Pick the right ski area in France for your level and snow

France builds its skiing big. One lift pass in Les 3 Vallées covers 337 runs, and in the Portes du Soleil you can start the morning in France and finish it in Switzerland. Size is the easy part to measure. The harder question is which of these giants fits the way your group skis: who wants gentle blues near the village, who is chasing a black or a guided off-piste line, and how late in the spring you can travel.

France's biggest ski areas are linked domains, where one lift pass and a web of lifts join several resorts. You ski from village to village without taking a bus. France has about 250 ski resorts, and nearly a hundred of them sit in linked areas, according to Alti-Mag, a magazine about the French Alps. Its ranking by piste length puts Les 3 Vallées and the Portes du Soleil first at 600 km each, then Paradiski at 425 km, La Voie Lactée at 410 km, Les Sybelles at 310 km, Tignes-Val d'Isère at 300 km, Le Grand Massif at 265 km and Serre Chevalier at 250 km. The Alpe d'Huez Area, five linked resorts in Isère, claims 250 km as well. All ten of Alti-Mag's largest areas are in the Alps. Read the kilometres as the resorts' own claims, which Alti-Mag warns run generous. Altitude, the mix of run colours and the season dates tell you more.

A single lift network can hold beginner, intermediate and expert terrain, so the biggest area is not always the right one. Our ski in France page gathers the resorts and stays we know across these areas.

Les 3 Vallées suits mixed groups best. Its 337 runs split into 15% green, 41% blue, 34% red and 11% black, so almost half are aimed at beginners and intermediates, according to Les 3 Vallées' own figures. The runs climb from 1,300 m to 3,230 m, and 85% of the area lies above 1,800 m. Val Thorens, at 2,320 m, is the highest resort in Europe. Our guide to ski holidays in Val Thorens plans a week there around your level, and where to stay in Val Thorens picks the right base. Black runs are not groomed every night, which leaves the moguls and fresh snow to the skiers who want them. In Courchevel, theKlub rates LYS MARTAGON, a 5-star, and White 1921 Courchevel, a 4-star with a 9.8 guest rating. Our guide to skiing Courchevel helps you choose between its villages.

Paradiski joins Les Arcs, Peisey-Vallandry and La Plagne into 425 km, with 70% of its slopes above 2,000 m and two glaciers above 3,000 m. The link is the Vanoise Express, a double-deck cable car that crosses 1,824 m of cable without a pylon in 4 minutes. A glass panel in each cabin looks 380 m down to the valley. Plenty of blue runs suit families, and 115 red and black runs keep strong skiers busy. NATUR' slopes, left ungroomed, give a taste of off-piste inside the area. Alti-Mag calls La Plagne France's largest resort by visitor numbers and Les Arcs modern and ski-in, ski-out. Our La Plagne ski holidays guide matches its villages to your level.

Tignes-Val d'Isère, long known as Espace Killy, runs 300 km from 1,550 m to over 3,400 m, the highest base of the three. Its 161 runs (21 green, 65 blue, 41 red, 32 black) lean steeper. The Face de Bellevarde, where events of the 1992 Albertville Olympic Games were held, is for advanced skiers only, says Val d'Isère's tourist office. Families still have a place: the area carries the Famille Plus label, with a snow garden on the village front and free beginner lifts. Val d'Isère is the stone village with five-star hotels, Hotel Le Blizzard among them; Tignes is the more modern, younger resort.

The Portes du Soleil suits groups who want variety and village evenings. Its 12 resorts across France and Switzerland share 600 km and 307 runs: 39 green, 130 blue, 105 red and 33 black, per the Portes du Soleil's own figures. The catch is height. The area runs from 900 m to 2,460 m, lower than the giants above, so watch the snow near the villages late in the season. Some links between resorts need a shuttle bus. The Mur Suisse, an ungroomed black run back into France above Avoriaz, is among the most famous descents in the Alps. Geneva Airport is about 1h15 from Morzine, where theKlub rates Hôtel Névé, a 3-star with a 9.6 guest rating.

Chamonix suits strong skiers and ski tourers, with room for beginners on the valley floor. The Chamonix tourist office lists five areas between 1,035 m and 3,300 m (Les Houches, Brévent, Flégère, Grands Montets and Balme) and gentle low slopes such as le Savoy and les Planards for first turns. Off-piste skiing and ski touring sit beside the groomed runs. The Vallée Blanche, the unpatrolled descent from the Aiguille du Midi, crosses crevasses, so a guide is strongly recommended. Hôtel Mont Blanc Chamonix and Les Grands Montets Hôtel & Spa are the two Chamonix hotels theKlub rates, and our guide to Chamonix ski holidays matches each of its ski areas to your level.

Le Grand Massif links Flaine, Samoëns, Les Carroz, Morillon and Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval across 265 km between 700 m and 2,500 m. It is about an hour from Geneva Airport. Flaine brings the high, snow-sure skiing and Samoëns the real village centre. Alti-Mag finds the area much less crowded than Les 3 Vallées or Paradiski, which suits groups who would rather not queue.

The Alpe d'Huez Area suits confident skiers who want long, unbroken descents. It links five resorts (Alpe d'Huez, Auris-en-Oisans, Oz 3300, Vaujany and Villard-Reculas) across 250 km, topping out at 3,330 m on the Pic Blanc, according to Alpe d'Huez's own guide. From the Pic Blanc cable car, the Sarenne black run drops for 16 km, one of the longest black runs in Europe. The Tunnel run falls 1,350 m from 3,000 m to Montfrais. theKlub rates PopAlp in Huez and Hôtel Le Pic Blanc in the same village, and Auberge De La Forêt in Auris.

Serre Chevalier links Briançon, Villeneuve, Saint-Chaffrey and Le Monêtier-les-Bains across 250 km of north-facing slopes between 1,200 m and 2,800 m. The Winter Olympics will bring freestyle and snowboard events around Briançon. Next door, Montgenèvre sits at 1,850 m on the col at the Italian border and opens La Voie Lactée, 410 km shared with Clavière, Sestrières, Sansicario and Oulx in Italy. In the Maurienne valley, Les Sybelles strings six village resorts across 310 km, a good fit for intermediates who prefer space to crowds.

The Pyrenees are quieter and less built-up, with a shorter, more variable season that runs mainly from December to March. The Grand Tourmalet, which joins Barèges and La Mongie, has 100 km, 54 runs (12 green, 23 blue, 15 red, 4 black) and 30 lifts, says the Hautes-Pyrénées tourist board. Its draw is the Pic du Midi, where a cable car lifts freeriders to almost 3,000 m. Ungroomed lines such as the Coume du Pic run 10 km with over 1,700 m of drop: ski them with a mountain guide's advice. The Grand Tourmalet suits freeriders and skiers who would trade size for quiet.

Ski the high areas for the longest season. For 2026/27, Val Thorens and Orelle open from 21 November to 2 May, Tignes-Val d'Isère from 28 November to 2 May, and the whole of Les 3 Vallées is linked from 5 December to 18 April. Val d'Isère's mostly north-facing slopes help the snow last into spring.

January suits skiers who like cold midwinter snow and can travel after the New Year rush, though shorter days trim time on the slopes. Later January is often the quieter choice. February brings the broadest opening, but French and European school holidays overlap. That puts pressure on pistes, lessons, lodging and transfers. March and April bring longer, milder days and often fewer people. Sunny pistes soften as the day warms, and lower runs can lose their snow. Altitude and the direction a slope faces matter more then. Some French resorts stay open into early May, while the main Pyrenees season ends in March.

The table shows the climate at France's centre point from 2016 to 2025: average daily highs and lows, and the days with 1 mm or more of rain or snow. Read it as the weather in the lowlands you travel through, never as snow on the mountain, which sits far higher and colder.

Take the train. The Eurostar ski train runs from London St Pancras to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, beside Les Arcs, on selected Saturdays in season. It also serves Moûtiers for Les 3 Vallées. French ski resorts can be reached by train and then bus, and in Les Gets evening shuttles link the resorts. For the Grand Tourmalet, a night train runs from Paris to Lourdes. A bus continues to the slopes every day in school holidays and at weekends the rest of the season. In Chamonix, the Mont Blanc Unlimited pass reaches 10 ski areas in three countries.

The right French ski area is the one where your slowest skier has blue runs near the lifts. Your strongest skier should have a black, or a guide, worth the climb. Our ski holidays with theKlub page gathers the trips and stays we know across the Alps. Before you choose, check your dates against the French school holidays, then pick the highest area your group's level allows.