What's changed and what's coming: openings, closures, new timetables.
The French Alps host the Winter Olympics from 1 to 17 February 2030, followed by the Paralympics from 1 to 10 March, and two of the venues are on the Tarentaise's doorstep.
Val d'Isère hosts the alpine skiing, 30 minutes up the D902 from Sainte-Foy. La Plagne takes the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton on the Albertville 1992 track, directly across the valley from Les Arcs. Courchevel gets ski jumping and more alpine racing, plus the para alpine and para snowboard events. Alpes 2030 - Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games +2
For anyone booked into Villaroger, Sainte-Foy or Les Arcs that February, expect the valley to be busy, the Bourg-Saint-Maurice funicular and buses fuller than usual, and accommodation booked out early. It also means the quieter villages between the venues will be exactly where you want to be.
Ticketing and volunteer sign-ups haven't opened yet; the organising committee's site at alpes2030.org is where those will be announced.
The venue plan is still subject to final IOC confirmation, so treat the details as provisional for now.
Lift passes for the coming season are now on sale 🎿
The Val d'Isère and Tignes area runs from 28 November to 2 May, and buying online in advance costs less than at the desk.
Worth looking at the Tignes-Val d'Isère pass rather than Val d'Isère alone: the two areas are properly linked and the price difference is small. Multi-day passes also include free entry to the Aquasportif Centre pool, one visit on a two to five day pass, two on six days or more.
The fresh-food market that opened on the edge of Bourg in summer 2025 has settled in, and it's worth knowing what it is before you plan a shop around it.
It's a market hall rather than a supermarket: produce, a butcher, a fishmonger, a traiteur and a cheese counter, each with someone behind it. For the fresh half of a week's shopping it beats the supermarkets nearby.
But it is fresh only. No alcohol, no tins, none of the store-cupboard basics. If you're doing a full shop, plan a second stop at Super U or Intermarché, both a few hundred metres away.
It also closes later than either of them, and opens on Sunday mornings, which makes it useful for a late arrival or a Sunday top-up when Super U is shut all day