John Yates-Smith has lived in the ski village of Val D’Isere, France for 40 years and is the director of UK Chalet Operator YSE Ski with 19 chalets in town and a hotel in the historic village centre. Oh, and you may know his brother, Dick. He was the founder of Dick’s Tea Bar, the iconic pub in Val D’Isere.
This is John’s guide.
Why Val D’Isere
If one were asked to imagine the perfect ski resort for a film, it would end up pretty much like Val d’Isère! It’s a real French farming village surrounded a vast area of very big mountains, with easy runs up high in the sunshine, steep slopes back to the village, and the biggest lift-served off-piste area in the world.
It has just about the best snow record in Europe and possibly the world’s best lift system taking us to it. There are more than a dozen ski schools, and more English-speaking instructors than anywhere else in France. There are very good restaurants on the slopes for lunch, very good restaurants in the village for dinner, and a vibrant, inexpensive après-ski scene.
Best coffee
The French are surprisingly bad on coffee. Italy may be just five miles away, but the best coffee in town is a ristretto in any YSE chalet.
Best breakfast
The local bakery does the best croissants and pains au chocolat in the world, but once again for a proper breakfast (porridge, cereals, bacon, eggs etc), your YSE chalet is the best place because you’ll have a chalet chef cooking just for you.
Special occasion dinner spot
L’Atelier d’Edmond in the hamlet of Le Fornet. It has two MIchelin stars.
Best place for sunrise or sunset
Well, the sun rises late and sets early behind those massive peaks, but I love how every morning from Christmas on it hits my desk just a few moments earlier, and from a tiny bit further to the left. (Presumably that would be to the right in Australia?)
Best place for a selfie
Dancing on the tables at the Folie Douce.
Favourite ski/board run
The Face de Bellevarde first thing (but NOT at the end of the day!).
Best place to keep the kids entertained
There is one, sometimes two, boarder/ski cross tracks which are an absolute blast for older kids. The Village des Enfants for young ones.
Where do you take out of town visitors to WOW them
On the up-and-over two-way chairlift between the two ski areas of La Solaise and Le Fornet. As you go over the top you leave your stomach behind – a slow motion rollercoaster that leaves your stomach behind – and the view in both directions is utterly stunning.
Your favourite local character
Louis Bonnevie, the only man who was faster than Jean-Claude Killy. This area should be called l’Espace Bonnevie, but he got caught in embarrassing circumstances with the wife of the president of the French Skiing Federation. He still teaches skiing, but his real love is his chickens.
What can you get at Val d’Isère that you can’t get anywhere else in the world?
You can ski for half a day and cover so much ground you can fall asleep in the bath with a clear conscience.
If you had to buy one thing as a visitor to take back with you what would it be?
Local cheeses from one of the village farms.
