Val d'Isere is probably the resort that has access to the best all-round ski area in the world, the Espace Killy. With just over 100 lifts compared to the 300 to be found in the Trois Vallees, the Espace Killy is obviously not the largest ski area in the world, but size isnt everything and this region has as much skiing as one could ever need, not to mention the longest winter in the Alps. (The winter ski season here begins in late November and continues until early May and the early- and late-season conditions are seldom disappointing.

The main centre of Val d'Isere has been virtually rebuilt over the past 25 years and many of the buildings are imaginative contemporary interpretations of the traditional stone and wood Savoyard style.

It was here, in the early 1980s years ago, that Dick Yates-Smith set up the seminal Dicks Tea-Bar, a bar-nightclub that revolutionised apres-ski in the Alps.