Issarbe
The Issarbe ski resort is a cross-country ski resort of the Pyrenees in the département of Pyrénées-Atlantiques in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. It is located approximately 35 km from Oloron-Sainte-Marie and 70 km from Pau.
Translated from the French Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA), machine translation.
Seven criteria rated from 1 to 5 stars, in half-stars, from this page's sourced data. A rating is a rank among the 322 French resorts we cover — 5 stars means “among the best in France on this point”, not “perfect”. Nobody types these in.
- SnowCan you count on the snow?n/a
Not rated: “top of the ski area” is missing from this page.
- Ski areaIs there enough to ski all week?n/a
Not rated: “km of pistes at the resort” is missing from this page.
- ValueIs the lift pass reasonable for what you get?n/a
Not rated: “adult day pass” is missing from this page.
- Families and beginnersIs it right for children and beginners?n/a
Not rated: “share of green and blue pistes” is missing from this page.
- AccessIs it easy to get to?1.5 / 5
Average drive time from 20 major cities: 8 hr 22 · Nearest railway station: 55 min · Station-to-resort shuttles per day: 0 · Nearest airport: 1 hr 50
- Atmosphere and après-skiIs there life in the evening and off the slopes?1.5 / 5
Bars and pubs: 1 · Nightclubs: 0 · Restaurants: 1 · Upcoming events: 0 · Collective tourist beds: 0 — index: what the map and the listings publish
- Luxury and comfortHow upmarket is the resort?1 / 5
5-star hotels: 0 · 4-star hotels: 0 · Spas and saunas: 0 · Jewellers, watchmakers, fashion boutiques: 0 — index: what the map and the listings publish
“Atmosphere” and “Luxury” are indexes: they count what OpenStreetMap and the event listings publish within 2.5 km (bars, nightclubs, rated hotels, spas, upcoming events), not what you experience there. A zero means “nothing mapped”, not “nothing there”. Sources per criterion: snow (altitudes (OpenStreetMap, Wikidata), snow depth observed at the Météo-France station, ERA5-Land model) ; ski area (OpenStreetMap pistes and lifts, linked area (Wikidata)) ; value (the resort’s official price list) ; families and beginners (OpenStreetMap pistes, price list, ESF ski school, Famille Plus label, OpenStreetMap leisure) ; access (OSRM drive times from 20 cities, SNCF stations, GTFS shuttles, airports) ; atmosphere and après-ski (bars, nightclubs and restaurants within 2.5 km (OpenStreetMap), upcoming events (OpenAgenda), collective tourist beds (INSEE)) ; luxury and comfort (rated hotels within 2.5 km (OpenStreetMap) and by category across the commune (INSEE), spas and boutiques (OpenStreetMap), day pass price).
Open pistes and lifts will appear here during the season, as published by the resort. Out of season we show nothing rather than a misleading zero.
Avalanche danger
7-day forecast
Village 1,500 m
Forecast corrected for altitude; fresh snow = forecast total at the top; UV = peak of the day. Beyond 3 days, check the resort’s own report. Source:Open-Meteo.
Average snow depth by month
Snow cover varies from one winter to the next.
☀️ Average daily sunshine : Nov 5.9 h · Dec 5.4 h · Jan 5.5 h · Feb 7 h · Mar 7.8 h · Apr 9.2 h — 23 bright days in April (Open-Meteo estimate, 2015-2025).
- November—no record
- December34 cmInsufficient · 40%
- January42 cmVariable · 63%
- February43 cmVariable · 57%
- March47 cmVariable · 60%
- April53 cmVariable · 78%
- May—no record
30 cm on the ground: the benchmark for groomed-piste skiing. Bar = monthly average depth; percentage = share of time above 30 cm.
- Good skiing: 30 cm on more than 8 days in 10
- Variable: 30 cm on 5 to 8 days in 10
- Insufficient: 30 cm less than one day in two
Snow actually measured, winter by winter
21 complete winters measured, from 1997-1998 to 2018-2019 — on average 33 days a winter with at least 30 cm on the ground.
- 1-15 Dec11 cmInsufficient · 16 %
- 16-31 Dec8 cmInsufficient · 8 %
- 1-15 Jan9 cmInsufficient · 13 %
- 16-31 Jan21 cmInsufficient · 31 %
- 1-15 Feb34 cmInsufficient · 45 %
- 16-29 Feb35 cmInsufficient · 41 %
- 1-15 Mar30 cmInsufficient · 35 %
- 16-31 Mar17 cmInsufficient · 26 %
- 1-15 Apr5 cmInsufficient · 7 %
- Best winter of the series
- 2012-2013 — 78 days at 30 cm or more
- Worst winter of the series
- 2007-2008 — 4 days at 30 cm or more
How much snow actually falls — 290 cm a winter on average, spread over 34 days of snowfall. Measured over 20 complete winters.
- Biggest 24-hour snowfall
- 80 cm — 1998-1999
- Snowiest winter
- 2012-2013 — 567 cm
- Leanest winter
- 2010-2011 — 148 cm
Staying and hiring gear in Issarbe
We compare the partners that cover this resort. Some links earn us a commission — never at the expense of the price or of the data.
Stay & accommodation
Live webcams
Issarbe publishes no public webcam (checked on 12 September 2026 on its website, its tourist office and the operators’ directories). Know of one? Tell us.
Getting to Issarbe
From Paris: 9 hr 42 (857 km) by road.
By road
- From Pau: 1 hr 33 · 69 km
- From Toulouse: 3 hr 43 · 264 km
- From Bordeaux: 3 hr 49 · 279 km
- From Perpignan: 5 hr 33 · 459 km
- From Montpellier: 6 hr 01 · 494 km
From other major cities (15)
- From Clermont-Ferrand: 7 hr 36 · 632 km
- From Marseille: 7 hr 41 · 657 km
- From Valence: 7 hr 51 · 692 km
- From Grenoble: 8 hr 48 · 783 km
- From Lyon: 8 hr 58 · 791 km
- From Saint-Étienne: 9 hr 01 · 670 km
- From Nice: 9 hr 19 · 815 km
- From Chambéry: 9 hr 33 · 842 km
- From Paris: 9 hr 42 · 857 km
- From Annecy: 9 hr 58 · 901 km
- From Genève: 10 hr 28 · 939 km
- From Dijon: 10 hr 31 · 928 km
- From Besançon: 11 hr 07 · 987 km
- From Nancy: 12 hr 38 · 1139 km
- From Strasbourg: 13 hr 30 · 1224 km
Excluding traffic and winter conditions; passes closed in winter are avoided.
By train
Lurbe-Saint-Christau station
halt · then 55 min drive (37 km)
Nearest main station: Pau, 1 hr 33 by road.
No direct bus line from the station to the resort appears in the open-data timetables (checked on 13 September 2026): ask the resort about a private shuttle or a taxi.
Shuttles and buses from the station: see the resort’s official website.
By plane
- Pau-Pyrénées (PUF): 1 hr 50 by road · 78 km
- Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées (LDE): 2 hr 08 by road · 114 km
Take me there
These links open the app with Issarbe as the destination. Your starting point is never sent by us — the app asks you for it, if you agree.
Charging an electric car
No freely accessible charge point is declared within 2 km of the resort (checked on 9 September 2026). Covered car parks in the resort may offer chargers reserved for their customers: those are not listed here.
Freely accessible charge points read from the French national EV charging database (data.gouv.fr ↗, operators’ own declarations), checked on 9 September 2026. Check availability before you leave: the database says what is installed, not what is free tonight.
Road conditions
From 1 November to 31 March, snow chains or winter tyres are compulsory in most mountain areas (French “Loi Montagne II”).
Driving times computed on the OpenStreetMap road network (OSRM), SNCF stations (open data), airports (Wikidata). Indicative, not a timetable: allow extra time in snow.
Ski touring routes described
Resorts for ski touring →8 ski touring routes documented within 10 km of Issarbe — up to 1,500 m of climb.
| Summit and route | Ski grade | Climb | Altitude | Aspect | From resort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pic d'Arlas · Depuis la Pierre Saint Martin | n/a · E1 · PD | 400 m | 1,650 → 2,044 m | N | 6.6 km |
| Pic Lakhoura · Face E | n/a · E2 · PD+ | 620 m | 1,440 → 1,877 m | NE | 7.5 km |
| Pic du Soum Couy · Depuis la Pierre Saint Martin | n/a · E1 · PD | 665 m | 1,650 → 2,315 m | N | 7.9 km |
| Pic d'Anie · Depuis la Pierre Saint Martin | 4.2 · E1 · D- | 900 m | 1,690 → 2,504 m | W · SW | 8.4 km |
| Barlagne · Du pont de l'Arpet | 1.2 · E1 · F | 900 m | 930 → 1,797 m | N | 8.8 km |
| Pic d'Anie · depuis le versant espagnol du Col de la Pierre Saint-Martin | n/a · PD+ | 828 m | 1,676 → 2,504 m | n/a | 8.8 km |
| Pic du Soum Couy · Versant N depuis le pont de l'Arpet | 2.3 · PD | 1,500 m | 930 → 2,315 m | N | 9 km |
| Pic du Soum Couy · Couloir Est | 4.3 · E1 · D | n/a | 1,700 → 2,215 m | E · SE · NE | 9.5 km |
Source: Camptocamp.org topo guide (CC BY-SA), routes starting within 10 km, read on 13 September 2026. Descriptions and photos are on Camptocamp; an empty cell is a field nobody has filled in. Camptocamp ski touring routes ↗
Beyond skiing at Issarbe
Toboggan runs
- Espace nordique d'Issarbe · Lanne-en-Barétous · 0.6 km away
- Espace nordique de La Pierre Saint-Martin · Arette · 6.1 km away
- Station de ski La Pierre Saint-Martin · Arette · 6.4 km away
Source: DATAtourisme (open data), within 10 km of the resort; places in a large town of the valley are left out. Checked on 12 September 2026. Opening times and prices are the operator’s — check before you go.
Practical information
In case of accident
112 — the European emergency number, free of charge, triggers mountain rescue. On the pistes, the ski patrol number is printed on the piste map and at lift ticket offices. Piste rescue is charged: check your insurance or take the option sold with the lift pass.
Nearby resorts
Frequently asked questions
How high is Issarbe?
Issarbe sits at 1,500 m at village level.
How do I get to Issarbe?
By road, Issarbe is 1 hr 33 from Pau (69 km), excluding traffic and winter conditions. By train, the nearest station is Lurbe-Saint-Christau, 55 min by road from the resort. No direct bus line from the station to the resort appears in the open-data timetables. The nearest airport is Pau-Pyrénées, 1 hr 50 away.
How long is the drive from Paris to Issarbe?
9 hr 42 for 857 km from central Paris, excluding traffic and winter conditions. Computed on the real road network (OpenStreetMap): allow more on a school-holiday Saturday.
Is the snow reliable in Issarbe?
It varies from one winter to the next according to twenty winters of Météo-France measurements; in season the daily report prevails.
Every figure carries its source and date; a missing figure shows as “—”, never estimated. Embed this widget on your site