Vars
Off season · opens 5 December 20261,850 mVillage altitude
2,750 mTop of the ski area
185 kmLinked pistes · La Forêt Blanche
18Ski lifts
€58Adult day pass · 2026-2027
Vars is a ski resort in the Southern Alps (Hautes-Alpes). The village sits at 1,850 m and the ski area rises to 2,750 m, a skiable vertical of 1,100 m.
Live webcams
All webcams (8) →PeynierSkaping
Speed MasterSkaping
Col de CrevouxSkaping
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 15 September 2026.
Webcams provided by windy.com — add a webcam.
Snow, opening and weather
Snow report →The domain is due to open on 5 December 2026 and close on 11 April 2027. Open pistes and lifts will appear here as soon as the resort publishes its daily report.
Right now at the PARPAILLON-NIVOSE station (2,545 m)
Source: Météo-France, PARPAILLON-NIVOSE weather station, 9.2 km away. Hourly measurement — not the resort’s own snow report.
Avalanche danger
Good snow from early February to mid-March. 88 days a winter at 30 cm or more on average, and 294 cm of fresh snow, measured over 40 winters at the Météo-France “ST PAUL” station. Fortnight by fortnight, over 40 measured winters →
3-day forecast
Village 1,850 m · top 2,750 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: 2,750 m · Bottom of the pistes: 1,650 m · Days above 30 cm per winter, measured: 88 days · Days above 30 cm, December to March, model: 96%
- Ski areaIs there enough to ski all week?4 / 5
Km skiable from the resort, linked area included: 185 km · Lifts: 18 · Balance between piste levels: 89%
- ValueIs the lift pass reasonable for what you get?2.5 / 5
Adult day pass: €58
- Families and beginnersIs it right for children and beginners?2.5 / 5
Share of green and blue pistes: 58% · Magic carpets: 4 · Special prices out of 4 (beginner, child, family, free age): 2 · ESF ski school · Ice rink, pool, rail sledge…: 2
- AccessIs it easy to get to?2 / 5
Average drive time from 20 major cities: 5 hr 40 · Nearest railway station: 22 min · Station-to-resort shuttles per day: 0 · Nearest airport: 2 hr 11
- Atmosphere and après-skiIs there life in the evening and off the slopes?3 / 5
Bars and pubs: 2 · Nightclubs: 0 · Restaurants: 17 · 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
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 · Adult day pass: €58 — 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) →€970 Season€30 Beginner, 1 day
Read on the official price list, full price, excluding promotions. 2026-2027 season. Official price list ↗
69 pistes, by level
10 green30 blue22 red7 black
- Skiable vertical
- 1,100 m
- Snowpark
- Yes
Ski-area figures — village, bottom, top, lifts, pistes by level: ANMSM — figures declared by the resort (25 Sept); km of the linked area: Resort’s official website (read by SkiRadar) (23 Sept) . 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 national register attributes 19 lifts to Vars alone; the figure above comes from the most reliable source.
The ski area in figures
Measured on 9 September 20264 kmLongest piste — Les Chardons (green), 366 m of vertical
456 mBiggest vertical without changing piste — 2,719 → 2,263 m, 1 km
2,732 mHighest lift top — Speed Master (detachable chairlift), national lift register
30,669Total lift capacity, people per hour — 19 installations: 10 chairlifts, 5 drag lifts, 4 magic carpets
21 yrsAverage age of the lift fleet — oldest 1964, newest 2024
3,600Biggest lift, people per hour — Claux (magic carpet, 2019)
28 kmTotal length of lifts — 28 lifts mapped
5,718 haSki area boundary (OSM)
588Inhabitants — Vars (INSEE 05177)
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 Vars only (“VARS”), magic carpets included.
Staying and hiring gear in Vars
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
Sowell
Club hotels and flats in the resorts, northern and southern Alps.
Holidu
Holiday-rental comparison site.
Ski Planet
Self-catering flats and all-inclusive ski holidays at the foot of the slopes, since 1999.
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 Vars
Toboggan runs
- Luge sur rail · 0.8 km away · OpenStreetMap
Ice rink
- Patinoire · Risoul · 6.4 km away
Swimming pool
- Piscine · Vars · 0.4 km away
- SKISEO - Centre aqualudique et de détente · Risoul · 6.5 km away
Spa and thermal baths
- Saï mithra · Risoul · 6.7 km away
Dog sledding
- Wild Expériences chiens de traineau · Crévoux · 6.6 km away
Museum
- Musée de la moto · Saint-Paul-sur-Ubaye · 8.5 km away
- Musée de Saint-Paul-sur-Ubaye : Outils, gestes et travaux · Saint-Paul-sur-Ubaye · 8.6 km away
Cinema
- Le Mélèze · 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 Vars
100 instructors
🇬🇧 53 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 · Front de Neige de Vars les Claux, 05560 Vars, 05560 · 0492465131 · info@otvars.com (declared by the resort, ANMSM)
- Resort app
- Android (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 and distributed by ANMSM · read on 25 September
Off the pistes: off-piste and ski touring
The resorts for off-piste skiing → 10 Marked off-piste itineraries · 7 km
— Ski touring routes
Named itineraries: Ecureuil · Alpet · Coni · Evasion · Mur du Vallon · Casse
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 Vars — 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 km |
| Pointe de l'Eyssina · en traversée S-W depuis le Col de Vars | n/a · PD+ | 1,240 m | n/a | n/a | 2.9 km |
| Pointe de l'Eyssina · Face de l'Eyssina | 5.1 · E3 · AD+ | n/a | 1,800 → 2,837 m | NE | 2.9 km |
| Pointe de l'Eyssina · Couloir NE 2736 | 4.1 · E2 · D- | 730 m | 2,040 → 2,770 m | NE | 3.4 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 September 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 Vars
From Paris: 8 hr 42 (737 km) by road.
By road
- From Grenoble: 2 hr 53 · 164 km
- From Chambéry: 3 hr 03 · 209 km
- From Marseille: 3 hr 15 · 248 km
- From Annecy: 3 hr 32 · 256 km
- From Valence: 3 hr 49 · 253 km
From other major cities (14)
- From Genève: 4 hr 02 · 294 km
- From Lyon: 4 hr 05 · 266 km
- From Montpellier: 4 hr 33 · 370 km
- From Saint-Étienne: 4 hr 38 · 315 km
- From Perpignan: 5 hr 55 · 518 km
- From Dijon: 5 hr 57 · 467 km
- From Clermont-Ferrand: 5 hr 58 · 435 km
- From Besançon: 6 hr 16 · 497 km
- From Toulouse: 6 hr 51 · 605 km
- From Nancy: 8 hr 04 · 678 km
- From Strasbourg: 8 hr 17 · 684 km
- From Paris: 8 hr 42 · 737 km
- From Pau: 8 hr 45 · 794 km
- From Bordeaux: 9 hr 14 · 847 km
Excluding traffic and winter conditions; passes closed in winter are avoided.
By train
Mont-Dauphin - Guillestre station
halt · then 22 min drive (19 km)
Nearest main station: Grenoble, 2 hr 53 by road.
No direct bus line from the station to the resort appears in the open-data timetables (checked on 20 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
- Cuneo (CUF): 2 hr 11 by road · 121 km
- Turin-Caselle (TRN): 2 hr 43 by road · 170 km
Take me there
These links open the app with Vars as the destination. Your starting point is never sent by us — the app asks you for it, if you agree.
Charging an electric car
3 charging stations within 2 km
6 charging points · up to 22 kW
- VARS - Les Claux · EASYCHARGE · 2 points · 22 kW · 0.1 km
- CSE - BdF - Vars · NVH · 2 points · 22 kW · 0.3 km
- CSE - BdF - Vars · NVH · 2 points · 22 kW · 0.3 km
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.
The area offers 185 km of alpine pistes across La Forêt Blanche, 69 marked pistes (10 green, 30 blue, 22 red, 7 black), 18 ski lifts, plus a snowpark.
Vars belongs to the linked La Forêt Blanche area: one lift pass covers the neighbouring resorts.
Measured on the OpenStreetMap map: the longest piste runs 4 km (Les Chardons) and the highest lift tops out at 2,719 m.
The resort holds the Station classée de tourisme label.
Access: 2 h 53 by road from Grenoble and 22 min from Mont-Dauphin - Guillestre railway station.
7 official webcams show the pistes live (on the French page).
Frequently asked questions
How high is Vars?
Vars sits at 1,850 m at village level, and its ski area rises to 2,750 m.
How many kilometres of pistes does Vars have?
From Vars you can ski 185 km of slopes across La Forêt Blanche, 18 lifts.
What is the longest piste in Vars?
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 Vars?
The highest lift, Speed Master (detachable chairlift), tops out at 2,732 m. Source: STRMTG, French national register of mechanical lifts (CAIRN database), file dated 1 January 2025.
How many lifts does Vars have, and what is their capacity?
The French national register of mechanical lifts records 19 installations at Vars (10 chairlifts, 5 drag lifts, 4 magic carpets), for an authorised capacity of 30,669 people per hour, of which 3,600 for Claux alone. The fleet spans 1964 to 2024, an average age of 21 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 Vars?
The adult day pass costs €58 (2026-2027 season, read on the official price list).
How do I get to Vars?
By road, Vars is 2 hr 53 from Grenoble (164 km), excluding traffic and winter conditions. By train, the nearest station is Mont-Dauphin - Guillestre, 22 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 11 away.
How long is the drive from Paris to Vars?
8 hr 42 for 737 km from central Paris, excluding traffic and winter conditions. Computed on the real road network (OpenStreetMap): allow more on a school-holiday Saturday.
When does Vars open?
According to the official website, the resort opens on 5 December 2026 and closes on 11 April 2027 (2026-2027 season).
Is the snow reliable in Vars?
Good snow from early February to mid-March. 88 days a winter at 30 cm or more on average, and 294 cm of fresh snow, measured over 40 winters at the Météo-France “ST PAUL” station. This verdict rests on 40 winters of Météo-France measurements (1961-2018); in season the daily report prevails.
Is Vars 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. Vars in French →
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