Parc national de la Vanoise : tentez l’expérience refuge !

The refuges of Vanoise National Park, overlooking the green valleys, are open to all mountain lovers. You can discover them by foot as you follow the signposted footpaths that wind through the alpine meadows. Let yourself be tempted by the refuge experience !

Most of the mountain refuges offer exceptional panoramic views of the surrounding peaks. Your senses awake to this nature teeming with flowers and butterflies, where Tarine and Abondance cow bells tinkle, echoing the whistling of marmots or the thundering of torrents. Some walkers scan the horizon in search of Bearded Vultures. The sky is revealed as night falls, studded with stars so close you can touch them. A little piece of paradise, within our reach.

Refuge spirit: an exceptional experience

In magnificent but sometimes hostile surroundings, the refuge caretaker enriches the experience of visitors regardless of whether they be beginners or experienced mountaineers. In the refuge, people meet and socialise in the common room. The big tables encourage interaction! In good spirit, everyone takes part in the organisation and community symbiosis. As well as being the refuge cook and manager, the caretaker can often be an experienced storyteller, a fine connoisseur of Alpine fauna or an astronomy enthusiast. A night in a refuge can therefore turn into an initiatory journey.

Wandering the Orgère valley paths (altitude 1890 metres)

The Orgère valley, shaped by a glacier that shrunk 1200 years ago, is a natural setting suspended above the Maurienne Valley. Here, a wild forest of Swiss Stone Pine and Norway Spruce stands alongside meadows maintained by several generations of farmers. Some of the trees are over 600 years old! An interpretative path takes you around this little Alpine paradise along an easy 4.3 km route. The mesmerizing experience of staying at the Orgère refuge opens its doors to you at the end of the path. Hikers share this comforting moment under the watchful eye of the majestic Aiguille Doran summit.

Exploring Plan de Tuéda National Nature Reserve (altitude 1700 metres)

On the western boundary of Vanoise National Park, since 1990 the Plan de Tuéda Natural Nature Reserve has stretched from Tuéda Lake to Gébroulaz Glacier. On both banks of the Doron, 1100 hectares of an exceptional natural habitat have been preserved. A nature trail allows you to see a multitude of ecosystems: marshes, rocky scree, grazed meadows and stream banks. This pastoral adventure will take you above all to the "cembra", the forest of Swiss Stone Pine that makes this reserve a unique and protected area.

Dreaming on the shores of La Plagne Lake (altitude 2140 metres)

La Plagne Lake is a 19-metre-deep natural lake whose azure blue colour stands out against the green of the mountain pastures and the white of the snow-capped peaks. Accessible via a waymarked path from the enchanting Rosuel Refuge, its waters are populated by Brown Trout, Brook Trout and Lake Trout. The route to reach it, on the legendary GR®5, allows you to admire numerous waterfalls and follows the Ponturin over a 600-metre climb. It’s a long hike in the heart of Vanoise National Park where marmots and Alpine ibexes will invite you to enjoy this exceptional experience.