Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval is the quietest of the Grand Massif villages, set at 760 m at the head of the Giffre valley and listed among the Plus Beaux Villages de France. The Cirque du Fer-à-Cheval (a U-shaped wall of cliffs with summer waterfalls) is at the back door, and the village's own lift system links into the wider 265 km Grand Massif.
Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval is a ski resort in France, in the French Alps. The village sits at 760 m and the lifts top out at 2500 m, with 265 km of pistes and 60 lifts. Its BestSnowHotels snow score is 74/100, and the season usually runs Dec 14 → Apr 14.
How we score and classify resortsResearched by the BestSnowHotels team
Run counts and piste kilometres are indicative. Green runs only exist in France, Spain, Andorra, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Japan, the United States, Morocco, Algeria, Lesotho, South Africa, Egypt, Canada, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Chile; Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Germany start at blue. Indicative average snow depth near the top of the resort, in cm.
A handful of well-rated hotels in and around the resort. Pick one, then compare live prices across Booking, Expedia and Hotels.com.
Excellent · 121 reviews
Strong value for Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, with a high guest rating that punches above its nightly price.
Guests rate this hotel as excellent (4.8/5 from 121 reviews). A mid-range option for Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, with live nightly rates shown for your exact dates so you always see the best price.
Very good · 146 reviews
Strong value for Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, with a high guest rating that punches above its nightly price.
Excellent · 21 reviews
Strong value for Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, with a high guest rating that punches above its nightly price.
Excellent · 18 reviews
Strong value for Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, with a high guest rating that punches above its nightly price.
Excellent · 14 reviews
Strong value for Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval, with a high guest rating that punches above its nightly price.
Great · 12 reviews
A dependable, well-reviewed choice for a stay in Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval.
Good · 11 reviews
A dependable, well-reviewed choice for a stay in Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval.
Ratings from Google, prices indicative per night. Live availability and rates via our booking partners.
Sixt is not a true ski-in/ski-out village: the lift base is at Le Salvagny, around 4 km outside the historic core. Stay near the lift if door-to-piste matters; stay in the village if the cirque and the abbey do.
Sixt feels like a village first, a ski station second: stone houses around a 12th-century abbey, an old quartzite roof on the church, and almost none of the apartment-block sprawl that defines Flaine one valley over. The local Salvagny-Sixt lift is the entry point into the Grand Massif, and from there the full 265 km of linked piste opens up across Morillon, Flaine, Les Carroz and Samoëns on the same lift pass. Most of the on-piste skiing is at altitude, with the village low at 760 m, so you ride up to ski and ski down only on good-snow days. The Cirque du Fer-à-Cheval and the surrounding Réserve Naturelle de Sixt-Passy add a national-park dimension you don't get in the louder Grand Massif resorts, and the snowshoe and ski-touring trails into the cirque are genuinely worth a day off the pistes. Rentals are cheaper here than in the bigger neighbouring villages, which suits families and skiers who want quiet evenings.
Hotels and apartments around the lifts. Compare prices on Booking, Expedia and Hotels.com.
Everything on our site connected to Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval: its area, the lists it makes, head-to-heads and trip guides.
Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval offers 265 km of pistes across 60 lifts, from 760 m to 2500 m. Whether it suits beginners depends on the dedicated learner zones at the base of the slopes, so check the local ski-school options for green and blue run access.
The season runs from Dec 14 to Apr 14, with a snow score of 74/100. Snow is usually most reliable in the heart of that window, deep in winter, while the closing weeks bring longer days and softer afternoon snow.
Sixt is not a true ski-in/ski-out village: the lift base is at Le Salvagny, around 4 km outside the historic core. Stay near the lift if door-to-piste matters; stay in the village if the cirque and the abbey do.
Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval has 265 km of marked pistes served by 60 lifts, between 760 m and 2500 m of altitude.
Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval counts about 115 marked runs in total. The colour breakdown above shows how they split by difficulty, a good guide to whether the resort fits your level.
The closest alternatives, an easy switch if dates or hotels are tight.
French Alps
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