Val Cenis
Off season · opens 12 December 20261,300 mVillage altitude
2,800 mTop of the ski area
125 kmAlpine pistes
29Ski lifts
€50Adult day pass · 2026-2027
Val Cenis is a ski and mountain resort situated in the Haute-Maurienne region of the French Alps, close to the Italian border. It is composed of five villages; Lanslebourg, Lanslevillard, Termignon, Sollières-Sardières and Bramans. The villages sit between 1200m and 1500m, respectively, and lifts climb to a maximum altitude of 2740m. The resort is not very well known due to its location at the end of a valley and difficulty of access and attracts a mainly French, Italian, Belgian and Dutch contingent each winter. It is a lot quieter than larger ski resorts in the French Alps and does not normally suffer from long lift queues. It is ideally located in the Maurienne region with good transport links in and out of Modane, Lyon, Geneva and Chambery.
Live webcams
All webcams (7) →Plateau du mont cenisWebcam-HD
Téléski du Pont NoirWebcam-HD
▶ Watch at the operator ↗
Val CenisWindy · 0.8 km away
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. 3 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 →The domain is due to open on 12 December 2026 and close on 16 April 2027. Open pistes and lifts will appear here as soon as the resort publishes its daily report.
Right now at the MONT CENIS station (2,032 m)
Source: Météo-France, MONT CENIS weather station, 1.6 km away. Hourly measurement — not the resort’s own snow report.
Avalanche danger
Good snow from mid-December to mid-April: a long, reliable season. 125 days a winter at 30 cm or more on average, and 464 cm of fresh snow, measured over 32 winters at the Météo-France “Val d Isere Joseray” station. Fortnight by fortnight, over 32 measured winters →
3-day forecast
Village 1,300 m · top 2,800 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?4 / 5
Top of the ski area: 2,800 m · Bottom of the pistes: 1,300 m · Days above 30 cm per winter, measured: 125 days · Days above 30 cm, December to March, model: 100%
- Ski areaIs there enough to ski all week?4.5 / 5
Km of pistes at the resort: 125 km · Lifts: 29 · Balance between piste levels: 92%
- ValueIs the lift pass reasonable for what you get?3 / 5
Adult day pass: €50 · Day pass price per km of pistes: €0.4/km · Adult 6-day pass: €258.50
- Families and beginnersIs it right for children and beginners?3 / 5
Share of green and blue pistes: 58% · Magic carpets: 6 · Sledging runs: 1 · Special prices out of 4 (beginner, child, family, free age): 3 · ESF ski school · Ice rink, pool, rail sledge…: 4
- AccessIs it easy to get to?2.5 / 5
Average drive time from 20 major cities: 4 hr 59 · Nearest railway station: 28 min · Station-to-resort shuttles per day: 0 · Nearest airport: 1 hr 35
- Atmosphere and après-skiIs there life in the evening and off the slopes?3.5 / 5
Bars and pubs: 6 · Nightclubs: 0 · Restaurants: 34 · Upcoming events: 0 · Collective tourist beds: 7,444 — 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: 36% · Spas and saunas: 0 · Jewellers, watchmakers, fashion boutiques: 0 · Adult day pass: €50 — 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).
Lift passes 2026-2027
All prices (child, family, season) →€258.50 6 days€41.50 Child, 1 day€21.50 Beginner, 1 day€12.50 Pedestrian, 1 day
Read on the official price list, full price, excluding promotions. 2026-2027 season. Official price list ↗
65 pistes, by level
17 green21 blue22 red5 black
- Skiable vertical
- 1,500 m
- Snowpark
- 1 mapped zone — Journal de Mickey (very easy)
Ski-area figures — village, bottom, top, km of pistes, lifts, pistes by level: ANMSM — figures declared by the resort (16 Oct) . The national register attributes 35 lifts to Val Cenis alone; the figure above comes from the most reliable source.
The ski area in figures
Measured on 7 October 20269 kmLongest piste — Escargot (green), 639 m of vertical
695 mBiggest vertical without changing piste — 2,316 → 1,621 m, 3 km
2,737 mHighest lift top — La Met (chairlift), national lift register
39,084Total lift capacity, people per hour — 35 installations: 2 gondolas, 13 chairlifts, 14 drag lifts, 6 magic carpets
20 yrsAverage age of the lift fleet — oldest 1965, newest 2024
2,400Biggest lift, people per hour — Solert (detachable chairlift, 2000)
22 kmTotal length of lifts — 24 lifts mapped
3,845 haSki area boundary (OSM)
2,112Inhabitants — Val-Cenis (INSEE 73290)
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 Val Cenis only (“VALCENIS - TERMIGNON”), magic carpets included.
Staying and hiring gear in Val Cenis
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
7,444 bed spaces in tourist residences, holiday villages and hostels
- 10 hotels · 226 rooms (1 × 4★, 5 × 3★, 2 × 2★)
- 5 holiday villages and family centres · 1,968 bed spaces
- 11 tourist residences and apartment hotels · 4,891 bed spaces
- 3 youth hostels and sports centres · 585 bed spaces
- 6 campsites · 524 pitches
Commune: Val-Cenis · 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 Val Cenis
Without skis on — 1 sledging run
Toboggan runs
- Piste de luge Val Cenis Turbo · Val-Cenis · 1.8 km away
Ice rink
- Patinoire · 1.6 km away · OpenStreetMap
Paragliding
- By Air parapente · Val-Cenis · 6.6 km away
- Florian Gohet - Val Cenis Parapente · Val-Cenis · 7.6 km away
Museum
- Musée de la Pyramide du Mont-Cenis · Val-Cenis · 6.3 km away
- Musée d'Archéologie · Val-Cenis · 7.8 km away
Cinema
- Cinéma Chantelouve · Val-Cenis · 1.1 km away
- Auditorium Laurent Gerra - Culture en altitude · Val-Cenis · 1.4 km away
- Cinéma de Val-Cenis Lanslebourg · Val-Cenis · 1.4 km away
- La Ramasse · 1.7 km away · OpenStreetMap
Bowling
- 1480 · 1.7 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 Val Cenis
136 instructors
🇬🇧 78 English-speaking instructors — lessons in English available
🗓️ This school sells its lessons online — book ↗
Source: esf.net
Resort contacts and documents
- Tourist office
- Haute Maurienne Vanoise Tourisme · 6 rue Napoléon, 73480 · +33(0)479059906 · info@hautemaurienne.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 Haute Maurienne Vanoise Tourisme and distributed by ANMSM · read on 16 October
Off the pistes: off-piste and ski touring
The resorts for off-piste skiing → 4 Marked off-piste itineraries · 4 km
— Ski touring routes
Named itineraries: Liaison Michèle Jacot · Le lac
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 Val Cenis — up to 1,950 m of climb.
| Summit and route | Ski grade | Climb | Altitude | Aspect | From resort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Le Grand Coin · Face E | 4.1 · E2 · AD | 1,350 m | 1,450 → 2,796 m | E | 1.2 km |
| Signal du Grand Mont Cenis · Versant N | 3.2 · E2 · AD+ | 1,499 m | 1,878 → 3,377 m | N | 1.3 km |
| Ouillon des Arcellins · versant E par les pistes | 2.1 · E1 · PD- | 800 m | 1,870 → 2,665 m | N · NE · E | 1.3 km |
| Ouillon des Arcellins · Versant W | n/a · PD+ | 1,260 m | 1,400 → 2,665 m | NW | 1.5 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 Val Cenis
From Paris: 7 hr 26 (697 km) by road.
By road
- From Chambéry: 1 hr 39 · 128 km
- From Grenoble: 1 hr 56 · 158 km
- From Annecy: 2 hr 08 · 175 km
- From Genève: 2 hr 38 · 213 km
- From Lyon: 2 hr 49 · 227 km
From other major cities (15)
- From Valence: 2 hr 59 · 250 km
- From Saint-Étienne: 3 hr 23 · 275 km
- From Nice: 4 hr 33 · 368 km
- From Dijon: 4 hr 42 · 428 km
- From Clermont-Ferrand: 4 hr 42 · 392 km
- From Besançon: 4 hr 58 · 385 km
- From Marseille: 5 hr 03 · 351 km
- From Montpellier: 5 hr 06 · 455 km
- From Perpignan: 6 hr 27 · 603 km
- From Nancy: 6 hr 49 · 639 km
- From Strasbourg: 6 hr 53 · 603 km
- From Toulouse: 7 hr 23 · 689 km
- From Paris: 7 hr 26 · 697 km
- From Bordeaux: 8 hr 41 · 782 km
- From Pau: 9 hr 18 · 879 km
Excluding traffic and winter conditions; passes closed in winter are avoided.
By train
Modane station
regional station · then 28 min drive (26 km)
Nearest main station: Chambéry - Challes-les-Eaux, 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
- Turin-Caselle (TRN): 1 hr 35 by road · 106 km
- Chambéry-Savoie (CMF): 1 hr 50 by road · 136 km
Take me there
These links open the app with Val Cenis 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 24 kW
- VAL CENIS - Rue du vieux moulin- Lanslevillard · EASYCHARGE · 2 points · 24 kW · 0.7 km
- LANSLEVILLARD - Val Cenis, parking office tourisme · EASYCHARGE · 2 points · 24 kW · 1.2 km
- VAL CENIS - Parking piscine- Lanslevillard · EASYCHARGE · 2 points · 24 kW · 1.7 km
- Val CENIS-Parking Mairie · EASYCHARGE · 2 points · 24 kW · 1.9 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.
Introduction from the English Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA).
Frequently asked questions
How high is Val Cenis?
Val Cenis sits at 1,300 m at village level, and its ski area rises to 2,800 m.
How many kilometres of pistes does Val Cenis have?
Val Cenis has 125 km of slopes, 29 lifts.
What is the longest piste in Val Cenis?
The longest piste is Escargot: 9 km (green run), for 639 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 Val Cenis?
The highest lift, La Met (chairlift), tops out at 2,737 m. Source: STRMTG, French national register of mechanical lifts (CAIRN database), file dated 1 January 2025.
How many lifts does Val Cenis have, and what is their capacity?
The French national register of mechanical lifts records 35 installations at Val Cenis (2 gondolas, 13 chairlifts, 14 drag lifts, 6 magic carpets), for an authorised capacity of 39,084 people per hour, of which 2,400 for Solert alone. The fleet spans 1965 to 2024, an average age of 20 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 much is a lift pass in Val Cenis?
The adult day pass costs €50 and the 6-day pass €258.50 (2026-2027 season, read on the official price list).
How do I get to Val Cenis?
By road, Val Cenis is 1 hr 39 from Chambéry (128 km), excluding traffic and winter conditions. By train, the nearest station is Modane, 28 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 Turin-Caselle, 1 hr 35 away.
How long is the drive from Paris to Val Cenis?
7 hr 26 for 697 km from central Paris, excluding traffic and winter conditions. Computed on the real road network (OpenStreetMap): allow more on a school-holiday Saturday.
What time do the lifts open in Val Cenis?
Lifts are announced open from 09:00 to 16:30 (Du 13/12/2026 au 16/04/2027), according to the official website (read on 29 September 2026).
When does Val Cenis open?
According to the official website, the resort opens on 12 December 2026 and closes on 16 April 2027 (2026-2027 season).
Is the snow reliable in Val Cenis?
Good snow from mid-December to mid-April: a long, reliable season. 125 days a winter at 30 cm or more on average, and 464 cm of fresh snow, measured over 32 winters at the Météo-France “Val d Isere Joseray” station. This verdict rests on 32 winters of Météo-France measurements (1990-2026); in season the daily report prevails.
Is Val Cenis good for beginners and families?
58% 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. Val Cenis in French →
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