An independent guide to Val Thorens
Skiing Made Easier is the follow-up to Skiing Made Easy, and covers technique beyond basic parallel turns - carving, short turns, bumps and off piste.
Read more about Skiing Made Easier, buy the paperback direct, or buy the paperback on Amazon or the Kindle ebook (affiliate links).
As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The 2025/26 ski season in Val Thorens starts on Saturday 22nd November 2025 and finishes on Sunday 3rd May 2026.
The 3 Valleys are open from Saturday 6th December 2025 to Sunday 19th April 2026.
Skiing Made Easy is a Kindle ebook and paperback. It's a practical guide to learning to ski, based on many happy seasons of ski teaching in Val Thorens.
'This is the book I wish I'd had when I started skiing' - Amazon reviewer.
Read more about Skiing Made Easy.
Buy the paperback direct for the best price. Or buy the paperback on Amazon or the Kindle ebook (affiliate links).
in the Val Thorens resort section, discover the resort facilities including the tourist office, post office, banks, medical centre, church, parking, radio station, and the cinema.
There's also a Val Thorens resort maps page, and information about the sports centre, market, and resort shuttle bus.
Find out more about the resort of Val Thorens.
SNO Ski sells most of the hotels, chalets and apartments in Val Thorens.
They also create tailor-made ski holidays with flights and transfers to all of the vast array of hotel and apartment accommodation across VT, so that skiers can create non-standard packages to suit their dates and preferences.
Find out about Val Thorens with SNO Ski.
The Val Thorens ski area section covers the beginners' area and the ski area sector by sector.
You can also find information about off piste itineraries, a piste map, and the ski pass prices.
Finally, there's a guide to the mountain restaurants.
Val Thorens offers a wide range of accommodation, including luxury hotels, comfortable apartments, catered chalets, and budget self-catering.
Discover the range of accommodation in Val Thorens.
Alpine Fleet ski transfers are easy, reliable and convenient. Based in Geneva, the company's founders Hugh and Simon are British and British-Italian. Find out more about Alpine Fleet.
Alpine Fleet offer shared and private transfers to Saint-Martin, Les Menuires and Val Thorens (and other ski resorts). Use the form below to get a quote in Swiss Francs, CHF. If you proceed to booking, use the code ValThorensG to get a 5% discount.
The Val Thorens travel page has information about the ski trains to the French Alps, plus flights, and advice on travel to Val Thorens by car.
There's a section on transfer companies, and we have bus times, and the route and times of the resort shuttle.
Find out more about travel to Val Thorens.
The best webcams around the Val Thorens ski area.
Check out conditions in resort in advance of your ski trip, or have a look at the top of the mountain while you're eating breakfast to see if it's clear high up.
Look at Val Thorens webcams.
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It's a trusted source of information about Val Thorens, and has been running for 13 years.
Get in touch and tell me your requirements and budget, email
info@valthorensguide.co.uk.
Check out the latest piste maps for Val Thorens, the 3 Valleys, and the other ski areas within the 3 Valleys.
They include Les Menuires, Méribel, Courchevel and Orelle.
Find and download Val Thorens, 3 Valleys and other piste maps.
Les Clés des 3 Vallées is a guide to the off piste itineraries of the 3 Valleys written in both English and French.
Buy Les Clés des 3 Vallées (affiliate link).
Details of the six ski schools in Val Thorens, to book lessons for adults or children in skiing or snowboarding.
Also, find out about high mountain guides, plus the best options for private lessons in Val Thorens.
Details of all the ski shops in Val Thorens. For ski and snowboard hire and sales, boot-fitting, servicing of your own equipment, and accessories.
Read about ski shops in Val Thorens.
All the special events in Val Thorens during the winter season.
Val Thorens opens in late November with la Grande Première. Early season sporting events include the Ice Cross World Cup and the Skicross World Cup.
The Cosmic Mountain Festival is one of the highlights of the late season.
Many of the restaurants in Val Thorens serve Savoyard specialities like fondue, but there are many other dishes on offer, including pizza, steak, and delicious salads.
For burger and chips, or more refined cuisine, find out about it in restaurants in Val Thorens.
From the traditional British and Irish watering holes, to the distinctly European venues, find the best bars and pubs in Val Thorens. Intentionally or not, you may find yourself rolling into one of the nightclubs in Val Thorens - research here the next morning to see where you were.
A guide to non-skiing activities in Val Thorens.
They include the Bee Zipwire, ten pin bowling, tobogganing, ski doos, ice skating, ice driving, e-mountain biking, paragliding & paramotor, and dog sledding.
Read more about Val Thorens Activities.
Reports on the new developments in advance of the ski season, and on the events during the winter season.
Read the news from Val Thorens, and see photos and videos.
The weather in Val Thorens, including 'good' winter weather - anticyclones, or snow from the north west - and the 'bad' weather - SE Foehn winds.
Why do we love Val Thorens?
Above all for the snow and terrain. As the highest resort in Europe, it often has some of the best snow. Why ski on icy hardpack, when you've got the option of soft, cold, fresh snow in VT?
As for the terrain, there's an extensive beginners' area, kilometres of varied pistes for intermediates and experts, a top-class snowpark, and a World Cup Skicross course. You can find a wealth of off-piste, too, including some of the most charming itineraries in the Alps.
The lift company continues to invest in the ski area, with improvements for each new winter season.
The big challenge for Val Thorens now is how it plans for the future in the context of our climate crisis.
The risk is that its response is gestures and greenwash: attract clients who fly hundreds of miles to get here and stay for just a few days, but put them on an electric navette around resort. It's logically incoherent as a solution to reducing carbon emissions, but it's easy to imagine the electric bus on the cover of a brochure, to support claims that Val Thorens is taking global warming seriously.
Genuine and fundamental changes are needed, based on rigorous and honest thinking. That should start now.
This guide is based on many seasons in Val Thorens, and I hope you find it useful. Happy skiing in Val Thorens.
