Val Thorens represents the pinnacle of ski resort development to date - at least in terms of its altitude. The highest ski resort in Europe, located in a vast snowy bowl within the biggest ski area in the world, the resort and its surrounding ski area has continued to evolve since its opening in 1971.
Today it can claim to be a stylish 'village' and world class ski resort, constructed using local wood and stone to designs inspired by traditional local Savoie architectural traditi...
Val Thorens represents the pinnacle of ski resort development to date - at least in terms of its altitude. The highest ski resort in Europe, located in a vast snowy bowl within the biggest ski area in the world, the resort and its surrounding ski area has continued to evolve since its opening in 1971.
Today it can claim to be a stylish 'village' and world class ski resort, constructed using local wood and stone to designs inspired by traditional local Savoie architectural tradition.
More than 250million Euros have been spent in recent years on improving and expanding the resort and the local ski area. The whole has also been designed to a well considered plan giving it a compact, largely pedestrianised centre where most of the public facilities (of which there are many!) are concentrated. This investment has helped the constant popularity of Val Thorens which now attracts some two million visitors annually (placing it in the world top 20 ski resorts by popularity as well as altitude).
Val Thorans has always been ahead of the game on many levels, even being one of the first areas to offer wi-fi internet access in 2003. A year later it showed its environmental credentials by tackling smokers who dropped cigarette butts from chairlifts pointing out the total can reach as many as 30,000 below just one of the more popular access chairs. Stressing that they were not launching an anti-smoking capaign, just a "responsible disposal of cigarette butts campaign", two thousand pocket containers designed to hold used cigarettes were provided for skiers.
Despite being north facing, the resort's altitude ensures it gets good sunshine with little over-shadowing it. The tourist office is open from 9am to 7pm daily (even to 4am on Sunday morning for those arriving late on Saturday night) for all information.