Chalet Cosmojet, above the Cascades chairlift. · Their page
In the village
What fills a day for anyone not skiing, and the answer to a bad weather afternoon.
Cime Caron
The single best thing in the resort for anyone who is not skiing. A pedestrian day pass is 30.50 euros and the Cime Caron cable car is included in it, which puts you at 3,200 metres looking at something over a thousand peaks across into Italy and Switzerland. At the top there is a four storey glass building with a rooftop open to everybody, a restaurant a floor down and a wine bar.
20 to 50 euros · Their page
Le Board
The resort's own pool and wellness centre, recently rebuilt, with a long window over the mountain from the main pool. The wellness side has three saunas at different temperatures, a hammam, two warm pools and a cold plunge, and paying for wellness gets you the pool with it. There is also an indoor sports hall with badminton, squash and basketball, a gym, and a separate play park for younger children, which between them cover most of a bad weather day.
Price on request · 65 Place des Arolles, Galerie Caron. · Their page
The ice rink
Up at Place Peclet, open from eleven in the morning until nine at night, which means it works either as an afternoon off the snow or as something to do after dinner. It is run by a family who by every account spend a good part of the day talking to whoever turns up, they teach children to skate, and there is a hockey game on Monday nights that visitors have been let into. There is a hut doing beer, chips and crepes.
Under 20 euros · Their page
Dinner in an igloo
Up at Combe Thorens there is a village built out of snow, with carved sculptures, a bar, a Savoyard dinner and rooms if you want to go the whole way and sleep in it. It is a memorable evening and it is the one people photograph. Wear proper snow boots and take gloves and a hat, because there is a walk at either end of it and it is genuinely cold.
Over 50 euros · Their page
Nearby
The only neighbour included in the Val Thorens pass, down the far side of Cime Caron and back up by gondola.
Orelle
The closest and the easiest, because it is the one neighbour the Val Thorens pass already covers. You drop down the far side of Cime Caron and come back up the Orelle and Orelle-Caron gondolas, about three quarters of an hour all in. Snake Gliss, a guided group toboggan down the Croix d'Antide with the ski school, is twelve euros on top of a pass. Orelle's own headline is a sunset drink at 3,200 metres on the Cime, and a day trip over to Turin on Wednesdays.
20 to 50 euros
These are our own picks, not paid placements. Prices and opening times change, so it is always worth checking before you set off.