Vaujany:Ski resort guide

What is Vaujany like?

Vaujany is a village before it is a ski resort. The tourist office puts it at 1,250 m in the Grandes Rousses range, in Isère, with about 350 permanent residents and more than 3,500 tourist beds. The hamlet of La Villette sits below it, and the Montfrais plateau above.

The commune covers 7,154 hectares and lived from mountain farming for most of its history. The tourist office says the population fell after the Grand'Maison hydroelectric scheme was built. The village now has a swimming pool, an international ice rink, a bowling alley, a cinema and a museum. Escalators run through the village to the cable car station.

Vaujany holds the Famille Plus, Station Verte and Qualité Tourisme labels and is a classified tourist resort.

Skiing in Vaujany

Vaujany is one of the five villages of the Alpe d'Huez ski area, with Alpe d'Huez, Oz-en-Oisans, Auris-en-Oisans and Villard-Reculas. The tourist office gives the area as 250 km of slopes and 116 runs, with 2,200 m of vertical drop and a top station at 3,330 m on the Pic Blanc. SATA Group runs the lifts under its AEON brand.

Vaujany ski area

There are two ways up. The Alpette cable car, also called TPH1, leaves from the village centre and climbs from 1,250 m to 2,100 m in about ten minutes. From Alpette, TPH2 continues to the Dôme des Petites Rousses at 2,800 m, again about ten minutes. The second route goes by La Villette, about ten minutes, and then the Clos Giraud telemix, about 11 minutes, by way of Montfrais.

From Alpette you can ski towards Vaujany–Montfrais, towards Oz and the Olmet, and on to Alpe d'Huez. The tourist office's route to Alpe d'Huez runs Vaujany, Alpette, Oz, then the Poutran lift to the lower part of Alpe d'Huez.

The tourist office lists three routes home:

• From Alpette, down the black La Fare run, then the Enversin gondola.
• From Montfrais, down the Vaujanate run to the gondola's mid-station at 1,300 m, then the gondola up to the village.
• From Montfrais, the La Villette–Montfrais gondola.

The La Fare run starts from the Dôme des Petites Rousses or from Pic Blanc 2 and runs through forest, with views over the village. Further afield, the Sarenne run drops 1,830 m over 16 km; the tourist office calls it the longest run in Europe and says an intermediate skier takes about an hour. Pic Blanc access must be booked in advance, free, on the SATA site.

Vaujany piste map

The tourist office publishes the full Alpe d'Huez ski area piste map and a separate Oz-Vaujany sector map, both as PDFs, with Nordic and snow-park maps on its slopes map page.

Lift passes

There are two passes. The Oz-Vaujany pass covers the lifts on this side, including both cable cars to the Dôme des Petites Rousses and the Clos Giraud telemix. The Grand Domaine pass, which SATA now sells as the Espace Alpe d'Huez pass, adds the rest of the 250 km, including Pic Blanc 1, 2 and 3 for Sarenne. The tourist office notes that Pic Blanc 2 is not on the Oz-Vaujany pass. Both come as day, two-day and weekly passes, with family and group versions. Prices change each season; check the SATA ski pass site for 2026/27.

Vaujany ski hire

The tourist office lists ski-hire shops in the centre. Intersport Vaujany and Skiset Vaujany are both on the Place de la Fare and rent downhill and cross-country skis, snowboards and toboggans; Intersport also rents touring kit and snowshoes and offers boot-fitting. Atou'Sport, in the Bâtiment le Saphir next to the cable car, rents ski kit in winter and mountain bikes in summer. Each can be booked online through its listing.

Ski school and ski lessons in Vaujany

The ESF is at the cable car station. Its Club Piou Piou takes children of three and four, and courses run from there through to adult beginners and experts, with snowboard, freeride, ski touring, freestyle, cross-country and adaptive skiing. Its "Top 5" lessons take no more than five children per instructor. The children's centre says ESF beginners from three start in a dedicated area on the Montfrais plateau. ESF group-lesson sales for the season open online in mid-September.

The tourist office also lists independent instructors and the Bureau des Guides de l'Oisans for off-piste and touring.

Where to stay

The tourist office lists a hotel, apartment residences, private chalets and flats, B&Bs, three rental agencies and a campervan park. Most of the residences are in the village, connected to the cable car by the escalators. The hamlets below are linked by the gondola or a shuttle.

Read the full guide: Where to stay→

Vaujany for families

Vaujany holds the Famille Plus label. The municipal Multi-Accueil takes children from six months to four years, all year, by reservation. The children's club takes children from three to 11 in winter and from three to 15 in summer, Monday to Friday, and its hours can be adjusted around ESF lessons. Prices are on the children's centre page.

The tourist office runs free winter activities for children and teenagers, and the Montfrais plateau has the beginners' area, a children's snow garden and a snow park.

Things to do in Vaujany

The Sports and Leisure Centre is the village's wet-weather answer. The pool has a 25 m, four-lane pool, a slide, a paddling pool for small children, a sauna, a hammam and two jacuzzis, and opens all year. The ice rink has 1,600 m² of ice and seats 700, with public skating, evening disco sessions, and curling and Eisstock to try. There is also a bowling alley and a cinema.

Off the pistes, the tourist office lists snowshoe hikes, including themed outings, and pedestrians can ride the cable cars and gondolas but not the chairlifts or drag lifts. Access to Montfrais from the cable car departure point is free.

Eating and drinking

Vaujany restaurants are listed by the tourist office, in the village and on the slopes. Three it describes:

• La Table de la Fare, on the Place du Téléphérique, serves regional specialities, lunchtime specials and après-ski on a large terrace, and has the Famille Plus label.
• Le Chalet Gourmand, on the Place de la Fare, does mountain specialities, creative cooking and wood-fired pizzas to eat in or take away.
• Les Airelles, on the Écureuils piste at Montfrais, is an old alpine chalet built against the rock, now a restaurant serving home-made food.

Vaujany in summer

Some lifts run in summer. Le Vaujaniat, on the Montfrais plateau, is reached on foot or by mountain bike, and in summer by the Clos Giraud lifts.

The via ferrata of the Cascade de la Fare starts beside the waterfall, with a footbridge route graded D and the waterfall route graded D+, for beginners from 14. Le Collet, less than a kilometre from the centre, is a summer nature and leisure area with water games, giant slides, a pump track, tennis and archery. The EDF Hydrélec museum, by the Lac du Verney, tells the story of hydroelectricity and the Grand'Maison plant; for 2026 it opened from 23 May to 21 September. The summer calendar includes the Vaujany Festival, an astronomy festival and the Images et Nature photography festival.

How to get to Vaujany

The tourist office puts Vaujany about 50 minutes from Grenoble. By car, take the RD1091 from Grenoble, then the D526 at Rochetaillée. Between 1 November and 31 March, cars need four winter tyres marked 3PMSF or must carry snow chains or socks.

The nearest airports, by the tourist office's times, are Grenoble Saint-Geoirs, about an hour away, Lyon Saint-Exupéry, about two hours, and Geneva, about 2 hours 40 minutes. Paris to Grenoble by TGV takes about three hours.

Grenoble to Vaujany

In winter, Transaltitude runs a coach from Grenoble bus station to the Vaujany cable car stop, with a stop at Allemond. It takes about 1 hr 30, and at some times of the season it connects at Bourg-d'Oisans. Fares for 2026/27 are on Transaltitude's Vaujany page, and tickets go on sale in early November. Regional line T75 runs Grenoble to Bourg-d'Oisans, and lines T70 (on demand) and T71 run from Bourg-d'Oisans to Vaujany. Once you are there, the village has free shuttle buses.

Weather, snow and webcams

The village is at 1,250 m and the lifts reach 3,330 m, so a view from the village says little about the top. The tourist office has webcams at Montfrais, Alpette, the Dôme des Petites Rousses and the Pic Blanc summit.

• Vaujany webcams (tourist office)
• Vaujany weather (tourist office)
• Vaujany snow report (tourist office)

When to visit Vaujany

For 2026/27, the tourist office gives 5 December 2026 as the lifts' opening date, subject to snow. SATA's ski pass site gives a season of 5 December 2026 to 25 April 2027. Snowmaking covers the start of the season, and the tourist office says the west- to north-facing slopes of Oz and Vaujany hold their snow later in the day and the season.

Vaujany vs Oz-en-Oisans

Vaujany and Oz-en-Oisans share a pass and a mountain. Both sit on the west side of the area, and runs from Alpette lead down to each.

Choose Vaujany if you want an old village with a pool, an ice rink and a cable car from the centre.

Choose Oz-en-Oisans if you want to start on the Oz side, with the Poutran lift as your way to Alpe d'Huez.

What's nearby

• Alpe d'Huez

  The big resort of the ski area, reached on skis via Alpette and Oz.

• Oz-en-Oisans

  Vaujany's partner on the Oz-Vaujany pass, a run down from Alpette.

• Auris-en-Oisans

  One of the five villages on the Grand Domaine pass.

• Villard-Reculas

  Another of the five Grand Domaine villages, linked by lifts and runs.