La Forêt Blanche
1,660 mVillage altitude
71 kmAlpine pistes
18Ski lifts
Not published by any source: top of the ski area, adult day pass.
La Forêt Blanche is a grouping of two winter sports resorts located in France in the département of Hautes-Alpes, classified as "Grand domaine" and "Nouvelle glisse".
La Forêt Blanche webcams
▶ Watch at the operator ↗
Webcams de la stationimages en direct sur la page officielle de la station
La Forêt Blanche broadcasts its images on its own page: the link takes you there. Checked on 26 September 2026.
Snow, opening and weather
Snow report →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
Snow cover varies from one winter to the next — the best time runs from mid-January to late February. 50 days a winter at 30 cm or more on average, and 227 cm of fresh snow, measured over 33 winters at the Météo-France “CEILLAC” station. Fortnight by fortnight, over 33 measured winters →
3-day forecast
Village 1,660 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.
Seven criteria rated from 1 to 5 stars, in half-stars, from this page's sourced data. A rating is a rank among the 315 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: neither the resort nor the map gives the altitude of its highest point.
- Ski areaIs there enough to ski all week?4 / 5
Km of pistes at the resort: 71 km · Lifts: 18 · Balance between piste levels: 86%
- ValueIs the lift pass reasonable for what you get?n/a
Not rated: no official price list could be found.
- Families and beginnersIs it right for children and beginners?2.5 / 5
Share of green and blue pistes: 70% · Magic carpets: 4 · Sledging runs: 0 · ESF ski school · Ice rink, pool, rail sledge…: 0
- AccessIs it easy to get to?2.5 / 5
Average drive time from 20 major cities: 5 hr 36 · Nearest railway station: 18 min · Station-to-resort shuttles per day: 0 · Nearest airport: 2 hr 15
- Atmosphere and après-skiIs there life in the evening and off the slopes?1.5 / 5
Bars and pubs: 0 · Nightclubs: 0 · Restaurants: 4 · Upcoming events: 0 · Collective tourist beds: 1,517 — index: what the map and the listings publish
- Luxury and comfortHow upmarket is the resort?2 / 5
5-star hotels: 0 · 4-star hotels: 1 · Share of hotel rooms in 4 and 5 stars: 18% · 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 declared by the resort (ANMSM, official website), STRMTG register, OpenStreetMap; snow depth observed at the Météo-France station, ERA5-Land model) ; ski area (figures declared by the resort (ANMSM, official website), national lift register (STRMTG), OpenStreetMap) ; 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).
99 pistes, by level
23 green46 blue25 red5 black
- Lifts
- 1 gondola, 10 chairlifts, 3 drag lifts, 4 magic carpets
- Snowpark
- Yes
Ski-area figures — km of pistes, lifts, pistes by level: OpenStreetMap (1 Oct) .
Staying and hiring gear in La Forêt Blanche
The partners covering this resort, shown side by side, and the shop to kit out before you leave. Some links earn us a commission — never at the expense of the price or of the data.
Collective accommodation
1,517 bed spaces in tourist residences, holiday villages and hostels
- 9 hotels · 165 rooms (1 × 4★, 2 × 3★, 2 × 2★, 1 × 1★)
- 1 holiday village or family centre · 271 bed spaces
- 4 tourist residences and apartment hotels · 1,186 bed spaces
- 1 youth hostel or sports centre · 60 bed spaces
Commune: Vars · INSEE tourist accommodation survey, 2026, read on 12 September 2026. Collective accommodation only — privately let flats and second homes are not counted. INSEE dataset ↗
Stay & accommodation
Holidu
Holiday-rental comparison site.
Gear & equipment
Absolute Snow
UK ski and snowboard shop — delivers to UK addresses only.
Hardloop
Mountain gear shop: ski touring, avalanche safety, winter clothing.
Beyond skiing at La Forêt Blanche
Ice rink
- Patinoire · Risoul · 5.3 km away
Swimming pool
- Piscine · Vars · 3 km away
- SKISEO - Centre aqualudique et de détente · Risoul · 5.2 km away
Spa and thermal baths
- Saï mithra · Risoul · 5.5 km away
Dog sledding
- Wild Expériences chiens de traineau · Crévoux · 8.7 km away
Cinema
- Cinéma le RiouBel - Cin' Valley · Guillestre · 8 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.
Ski schools and practical information
Ski school
ESF Vars
100 instructors
🇬🇧 53 English-speaking instructors — lessons in English available
🗓️ This school sells its lessons online — book ↗
Source: esf.net
Tourist office
Office du Tourisme
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.
Off the pistes: off-piste and ski touring
The resorts for off-piste skiing → 6 Marked off-piste itineraries · 4 km
— Ski touring routes
Named itineraries: Ecureuil · Alpet · Mur du Vallon · Casse · Vautour · Grand Ubac
Itineraries surveyed on OpenStreetMap within a 4 km radius (7 September 2026): “marked” means an itinerary exists on the map, not that it is open or safe on the day.
Ski touring routes described
12 ski touring routes documented within 10 km of La Forêt Blanche — up to 1,700 m of climb.
| Summit and route | Ski grade | Climb | Altitude | Aspect | From resort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Mayt (Vars) · Versant E | n/a | 950 m | 1,630 → 2,577 m | E | 2.6 km |
| La Mortice S · De Ste Catherine par la Crête des Couniets | 2.3 · E1 · PD | 1,700 m | 1,845 → 3,169 m | SW | 3.5 km |
| La Mortice S · Versant W et traversée N-S du col de Serenne | n/a · PD | 1,370 m | 1,890 → 3,169 m | W | 4.3 km |
| Pic de Chabrières (Vars) · Depuis Risoul 1850 | 2.1 · PD+ | 1,100 m | 1,850 → 2,746 m | n/a | 4.8 km |
The other 8 routes, with grades and vertical →
Not a piste. Neither marked, nor patrolled, nor secured: transceiver, shovel, probe, the day’s avalanche bulletin and, better still, a guide. Ski grade (1.1–5.6) = steepness and commitment; exposure (E1–E4) = consequence of a fall.
Source: Camptocamp.org topo guide (CC BY-SA), routes starting within 10 km, read on 13 October 2026. Descriptions and photos are on Camptocamp; an empty cell is a field nobody has filled in. Camptocamp ski touring routes ↗
Piste map
Open on OpenSnowMap ↗Official piste map
Pistes coloured by level, lifts as lines. The resort’s official map is the reference in season.
Base map © OpenTopoMap (CC-BY-SA) · pistes © OpenSnowMap (CC-BY-SA) · data ©OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Getting to La Forêt Blanche
From Paris: 8 hr 38 (734 km) by road.
By road
- From Grenoble: 2 hr 49 · 161 km
- From Chambéry: 2 hr 59 · 206 km
- From Marseille: 3 hr 11 · 245 km
- From Annecy: 3 hr 28 · 253 km
- From Valence: 3 hr 45 · 250 km
From other major cities (14)
- From Genève: 3 hr 58 · 291 km
- From Lyon: 4 hr 01 · 263 km
- From Montpellier: 4 hr 29 · 367 km
- From Saint-Étienne: 4 hr 34 · 312 km
- From Perpignan: 5 hr 51 · 515 km
- From Dijon: 5 hr 53 · 464 km
- From Clermont-Ferrand: 5 hr 54 · 429 km
- From Besançon: 6 hr 12 · 494 km
- From Toulouse: 6 hr 47 · 602 km
- From Nancy: 8 hr 00 · 675 km
- From Strasbourg: 8 hr 12 · 681 km
- From Paris: 8 hr 38 · 734 km
- From Pau: 8 hr 41 · 792 km
- From Bordeaux: 9 hr 10 · 844 km
Excluding traffic and winter conditions; passes closed in winter are avoided.
By train
Mont-Dauphin - Guillestre station
halt · then 18 min drive (16 km)
Nearest main station: Grenoble, 2 hr 49 by road.
No direct bus line from the station to the resort appears in the open-data timetables (checked on 11 October 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
- Cuneo (CUF): 2 hr 15 by road · 124 km
- Turin-Caselle (TRN): 2 hr 39 by road · 167 km
Take me there
These links open the app with La Forêt Blanche as the destination. Your starting point is never sent by us — the app asks you for it, if you agree.
Charging an electric car
1 charging station within 2 km
2 charging points · up to 22 kW
- VARS - Office de Tourisme · EASYCHARGE · 2 points · 22 kW · 0.2 km
Freely accessible charge points read from the French national EV charging database (data.gouv.fr ↗, operators’ own declarations), checked on 9 October 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.
Translated from the French Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA), machine translation.
Frequently asked questions
How high is La Forêt Blanche?
La Forêt Blanche sits at 1,660 m at village level.
How many kilometres of pistes does La Forêt Blanche have?
La Forêt Blanche has 71 km of slopes, 18 lifts.
How do I get to La Forêt Blanche?
By road, La Forêt Blanche is 2 hr 49 from Grenoble (161 km), excluding traffic and winter conditions. By train, the nearest station is Mont-Dauphin - Guillestre, 18 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 Cuneo, 2 hr 15 away.
How long is the drive from Paris to La Forêt Blanche?
8 hr 38 for 734 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 La Forêt Blanche?
Snow cover varies from one winter to the next — the best time runs from mid-January to late February. 50 days a winter at 30 cm or more on average, and 227 cm of fresh snow, measured over 33 winters at the Météo-France “CEILLAC” station. This verdict rests on 33 winters of Météo-France measurements (1992-2026); in season the daily report prevails.
Is La Forêt Blanche good for beginners and families?
70% of the pistes are green or blue: a rather easy area.
Nearby resorts
Full page in French. The French page carries the editorial guides and a few extra readings; every figure, webcam and price on this page is the same one. La Forêt Blanche in French →
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