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.