Best time to ski in Val Thorens: 2026/27 dates, holidays and snow

When does Val Thorens open in 2026/27?

Val Thorens and Orelle open on Saturday 21 November 2026 and close on Sunday 2 May 2027, according to SETAM, which runs the lifts; the rest of the 3 Vallées, 600 km of pistes in all, is linked from 5 December 2026 to 18 April 2027.

SETAM's 2026/27 adult prices follow the calendar: a day on Val Thorens-Orelle is €66.10 until 18 December and €73.50 from 19 December; six days on the 3 Vallées are €378.50 from 5 to 18 December and from 10 to 18 April, €421 in between. SETAM sells passes online and at its ticket offices; see Val Thorens ski pass prices for the prices and how to get to Val Thorens for the journey.

When is February half-term 2027? School holidays by country

In England, February half-term 2027 is 15–19 February in the councils we checked (Surrey, Southwark in London, Plymouth), and Edinburgh's break falls on the same days. Councils set their own dates and academies can differ: GOV.UK sends parents to their council's website.

France and the Netherlands give the first and last day off; most other dates are official spans starting on a Monday.

France: holidays begin after Saturday classes (Friday for pupils with none on Saturday) and end on the Sunday before classes resume. Zone A includes the académies of Lyon, Grenoble and Bordeaux, zone B those of Lille, Nantes, Strasbourg and Aix-Marseille, and zone C those of Paris, Créteil, Versailles, Montpellier and Toulouse.

The Netherlands: the February dates are the ministry's advice, which schools may change; for 2026/27 it notes that the southern week misses carnival (Shrove Tuesday is 9 February), when many southern schools take a short break. The north includes Noord-Holland, the centre Zuid-Holland and most of Utrecht, and the south Limburg, Zeeland and most of Noord-Brabant.

Which weeks are busiest and cheapest? Prices for every Saturday

Holidays bunch up from 21 December to 1 January, when every calendar above is off, and from 13 to 27 February, when two French zones are off at the same time as UK, Dutch or Belgian pupils. In our agency apartments, the weeks of 13 and 20 February cost about three times as much as a week in late November or April, New Year week more than twice as much and Christmas week about one and a half times as much (prices on 23 October 2026).

The cheapest weeks are late November, the week of 12 December and every week from 27 March to the end of April; the weeks of 2 and 9 January cost less than the rest of January. The table shows the cheapest agency apartment still free for each Saturday-to-Saturday week, and how many are free; click a Saturday to see them.

SkiShare's own apartments are priced per night for your dates, plus a cleaning fee when there is one. To see every apartment free on your dates, go to the apartments page; for prices across the season, see Val Thorens apartment prices.

Late November and early December: cheaper, not all open

The weeks of 28 November and 12 December are among the cheapest, with no school holidays, and early-season snow varies most from year to year. Until 5 December only Val Thorens and Orelle can be skied from Val Thorens, as the links to the rest of the 3 Vallées open that day; from 12 December every sector is open, and passes keep the lower price until 18 December.

At Météo-France's village station (2,277 m), average snow depth over the last seven winters ranged from 4 cm (2020) to 38 cm (2023) in November and from 37 to 115 cm in December, yet there was snow on the ground on every December day in all seven winters. ESF Val Thorens starts children's group lessons on 6 December (ages 3–4) and 7 December (from age 5).

A good compromise: 12–19 December, with everything open, no school holidays and a Sunday-to-Friday pass at the lower price.

Christmas and New Year in Val Thorens

From 21 December to 1 January, schools in every country in the table above are on holiday, the only stretch of the season when they all are. France's holidays run from 19 December to 3 January, and the British, Dutch and Belgian schools in the table go back between 4 and 6 January. Main-season pass prices apply from 19 December.

In our apartments, New Year week (26 December) costs more than twice as much as a late-November week, and Christmas week (19 December) about one and a half times as much; the week of 2 January, as schools go back, costs much less. Expect cold: December's average low is −7.4°C and its average high 0.1°C, with 14 days that stay at or below zero.

Val Thorens in January

Once the 3 Vallées is linked, January has the longest stretch without school holidays: none of the calendars above has one from 11 January to 5 February. It is also the coldest month at the village station, with an average low of −10.3°C, an average high of −2.1°C and 20 days that stay at or below zero; the coldest reading of the last eight winters was −21.6°C, on 11 January 2019.

The snow is settled: 113 cm on average in January, and more than 30 cm every day from January to April in all seven winters. In our apartments, the weeks of 2 and 9 January cost less than the rest of the month. A week with no school holidays: 9–16 January; for the weather month by month, see Val Thorens weather and snow.

February 2027: half-term and the French holidays

From 6 February to 7 March at least one French zone is on holiday, and most other breaks in the table fall in the middle two weeks. Saturday to Saturday:

• 6–13 February: French zone C (including Paris) and Flanders (8–14 February).
• 13–20 February: English half-term, Edinburgh, Copenhagen and Gothenburg (15–19 February), the southern Netherlands, French zones A and C.
• 20–27 February: French zones A and B, the northern and central Netherlands, French-speaking Belgium (22 February – 5 March) and Oslo.
• 27 February – 6 March: French zone B and French-speaking Belgium (to 5 March).

In our apartments, the weeks of 13 and 20 February are the dearest of the season; the week of 27 February costs less, and that of 6 March, as zone B goes home, less again. The village station averages 140 cm of snow in February, the driest month of the season, with 7 days of at least 1 mm of rain or snow against 12 in December.

Val Thorens in March

March has the deepest average snow at the village station, 152 cm, and from 8 to 21 March none of the calendars above has a holiday; Oslo's and Copenhagen's Easter breaks start on 22 March, England's on Good Friday, 26 March. Daily highs average 2.0°C, but lows are still −8.0°C, as in February.

In our apartments, the weeks of 6, 13 and 20 March cost less than those of 13, 20 and 27 February, but more than any week after. A week between the holidays: 13–20 March.

April and Easter 2027 in Val Thorens

Easter Sunday is 28 March 2027: the English and Flemish Easter holidays fill the weeks of 27 March and 3 April, Edinburgh's run from 5 to 19 April, and France's spring holidays follow zone by zone from 3 April to 2 May. The rest of the 3 Vallées closes on 18 April (Brides-les-Bains on 9 April), with cheaper passes from 10 April; then only Val Thorens and Orelle, 150 km of pistes according to SETAM, stay open until 2 May.

The village station averaged 143 cm of snow in April, with more than 30 cm every April day in all seven winters. April had a frost on 26 of its 30 days on average and an average high of 4.4°C, so spring snow can be firm in the morning and soften as the day warms.

The last week, from 24 April, brings French zone B, the Dutch May holiday (24 April – 2 May) and French-speaking Belgium (26 April – 7 May); ESF's crèche closes for renovation from that week, and its Piou-Piou lessons for 3-year-olds are not offered then. In our apartments, every week from 27 March to the end of April costs about as much as a week in late November.