Skiing at Villa Tamerza
A choice of 9 different resorts offering over 350km of pistes

If you haven't tried skiing in the Pyrenees, you must stay at Villa Tamerza and try the 9 fantastic downhill ski stations in our part of the Pyrenees! Our local ski station, at La Mongie-Bareges, is situated  on the East and West faces of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre. It's a well-equipped, modern French resort with a very consistent snow record due to it's high rainfall and close proximity to the Atlantic weather systems. At La Mongie-Barreges there are 65 lift systems and around 125 km of pisted runs, with a selection of greens, blues, reds and blacks suitable for all types of skiing ability - and for the more discerning skiers and snow-borders - lots of off-piste powder too, which doesn't get skied out before breakfast, like it does in the Alps! See our Picture Gallery below or Click here for more info about La Mongie/Bareges and PISTE MAPS.

A slide show of Views from the Pyrenees

01/29 

   

La Mongie-Bareges is situated almost midway along the length of the Pyrenees mountains which form the border between France and Spain and stretch some 230 miles between Perpignan in the east and Biarritz in the west. In total there are 38 French ski resorts in the Pyrenees (and many more on the Spanish side) and La Mongie-Bareges is the largest. La Mongie is a modern, purpose-built ski station situated at 1800m on the east-facing slopes of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre. Bareges on the other hand is an older, more traditional mountain village situated at the foot of the west face of the Pic du Midi. Access to La Mongie is slightly easier.

The nearest main towns are Bagneres de Bigorre - about 20 minutes drive from La Mongie - and Lourdes which is about 40 minutes drive from either La Mongie or Bareges.

The Skiing at La Mongie-Bareges.
Not only is La Mongie-Bareges the largest ski-area in the French Pyrenees - with over 125 km of runs and around 65 lifts - but it also has the most technical skiing of the massif. At La Mongie-Bareges the top slopes climb to 2450m (8100 feet) with over 1100m of vertical drop if you ski right the way down to Bareges village. There are some really challenging black runs like La Coume which snakes down from the top of the Tourmalet, but generally the runs are more family-orientated red, blue and green runs. There's extensive and safe off-piste areas everywhere with some beautifully scenic areas over in Bareges through the pine trees.

Only about 45 minutes drive from Villa Tamerza, there is another lovely resort at Cauterets, which is easily accessible for day trips from Villa Tamerza. Although not as extensive as La Mongie-Bareges, Cauterets - Pont d'Espagnes is a real gem. Being slightly further west, and therefore closer to the Atlantic weather systems, it tends to be a snow trap and has one of the best snow fall records in the region. Because the terrain is mostly grass-covered, it doesn't tend to suffer from bald rocky patches.

The main town of Cauterets is always accessible by car and there are extensive parking facilities near the newly installed, continuous, multi-cabin DMC lift system which replaced the old dual cable car system. There are now rarely queues to get up the mountain because of the new DMC's capacity!

The ski area consists of one very large bowl and every run descends back down to more or less the same point at the top of the DMC station - which is good for youngsters who can't really get lost. In all there's around 40km of pisted runs. The pistes are very wide and in places fairly steep, but there's a range of challenging blue, red and black runs and loads of great off-piste after fresh snow.

From Villa Tamerza you drive to Lourdes - about 15 mins - and then turn left down the new motorway towards Luz St Sauvur. Cauterets is about another 25 mins from Lourdes. The town is an historic spar town which was popular with Napoleon III. You can park down in the town and take the DMC up to Pont d'Espagne which takes about 7 or 8 mins. There's plenty of parking right next to the DMC station or in the large car park in the centre of the town. There are many nice shops, bars and restaurants if you want to relax after your day's skiing, before driving back - and there's a large casino too!

Choose from 9 Different Resorts within 1 hour of Villa Tamerza.
At Villa Tamerza it's no coincidence that we are very much at the centre of the Pyrenees skiing action! Because Villa Tamerza is situated at the northen foot of the Pic du Midi with fast road links to Lourdes, Pau and Lannemezan, it's easily possible to drive for day skiing trips to the other nearby resorts in the N-PY alliance which now includes:

Cauterets, Piau, Gourettes, Grand Tourmalet-La Mongie-Bareges, Luz Ardiden, Pierre St Martin, Peyragudes and Pic du Midi. Not part of the 8-station N-PY Alliance, but nonetheless very good ski resorts and less than an hour's drive from Villa Tamerza, there are also St Lary Soulon and Ax Les Thermes. If you're into cross-country skiing or ski fond as the french call it, there are some wonderfully scenic trails at Payolle around the lake. Payolle is only 15 mins drive from Villa Tamerza. There's also a small toboggan run for debutantes aand tiny children on the side of the Aspin at Payolle, just opposite the bank of gift shops and restaurants/bars.

A slide show of some of the other N-PY resorts

Simple Picture Slideshow:
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