A wooden chalet in La Clusaz

Villages, not brand names

Where to stay in the French Alps

How to choose a valley and a village in the French Alps, with a separate note for each 2030 cluster.

A wooden chalet in La Clusaz. Photo: Jörg Balsiger, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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  1. Choose the valley first

The useful question is which village, not which “best hotel”. Altitude, a bus, and whether you can ski to the door matter more than a star count we would be inventing.

Choose the valley first

Savoie if you want Les 3 Vallées, Tignes–Val d’Isère, or La Plagne. Haute-Savoie for La Clusaz, Le Grand-Bornand, Megève, or Chamonix. The Briançonnais for Serre-Chevalier and Montgenèvre. Lyon only if the ice halls are the point of the trip. Chamonix is a town with separate ski areas, which changes what “ski-in” can mean.

For the Games fortnight specifically, use the 2030 stay guide. Resort hotels do not become official Games hotels because a race is nearby.

A slopeside room and a room in the valley with a free bus are different holidays. Ask which piste the door opens onto, and what happens when that piste is closed for a race or for wind.

Sources

Checked 15 November 2026. If a later organising-committee page disagrees with this one, believe the later page.