Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise
in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Between Val d'Isère and Les Arcs, tucked far enough off the main Tarentaise road that most coaches drive straight past, Sainte-Foy is the resort that people who ski seriously tell each other about in a slightly lowered voice. The piste count is modest. The off-piste terrain above it is not: long, wide, largely untracked descents through larch forest and open snowfields that connect back to the village without the need for a guide on a good day. The base village is a genuine Savoyard hamlet, not a purpose-built resort, and the handful of chalets and small hotels that have gathered around it have done so without disturbing the atmosphere. On a powder day, with Val d'Isère thirty minutes away for when you want more piste, the case for Sainte-Foy is close to unanswerable.