Local life and tips: Val d'Isère accommodation ideas in the Tarentaise

Looking for Val d'Isère accommodation often widens into the whole Tarentaise, so here are the addresses from our own notebook. In Val d'Isère itself you will find a hotel for your nights, the shop we recommend for your kit, two restaurants, a bar and a food delivery service, along with a word on Völkl, our partner for skis. Around Les Arcs, a campsite open all year and a trio of private chalets near Arc 1600 make a lovely base for our days out across the Tarentaise.

Hôtel L'Avancher

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PHOTO : Hôtel Avancher

Our pick for a stay in Val d'Isère is Hôtel L'Avancher, a three-star hotel in Val d'Isère at 554 avenue du Prariond. You choose between a hotel room and one of its lodge apartments, which give you the space and privacy of an apartment with the service of a hotel. The restaurant has been welcoming guests since 1958, and after a day on the snow the wellness area offers a sauna, a hammam, a jacuzzi, a massage room and a "cosmic sauna", all looking out on the Olympic face of Bellevarde. Massages, sports coaching and a hair salon round off the stay, and the hotel's website sets out its winter and summer offers.

Mountain Pro Shop

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PHOTO : Mountain Pro Shop

To kit out for a day off-piste or on skins, we recommend Mountain Pro Shop, a specialist ski shop in Val d'Isère at Les Cimes. Its team of enthusiasts brings you equipment, clothing and advice, set out across two ranges, Snow and Outdoor. Some forty brands share the shelves, among them Arva, Pieps, Ortovox, Black Diamond, Black Crows, Dynafit, Scarpa, Mammut, Norrøna, Blizzard, K2, Salomon, Atomic, Rossignol, Hestra, Smartwool and Sweet Protection. The website, in French, opens onto an online shop with delivery and secure payment, so you can browse the kit before you arrive. The team answers on 04 79 06 02 91 or by e-mail at valproshop@gmail.com.

Val d'Isère Ski Instructors

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PHOTO : Val d'Isère Ski Instructors

For private ski lessons in Val d'Isère, we suggest Val d'Isère Ski Instructors, a private ski and snowboard concierge in Val d'Isère and Tignes. It was founded in 2010 by Alessandro Benedetti and Julien Limon, who has taught in Val d'Isère since 2000. It works with a network of experienced independent instructors and local mountain guides across the Espace Killy, offering on-piste lessons for every age and nationality, plus family, off-piste and snowboard lessons. Your instructor is chosen for your level, age, language and requests. The team can also book your mountain lunches, taxi transfers and ski hire. You send your request through the contact form on their website.

Chalets Bela Vya

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PHOTO : Chalets Bela Vya

At Courbaton, at 1,600 metres close to the Arc 1600 resort, Chalets Bela Vya offers three private chalets. Bela Vya O, contemporary and warm, has three bedrooms across 115 m² for eight guests; Bela Vya 1 and Bela Vya 2 each have five bedrooms across 200 m² for twelve, the first in a resolutely luxurious style, the second contemporary with a quieter touch of luxury. For a family or a group of friends who want a Les Arcs chalet with real privacy, the wellness area brings a sauna, a Nordic bath and a heated outdoor pool. You are welcomed in person and a concierge looks after you throughout your stay. The chalets are let all year, with activities in winter and summer alike.

Camping Le Reclus

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PHOTO : Camping Le Reclus

Camping Le Reclus is a three-star caravaneige, the French name for a winter campsite, set at 900 metres beside the Reclus stream, 2 km from Les Arcs and at the gates of the Vanoise National Park. It stays open all year, and you choose your shelter: a chalet, a gypsy caravan, a yurt, a mobile home, standard or XL, or a pitch of your own. After a day on the snow there are ski lockers, a heated boot dryer, a laundry and washrooms heated in winter, then breakfast, a kitchen area and a lounge with a TV corner for the evening. Guests also enjoy discounts on Arcs Paradiski, La Rosière and Sainte-Foy lift passes.

L'Art des Mets

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PHOTO : L'Art des Mets

In the Manchet valley, at 1020 route de l'Eau Rousse, L'Art des Mets serves home-made, local cooking with flavours from around the world. You are welcomed in the dining room, on the terrace or in the yurt. The winter menu brings a lamb tagine, shoulder of lamb with honey and cumin, prunes, carrots, chickpeas and rosemary, served with almond and raisin couscous, and the "Planche du Monde", a sharing board of carrot hummus, sesame sweet potato hummus, brocamole, home-made pitta, prawn tempura and falafel with za'atar. Savoie has its place too, with an entrecôte and Beaufort gratin or a hot boxed vacherin. Open every day from 9 am to 5 pm, evenings by reservation.

Les Tontons restaurant

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PHOTO : Restaurant Les Tontons

At the foot of the slopes in La Daille, on Val Square, Les Tontons restaurant is a restaurant in Val d'Isère where French cooking is done over the embers: aged meats, grilled fish, the chef's suggestion of the day, vegetarian options and home-made desserts. Among its specialities are the tomahawk of beef cooked over the embers and the roasted camembert. Inside, the mood is vintage and cosy. The sunny terrace looks out on the peaks and the pistes, with a short menu for sharing, Savoie wines, local beers and house cocktails. You can ski there down the Diebold or OK runs, walk over, or take the Train Rouge.

Les Tontons bar

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PHOTO : Bar Les Tontons

Also on the La Daille snowfront, Les Tontons bar opens every day from 8 am to 1.30 am, according to its website. Behind the counter, the bottles and glasses stand in rows beneath the glowing Les Tontons sign. The day begins with breakfast, then carries on through après-ski and happy hour, with live music and DJs as the evening draws in. The beer bar, the menu and pinsa with your aperitif keep the table full, there are games to while away an hour, and a terrace for the sunny days. As night falls, dinner aperitifs give way to parties. Meals can be delivered too, through Jami Delivery, and for a sit-down dinner, Les Tontons restaurant is also in La Daille.

Jami Delivery

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PHOTO : Jami Delivery

For an evening in, Jami Delivery offers food delivery in Val d'Isère, with a hot meal brought across the resort, from La Daille and the village centre to Le Fornet and the higher reaches of the valley. The kitchen sends out home-made burgers, artisan pizzas and Asian-inspired dishes, several of them available gluten-free, along with children's menus for the youngest. You order online or in person, for delivery or Click & Collect, and the same dishes can also be enjoyed on site. Service runs in the evening, every day except Wednesday, so after a day on the snow you can stay in your slippers while dinner makes its way to your chalet.

Völkl skis

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PHOTO : Volkl

Our partner Völkl makes the skis we recommend for freeride and ski touring. These are our reference freeride skis, the ones we take out on powder days off-piste and on days on skins around Val d'Isère. Its website sorts the range into five categories, Race, All Mountain, Freeride, Freestyle and Touring, and gathers the skis into named collections: V-Werks, Racetiger, Peregrine, Mantra, Blaze, Rise and Revolt. The Mantra goes by the line "All Mountain. All Freedom", a ski for every kind of terrain, while the Blaze collection is described as playful in powder, on a tour or carving on the piste.

Write to us with your dates and where you are staying, and we reply within 24 hours to plan our days on the snow around your stay.