Where to stay in Tignes

[joyouslady]

Looking to go to Tignes at Easter. Can anyone recommend where to stay? Do we ideally want to be in Le Lac? We have 4 children in our group ranging from 5-8 and the youngest hasn't properly skied before. Finding it a bit confusing as there's lots of different areas so any advice welcomed. TIA

Either Le Lac or Val Claret. I definitely wouldn't go for Tignes 1800 as the slopes leading down to it are steep and often icy.

Agree with PP. val claret has some ski in ski out now too

Val Claret. Belambra (the higher 4 star one) is very good.

Depends what accommodation you want and how far you want to be from the slopes and ski school meeting points. Val Claret has a lot of self-catering apartments but only a handful of hotels. It's divided more or less into an upper and lower level - I prefer the upper level, which is also better for ESF and Evo 2 lesson meeting points. Some of the lower level accommodation would require a couple of stops on the bus to reach the slopes. It is marketed as more of a 'party' location which is a fairly new thing - never used to be the case, but have noticed it getting a bit noisier there since COVID. There is a beginner slope and magic carpet by the Tufs lift with progression onto the Bollin lift/slope. Club Med has its own beginner slope next to the Tichot lift.

Le Lac is bigger and is marketed as more of a family location - there are more activities in that there is the swimming pool and Tignespace which has trampolines. There is also a magic carpet and progression onto green/blue slopes, probably a bit more gentle than Val Claret. But check where accommodation is - Le Lavachet is a short bus ride from the main slopes and it would be a major pain to have to ferry 4 kids and all their gear on a daily basis - although the bus service is a great way to get around if you don't want to ski. The ski schools meet at the central point around the Maison de Tignes, so bear this in mind when choosing where you want to stay. As a previous poster has said, I wouldn't stay lower than Le Lac in April - the runs to 1800 are steep for beginners and can get quite icy.

I prefer Val Claret - you'll probably always need to take the Toviere bubble back each day if you stay in Le Lac (only way down on skis is the black Johan Clary) if you're up skiing all the greens on Col De Fresse side.

I think Val Claret is slightly better connected but I think Le Lac easier to get to those greens and, tbh, the blue back to Val Claret can be carnage in the afternoon so perhaps the bubble back to Le Lac would be a good thing.

Le Lac has the swimming pool and I think also has sledging from the top of the palafour lift. So probably has more non-skiing activities. Val Claret has tubing though.

As others have said, I wouldn't recommend staying anywhere other than Le Lac or Val Claret at that time of year. The blue down to 1800 has been changed recently to a red. It's not hugely difficult but it can be slushy/icy/thin at Easter. You can get the bubble back to 1800 but it's a faff. There's also not much in the way of restaurants/bars there either.

I echo Val Claret. The pistes back into Tignes proper are not great for beginners.