editorial

Words by Christopher P. Hill June 26, 2023
A trip to the ski resorts of Tignes and Alpe d’Huez—with a handsome lakeside city in between—delivers an ideal Alpine adventure.
<figure id="attachment_130583" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-130583" style="width: 665px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-130583 size-large" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Club-Med-French-Alps-2-665x495-1.jpg" alt="Left to right: The pool at Club Med Tignes; a room at the same property." width="665" height="495" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-130583" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: The pool at Club Med Tignes; a room at the same property. (Photos: Christopher P. Hill)</figcaption></figure>
On a bright December morning high up on the Grande Motte glacier, our group of snowshoers stops to admire the scenery. Below us, the Tignes ski area unfolds below the peaks of the Vanoise massif, home to some of the tallest mountains in the French Alps. From our vantage point at 3,460 meters, we can see clear across the wide treeless valley to snow-blanketed pinnacles with names like Aiguille de la Grande Sassière, Rochers de la Petite Balme, Pointe du Lavachet.
Yann Greva, our trim, yellow-jacketed guide, says, “There to the north, that is Mont Blanc. And those mountains there, that is Italy. Just beyond that, Switzerland. It’s like being on top of the world here.” And with that, we unclip our snowshoes and clamber down a rope into a narrow crevasse, its walls glistening with ancient ice. “I call this le coeur du glacier,” Yann tells me. “Beautiful, no?”
Tignes (pronounced teen-ya) may not have the cachet of places like Chamonix or Courchevel, and as a purpose-built resort it doesn’t exactly ooze charm. But you can’t fault the views—or the snow. The area boasts the longest ski season in Europe (from late November to early May, and all the way through summer if you include skiing on the glacier), as well as 300 kilometers of pistes and 78 lifts that it shares with its older and more grown-up neighbor, Val D’Isère.
Nestled in a high Alpine valley in the Savoie département of southeastern France, Tignes comprises five villages, which start below the Lac du Chevril (a reservoir held back by what was once Europe’s tallest dam) and progress up the mountainside from there. I’m staying at the highest one, Val Claret. It’s a huddle of neatly ordered apartment blocks, small hotels, and a few chalets, with nothing particularly remarkable to distract you from the slopes. Nothing, that is, except the brand-new Club Med Tignes, which opened just days before I checked in.
If the name “Club Med” conjures up images of tropical beach holidays, think again: the France-based company is also well known among snow hounds, with about two dozen ski hotels dotted across Europe, Asia, and North America. Indeed, Club Med has been in Tignes since 1958, though the original property was shut down a few years ago to make way for its 430-room successor.
Teething issues aside (the reception counter is swamped when I arrive from Geneva, a three-hour drive away), it’s a welcoming place, all wood and stone and pops of bright colors in a style Club Med calls “informal chic.” From the lobby to the bar to the theater-lounge, views of the mountainside loom through vast picture windows, with guests fresh from the slopes gathered in convivial groups sipping vin chaud (hot mulled wine), génépy (an herbaceous Alpine aperitif), or something stronger.
<figure id="attachment_130582" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-130582" style="width: 665px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-130582 size-large" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Club-Med-French-Alps-1-665x374-1.jpg" alt="A view over Tignes Val Claret, with the new Club Med in the middle background." width="665" height="374" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-130582" class="wp-caption-text">A view over Tignes Val Claret, with the new Club Med in the middle background. (Photo: Club Med)</figcaption></figure>
As with every Club Med, the hotel is all-inclusive, meaning food, drinks, ski passes and lessons, airport transfers, even supervised kids programs are part of the nightly rate. This makes for a hassle-free holiday, especially for young families. There are two restaurants to choose from: buffet-style Le Val Claret, with stations serving calorific pastas, grilled meats, salads, and a gluttonous supply of charcuterie and cheeses; and Solstice, a table-service gourmet restaurant that requires reservations. I only dine at the latter once, and though it’s a fine meal—génépy-drizzled gravlax and risotto de crozet with pumpkin cream and beetroot chips—I find myself missing the spirited bonhomie of the buffet line.
There’s also a hammam-equipped spa for soothing piste-weary muscles and a big indoor pool set under an aqueous ceiling mural. And for those wanting to splash out on their accommodations, the 25 Exclusive Collection suites come with access to a private lounge and concierge service.
But the hotel’s ace in the hole is its proximity to the slopes. There are three chairlifts within easy reach of the hotel’s ski-in, ski-out locker room. The funicular station is right there too, under a big sign that reads DESTINATION GLACIER: ALTITUDE EXPERIENCES. Tunneling 1,000 meters up through the mountain, the funicular whisks you to the edge of the Grande Motte glacier in just seven minutes. From there, the second-highest cable car in France (after the Aiguille de Midi in Chamonix) climbs another 400 or so meters to a couple of vertiginous red and black runs and the snowshoe track on the glacier’s upper flanks.
At the end of an afternoon spent testing my meager ski skills on a green piste, I wrestle off my boots and head to the lounge for an après-ski drink. The party is just getting started. On stage, a group of young hotel hosts (GOs in Club Med–speak, an acronym for gentiles organisateurs) is about to kick off a cabaret act. The mood is festive, but I’m worn out, so I retreat to my room for a lie-down. Made cozy with a thick wool throw, plush carpet, and backlit wooden headboard, it’s the perfect cocoon.
After three nights in Tignes, I move on to another French ski resort, Alpe d’Huez in the Grandes Rousses mountains. But first, a detour to the lakeside city of Annecy for a hit of Savoyard culture.
Once home to the medieval counts of Geneva, Annecy’s Vieille Ville, or old town, is a gem of terracotta- roofed Italianate buildings and cobbled lanes that crisscross the canals that give the place its nickname as the “Venice of the Alps,” though to me it better recalls the Altstadt of Lucerne. As an added bonus, the Christmas market is already in full swing, with wooden stalls offering mulled wine, pretzels oozing with local Reblochon cheese, and other seasonal treats.
Above it all stands Château D’Annecy, an imposing hilltop castle that now serves as an art museum (exhibits run the gamut from medieval sculpture to contemporary installations). After a visit, I stroll back down for a dinner of péla, an artery-clogging gratin of potatoes, Reblochon, lard, and onions. It’s well after dark by the time I finish, and on the walk back to my hotel, I join a throng of people in the square outside L’église Notre-Dame de Liesse to watch a fantastical light show of cranes and lily pads play across the church’s neoclassical facade. Set to orchestral music, it’s hypnotic.
<figure id="attachment_130584" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-130584" style="width: 665px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-130584 size-large" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Club-Med-French-Alps-3-665x495-1.jpg" alt="Left to right: Inside the Château d’Annecy; a dish of péla at Annecy’s Brasserie des Européens." width="665" height="495" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-130584" class="wp-caption-text">Left to right: Inside the Château d’Annecy; a dish of péla at Annecy’s Brasserie des Européens. (Photos: Christopher P. Hill)</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_135434" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-135434" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-135434 size-full" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Lounge-seating-with-a-view-at-Club-Med-Alpe-dHuez.jpg" alt="Lounge seating with a view at Club Med Alpe d’Huez." width="1200" height="800" srcset="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Lounge-seating-with-a-view-at-Club-Med-Alpe-dHuez.jpg 1200w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Lounge-seating-with-a-view-at-Club-Med-Alpe-dHuez-300x200.jpg 300w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Lounge-seating-with-a-view-at-Club-Med-Alpe-dHuez-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Lounge-seating-with-a-view-at-Club-Med-Alpe-dHuez-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-135434" class="wp-caption-text">Lounge seating at Club Med Alpe d’Huez. (Photo: Club Med)</figcaption></figure>
Club Med Alpe d’Huez shares many of the same features as its younger sibling in Tignes. There’s a similar restaurant lineup, wristbands that open your room and ski locker, stage shows and spa treatments, a lively bar, and direct access to 250 kilometers of slopes. Completely overhauled in 2019, it too has the feel of a contemporary lodge.
Reliably good weather is another plus. Alpe d’Huez enjoys an average of 300 days of sunshine a year, aptly earning the sobriquet “L’île au soleil.” I wake up each morning to clear blue skies and a dusting of overnight snow.
I hit the green runs again with a group of fellow novices, all doing our best to make our infinitely patient instructors, Bernard and Ives, proud. The pistes are packed with skiers and snowboarders; other guests have headed off to try their hand at snowshoeing, dog sledding, paragliding, or skijoring, which involves being pulled on skis behind a galloping horse. I’ll stick to the slopes, thanks.
After lessons on our last day, a couple of new friends and I ride a gondola 400 meters up to a ridge-top bar called La Folie Douce. “Sweet Madness” is right—on the terrace, a crowd of partygoers is dancing on tables and downing shots to the throb of house music. We drink in the views and a round of local pinot gris before packing it in; with twilight gathering over the Alps, the last gondola is due to leave soon, and we don’t want to miss it—the only other way down the mountain is via a twisting blue run that none of us are ready to tackle. Not yet, at least.
<figure id="attachment_130586" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-130586" style="width: 665px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-130586 size-large" src="https://staging.destinasian.com/wp-content/uploads/Club-Med-French-Alps-5-665x443-1.jpg" alt="Surveying the slopes in Alpe d’Huez" width="665" height="443" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-130586" class="wp-caption-text">Surveying the slopes in Alpe d’Huez. (Photo: Club Med)</figcaption></figure>
French Alps Essentials
<h5>Getting There</h5>
Fly <a href="https://www.etihad.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Etihad</a> via Dubai to Geneva or Lyon.
<h5>Where to Stay</h5>
<a href="https://www.clubmed.co.uk/r/tignes/w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Club Med Tignes</a>; from US$2,157 for a seven-night stay.
<a href="https://www.hotel-annecy-lac.fr/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Le Splendid Hotel Lac d’Annecy</a>; doubles from US$85.
<a href="https://www.clubmed.co.uk/r/alpe-d-huez/w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Club Med Alpe d’Huez</a>; from US$2,420 for a seven-night stay.
This article originally appeared in the <a href="https://www.destinasian.com/magazine" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">March/May 2023</a> print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“Higher Calling”).

Elevated Pursuits in the French Alps