Activities - Skiing & Snowboarding - orcieres

Have a look at our skiing and snowboarding and our winter multi activity holiday offers

Orcieres has everything you would expect from a large, high altitude resort with the addition of an exceptionally friendly and relaxed atmosphere!

Opposite the Ecrins National Park which towers to a height of 4000 m, you can ski with spectacular mountain views all around you, made even better by the blue sky and sun of the Southern Alps - there are 300 days of sunshine per year!

The resort goes up to 2725m with an extension to 3000m planned in the near future. There are over 100km of pistes at various exposures, offering a great choice of runs.

Its a paradise for beginners and intermediate skiers and for more adventurous skiers there are some amazing off piste routes all round the resort as well as several challenging red and black runs!

Have a look at the Orciers Piste Map and map of the resort.

And this season, 2009/10, there will be a brand new state of the art snow park at 2000 metres catering for beginners right through to professional dare devil skiers and snowboarders.

There are a range of ski lifts including the two new telemixes - a mixture of cable cars and chairs - the first in France, and the ski pass is hands free!

50% of the runs are covered by snow canons and the snow management in general is excellent.

The ski school in Orcieres is excellent and there are several bilingual instructors - which always makes life a bit easier!

For families you will be pleased to know that Orcieres has the 'Family Friendly Mountain' award, a national french award given to resorts with excellent family friendly facilities.

Some of these facilities include a fantastic Ecole Ski Francais (ESF) area cordoned off for 3 - 6 year olds where the instructors play games and have fun with the children in the snow.

And for younger or non-skiing children there is a great 'maison des enfants' children centre which can take babies of 3 months up to children of 6 years. See our child care page for more info on child care.

For families and romantics there's an igloo village on one of the summits where you can spend the night. Read Elliot, age 9, igloo story and there are lots of other activities you can try out both on and off the piste including, speed riding (a bit like kite surfing but on skis), snowscoot, snow mountain biking, paragliding, snowshoeing, ice diving, cross country skiing, ice climbing....

In the resort itself there's also the 'Palais du Sport', which is a brilliant swimming, jacuzzi and sauna complex with glass walls so you can swim with the view of the mountains in front of you. There's also ice skating, bowling and a cinema in the complex.

And then to finish off your day in the mountains the apres ski is thriving in the resorts' restaurants and bars.

We can organise you a skiing or snowboarding holiday in Orcieres, with or without instruction and if you want to try any of the other activities on offer just let us know and we'll tailor make your perfect winter holiday.

Have a look at our skiing and snowboarding in Orcieres holiday offers or check out our winter multi activity holidays for ideas.

And you can benefit from discount ski and snowboard hire by booking online with our partner shops - anywhere in France.

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