Le Somport-Candanchu
1,594 mVillage altitude
2,197 mTop of the ski area
77 kmAlpine pistes
41Ski lifts
Not published by any source: adult day pass.
Le Somport or Candanchú-Le somport is a cross-border ski resort of the Pyrénées located at an altitude of 1600 metres.
Live webcams
All webcams (1) →Each player is the camera operator’s own, loaded only when you ask for it — it may set its own trackers.
Official players of the resort, live image.
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. Snow cover month by month →
3-day forecast
Village 1,594 m · top 2,197 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?3 / 5
Top of the ski area: 2,197 m · Bottom of the pistes: 1,700 m · Days above 30 cm, December to March, model: 64%
- Ski areaIs there enough to ski all week?4.5 / 5
Km of pistes at the resort: 77 km · Lifts: 41 · Balance between piste levels: 97%
- 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
Share of green and blue pistes: 41% · Magic carpets: 8 · Sledging runs: 1 · Ice rink, pool, rail sledge…: 0
- AccessIs it easy to get to?1.5 / 5
Average drive time from 20 major cities: 8 hr 27 · Nearest railway station: 34 min · Station-to-resort shuttles per day: 0 · Nearest airport: 1 hr 55
- Atmosphere and après-skiIs there life in the evening and off the slopes?2 / 5
Bars and pubs: 2 · Nightclubs: 0 · Restaurants: 5 · 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 · Share of hotel rooms in 4 and 5 stars: 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 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).
112 pistes, by level
17 green29 blue39 red27 black
- Skiable vertical
- 497 m
- Lifts
- 1 gondola, 12 chairlifts, 21 drag lifts, 8 magic carpets
- Cross-country skiing
- 5 named trails — 13 km of marked loops (12 km of distinct track: the loops overlap), right by the resort
Ski-area figures — bottom, top, km of pistes, lifts, pistes by level: OpenStreetMap (1 Oct) .
The ski area in figures
Measured on 7 October 20262 kmLongest piste — Toboganes (blue), 237 m of vertical
414 mBiggest vertical without changing piste — 2,171 → 1,757 m, 1 km
2,280 mHighest lift top — Ratrack (drag lift)
32 kmTotal length of lifts — 39 lifts mapped
186 haSki area boundary (OSM)
71Inhabitants — Urdos (INSEE 64542)
Measured on OpenStreetMap (altitudes: IGN RGE ALTI), not taken from the brochure. The vertical above is that of one piste, not of the whole ski area. Population: INSEE municipal population via geo.api.gouv.fr.
Staying and hiring gear in Le Somport-Candanchu
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 hotel · 13 rooms (1 × 3★)
- 1 campsite · 80 pitches
Commune: Urdos · 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 Le Somport-Candanchu
Without skis on — 1 sledging run
Toboggan runs
- Espace Somport en hiver · Urdos · 1.7 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
Tourist office
Forfaits Candanchú
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 → 7 Marked off-piste itineraries · 6 km
17 km Ski touring routes
Named itineraries: Las Lomas · Edelweiss · Las Güixas · Loma Verde · La Zapatilla · Cascada
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 Le Somport-Candanchu — up to 1,553 m of climb.
| Summit and route | Ski grade | Climb | Altitude | Aspect | From resort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Col Mayou · Montée par le Somport et descente par piste forestière de Gouetsoule | n/a · PD | 500 m | 1,592 → 2,029 m | n/a | 1.4 km |
| Pic d'Aspe · Boucle Pas d'Aspe/Candanchu | 2.2 · E2 · AD | 1,330 m | 1,311 → 2,645 m | N | 2.9 km |
| Ruabe del Bozo · par la face Nord | 3.1 · E3 · D | 1,100 m | 1,320 → 2,419 m | N | 3.1 km |
| Le Murlorum · Par le vallon d'Arnousse | n/a · F | 1,170 m | 925 → 2,092 m | N | 3.5 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 Le Somport-Candanchu
From Paris: 9 hr 47 (874 km) by road.
By road
- From Pau: 1 hr 38 · 87 km
- From Toulouse: 3 hr 49 · 281 km
- From Bordeaux: 3 hr 54 · 296 km
- From Perpignan: 5 hr 38 · 477 km
- From Montpellier: 6 hr 06 · 512 km
From other major cities (15)
- From Clermont-Ferrand: 7 hr 41 · 650 km
- From Marseille: 7 hr 47 · 674 km
- From Valence: 7 hr 56 · 709 km
- From Grenoble: 8 hr 53 · 801 km
- From Lyon: 9 hr 03 · 809 km
- From Saint-Étienne: 9 hr 07 · 688 km
- From Nice: 9 hr 24 · 832 km
- From Chambéry: 9 hr 38 · 860 km
- From Paris: 9 hr 47 · 874 km
- From Annecy: 10 hr 03 · 918 km
- From Genève: 10 hr 33 · 956 km
- From Dijon: 10 hr 36 · 946 km
- From Besançon: 11 hr 12 · 1004 km
- From Nancy: 12 hr 43 · 1157 km
- From Strasbourg: 13 hr 35 · 1242 km
Excluding traffic and winter conditions; passes closed in winter are avoided.
By train
Bedous station
halt · then 34 min drive (30 km)
Nearest main station: Pau, 1 hr 38 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
- Pau-Pyrénées (PUF): 1 hr 55 by road · 95 km
- Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées (LDE): 2 hr 13 by road · 119 km
Take me there
These links open the app with Le Somport-Candanchu 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 October 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 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 Le Somport-Candanchu?
Le Somport-Candanchu sits at 1,594 m at village level, and its ski area rises to 2,197 m.
How many kilometres of pistes does Le Somport-Candanchu have?
Le Somport-Candanchu has 77 km of slopes, 41 lifts.
What is the longest piste in Le Somport-Candanchu?
The longest piste is Toboganes: 2 km (blue run), for 237 m of vertical. Measured on the OpenStreetMap map, segments of the same name and level joined end to end, altitudes from the IGN RGE ALTI terrain model — a resort sometimes advertises a longer run by chaining several pistes.
How high do the lifts go in Le Somport-Candanchu?
The highest lift, Ratrack, tops out at 2,280 m (IGN RGE ALTI terrain model). The 39 lifts mapped on OpenStreetMap total 32 km.
How do I get to Le Somport-Candanchu?
By road, Le Somport-Candanchu is 1 hr 38 from Pau (87 km), excluding traffic and winter conditions. By train, the nearest station is Bedous, 34 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 55 away.
How long is the drive from Paris to Le Somport-Candanchu?
9 hr 47 for 874 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 Le Somport-Candanchu?
Snow cover varies from one winter to the next. This verdict rests on 10 winters of reanalysis (estimate, 2015-2025); in season the daily report prevails.
Is Le Somport-Candanchu good for beginners and families?
41% of the pistes are green or blue: a rather technical 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. Le Somport-Candanchu in French →
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