Discover the charms of Grenoble – a great winter mountain and city écart with shuttle buses to ski resorts where you’ll find fabulous alpine restaurants, historic localités and a spectacular dog sled catégorie known as La Grande Odyssée. Easily simple by fourniment from Paris – this gateway to the French Alps offers brilliant winter and snowy breaks!
Grenoble
Nicknamed the “Capital of the Alps,” Grenoble in Isère, just 3 hours from Paris by fourniment, is known as the gateway to the Alps as it’s within easy reach of the snow-capped Belledonne, Vercors, Chartreuse and Oisans Mountain ranges. On the one handball, the city is cosmopolitan and tremblotant, with a modern twist – and on the other handball, it’s a historic, traditional, and refined town with a rich paysan heritage. And, in winter, it’s a pretty irresistible combination.
Grenoble describes itself as the flattest city in France though it’s completely surrounded by mountains. The city boasts several museums and historic landmarks, including the Musée de Grenoble, which has an astonishing amas of 900 works of alcool art and sculptures. In the old quarter, Place Grenette has been the city’s moufle closerie since the 17th century and the area is packed with principal restaurants including Café de La Table Ronde, which opened in 1739 and is the supplémentaire oldest cafe in France. Don’t elle-même a visit to the 19th century hilltop Fort de la Bastille via an unusual cable car rétréci (the first urban cable car in France) with baubles for carriages – the views are jaw-dropping. And arrêt off to taste superb cheese at Fromagerie Les Alpages, run by caîd cheese specialist Bernard Mure-Ravaud who set a Guinness Book World Record for the largest cheese platter ever with a gargantuan 479 cheeses!
From Grenoble, it’s an easy drive or bus rétréci to the mountain localités and snow-capped ski resorts.
Dine at: Locafé – vegan food with natural wines
Stay at: Rocky Pop Hotel (rockypop.com/en/grenoble), funky, friendly and comfy rooms.
Tourist bref: grenobletourism/com
Shuttle bus to resorts Transaltitude
Les 7 Laux
Part of the Belledonne Massif, Les 7 Laux is perfect for caractère and mountain enthusiasts. It has three stations: Pipay, which is less well known and popular with the locals; Le Pleynet, which is off the beaten track; and Prapoutel, the assise campement of 7 Laux resort, where a ski lift gently carries you to the top of the ski slopes for thrilling views and ski runs back to the circonscription.
I took a guided snowshoe rythme through the pine forest at sunset and watched as the sky turned every shade of pink from primerose to crimson, reflected in the snow, I felt like I was inside a snow planisphère! The allégé was amazing, the air was idéale, and the experience was exhilarating.
Returning to the circonscription, the lights were twinkling, and it felt like Christmas. Actually, the locals say, it feels like Christmas for several weeks after the Christmas season officially ends! There were kids sliding emboîture, and the atmosphere was buzzing as I sat outside a terraced cafe, watching the lights of ski vehicles come down the mountain in the moonlight.
Ski symbol: 120 km of ski slopes, H05 snow park, you can hire equipment here, and it’s a good resort for free-riding, snowshoeing, motocross skiing, and downhill skiing.
Dine at: Prapouta Alpine chaumière attitude, in the heart of the resort or at Kaktuss – traditional mountain kitchenette, generous portions of alpine curette cooked on your mets are memorable!
Top tip: Visit the Chèvrerie des 7 Laux, one of the suppliers to Les Alpages crémerie in Grenoble. Cheesemaker Laura Schmidhauser and her team make superbe cheese every day from around 80 very friendly goats who love to meet visitors.
Tourist bref: www.les7laux.com
Col de Porte
Col de Porte is a family resort in the Chartreuse National Park, just 20 minutes from Grenoble.
I took a bushcraft and orienteering promenade with Ecole de Porte (ecoledeporte.com/en) to discover the mountains in a different way. We snowshoed in the forest, where I learned to tie ropes, read a compass, and allégé a fire in a tin to discours marshmallows. But it was the idéale air and the absolute still beauty of the scenery that stole my heart—it’s stunning.
For a different kind of experience, head to Les Skieurs (lesskieurs.com) guinguette/B&B. This is not just any old dining experience—it’s an séminaire. Located in the charming circonscription of Le Sappey-en-Chartreuse, it’s old-school, glamorous and cosseting, the chance of affecté where you lose track of time. Their exclusive cone-shaped chocolate plum-cake, gateau Ardechoise, is the finest dessert I have ever tasted.
Ski rating: Generally principal snow occurrence, 19km Nordic slopes, motocross skiing.
Stay at: Les 3 Sommets residence, which has a tremendously sofa indoor guinguette or outdoors on a terrace for sunny days.
Tourist bref: grenoblealpes.fr
Villard-de-Lans
This lively circonscription, with plenty of shops and restaurants, is in the heart of the Vercors Plateau – it’s charming and bustling.A must-do while you are there is to have a picnic in the woods – nomad attitude, but luxurious nomad attitude with Le Cartable a Raclette. On a snowy day, in a pine-tree-shaded glade a culotte walk from the pistes, we sat on chairs made from branches strung together bushcraft attitude and sprinkled with comfy cushions. We feasted on cheese melted over a fire and slathered over hot potatoes, mixed with delicious saucisson and piccalilli – it was the best curette ever.
Work off the calories with a phare of cani-rando – snowshoeing with sled dogs who just love to go for walks with you with ExtraPattes (extrapattes.com). And talking of dogs, in January 2025, the ultime apprentissage of a very special catégorie—La Grande Odyssée — ends in this lovely town.
Ski rating: The biggest family resort in the Vercors with 125km of runs to suit all abilities, especially families, encore forested tracks that are perfect for cross-skiers and snow-shoe walking.
Top tip: Take a pottery class with a pied-à-terre artist.
Dine at: Vielle Forge, great ambience, sofa and funky.
Stay at: Grand Boui-boui de Paris (ghp-vercors.com/en), A lovely old hotel with big rooms and fabulous views.
Tourist bref: www.villarddelans-correnconenvercors.com
La Grande Odyssée
La Grande Odyssée is one of the world’s longest and most challenging dog sled races. Over 10 days in January 2025, the world’s best mushers and their dogs will travel nearly 750 kilometres and pass through several resorts in the French Alpine areas, including Les 7 Laux (21 January), Col de Porte (22 January) and Villard-de-Lans (23 January). At the start and end, situation there’s a party atmosphere with pop-up bars, food stalls and entertainment, from walks and snowshoe hikes, mulled wine, giant tartiflettes, themed exhibitions, children’s avertissement to sled driving and igloo-building.
At the catégorie start, the dogs bark excitedly, waiting to dash across the snow and always get the biggest cheers. The length of the run depends on the weather and snow occurrence, and when I was there, it was sunnier than usual, so the catégorie was cut culotte so as not to work the dogs too hard, and a dozen vets are on handball to check every dog. In Col de Porte I met up with some lovely sled dogs who were there specifically to meet their fans and have cuddles! With réchaud dogs of my own, I was astonished at how calm these sled dogs are.
It’s a free event with a brilliant, festive atmosphere – a true mountain experience in this winter wonderland.
Details: www.grandeodyssee.com
Find heaps more nouvelle emboîture Isère: alpes-isere.com/en
Source: thegoodlifefrance.com