Areas of Val d’isère
05.
La Balme
& Les Carats
Running along the bottom of the Bellevarde mountain, more or less parallel with the main street, the La Balme and Les Carats area contains both some of the most basic and some of the most luxurious accommodation in Val d'Isère and has seen quite a lot of development in recent years.
In the area opposite the local school you'll find the Jardins de Val, Verdets and Hameaux de Verdets apartments. These are typical of 1970s and 1980s French self-catering accommodation – "compact and bijou" says it all!
But if you're after cheap and cheerful ski accommodation, this could very well be it – you have everything you need, and both the town centre and the skiing are very close.
More or less next to these apartments are some of the newest and swankiest chalets and self-catering apartments in town, while Les Carats is the Kensington of Val d'Isère, perched on a cliff overlooking the village.
The locals call it Millionaire’s Row. Even access to Les Carats is exclusive – for vehicles it's via a coded security gate leading to a spiral tunnel. However, as well as the luxury chalets up here there are also a number of self-catering properties, giving you the option of an exclusive address without breaking the bank.
There's also the five-star Barmes de l'Ours hotel, right on the side of the slopes with one of the best views across the whole of Val d'Isère. The hotel houses Val's only Michelin-starred restaurant, combining the finest local Savoyarde ingredients with modern French gastronomy.
Accommodation in the Les Carats and La Balme area is also very convenient, not just for the slopes (ski in ski out via the Face) but also for the superb Aquasportif Centre at the foot of the Face, and is only a few minutes' walk from the town centre and all its amenities.
If you do prefer to take the bus, the Train Jaune runs on a loop around here every 20 minutes from before the lifts open until well into the late evening.
