The Tarentaise Valley (french: Vallée de la Tarentaise, ; frp, Tarentèsa) is a valley of the Isère River in the heart of the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as ...

, located in the

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Sa ...

region of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The valley is named for the ancient town of ''Darantasia'', the capital of the pre-Roman Centrones tribe. John Lemprière, Lorenzo DaPonte, & John David Ogilby (1839), ''Bibliotheca Classica: Or, A Dictionary of All the Principal Names and Terms''
(Tenth American Edition), New York: W.E. Dean. ''Centrones'', p. 69

Description

At the foot of the valley, in the west, is the city of

Albertville Albertville (; Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a subprefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. It is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. In 2018, the commune had ...

. Going east up the valley,

Moûtiers Moûtiers (; Arpitan: ''Motiérs''), historically also called Tarentaise, is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. In 2018, it had a population of 3,511. Moûtiers is the main access poin ...

is reached, then

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...

s, including Les Trois Vallées ( Courchevel, Méribel, Val Thorens etc.—off a side valley from

), Paradiski with

La Plagne La Plagne () is a French ski area in the alpine valley of the Tarentaise (Savoie). Since 2003, La Plagne and the neighbouring resort of Les Arcs form Paradiski's ski area. It is currently owned by Compagnie des Alpes. In 2014, La Plagne wa ...

above

Aime Aime (; frp, Éma) is a former commune in the Savoie ''département'' in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Aime-la-Plagne.Les Arcs Les Arcs () is a ski resort located in Savoie, France, in the Tarentaise Valley town of Bourg-Saint-Maurice. Initially created by Robert Blanc and Roger Godino, it is a part of the huge Paradiski system which is under ownership by Compagnie de ...

above Bourg-Saint-Maurice.

Espace Killy Espace may refer to: * ESPACE, a complexity class in computational complexity theory * Espace musique, a Canadian radio service *Espace 2, a Swiss radio station *Radio Espace, a French radio station *Espace Group, a French media company *Group Espa ...

with Tignes and

Val-d'Isère Val-d'Isère (, literally ''Valley of Isère'') is a commune of the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region) in southeastern France. It lies from the border with Italy. It is on the border of the Vanoise Nat ...

is further up the valley. These communities hosted most of the events for the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics. A weekly

lift ticket A lift ticket or lift pass is an identifier usually attached to a skier's or snowboarder's outerwear that indicates they have paid and can ride on the ski lift(s) that transport people and equipment up or down a mountain. Types of lift ticket ...

in any of the described systems gives skiers a choice to ski one day in each of the other two systems mentioned. There were once plans to interlink all systems and resorts to create the—by far—largest ski area in the world. However that vision was ended with the creation of the Vanoise National Park. Other ski areas includes

Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise () is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. Sainte-Foy-Tarentaise is a village in the Tarentaise Valley in Savoie, France. The old village lies on the main road be ...

, La Rosière, and Valmorel. In the winter, the valley is a cul-de-sac, with its road finishing at Val d'Isere. In the summer, there is a pass over to the Maurienne Valley at the head of the valley (the Col de l'Iseran), and a couple of others further down, including the Little St Bernard Pass eastwards to Italy via La Rosiere and

La Thuile LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

and the Cormet de Roselend northwards. Both sides of the valley, but especially the sunnier northern side, have rural farming communities all the way along. The colder southern side tends to be dominated by the ski resorts but has occasional small hamlets.

Transport

The valley has a railway as far as Bourg-Saint-Maurice, which, in the winter season, has various direct sleeper trains from

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

and

Eurostar Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operate ...

trains from London. The valley road (the N90) is dual carriageway as far as Moûtiers, after which it becomes a standard two-lane but single-carriageway road, which can see substantial queues in winter. This road is currently receiving funding from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

for a significant improvement project between Aime and Moûtiers, one of the narrowest points in the valley. Costume de la vallée de la Tarentaise

Notes

External links

{{coord, 45, 33, N, 6, 39, E, type:landmark_source:frwiki, display=title Landforms of Savoie Valleys of France Valleys of the Alps Landforms of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes