Renting a chalet in the French Alps

Question 1

Which valley should a first stay in the French Alps be built around?

Accepted Answer

Two criteria settle it, and they pull in opposite directions. The first is the altitude of the village. Megève sits at 1,113 m, Chamonix at 1,035 m, Val d'Isère at 1,850 m, Courchevel across four tiers from 1,300 m to 1,850 m. The higher the village, the longer the snow holds into the season and the closer it lies to the chalet. The lower it sits, the more the place exists outside skiing: year-round shops, forest, the life of a working town. The second is what you intend to do with your days. A family skiing six days out of seven gains by sleeping high. A group alternating slopes, tables and rest gains by sleeping in a village that does not close in April. A first stay turns on that split, not on the name of the resort.

Question 2

Is snow cover comparable from one valley to the next?

Accepted Answer

No, and the gap is measured by how much of the ski area sits high. In Les 3 Vallées, which carry Courchevel and Méribel, 85% of the pistes lie above 1,800 m. Above Val d'Isère, skiing reaches beyond 3,400 m, from late November to early May. On Évasion Mont-Blanc, which carries Megève and Combloux, the area tops out at 2,350 m. In the Chamonix valley the sectors climb high but open from a valley floor at 1,035 m, with no ski link between them. In practice a week in March plays out much the same anywhere. A week in late November or late April does not: that is when the choice of valley decides how good the stay is.

Question 3

Can several resorts be skied from a single chalet?

Accepted Answer

It depends on one thing: whether the chalet sits inside a linked ski area or in a valley of separate ones. Courchevel and Méribel belong to the same whole, Les 3 Vallées, where 600 km of pistes and 347 marked runs connect seven resorts without ever touching the car again. Megève and Combloux belong to Évasion Mont-Blanc, 400 km across four sectors. Praz-sur-Arly opens onto the Espace Diamant and its 200 km. Chamonix works differently: its five sectors, from Les Houches to Balme, do not meet on snow and are joined by shuttle. Val d'Isère opens onto one neighbouring area only. A group wanting a new backdrop each day without logistics picks a linked area; a group coming for a massif accepts the shuttle.

Question 4

What separates a chalet in Savoie from one in Haute-Savoie?

Accepted Answer

The nine communes served split between two departments, and the dividing line is clear. Three of the communes served lie in Savoie, and all three are high-altitude resorts born of skiing: the architecture answers to the ski area, the villages were drawn around the lifts, the season shapes the year. The other six lie in Haute-Savoie, and every one of them existed before the lifts; they still live differently in summer. It shows on two counts when renting: the length of the season, shorter down low, and the kind of house. A restored farmhouse in the Val d'Arly and a new-build chalet above Courchevel are not rented in the same weeks nor for the same reasons.

Question 5

Are the Alps also rented outside the ski season?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and in quite different ways depending on the valley. Chamonix and Les Houches, set against the Mont Blanc massif, live a summer of hiking and mountaineering as full as their winter: the lifts run, the refuges open, the valley is busy. Megève, Combloux and Praz-sur-Arly are working villages year-round, with their shops, their tables and their high pastures; people come for walking, cycling, golf and cool air. The high Savoie resorts close down more between May and December: lifts stopped, shops dormant, services reduced. A chalet there stays comfortable, but the village around it is asleep. For a summer stay the question of the valley comes first again, with almost the opposite answer to the winter one.

Chalets for rent in Alps

Chalets and apartments for rent in Alps

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Renting a chalet in the French Alps