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THE VILLAGE
Val d’Isère. Framce. is one of the few ski resorts getting prettier and more traditional by the year. It really is a very pleasant place to visit now. The grotty 50s and 60s blocks of flats are slowly disappearing, replaced, refurbished or just hidden. Parts of the baroque church date back to the eleventh century, and there are several
little hamlets of old chalets, each with its own chapel. There are splendid new chalets everywhere, and the modern buildings now look even older than the old ones. The main street is full of trees.
Surprisingly, for somewhere as famous and as French, it is a very friendly village. The Avalins are particularly nice to Brits. You might assume that this is because we bring them rather a lot of euros, but since when are the people in tourist areas kind to tourists? As a hotelier once said, ‘Do you think pig farmers love pigs? They just farm them’! No, the locals have always been friendly to outsiders, and it makes a lot of difference when every lift operator, waitress or shop assistant genuinely wants you to have a ‘bonne journée’.
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