Skiing from Nice: Isola 2000, Auron and Valberg
People who know the Riviera in summer are routinely surprised that it has ski resorts at all, let alone three of them within an hour and a half of the terminal. Isola 2000, Auron and Valberg sit in the Mercantour behind Nice, and the drive to each is a proper mountain road at the top and a fast valley road at the bottom.
The three resorts, honestly compared
Isola 2000 is the highest and the most snow-sure, built as a purpose-built resort at 2,000 m. It is the one that makes the day trip work, because the drive is the shortest of the three and the skiing starts at the door.
Auron is further up the same Tinée valley, past Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée. It is a village rather than a purpose-built resort, and the extra distance is repaid in character.
Valberg sits above the Var and the Cians gorges, and the approach is the most spectacular of the three — worth taking in daylight if the timing is yours to choose.
The drive, and what winter changes
The lower two thirds of each route is a valley road and takes no thought. The last climb is a mountain road with everything that implies: snow, ice in the mornings, and occasional chain requirements after heavy falls.
Practically, that means snow tyres from November on every car, chains carried, and a 4×4 worth asking for by name if there has been fresh snow. It also means the journey time in February is not the journey time in June — allow the longer figure and leave earlier rather than driving faster.
Does the day trip actually work?
Yes, and it is one of the genuinely distinctive things about this coast: leave a hotel on the Promenade early, ski the morning and part of the afternoon, and be back for dinner by the sea.
The way to do it is to book the car for the day rather than as two separate transfers. It costs less than two one-way runs, the driver waits rather than being re-dispatched, and you are not tied to a return time you had to guess at 07:00.
The way not to do it is to book a one-way transfer up and assume something will be available to come back. In season, on that road, at five in the afternoon, it will not be.
What to tell us when you book
Ski bags before seats: four people with four bags is a different vehicle from four people. Boot bags and helmet holdalls are the things that quietly fill a boot, so count them out loud.
And say if you want the 4×4. It is not the default, because most of the season does not need it — but the week that does, needs it badly.