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Valmeinier resort snow
Lat Long: 45.18° N 6.48° E
Ski France

Valmeinier Resort Reviews

Weather Forecast for Valmeinier at 2050 m altitude

Issued: 1 am 30 Apr 2026 (local time)

Forecast update in  hr  min

Next snow in Valmeinier: 0.4 cm on Wed 6th  (after 8 PM)

Visitor reviews for Valmeinier Ski Resort

Valmeinier Ratings

Overall: 4.3. Based on 19 votes and 18 reviews.

Rate this resort

Snowsure: 4.7

  • Occasionally gets enough snow for skiing
  • Is often closed due to a lack of snow
  • Occasionally suffers from a lack of snow
  • Rarely suffers from a lack of snow
  • Valmeinier is snowsure even in the poorest seasons

Variety of pistes: 4.8

  • The ski runs are featureless and unvaried
  • The ski runs are varied but not extensive enough for a week
  • Valmeinier has diverse and interesting pistes including forests and high alpine terrain

Off-piste: 3.9

  • No off-piste worth mentioning
  • Off piste is out-of-bounds
  • Some varied offpiste that stays fresh for one or two days
  • A vast array of off-piste routes that can stay untracked for several days

Scenery: 4.1

  • An ugly resort in a bland setting
  • Average mountain views and resort
  • A spectacular setting and a beautiful / historic resort town

Access: 4.8

  • At least one overnight stop
  • Requires a whole day
  • Requires more than half a day – you may have time for a few turns
  • Arrive by lunchtime and ski all afternoon
  • There is a main airport within an hour of Valmeinier

Public Transport: 4.2

  • There are no buses or taxis to Valmeinier
  • There are slow or infrequent buses / trains available
  • Getting to the resort is easy with frequent bus / train connections

Accommodation: 4.5

  • No places to stay in/near Valmeinier
  • A few places to stay in the resort
  • A wide variety of accommodation suitable to suit all budgets

Cheap Rooms: 4.8

  • No budget accommodation available
  • Just one or two hostels so book ahead
  • Several cheap hostels and pensions available

Luxury Hotels: 3.5

  • No luxury accommodation available
  • Just one or two luxury hotels so book ahead
  • Several up-market hotels in Valmeinier

Ski in/Ski out: 5.0

  • The ski area is located far from any accommodation
  • A free ski bus takes you to the ski area in a short trip
  • Ski-in ski-out accommodation is available

Childcare: 4.3

  • There are no child care facilities at Valmeinier
  • The resort has limited child-care facilities
  • the resort has excellent child-care facilities including at least one reasonably priced creche

Snowmaking: 4.7

  • Valmeinier relies entirely on natural snow
  • There are just a few snow cannons
  • There are snowmaking facilities on all pistes

Snow Grooming: 4.6

  • There are no snow groomers at Valmeinier
  • Occasionally some pistes are left ungroomed and in a poor state
  • All the runs at Valmeinier are groomed daily

Shelter: 4.0

  • There is nowhere to ski when it is windy or visibility is bad and lifts often shut
  • There are some trees for poor visibility but main lifts sometimes close
  • Valmeinier is mostly in forest where you can ski in flat-light and windy days, lifts rarely close

Nearby options: 4.7

  • If snow conditions are poor at Valmeinier, it will be poor everywhere nearby
  • There are good alternatives within an hours drive
  • Other locations on the same lift pass provide a rich variety of snowsure ski conditions

Regional rating: 4.4

  • Valmeinier usually has poor snow conditions compared to other resorts in region
  • Has average conditions for the region
  • Usually has the best snow conditions in the region

Lift Staff: 5.0

  • The staff at Valmeinier are rude or unhelpful
  • Lift staff at Valmeinier are pleasant, cheerful and eager to help

Crowds/Queues: 4.7

  • The resort is always busy and there are usually long lift queues
  • It is quiet apart from occasional weekends and school holidays
  • It is uncrowded and lift queues are very rare

Ski Schools: 4.9

  • No ski schools available
  • One or two ski schools but local language only
  • A few ski schools but book early for multi-lingual instructors
  • Plenty of ski schools and multi-lingual instructors available
  • Excellent ski schools with friendly multi-lingual ski instructors

Hire and Repairs: 4.9

  • Nothing can be sourced, not even ski-wax or ptex
  • There are some ski shops but rentals need to be booked in advance
  • Good quality ski equipment can be purchased or hired and overnight repairs are possible

Beginners: 4.3

  • Beginners can only watch others ski and snowboard
  • A few gentle slopes but beginners will get bored in less than a week
  • Vast areas of gentle terrain

Intermediates: 4.9

  • No intermediate terrain at Valmeinier
  • Intermediate skiers will get bored after a few days
  • Vast areas of cruising runs

Advanced: 4.5

  • Nothing for advanced skiers and snowboarders
  • Enough steep terrain for a few days with some good offpiste
  • Enough steep terrain and offpiste areas to entertain advanced skiers for at least a week

Snow Park: 4.3

  • Not even a kicker at Valmeinier
  • Average sized park quite well looked after
  • Huge park area and expertly crafted pipes, jumps and boardercross trails

Cross-country: 2.6

  • There is nowhere to go for cross-country skiing around Valmeinier
  • There are some cross country trails available
  • The area features many spectacular and well maintained cross-country trails

Luge/Toboggan: 2.3

  • No designated luge or toboggan runs
  • There are toboggan runs that open quite often
  • Valmeinier has long and well maintained luge / toboggan facilities suitable for all ages

Mountain Dining: 3.9

  • Nowhere to buy food by the pistes
  • Some places to eat up on the mountain but they are often busy and expensive
  • There is a variety of excellent mountain eateries right next to the slopes to suit all budgets

Eating: 4.4

  • Bring your own food, there isn't even a shop
  • There are a few places to eat in the resort but nothing special
  • A wide variety of places to eat and drink in the resort, from fast food to fancy restaurants

Apres-Ski: 4.8

  • Nothing to do, not even a bar
  • There are a few bars in the resort but nothing special
  • Clubs and bars stay open until very late and have a friendly atmosphere

Other Sports: 3.4

  • No sports facilities at all apart from ski lifts
  • Resort has just a small public swimming pool
  • Resort has all kinds of sports facilities, including a full-size swimming pool

Entertainment: 3.9

  • Besides the snow and walking there is nothing to do here
  • The non-skier will find things to do for few days but may become bored after a week
  • The resort area is a fascinating place to visit, regardless of winter sports

Winter Walks: 3.5

  • Very limited walking and no snowshoe trails
  • A couple of designated scenic walking/snowshoe trails
  • Extensive and diverse winter walking trails for all abilities

Ski Pass Value: 4.5

  • A 1 week ski pass is overpriced compared to the number of lifts available
  • The ski pass is averagely priced and covers a reasonable number of lifts
  • Ski passes are excellent value for money and cover a lot of lifts spanning a big area

Value (National): 4.6

  • Overall, Valmeinier is one of the most expensive ski resorts in the country and not worth the money
  • Overall represents average value for money
  • Overall offers the best value resort in the country

Value (Global): 4.5

  • Overall, Valmeinier is one of the most expensive ski resorts in the world
  • Overall it offers pretty average value for money compared to resorts from other countries
  • Internationally the resort offers excellent value for money

Show all 35 ratings

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February 02, 2009
Samantha from Ski United Kingdom United Kingdom
Spent last week in Valmeinier/Valloire and loved it. The slopes were pretty quite, lift queues short and polite (no shoving or queue jumping) and we were blessed with lots of fresh snow. Stayed at Valmeinier 1800 with easy access to the lifts and found everyone in shops, bars & restaurants to be very friendly (despite my rubbish French.) Navigating around the slopes is relatively easy with the good signposts. Getting over to Valloire (with its wide blue & red runs) is easy. Only grumble; the flat/uphill bits on the blue and green runs are a pain when you snowboard.
January 09, 2009
Andy from Ski United Kingdom United Kingdom
Have fallen in love with Valmeinier. 1800 is the place to stay. Have just come back from our fourth trip there and booked to go back later in the season. Greens can get a bit lumpy and busy at the end of the day especially with The Flocons (tiny kids in ski school) that can make some of the afternoon runs an obstacle course. The link to Valloire has been improved so that you don't need to use the drag lift. Some of the blues are fast but the best run is the red from the top, Genepi. This is a really great run but can be a bit icy near to 1500.
December 30, 2008
Dusko Koncar from Ski Croatia Croatia
Valmeinier is a beautiful family resort with lots of both sun and snow. Vallerie side has better slopes for ski experts with some interesting blacks. When there go and ski it all to enjoy properly. No night life as such; excellent for families with small kids.
April 01, 2008
Sally from Ski United Kingdom United Kingdom
We discovered Valmeinier about 2 years ago, What a result! We are a family of mixed ability skiers (teenagers and adults) and everyone is happy. It is a friendly, family orientated resort and not nearly as pricey as the 3 valleys. The narrow greens are a bit hairy as they can get very busy, but the long blues and reds in both Valmeinier and Valloire are great. There are some challenging blacks too! The links and chairlifts are being improved and updated every year and the pistes are regularly well groomed. I think we will be regular visitors for years to come.
March 17, 2008
Pete from Ski United Kingdom United Kingdom
We travelled in the kids half-term week in February 2008 and yes, found the resort very busy with lots of queues for all lifts and the majority of the slopes. The long greens were especially dangerous with too many skiers of all standards. The slopes were well groomed and the weather was perfect as was the variety and mix of runs. However, if you want to experience some form of apres-ski, don't go here. It was similar to a ghost town after 1900hrs, not sure where all those people went????? Not much to do during the day if you need a break from the slopes either. The kids had lessons organised via the only ski school and I must say this was very poorly organised with the instructors time keeping and lack of interest (probably due to mid season). All in all, a reasonable resort to ski, but that's it!!
January 07, 2008
David from St Albans from Ski United Kingdom United Kingdom
Visited Valmeinier in the first week of Jan 2008. It's a great place - well groomed pistes, excellent lifts and real variety across the three hills to Valloire. I'm a pretty bad skier and found some of the piste gradings to be wayward - some of the red runs are much easier for people like me than the thin and often busier 'greens'. But don't be too fooled because other red runs are truly terrifying for the occasional skier, especially off the top of Crey de Quart! But for all the others in my party who were better than I, they were full of praise. Takes a degree in logistical analysis to work out how to use the lifts and runs to get to where you want to go, but worth going as far afield as you can. Valmeinier itself? There's not much to do if you don't want to ski, but it's a small, friendly, reasonably priced and not overly dominated by one nationality. The altitude can make some of your dreams quite weird though as we all reported strange nocturnal visions. Well, that or the wine...
January 03, 2008
Paul - London from Ski United Kingdom United Kingdom
Visited Valmeinier in 2007 and found the resort to be a real gem. Spread across 2 villages 1500 and 1800, I would recommend staying at 1800. Although small in comparison to some of its more illustrious neighbours, it benefits from a reasonable sized ski area (once you take Valloire into account), a modern lift system which is constantly being improved and some of the best piste preparation outside of the 3 valleys. Pistes were almost empty and lift queues in last week of Jan were non-existent.
September 12, 2006
Helen from Ski United Kingdom United Kingdom
We visited Valmeinier 1800 in mid March and the snow was fantastic. It snowed for 3 days non stop and we had the best skiing conditions ever. It was great for the kids with extremely long green runs from the top of the mountain to the bottom and intermediates would be in heaven but if you are the more experienced skiier there may not be enough to cater for your needs. We stayed in one of the original Valmeinier 1800 buildings that overlooked the main chairlift in the resort, it was a little dated but you could roll out of bed and onto the slopes, Fantastic! The neighbouring Valloire valley is so picturesque with even better runs than Valmeinier, it's a shame that the link wasn't any better. It took 2 chairlifts and a drag just to get there but when you do you will be pleased you made the effort and have an amazing day out. (Valmeinier and Valloire is all included on the ski pass). Valmeinier is a reasonably priced resort and you won't have to pay the same high prices as other nearby resorts but you will have just as much fun for a lower, more reasonable price. We had an amazing week so visit Valmeinier now! (Tip: visit the pizza place it's the best I have ever tasted!)