The concept of “summering within the Alps” might sound old-school, however in all honesty, it’s when the mountains come to life. Nowhere is that this more true than Les Deux Alpes, a farming plateau-turned-resort on the gateway of the Écrins Nationwide Park.
I arrived there on Midsummer’s Eve, simply because the resort was getting ready for 2 main occasions: the delightfully-named ‘Mountain of Hell’ bike race, now in its twenty fourth yr, and France’s nationwide Fête de la Musique. Amid sweltering temperatures throughout lowland Europe, the village’s 1,650m altitude introduced the proper breeze, and regardless of my 22:00 arrival, I might comfortably wander up the resort’s single, large promenade in a short-sleeve shirt and denims.
I wasn’t alone: on a Friday evening in June, because the streetlights and membership audio system turned on, the bars and eating places had been alive with French, Italian, and English voices; vacationers, saisonnaires, and faculty journeys. Tempted as I used to be to hitch their revelry, after a protracted day’s journey, I wanted a snack and a few sleep.
I discovered the primary at Chez nous 2, a surf shack-style tapas bar run by two sisters, who supplied me with a much-needed charcuterie board and pint of blonde. Shortly after, I arrived at my relaxation for the subsequent three nights: the Hôtel Les Flocons, a darling three-star chalet-style lodging, with luxurious mattresses and mountain views. Although I spent little time on my option to mattress, I used to be struck by all of the lodge’s little particulars: from the hand-painted room numbers to the cabinets of French fairytales within the lounge, the pine timber and calm lighting. I knew, as quickly as my head hit the pillow and I kissed Friday goodnight, it could be the proper refuge from which to discover this new resort.
Life on two wheels
Because the mountain biking capital of France, my first in-resort exercise was to discover a pair of pedals. I used to be helped right here by the type of us at Brun Sports activities, a Skiset affiliate open seven days per week, proper beside the Workplace De Tourisme. Brun Sports activities is partnered with Gravity Bike guides, one among whom, Arthur, was ready for me outdoors to point out me the ropes of MTB.
Biking down Les Deux Alpes’ foremost strip (dodging Saturday site visitors as we went), we arrived on the Vallée Blanche chair, already bustling with bikers. After wheelieing our bikes onto the chair (maybe the strangest, and hardest a part of the day), Arthur knowledgeable me that the elevate was significantly busy due to the Mountain of Hell Below-14s race happening on the prime. On the best way up, we noticed a couple of marmots and an enormous griffon vulture, which Arthur, grinning behind his mouthguard, stated was a “bon augure”.
After all, he was proper: mountain biking was superior. After a couple of apply workout routines on the prime of the elevate (c. 2100m), surrounded by children as younger as 4 zooming about as if born on their bikes, we set off down the mountain’s north ridge. Whereas tough at components, Arthur picked trails excellent for a newbie, permitting me to get the cling of steering simply because the route obtained twistier coming into the treeline. On stopping for a drink, he identified the Cascade de la Pisse (Waterfall of the Trickle) on the vary reverse and jokingly instructed me by no means to plan a date there (there are about 4 different Cascades de la Pisse close by).
Sadly, the mountain biking was over practically as quickly as we’d began: the higher I grew to become, the nearer I obtained to the underside. With extra time, I’d have fortunately spent a complete day of it just like the padded athletes we encountered on the finish. I might see how, like snowboarding, the frenzy and rhythm of the path may very well be rapidly addictive.
Thanking Arthur again at Brun Sports activities, I headed to the Workplace De Tourisme for the subsequent exercise of the day: paragliding.
Among the many heavens
My paragliding spot was positioned on the reverse finish of Les Deux Alpes’ lengthy stretch, in a sloped discipline straight out of The Sound of Music. On the best way there, my information on the Workplace De Tourisme, Héléna, identified the resort’s newest elevate: the two-leg Jandri Categorical.
This new chair-gondola-hybrid, opened in winter 2024–25 after simply nineteen months’ development, is each an unbelievable piece of infrastructure and a shining testomony to Les Deux Alpes’ all-welcoming beliefs. That’s, the elevate was consciously designed to be accessible for everybody: taking not solely skiers, however bikers, hikers, sightseers, the younger, previous, and otherwise abled, as much as the resort’s iconic glacier at 3200m—in below 40 minutes.
Certainly, the Jandri Categorical encapsulates Les Deux Alpes’ opening to the world: from an area cattle discipline as just lately because the Fifties, to a world resort welcoming roughly 70,000 guests in its summer time season (and 4 occasions that come winter). With dozens of summer time actions, together with a few of the finest path operating within the Alps and unparalleled entry to Écrins Nationwide Park, there really is one thing for everybody, all yr spherical.
Whereas it could be exhausting to beat that morning’s mountain biking, paragliding with 2 Alpes Parapente might have been a worthy opponent. As Pink Bull stunt gliders somersaulted above us, my information, Xavier, strapped me onto his entrance. Within the minutes earlier than take-off, I might really feel the breeze filtering up from the Vénéon Valley, slicing by way of the noon warmth and brushing the grass and hoverflies: the beginnings of flight.
Using that breeze was much less of a leap of religion than a gradual letting-go—and earlier than I knew it, we had been floating within the sky, practically a thousand metres above the bottom. I’d battle to explain the sensation of utter weightlessness, as every thing earthly vanished under; in the event you’re fortunate sufficient to strive it, you’ll know what I imply once I name it chic. Xavier, who’s accomplished the game since its earliest days, remained quiet and calm, sometimes mentioning the peaks he knew by coronary heart: the Roche de la Muzelle, with its large’s ‘eye’, and the Aiguille de Vénosc, virtually like Buachaille Etive Mòr again residence. From on excessive, the outlines of the rock had been crystal clear: each ravine, nook, and cranny, dazzling within the solar, the Mediterranean Sea simply past.
Once more, like mountain biking, I might have remained within the heavens all day. A late lunch referred to as as much as us, nonetheless, and so with a somersaulting abdomen and sideways touchdown, we returned to the burden of dry land. The distinction in sensation—from gliding to grounded—was so sudden that I might have sworn we’d teleported, and now, if I might, I’d want to teleport again up there, weightless, below the solar.
Lunch at La Troïka
After such a busy morning, I used to be in want of a hearty, mountain-made meal. I discovered this on the picket terrace at La Troïka, just a few metres from the place I’d begun biking, 2100m above sea degree.
On Héléna’s suggestion, I ordered a diabolo menthe, arguably the very best remedy for thirst in France. I paired this with a beautiful smoked trout poké bowl: as scrumptious because it was refreshing, in comparison with the conventional Savoyard fare of cheese and potatoes. Héléna knowledgeable me that, whereas tartiflettes stay king, summer time is in reality the very best time in Les Deux Alpes for visiting gourmands, with over fifty eating places to select from and the very best in-season substances.
As luck would have it, the Mountain of Hell kids’s race was starting a couple of hundred metres away, simply as we ordered dessert (café gourmand with mignardises). Myself and some different diners stood to look at the tots throw themselves downhill, earlier than celebrating with a dram of yellow Chartreuse. Whereas billed as “the lighter one” by the silent monks who make it, it nonetheless left somewhat fireplace in my throat, melting to sweetness by the point it reached the tip of my tongue.
With the start-line now vanished, we headed again down the mountain to catch the tip. There we encountered dozens of exhausted rivals, and wandering amongst them, native legend Isabeau Courdurier: 5 occasions MTB world champion and MTV Ambassador. Héléna was glowing with delight as she knowledgeable me that Courdurier runs a weekend ladies’s retreat in Les Deux Alpes referred to as “Shredding Days”: instructing ladies and ladies to bike collectively, whereas giving recommendation on the interaction between mountain biking and girls’s well being. Alongside the all-accessible Jandri Categorical and resort-wide nutritious delicacies, it felt like one more instance of Les Deux Alpes offering the great life for all.
Afternoon dips and apéritif
Whereas Spain has its siestas, I believe the Alps might have a slight higher hand. What higher option to prime off a morning on and above the mountain and a scrumptious lunch at its peak, than a lakeside dip and spritz?
With the solar nonetheless baking because it headed westward, I waded into the Lac de la Buissonnière: clearly the native favorite, the place seemingly all of Les Deux Alpes’ youth had been swimming and enjoying in addition to. Surrounded by birch timber and rhododendrons, golden pores and skin and sand, I concluded fairly comfortably that this was la bella vie—paradise on a plate.
After cooling off within the waters, I headed again into city to Monsieur Okay, not removed from my lodge: a mixed deli, lounge bar, and restaurant, with a ‘fuzzy’, brilliant purple décor. The proprietor, Matthieu, was wandering forwards and backwards as preparation for the Fête de la Musique that night obtained underway. Sporting a floral shirt and massive smile, he supplied me some recent fruit and cheerfully stated, “It’s summertime within the mountains!”
From the large Chartreuse bottles lining the partitions, my bartender produced one thing extra elegant: a Génépi mojito, rapidly adopted by a basil Italicus smash. Each tasted precisely like Matthieu’s upbeat expression: summertime within the mountains, candy; natural, and impossibly refreshing. I’d have stayed for a number of extra and to look at the festivities start. Nevertheless, an apéritif calls for a dinner, and so I left for my 20:00 reservation.
Dinner and a nightcap
Exiting Monsieur Okay onto Les Deux Alpes’ foremost promenade, I discovered that the Fête de la Musique had already begun. Though Héléna instructed me that city was all the time busy on a Saturday evening, someway the ambiance felt further particular: crowds of revellers amidst excellent sundown climate, with folks, rock, hip-hop, and membership music pouring from each venue.
Within the spirit of ‘dinner and a present’, I might watch all of this from the terrace at Le Raisin d’Ours, the Alsatian-Alpine fusion restaurant the place I dined. They had been bought out on a Saturday evening, and I rapidly discovered why: the burger fumé, their speciality, was as scrumptious because it was theatrical, arriving in a bell jar full of woodsmoke. Paired with a glass of delicate pink, it felt just like the foodie’s equal of sitting by the campfire after a protracted day’s hike.
As evening descended and the discotheques opened, I felt the sturdy urge to bop. Nevertheless, as I had an early begin the subsequent day, I made a decision to name it an evening with a digestif at Chez Boris: a vibrant reggae and surf-rock bar, coated from ceiling to ground in retro Americana. Whereas these round me sipped pre-drinks, I nursed a whisky nightcap and watched the titular Boris boogie behind the bar. I later discovered that he was one more native celeb: his father proudly owning Les Deux Alpes’ first nightclub, La Casa, and himself the disco beside my lodge, L’Avalanche. These days, he prefers the quieter life at his personal Chez Boris, pouring pictures of Génépi for saisonnaires, whereas having a mini-disco to himself.
Now comfortably fed and watered, there was nothing left however to get an excellent evening’s sleep, earlier than my second day on the mountain.
Using the Mountain of Hell
Having tried land and air, my second day in Les Deux Alpes was to be spent exploring your complete water cycle: from the glacier on the resort’s summit, to the white water rapids of the Vénéon, the ocean a mere mountain vary away.
Owing to its glacier (the second-largest skiable glacier in Europe), Les Deux Alpes has develop into world-renowned for its summer time snowboarding—the very best time to hit the high-altitude slopes being in Might. Snowsports athletes from across the globe use it as a year-round coaching floor—together with the French nationwide crew—now extra accessible than ever due to the Jandri Categorical.
It was a completely weird feeling, wandering out of Gravier Sports activities in late June with a pair of Rossignols, the slopes inexperienced as a golf course so far as the attention might see. Nonetheless, as soon as I used to be over the foothill’s forehead and boarding the Jandri’s second leg, an unlimited, volcanic panorama opened under me, pockmarked with snow-making reservoirs—on the prime of which, positive sufficient, was pure white snow. To the proper of my cabin, I might see the skeleton of the previous cable automobile, constructed in 1985: a fossil that can quickly be no extra, as Les Deux Alpes strides boldly forward.
Accompanying me to the highest was Philippe, a cheery native ski information and former Alpine competitor, who raced earlier than freestyle was even a self-discipline. He instructed me that, “When winter finishes, Les Deux Alpes doesn’t”, as up till June 1st, one can ski over a kilometre down from the glacier to La Tour, and in winter, an additional kilometre to resort degree. Remarkably, your complete descent is a blue, making Les Deux Alpes an unparalleled location for intermediates. Moreover, and in contrast to most different resorts within the Alps, Les Deux Alpes’ glacier has seen minimal melting because of local weather change, due to the resort’s revolutionary use of snow traps over the previous 40 years.
Accordingly, the Pomas and T-bars that climb the glacier’s sides had been already busy by the point we ascended the Jandri at 8:45. Nevertheless, that was nothing in comparison with the crowds gathered across the picket terrace of the top-station’s restaurant, Le 3200, to look at the beginning of the Mountain of Hell. To my amazement, I noticed what appeared like an infinite bike dealership laid out on the piste under: over a thousand MTB racers, able to depart, whereas doing a last-minute warm-up to the sounds of French boom-bap and the Pink Sizzling Chili Peppers.
Looking back, the organisers couldn’t have picked a greater day for the race. The solar had risen in clear skies just like the flag of Palau; the mountainscape round us a mirage of blue as steam rose from the snow, Grenoble a mere stone’s throw past the forehead of Le Grand Galbert. To the north, I noticed neighbouring Alpe d’Huez, the place I’d skied years earlier than, and tucked below a sunhat of clouds, Mont Blanc herself.
Donning a pair of aviators, Philippe and I moved to seek out area on the fringe of the restaurant’s terrace, now little greater than a viewing platform. This was tough as, just like the athletes on the snow, followers had readied nicely upfront for his or her sport of spectatorship. Nervous pleasure crammed the air, not helped by a thirty-minute delay because of issues over the course’s iciness. Nonetheless, the bikers confirmed no worry, killing time by penguin sliding down the slopes. Whereas ready, I struck up a dialog with a spectator named Jan, who had pushed all the best way from Stuttgart to look at his brother compete. He instructed me that, in earlier years, the highest racers have set off at speeds of 100kmph on the snow—and that crashes had been widespread.
With minutes to go, the group started to chant, the occasion’s MC main the bikers in a Viking clap that echoed across the glacial bowl. All of the sudden, over the forehead of the hill, a TV helicopter appeared, flying just a few dozen metres above us because it circled the scene; moments later, the sirens sounded, and the horde descended. Forward of the phalanx had been a couple of lone leaders—this yr’s favourites—and like starlings in gradual movement, the racers regularly disappeared over the brink, leaving snow for stable floor. I solely noticed three crashes, none of which appeared deadly, however left me pondering how tiring it’s to gather one’s runaway skis, not to mention a mountain bike.
Virtually as quickly because the racers had been gone, the group dispersed, and two extra races started: the attendants to deconstruct the beginning line, and myself and Philippe, racing to make a couple of runs earlier than the summer time solar melted the snow. Already, the bottom of the slopes was slushed up, and given the glacier has solely 4 runs, all of which had been blues, I used to be pleasantly reminded of snowboarding again residence in Scotland, albeit 2,000m greater up.
The view was even higher from the highest of the ultimate T-bar, the total breadth of the Écrins Park now shut sufficient to the touch. Now at 3,600m, Les Deux Alpes’ highest level, I might really feel the altitude in my coronary heart and lungs, particularly as we hit a horizontal stretch on the base of the primary blue. Whereas the snowboarding was little in comparison with the resort in winter, I can’t lie that I loved the novelty of it: the juxtaposition of our little patch of piste towards the inexperienced panorama, naked and baking under, and the sensation of my skinny waterproofs flapping within the lukewarm breeze. Nonetheless, for professionals and the snow-obsessed, it’s very best. Certainly, most people snowboarding round us that morning had been aggressive slalom racers; there was even a multi-tier snowpark, bustling with boarders as they educated for the World Cup months upfront.
By 11:30, after a number of mild blues, the snow was exhausted, and so we headed again to the Jandri, bemusing newly arrived sightseers in t-shirts and denim shorts. On our descent to the resort base, we noticed the tracks of the Mountain of Hell racers carved into the mountains’ scree, the imprints of adrenaline carved into the very rock. A member of workers on the Workplace De Tourisme knowledgeable us that the winner of the lads’s race, Damien Oton, completed the 25km race in slightly below 24 minutes, describing the glacier portion as “very, very cool” (no pun meant). The ladies’s race, in the meantime, was dominated by France, with former winner Emilie Serre taking the lead.
An idyllic noon meal in Vénosc
As a mountain plateau, Les Deux Alpes is flanked by two river valleys: the Romanche to its north (resulting in Alpe d’Huez, and ultimately Grenoble), and the Vénéon to its south, during which sits the tiny, historical village of Vénosc.
The place a number of of Les Deux Alpes fashionable buildings have been renovated to resemble chalets, Vénosc is the actual deal, its impossibly romantic, winding cobbled streets surrounded by drystone farmhouses and dense fauna. A brief gondola journey connects it to the principle resort 600m above, and the distinction between the 2 is astonishing. If in case you have a spare day of sunshine, I can’t advocate sufficient visiting Vénosc’s artisanal boutiques and eateries, devoid of the standard vacationer tat. In comparison with the events of the evening earlier than, the hamlet felt utterly remoted from the world, nestled in a blanket of pine and icy streams.
Having wandered in reverence for a short time, I discovered lunch at Douces Gourmandises, the place the chef (a former winner of France’s coveted MOF) was grilling lake fish on a wooden fireplace. My meal of sea bream, salad, and salsas was mouthwatering, however the actual showstopper was dessert: a pistachio fondant cake that will singlehandedly drive me again to the Alps, served with home made violet ice cream. With meals that good, I used to be detest to go away, however ultimately, the roar of the river tempted me to its banks.
All aboard the Vénéon
Because the afternoon warmth reached its peak, I retreated to the shade on the backside of the Vénosc Gondola, flicking by way of the ebook field I discovered there. Ultimately, my guides for white water rafting appeared of their van: two younger however seasoned watermen, representing Intégral Rafting.
Within the van, my hosts defined to me that, whereas beforehand, Intégral Rafting’s chief rafting route started reverse the gondola, a mudslide final yr meant a brand new basecamp downstream. Quickly sufficient, we pulled up within the wooded financial institution alongside the churning Vénéon, right now of yr fats and cyan with snowmelt. I realised that it was virtually the identical color of the glacier below the snow that morning, and certainly, the skies above; my guides defined that this was partly because of its excessive quartz content material, which mirrored the sunshine as completely as a mirror.
After peeling on a wetsuit, it was a welcome shock to step into the river and board my craft alongside Max, one of many guides with an angle just like the water itself: at occasions teasing, at others, switching to clear instruction, but all the time with the ebb and circulation of the river. He led me down what might need been Yosemite or the Himalayan Kush: a broad valley flanked by impossibly tall mountains and pine, waterfall after waterfall, with nothing however the sounds of the river and birds, and as soon as extra, that feeling of weightlessness from yesterday’s paragliding.
Not like paragliding, nonetheless, the sensation wasn’t fixed. Owing to his sense of humour, Max gave our raft a couple of brash bumps on the riverbank, and steered in the direction of rapids that tugged and chucked us higher than any rollercoaster. At one level too, we went ashore simply to leap within the river and float for a bit downstream, the chilly like a full-body breath mint.
Approaching the tip of our voyage, Max pointed to the spot the place the Vénéon and Romanche meet, their completely different currents mixing darkish and light-weight. Nodding again upstream, he stated that the river is without end altering, with ten completely different routes in a single season alone. Therefore, whereas he’s made greater than 3000 journeys down the Vénéon, to him, it by no means will get previous: his workplace, nature’s waterslide.
At simply €30 per individual, and appropriate for kids eight and above, I’d argue that white water rafting with Intégral is one among Les Deux Alpes finest value-for-money, and by far probably the most bracing exercise on my journey, amongst guides who stay for the water.
A closing tipple and supper
Drunk on the nice and cozy flush that comes from a cold-water dip, on my return to Les Deux Alpes I celebrated my adventures with a Bergamot spritz on the terrace of Ginette, a classy cocktail bar within the centre of the principle strip. Round me, teams of younger Frenchmen lounged below jute canopies and hanging lights, laughing within the golden hour and listening to the mild home music enjoying from the bar’s audio system. The bar’s proprietor, Jimmy, briefly stopped by in a beanie and shorts, however at that time I used to be too relaxed to carry a dialog—my citrus drink washing over me like an inside spa.
Fortunately for my lethargy, dinner was not far-off. Ending my apéritif, I headed to the Chamois Lounge, a hotel-restaurant from which the scent of garlic butter flooded onto the road. Inbuilt a conventional model, however with modern highlights, the Chamois Lounge has the identical head chef as La Troïka and an equally artistic menu. My tuna tataki was beautiful: a completely new textural sensation, completely paired with a glass of Savoy wine and recent salad, and adopted by a Speculoos parfait comparable solely to Christmas itself.
As one closing salute to a superb weekend, and to see me off early the next morning, I completed the meal with a inexperienced Chartreuse: a dram of dragon’s fireplace, to hitch the earth, air, and water of the final two days. Glad, I headed again to my lodge for an excellent evening’s relaxation.
Boarding the bus to Grenoble at daybreak, I rested my head on the window and watched dawn wake the resort, wishing I had one other week to spare, and reflecting on the previous three days. In the long run, I might solely consider one phrase to explain Les Deux Alpes in summer time: magnifique.
All photos ©Les 2 Alpes / Pyrène Duffau
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