La Tarentaise : the joy of winter sports

One of the six provinces of Savoy stretches from the source of the Isère river as far as Albertville. Surrounded to the north by Le Beaufortain and Mont-Blanc, to the south by La Vanoise, La Tarentaise boasts the densest concentration of skiing resorts in the world, while Moûtiers, Aime and Bourg-Saint-Maurice comprise the main urban centres in the valley, focusing on agriculture and heavy industry.

Les 3 Vallées, Paradiski, L’Espace Killy and San Bernardo… Renowned well beyond the frontiers of France, these four skiing domains are all located in the area known as La Tarentaise. Courchevel and Méribel need no introduction, La Plagne, Tignes and Val d’Isère are also widely popular. Les Arcs consists of four sites : 1600, 1800, 2000 and 1950, a resort built at the turn of the century in traditional style. Linked by a shuttle system and, at Bourg-Saint-Maurice, by road and a funicular railway, the four different levels offer in all 108 ski-runs. Champagny-en-Vanoise is one of the ten localities composing La Plagne, with 225 km of slopes. At the gateway to the National Park of La Vanoise, the valley of Champagny is listed for the quality of its scenery and its lovely authentic hamlets. At an altitude of 1850 metres and facing due south, La Rosière serves as a kind of belvedere surveying the valley of La Tarentaise. Together with La Thuile, it forms the area known as San Bernardo, ie. 7,410 acres and 160 km of slopes. ’Sixties and ’seventies buildings rub shoulders with recent chalets. Capacity for fans of winter sports is around 12,000 beds.

“The crisis has had more of an impact on the pace of sales than on prices,” says Caroline Xambeu of Les Arcs Immobilier. “The cruising speed is, however, reasonable and this kind of of effect is both recurrent and classic in a market that re-volves around holiday homes.” The main buyers are French, though the area is also popular among Belgians. While a whole generation of apartments is now obsolete, the past decade has paved the way for generous surface areas and finishing touches of higher quality. The result : a wide choice and an equally wide range of prices. Recent transactions prove the point : from a studio of 24 m2, built in 1978, sold for 65,000 (2,700 €/m2) to a 2-bedroom apartment of 48 m2 in a new residence with a pool in Les Arcs 1800, sold for 333,000 € (almost 7,000 €/m2). The properties on offer are far from standardized and an “average” price does not mean very much. It is essential that potential buyers walk around, visit and compare before making up their minds. The 2-bedroom apartment of 55 m2, priced at about 300,000 €, is the star product, for either sale or rent. Very often, Les Arcs 1600, 1800 and 2000 - resorts without any chalets -, can be compared with Tignes, La Plagne, Courchevel 1650, Les Ménuires and Valmorel, whereas Les Arcs 1950 would be more akin to Méribel, Courchevel 1850 and Megève.

“Champagny-en-Vanoise is a real mountain village, a typical Savoyard “bourg”, pleasant in both summer and winter. In the off-season, residents do their shopping in Bozel, about 5 km away,” says Marie-Blanche de Smedt of MB Immobilier. As in La Plagne, properties here range from 4,000 to 6,000 €/m2, exceptions aside, though prices are currently somewhat compressed. All of Champagny’s fans, led in particular by people from Lyon, appreciate the quiet, authentic setting characterized by individual apartment buildings of wood and stone, usually four or five floors high. Most transactions are in the 150,000-300,000 € bracket. Almost inevitably priced above 500,000 €, chalets have lost some of their former appeal. Very often, skiing enthusiasts rent first at La Plagne, then discover the southern slope and the charm of Champagny.

“La Rosière offers three major advantages,” explains Lorraine Folliet of Adélie Immobilier. “It is the only resort in the Upper Tarentaise facing south. The quality of its sunshine is matched only by its lovely panoramic view. Straddling the border, the domain offers different levels of skiing, relatively accessible on the French side, more technical over in Italy. Finally, Le Col du Petit Saint-Bernard is much appreciated by cyclists in summer, by hikers and fans of snow-kiting and heli-skiing in winter.” Scrupulously respected by builders, specifications here give priority to stone, slate and wood. Old buildings are also restored in like manner. Since 2006 and development of the neighbourhood of Les Eucherts, “après-ski” enthusiasts have been able to enjoy a skating rink, bowling alley and free activities for tiny tots. Sales pick up whenever prices fall, in both old and new buildings, all surface areas combined. Lorraine Folliet mentions a 2-bedroom apartment of 50 m2, snapped up on their first visit by a couple of retirees for 230,000 € as their semi-principal home ; a “ski in-ski out” studio of 22 m2 sold for 79,000 € (the kind of property acquired for both per-sonal pleasure and as a rental investment) ; and a recent 2-bedroom apartment of 56 m2 in Les Eucherts also situated at the edge of the slopes, with a terrace and not overlooked, at 367,000 €. The 250,000-350,000 € bracket is currently the most active slice of the market. Buyers are predominantly French, the English have been faithful fans for some thirty years, and the Belgians also have a soft spot for La Rosière.