French Alps

The French Alps aren’t one destination so much as a collection of valleys and resorts, each with a distinct personality — which resort you choose matters as much as which country.

Getting There

Geneva Airport is the most common gateway for the French Alps, with resort transfer times ranging from about 1.5 hours (Portes du Soleil, Chamonix) to closer to 2.5 hours for the furthest Three Valleys resorts. Chambéry and Lyon airports run seasonal routes better suited to some resorts and often see shorter road transfers once you land. Whichever airport, this is one destination where a private transfer is worth arranging in advance — winter roads and resort-specific access make a scheduled shuttle or shared transfer far less reliable.

Resorts Worth Knowing

Courchevel and Méribel, part of the Three Valleys — the world’s largest linked ski area — lean luxury, with the highest concentration of five-star chalets and Michelin-level mountain dining. Chamonix, at the foot of Mont Blanc, has a different identity entirely: a real mountain town with a long mountaineering history, better known for serious off-piste and high-altitude terrain than for polish. Val d’Isère and Tignes, further south, split the difference — strong skiing with a livelier, younger scene than Courchevel’s.

Practical Notes

Christmas week and the February French school half-term are the two periods that sell out chalets and instructors up to a year in advance — earlier planning matters more here than almost anywhere else on this list. Outside ski season, the same valleys open up for summer hiking, including sections of the Tour du Mont Blanc, and the pace slows considerably — a genuinely different trip on the same mountains.

Entry Requirements and Everyday Money

Most passports — including the US, UK, Canada, Australia and Japan — allow entry to France and the wider Schengen area for up to 90 days within any rolling 180-day period, calculated backward from each day of your stay rather than from a fixed date; it’s worth checking your passport has at least three months’ validity left beyond your departure date. Cards are widely accepted at resorts, though some mountain refuges and smaller on-slope restaurants are cash-only — worth carrying some. Service is included in restaurant bills by law (service compris), so tipping beyond that is a rounding-up gesture rather than an expectation.