Alpe d'Huez Grande Domaine

Alpe d'Huez Grande Domaine is a renowned ski resort located in the French Alps. 

With its extensive ski area and vibrant après-ski scene, it attracts a diverse range of skiers and snowboarders from around the world. The resort's history dates back to the early 1930s when the first ski lifts were constructed, making it one of the oldest ski areas in France. Alpe d'Huez has since grown into a purpose-built ski resort, offering modern amenities and a well-developed infrastructure to cater to the needs of winter sports enthusiasts. 

This is a popular resort - especially with Brits, it's got a Folie Douce and hosts Tomorrowland Winter festival. The ski area of Alpe d'Huez Grande Domaine is relatively big, featuring over 250 kilometers of slopes. With its high-altitude location, the resort offers excellent snow conditions throughout the season - The resort is also home to the Pic Blanc glacier, which is open for skiing and snowboarding in the summer months. 

Overall, Snowclans considers this a quite relaxed area, for leisurely cruising. There's some good technical and challenging pistes at the top of the Pic Blanc, especially after heavy snowfall. Including the famous Tunnel run, which takes you through the mountain at the top to emerge on a challenging high gradient black. Snowboarders watch out - unless you're going to spend the majority of your time in the (very impressive) park, this is an area with a lot of flats. 

The La Sarenne black run - A 16km jorney down the longest black run in Europe. A solid 5/10 from us, again snowboarders true nightmare fuel. The top section from Pic Blanc is great fun, would do a solid couple of laps of the blacks and reds and return up the Herpie chair. The lower part? its a road, and its a long long road. Albeit through a picturesque valley, which you can enjoy if you've got the speed and you're not fighting for your life on a board. 

The resorts offer some very different experiences. 

Alpe d'Huez: 

The main resort town, Alpe d'Huez offers a vibrant après-ski atmosphere with a variety of bars, restaurants, and entertainment options. The architecture consists of mostly high-rise buildings, reflecting its purpose-built nature. The town has expanded and expanded over the years, but the infrastruture has kept up, and there's Gondolas connecting the further reaches all the way down to Heuz - to bring people quickly and efficiently up to the main Ski bowl. Heuz: The OG village remains, with traditional alpine architecture you feel much more detached from the buzz of the main resort. However, with the help of the bus and gondola system, you still are not far removed from all the action, making it a great choice for those who want the best of both worlds. 

Vaujany: 

Vaujany is a charming alpine village with traditional architecture, featuring wooden chalets and stone buildings. The development has ventured to keep the style of new buildings similar - avoiding the purpose built blocks for multistory chalet-style buildings. The vast majority of accomodation here is self catered, with a few hotels. Perched on a steep side of the mountain there's a series of escalators and lifts to move between different parts of the resort. It offers a more relaxed après-ski atmosphere compared to Alpe d'Huez, making it ideal for those seeking a quieter ambiance, with a couple of bars but no club scene. It's home to a sports centre with swimming pool and ice rink. The village is connected to the Alpe d'Huez ski area through a series of 2 gondolas. The Vaujany connection takes a reasonable while - especially waiting for the Alpette Rousses cable car Just watch out for this if you're making your way back / have low patience. 

Oz-en-Oisans: 

Nestled at the foot of the Alpe d'Huez ski area, Oz-en-Oisans showcases a picturesque mountain village setting. Its architecture consists of traditional chalets and buildings with a cozy atmosphere. While the après-ski scene is relatively laid-back, visitors can still find a few bars and restaurants to enjoy. The town is well-integrated into the ski area, offering direct access to the slopes via chairlifts and gondolas.