High up in the world famous Espace Killy ski area is the resort of Tignes, renowned for some of the most extensive and challenging skiing in Europe, as well as an unbeatable snow record.
Tignes is split into four main villages, Le Lac (the resort hub), Le Lavachet, Val Claret, and Tignes les Brévières. All villages have superb access to the L’Espace Killy ski area.
Tignes’ ski area is directly linked by gondola and high-speed chair-lift to neighbouring Val d'Isere, and the two resorts are jointly marketed as L’Espace Killy, after its most revered son Jean-Claude Killy, who swept the board of gold medals at the 1968 Winter Olympics. A vertical drop of 1,900m coupled with 97 lifts, including two high-speed funiculars, four gondolas and four cable-cars, form a hard-core infrastructure for mountain access that few resorts can match.
Val d’Isère can be reached from Tignes by ski lifts or buses, although the latter are neither frequent nor cheap. If you have your own car and want a change of scenery, day-trips are also possible to Les Arcs, La Plagne, La Rosiereand Sainte Foy.
Tignes’ core skiing is on the Grande Motte, served by a modern funicular, which ferries skiers from Val Claret at 2,100m to the Panoramic restaurant at 3,030m in just six minutes. A cable-car and a network of chair- and drag-lifts serve the extensive summer ski area. It is usually possible to ski 1,400m vertical from the end of October until the lifts close in early May.
A modern network of lifts takes you from Le Lac towards the dramatic rock formation of L’Aiguille Percée, in one direction, or towards Tovière and Val d’Isère’s more demanding ski area in the other. For most of the season there is further skiing down to the lower-lying hamlets of Tignes les Boisses at 1,850m and Tignes les Brévières at 1,550m.
Tignes has a good choice of blue runs on the glacier, but the usually chilly temperature is not conducive to learning. The long descent to Val Claret is a test for even the fittest of intermediates with strong thigh muscles when taken without stopping.
The Val Claret terrain park at Tignes has a half-pipe, a boardercross course and assorted obstacles.
L’Espace Killy has some of the best lift-served off-piste in the world. Some of the inviting powder easily reached from the top of the Grande Motte is deceptively crevassed, and incredibly steep couloirs lead down off the shoulders.
Apres-Ski:
Tignes has 60 restaurants divided between the three main villages. In Le Lac, Upstairs at Hotel L’Arbina is considered by many to be the best gourmet restaurant in the whole region. La Côte de Boeuf is a haven for meat-lovers.
In Le Lavachet at La Ferme des Trois Capucines, which claims to be the highest working farm in Europe, you can watch the cows behind a glass wall as you eat.
In Val Claret, Le Caveau is a lovely underground restaurant with friendly service and lots of atmosphere. Daffy’s Café is a lively Tex-Mex, and Le Ski d’Or is praised for its fresh fish. La Pizzéria 2000 is much more than your standard pizzeria – it also has fondue and raclette.
All parts of Tignes seem to be well endowed with bars, often there is not much to choose between them. In Le Lavachet The Cavern, is a lively place popular with English-speaking visitors, while Harri’s Bar, which has historically been popular with British skiers, appears now to have lost some of the ambience it once had.
In Le Lac the Cafe de la Poste is a fun place open until 2.00am with live music three times a week. The Red Lion has similar attractions and is frequently packed. L’Embuscade is a jolly bar with good Blues music on CD that is packed with locals. The bar of the Village Montana is a comfortable, sophisticated place with a large fireplace. The Alpaka Cocktail Bar is an intimate bar popular with British visitors.
In Val Claret by far the most exciting place is the newish Grizzly’s Bar, run by the charismatic Authier family and attached to their Boît à Skis sportshop. It has lots of huge new light wooden beams, an open fireplace and good middle-of-the-road CD music. Le Caveau is a kind of bar/restaurant with live music.
The top late-night haunts are Les Caves du Lac and Jack’s Club in Le Lac and Le Blue Girl and Le Subzero in Val Claret.
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