Biggest ski domains in Europe

A car-free, ski-in/ski-out village of striking timber towers, Avoriaz is the French heart of the cross-border Portes du Soleil. Snow gets around on sledges, not cars.

A handsome slate-roofed market town at the centre of the Portes du Soleil, Morzine keeps a year-round Savoyard life that purpose-built resorts lack. It is the most characterful base for the giant cross-border domain.

A pretty, traditional Haut-Chablais village twinned with Morzine, Les Gets is one of the most family-friendly entries to the Portes du Soleil. Gentle, tree-lined slopes and a mechanical music museum keep all ages happy.

A genuine working farm village at the French end of the Portes du Soleil, Châtel keeps cows, chalets and a down-to-earth feel the bigger resorts have lost. It sits right on the Swiss border, with Morgins a few turns away.

A handsome old village under the dramatic Dents du Midi, Champéry is the Swiss gateway to the vast Portes du Soleil, 600 km across France and Switzerland. Traditional charm meets one of the biggest ski circuits in the world.

At 2,300 m, no village in Europe sits higher, and few hold their snow this dependably. Val Thorens is the roof of Les 3 Vallées, the world's largest linked ski area, and the lifts keep turning from late November to early May.

More Michelin stars than any ski village on earth, and a western doorway into Les 3 Vallées. Courchevel stacks six villages by altitude, from the palace hotels of 1850 down to the family runs of Le Praz.

Right in the middle of Les 3 Vallées, Méribel is the easiest way into the domain. Wooden chalets, a central lift hub and an unapologetically British après-ski crowd give it a warmth the purpose-built resorts lack.

The value gateway into Les 3 Vallées, Les Menuires gives you the whole 600 km domain without the Courchevel price tag. Recent makeovers have softened its functional reputation.

Stone barns, a slate-roofed bell tower, and the quiet hum of a village square that happens to sit on the back doorstep of Les 3 Vallées. Saint-Martin-de-Belleville is the Savoyard ringer of the Belleville valley, where you can chase 600 km of pistes by day and walk to a 3-Michelin-starred dining room by night. It is the version of the world's largest linked ski area that still feels like a real place.

A Belle Epoque spa town at 600 m that somehow became the cheap way into Les 3 Vallées, with the Olympe gondola hauling skiers from the high street straight up into Méribel. Brides-les-Bains will not pretend to be an Alpine postcard, the buildings are turn-of-the-century and the streetlamps are still cast iron. It is the rare place where you sleep in a thermal town and ski 600 km of piste from a single lift pass.

La Chapelle d'Abondance is the quiet door into the Portes du Soleil. At 1,010 m beneath the Crêtes des Cornettes, it keeps its Abondance valley stone houses and slow rhythm while plugging straight into 600 km of cross-border piste.