Risoul
Closed1,850 mVillage altitude
2,570 mTop of the ski area
185 kmLinked pistes · La Forêt Blanche
21Ski lifts
Not published by any source: adult day pass.
Risoul is a French commune located in the département of Hautes-Alpes, in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.
Live webcams
All webcams (8) →▶ Watch at the operator ↗
L'Homme de PierreWindy · 4.7 km away
▶ Watch at the operator ↗
Front de neigeTrinum
▶ Watch at the operator ↗
Arrivée TSD8 Pré du Boisthe resort’s operator
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. 4 more cameras on the webcam page. Checked on 16 October 2026.
Webcams provided by windy.com — add a webcam.
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 mid-March. 53 days a winter at 30 cm or more on average, and 186 cm of fresh snow, measured over 52 winters at the Météo-France “LES ORRES” station. Fortnight by fortnight, over 52 measured winters →
3-day forecast
Village 1,850 m · top 2,570 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 / 5
Top of the ski area: 2,570 m · Bottom of the pistes: 1,850 m · Days above 30 cm per winter, measured: 53 days · Days above 30 cm, December to March, model: 95%
- Ski areaIs there enough to ski all week?4 / 5
Km skiable from the resort, linked area included: 185 km · Lifts: 21
- 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?3.5 / 5
Share of green and blue pistes: 95% · Magic carpets: 1 · ESF ski school · Ice rink, pool, rail sledge…: 3
- AccessIs it easy to get to?3 / 5
Average drive time from 20 major cities: 5 hr 28 · Nearest railway station: 9 min · Station-to-resort shuttles per day: 7 · Nearest airport: 2 hr 31
- Atmosphere and après-skiIs there life in the evening and off the slopes?3 / 5
Bars and pubs: 6 · Nightclubs: 0 · Restaurants: 15 · Upcoming events: 0 · Collective tourist beds: 706 — index: what the map and the listings publish
- Luxury and comfortHow upmarket is the resort?1.5 / 5
5-star hotels: 0 · 4-star hotels: 0 · Share of hotel rooms in 4 and 5 stars: 37% · 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).
- Skiable vertical
- 720 m
Ski-area figures — village, bottom, top: ANMSM — figures declared by the resort (16 Oct); km of the linked area: Resort’s official website (read by SkiRadar) (23 Sept); lifts: STRMTG — French national lift register (1 Jan) . In a linked ski area the map cannot tell where the resort ends: its own km stay “n/a” until the resort declares them.
The ski area in figures
Measured on 7 October 20264 kmLongest piste — Les Chardons (green), 366 m of vertical
456 mBiggest vertical without changing piste — 2,719 → 2,263 m, 1 km
2,551 mHighest lift top — PLATE de la NONE (detachable chairlift), national lift register
20,552Total lift capacity, people per hour — 21 installations: 1 gondola, 7 chairlifts, 12 drag lifts, 1 magic carpet
34 yrsAverage age of the lift fleet — oldest 1970, newest 2011
2,200Biggest lift, people per hour — Peyrefolle (detachable chairlift, 2005)
28 kmTotal length of lifts — 28 lifts mapped
4,996 haSki area boundary (OSM)
664Inhabitants — Risoul (INSEE 05119)
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.
Source: national register of mechanical lifts (STRMTG, CAIRN), fleet as of 1 January 2025 — lifts attributed to Risoul only (“RISOUL”), magic carpets included.
Staying and hiring gear in Risoul
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
706 bed spaces in tourist residences, holiday villages and hostels
- 4 hotels · 94 rooms (1 × 4★, 1 × 3★)
- 2 tourist residences and apartment hotels · 706 bed spaces
Commune: Risoul · 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.
Ski Planet
Self-catering flats and all-inclusive ski holidays at the foot of the slopes, since 1999.
Montagne Vacances
Flats and chalets in the resort, at direct prices.
Ski hire
Skiset UK
Skiset’s UK site: ski hire in the resort shops, booked in English, paid in pounds.
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 Risoul
Ice rink
- Patinoire · Risoul · 3.2 km away
Swimming pool
- SKISEO - Centre aqualudique et de détente · Risoul · 3 km away
- Piscine municipale · Saint-Crépin · 7 km away
- Piscine · Vars · 9.5 km away
Spa and thermal baths
- Saï mithra · Risoul · 3 km away
- Amaneï - Régine Rey · L'Argentière-la-Bessée · 9.9 km away
Cinema
- Cinéma le RiouBel - Cin' Valley · Guillestre · 1.6 km away
- Le Riou Bel · 1.6 km away · OpenStreetMap
- Cinéma de la Forêt Blanche · 3 km away · OpenStreetMap
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. Lines marked OpenStreetMap come from the map, within 3 km — opening times on site. Opening times and prices are the operator’s — check before you go.
Ski schools and practical information
Ski school
ESF Risoul 1850
99 instructors
🇬🇧 70 English-speaking instructors — lessons in English available
🗓️ This school sells its lessons online — book ↗
Source: esf.net
Resort contacts and documents
- Tourist office
- Office du tourisme de Risoul · 1 route des Chalps, 05600 · 0492460260 · info@risoul.com (declared by the resort, ANMSM)
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.
Resort data: declared by Office du tourisme de Risoul and distributed by ANMSM · read on 16 October
Off the pistes: off-piste and ski touring
The resorts for off-piste skiing → 2 Marked off-piste itineraries · 0 km
— Ski touring routes
Named itineraries: Pelinche
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 Risoul — up to 1,550 m of climb.
| Summit and route | Ski grade | Climb | Altitude | Aspect | From resort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pic du Clocher antécime NE · Antécime NE depuis Languieu | 2.1 · E1 · PD+ | 1,240 m | 1,180 → 2,420 m | NE | 3.1 km |
| Pic de Chabrières (Vars) · Depuis Risoul 1850 | 2.1 · PD+ | 1,100 m | 1,850 → 2,746 m | n/a | 4.3 km |
| Pic d'Escreins · depuis l'Ubac de L'Aval | 3.2 · PD+ | 1,300 m | 1,437 → 2,734 m | N · NE | 6.4 km |
| Tête de Fouran · En boucle par le couloir de Manouel | 3.2 · E1 · AD | 1,060 m | 1,400 → 2,460 m | n/a | 6.6 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 Risoul
From Paris: 8 hr 29 (724 km) by road.
By road
- From Grenoble: 2 hr 40 · 151 km
- From Chambéry: 2 hr 50 · 197 km
- From Marseille: 3 hr 02 · 235 km
- From Annecy: 3 hr 19 · 244 km
- From Valence: 3 hr 37 · 240 km
From other major cities (14)
- From Genève: 3 hr 49 · 282 km
- From Lyon: 3 hr 52 · 254 km
- From Montpellier: 4 hr 21 · 358 km
- From Saint-Étienne: 4 hr 26 · 302 km
- From Perpignan: 5 hr 42 · 506 km
- From Dijon: 5 hr 44 · 454 km
- From Clermont-Ferrand: 5 hr 45 · 419 km
- From Besançon: 6 hr 03 · 484 km
- From Toulouse: 6 hr 38 · 592 km
- From Nancy: 7 hr 51 · 665 km
- From Strasbourg: 8 hr 04 · 671 km
- From Paris: 8 hr 29 · 724 km
- From Pau: 8 hr 33 · 782 km
- From Bordeaux: 9 hr 02 · 834 km
Excluding traffic and winter conditions; passes closed in winter are avoided.
By train
Mont-Dauphin - Guillestre station
halt · then 9 min drive (7 km)
Nearest main station: Grenoble, 2 hr 40 by road.
- From Mont-Dauphin - Guillestre station (stop “Gare SNCF Mont-Dauphin Guillestre”): line 540 — 540 _ EMBRUN-GUILLESTRE-L'ARGENTIERE-BRIANCON (ZOU ! Proximité), 10 min to the “Guillestre - Gare Routière” stop — 7 departures a day on weekdays, 3 a day at weekends · first 07:02, last 19:32 · timetable from 15 December 2026 to 31 December 2026 · official timetable ↗
Direct journeys read from the official timetable files published on transport.data.gouv.fr — no connections.
By plane
- Cuneo (CUF): 2 hr 31 by road · 139 km
- Turin-Caselle (TRN): 2 hr 31 by road · 157 km
Take me there
These links open the app with Risoul as the destination. Your starting point is never sent by us — the app asks you for it, if you agree.
Charging an electric car
4 charging stations within 2 km
8 charging points · up to 150 kW
- GUILLESTRE - Rue de la Fontloube · EASYCHARGE · 2 points · 22 kW · 1.3 km
- GUILLESTRE - Champ de Foire · EASYCHARGE · 2 points · 22 kW · 1.6 km
- GUILLESTRE - Champ de Foire · EASYCHARGE · 2 points · 22 kW · 1.6 km
- EVzen - Guillestre, Carrefour Market Guillestre · EVzen · 2 points · 150 kW · 1.7 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 Risoul?
Risoul sits at 1,850 m at village level, and its ski area rises to 2,570 m.
How many kilometres of pistes does Risoul have?
From Risoul you can ski 185 km of slopes across La Forêt Blanche, 21 lifts.
What is the longest piste in Risoul?
The longest piste is Les Chardons: 4 km (green run), for 366 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 Risoul?
The highest lift, PLATE de la NONE (detachable chairlift), tops out at 2,551 m. Source: STRMTG, French national register of mechanical lifts (CAIRN database), file dated 1 January 2025.
How many lifts does Risoul have, and what is their capacity?
The French national register of mechanical lifts records 21 installations at Risoul (1 gondola, 7 chairlifts, 12 drag lifts, 1 magic carpet), for an authorised capacity of 20,552 people per hour, of which 2,200 for Peyrefolle alone. The fleet spans 1970 to 2011, an average age of 34 years. This count covers the resort itself, magic carpets included, not the whole linked ski area — a resort brochure often announces a different number. Source: STRMTG, French national register of mechanical lifts (CAIRN database), file dated 1 January 2025.
How do I get to Risoul?
By road, Risoul is 2 hr 40 from Grenoble (151 km), excluding traffic and winter conditions. By train, the nearest station is Mont-Dauphin - Guillestre, 9 min by road from the resort. From Mont-Dauphin - Guillestre station, line 540 — 540 _ EMBRUN-GUILLESTRE-L'ARGENTIERE-BRIANCON (ZOU ! Proximité) reaches the “Guillestre - Gare Routière” stop in 10 min, 7 departures a day on weekdays, 3 a day at weekends. The nearest airport is Cuneo, 2 hr 31 away.
How long is the drive from Paris to Risoul?
8 hr 29 for 724 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 Risoul?
Snow cover varies from one winter to the next — the best time runs from mid-January to mid-March. 53 days a winter at 30 cm or more on average, and 186 cm of fresh snow, measured over 52 winters at the Météo-France “LES ORRES” station. This verdict rests on 52 winters of Météo-France measurements (1968-2023); in season the daily report prevails.
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. Risoul in French →
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