Serre Chevalier

Find Chalets Resort Guide to Serre Chevalier

Serre Chevalier has 250 km of pistes, excellent off-piste opportunities and probably more trees than any resort in Europe, making it freeride heaven. It's also perfect for intermediates breaking into off-piste, with short powder hits and an avalanche transceiver training park. Like the village, the mountain has distinct areas, but they're well linked by lifts so it's easy to roam the area.

Serre Chevalier Pro's

Exceptionally friendly and welcoming locals, with plenty of English spoken.
Caters for skiers of all abilities.
Generally uncrowded by European standards.
Plenty to do for families, party-animals, food-lovers andhardcore freeriders.

Serre Chevalier Con's

Travel between the villages can be tricky, particularly as shuttles stop at 1900
Fills up during French school holidays - avoid if possible!

Skiing in Serre Chevalier

Serre Chevalier Ski Resort

Beginners

Find your feet on Monetier's nursery area before heading to Serre Ratier's nursery slopes on the mountain. Cruise the blues on Grand Serre before the long greens down to Villeneuve from Aravet and Casse du Boeuf.

Intermediate

Most of the mountain is your playground. Not to miss are the long Cucumelle red to Frejus and the Aiguilette and Col de la Ricelle areas. Confident intermediates will enjoy the steeper Yret and CibouTt slopes, learningto ski powder on Clot Gauthier and the trees above Monetier.

Expert

Villeneuve and Chantemerle are best for accessing the resort's black runs, while Monetier is the best starting point for freeriders. Pisted highlights are Isolee off I'Eychauda, Casse du Boeuf, Super Draye under Clot Gauthier, and Creux de Loup by Cucumelle.There's stacks of

Powder

Warm up on the Face des Neyzets under the Yret chair before dropping off Pic de I'Yret into the Vallon de la Montagnole, which brings you round onto the blackTabuc run. Also from the top of Yret, follow Voie Jackson down to Cucumelle. A short climb from the Cucumelle chair up Col de I'Eychauda will get you onto the Vallon des Corneilles, which drop into trees and a narrow canyon to Monetier.

As far as snowsports are concerned Serre-Chevalier brings you Half Pipe and Carving zones, a Snowpark and a Boardercross. For après ski, the Spa Centre in Monêtier Les Bains features an indoor and outdoor hot spring water swimming pool, heated to 36°.

The resort itself is very much an intermediates' paradise, good for beginners, but less so for advanced. More accomplished skiers are best advised to head for Monetier for some good black pistes, or a considerable variety of off-piste terrain. Two-thirds of the mountain enjoys wooded surroundings and, as the slopes are north-facing, they do hold snow. However, resort-level snow can be slushy as the villages are all below 1500m. Boarders will find masses to do, particularly those more advanced, with a specialist park and good off-piste.

Nightlife is limited but the restaurants serve good local dishes but a car is a good option allowing you to travel between the different villages to see what each one has to offer.

The resort is located in Hautes Alpes which is the most southern area in the alps with real high mountains. It is actually the area in the French alps where you find most mountain peaks more than 4.000 meters.