Valloire with children – a real village in the Maurienne with 160 km of pistes

Valloire is not a ski station built from scratch on a bare hillside. It's an old village in the Maurienne valley, with seventeen hamlets along two mountain streams, a church in Italian baroque style and people who live here all year round. The name comes from the Latin Vallis Aurea, the golden valley.

For families that means a village with a bakery, a square and evening strolls, and a ski area that's bigger than most in the same price range. You can see how Valloire compares with the rest of the country in skiing holidays in France.

A village that lives on even without ski tourists

In the middle of the village stands the church of Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption, built of local stone between 1630 and 1682 and decorated in Italian baroque style. Each hamlet has its own chapel, and the sundials on the house walls in Serroz and Les Verneys are worth a detour on the way to the slopes.

Valloire holds the Famille Plus family label. In practice you notice it in what surrounds the skiing: an ice rink in the middle of the village, a sledging hill for children, snowshoe tours and a weekly programme of free activities. In January the village is transformed when sculptors from several countries compete in snow and ice sculpture. In winter 2027 the ice competition takes place 12–15 January in Les Verneys.

The village is spread out. Shuttle buses run to all the hamlets in winter, and during the school holidays there are evening buses too. The car is best left parked: on the square by the town hall you can only park on Saturdays.

Galibier-Thabor – 160 kilometres with Valmeinier

Valloire shares the Galibier-Thabor ski area with the neighbouring resort of Valmeinier. Together that makes 160 kilometres of pistes across 91 runs, from 1,430 up to 2,750 metres, and 30 lifts. Seventy per cent of the area is above 2,000 metres, and 512 snow cannons cover half the piste network.

The 2026/27 season starts with a preview weekend on 5–6 December. Valloire's own sectors, Sétaz and Crey du Quart, open on 12 December, and the whole of Galibier-Thabor is open from 19 December 2026 to 11 April 2027.

Lift passes and ages:

• Under five: free, with proof of age.
• Child price: ages 5–12. From age 13 the adult price applies.
• The family package: for six, seven or eight days, when at least two adults and two children or teenagers aged 5 to 17 buy at the same time. All passes must have the same dates.
• Beginner passes: one for a single day and one for six days. The six-day pass is valid on the easy lifts for the first three days and then on the whole area.

The passes are personal, and booking early online is cheaper. Current prices are shown when you book.

Three beginner areas

Valloire has three separate areas for learners, each with its own lift:

• Les Verneys: a button lift in the hamlet of the same name, close to the village and free. Quiet and good for the first day.
• Thimel: at the top of the Sétaz gondola, with a magic carpet and the easy Snowbolide run.
• La Séa: by the Brive gondola, wide and gentle areas for children who have started to turn.

Thimel and La Séa are included in the beginner pass, which also gives a ride up on the gondola. For complete beginners, Les Verneys is enough for the first few days. There's more on how to plan the first few days in first ski trip with kids.

Ski schools, childcare and ages

Valloire has two ski schools: ESF, with an office by the Crey du Quart gondola, and ESI, in the Rochevert building on Avenue de la Vallée d’Or.

Activity	Age	Where
Les Aiglons nursery	6 months–6 years	By the Sétaz gondola
ESF children's house (childcare without skiing)	from 18 months	Maison des Enfants, centre
ESF Marmottons	2.5–4 years	Marmottons, centre
ESI La Souris Verte	from 2.5 years	Rochevert, Avenue de la Vallée d’Or
ESF Club Piou Piou	from 4 years	Centre, Moulin Benjamin or Les Verneys
ESF group lessons	7–12 years	On the slopes, by level

Marmottons is for the youngest who have never been on skis: about an hour and a half in the snow and the same amount of time playing, six days from Sunday to Friday. The morning session runs 9am–12pm and the afternoon session 2pm–5pm.

Club Piou Piou has a group for children from age four who have never skied and one for four- and five-year-olds who already know the basics. Sessions run 9.15am–11.45am or 2.15pm–4.45pm, Sunday to Friday. If you choose Les Verneys as your meeting point, an ESF instructor runs a free shuttle from Moulin Benjamin a quarter of an hour before the lesson.

Fill in the ESF health form before the first day, and put siblings at the same meeting point if you can. In ski trip with children – tips and advice there's more on how the ski school week usually works best.

How to get to Valloire

Valloire lies on the road up to the Col du Galibier, but the pass is closed in winter from the hamlet of Bonnenuit. So everyone comes in from the Maurienne valley over the Col du Télégraphe.

• By train: the station is called Saint-Michel-Valloire and is in Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne, 17 kilometres below the village. The rest of the train journey from Sweden, all the way down to the Maurienne, is in train to the Alps.
• Bus: Altibus line S40 runs from the station car park up to Valloire. The ticket includes one bag, hand luggage and a pair of skis, and it's cheaper if you book at least two days in advance. Altibus recommends allowing an hour and a half between train and bus.
• By air: Chambéry is about 100 kilometres away, Grenoble 120 and Lyon 190.
• By car: the motorway to Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne and then the D902 up. Have winter tyres or snow chains.

If you're still weighing the train against the car or plane, travelling to the resort – car, train or plane can make the choice easier.

Valloire, Valmorel or the Hautes-Alpes?

Valmorel, on the other side of the Col de la Madeleine in the Tarentaise, is built as a car-free family village and has shorter distances between accommodation and slopes. Valloire is bigger, higher and more of a real village, with a church and everyday life.

South of the Galibier lie Serre Chevalier and Les Deux Alpes, but in winter you can't reach them over the pass. If someone needs a day out of ski boots, ski holiday without skiing can give you ideas, and for packing there's packing list for the ski trip.