Claviere's pistes sit on the mountainside, meeting the Italian-French border above the village. The Italian side, directly above Claviere, climbs from the village through larch forest into open terrain higher up, where gentle blues near the bottom give way to longer red cruisers as you go. Once you cross the ridge, you’ll drop towards Montgenèvre on the French side, where slopes open out into wide and rolling terrain, with a noticeably different feel. On both sides, most of the skiing sits in comfortable beginner and intermediate terrain, with steeper runs and off-piste tucked into the trees and the higher reaches. Linking the two areas in a single descent, starting in Italy and finishing in France (or the other way round) is one of the real pleasures of skiing Claviere.

Claviere's own slopes have good variety, and there’s more than enough to fill several days locally. When you do want more, the wider Via Lattea is right next door. Ski west, and you're into Montgenèvre within minutes; head east, and a chain of lifts and pistes carries you towards Cesana and Sansicario, and on to the bigger resorts of Sestriere and Sauze d'Oulx. Reaching Sestriere and back is a proper half-day outing across high ridges and side valleys, with the landscape shifting as you go. It's there if you want it, but Claviere works just as well as a base you barely need to leave.

Getting onto the mountain is easy. The village is small, so it's a short walk down to the compact base, with a beginners' area at the foot of the slopes. From there, chairlifts climb into the upper sectors, and link chairs run across the border to join the French side. Locally, the network is straightforward, and the area is small enough that you're typically close to where you want to be. One link you should watch in particular is the piste down to Cesana towards the rest of the Via Lattea. It can run thin on snow later in the day and sometimes means downloading on a chair, so it's worth checking conditions before committing to the far side of the domain.

Skiing for beginners in Claviere

Claviere is a manageable place to learn. There's a nursery area in the centre of the village, with gentle slopes right at the foot of the mountain and an easy surface lift for your first turns. When you feel ready to progress, head to the La Coche chairlift (the first lift you reach at the resort), which carries you up to a long, gentle blue that winds back down through the woods to the village. It returns you right to the bottom each time, so you can lap it as often as you like, an ideal run to find a rhythm and build confidence on.

It's worth being straight about one thing: most of the links into the upper mountain are graded red, so in the early days you'll get the most from the nursery area and the blue runs down to the village. For even gentler, more open beginner terrain, the wider Via Lattea has plenty. Montgenèvre is a short ski across the border, and Cesana a short ski-bus ride away, and both have broad nursery areas well worth a day out if you fancy a change of scene

WeSki insider tip: When the blue runs start to feel easy, Claviere's red runs are the natural next step, and they're a friendlier place to make the leap than the grading suggests. Many are wide and rolling rather than steep, so an improving beginner can push onto them at their own pace and get a feel for steeper terrain without being thrown in at the deep end.

Intermediate skiing in Claviere

Intermediates get the best of Claviere, with enough variety in the local terrain to fill several days without repeating yourself. Colle Bercia, above the village at around 2,300m, is the intermediate hub. Long red runs spread out from the top of it and roll down through the larch forest, some leading back to Claviere, others dropping to the mid-mountain hamlet of Sagnalonga. The pick of them is the descent from Col Saurel, one of the longest on the hill, a rolling cruise that eases and steepens as you go.

Montgenèvre, a short ski across the border, adds a second mountain of wide, open intermediate pistes on the French side. Beyond it, the full Via Lattea is yours to roam: a chain of lifts and runs links east through Cesana and Sansicario to Sestriere and Sauze d'Oulx, a point-to-point day across 400km of terrain. Claviere's own slopes and the hop into Montgenèvre are plenty for most trips, with the longer expedition there when you want it.

WeSki insider tip: For the most reliable snow on the mountain, head for piste 93 down from Colle Bercia. It faces north and runs under snowmaking the whole way, so it keeps its cover well. When the sunnier runs go patchy, this tends to be the one to fall back on.

Advanced and expert skiing in Claviere

Claviere is mostly a cruising mountain, but there's steeper skiing here when you want a challenge. From the Col Boeuf chair at the western end of the village, you can drop into a handful of short, sharp runs cut through the trees, including the fast black 99 Bis, which plunges back down to the village. Higher up you have Colletto Verde, a run that comes off the border ridge with a steep black pitch at the top. It's a proper test with a gentle variant alongside. Because these slopes face north, snow typically stays cold and firm, and you'll still find fast, grippy pitches late in the day.

If you want to get off the pistes, there's plenty of powder after a snowfall. You’ll find the best and nearest off-piste in the forest above the village, with widely spaced trees you can weave through and enough shelter to keep skiing when the cloud comes down. For a more open experience, drop into the lines off Rocher de l'Aigle, Claviere's high point at 2,581m. For more black-run skiing, steep pistes in the wider Via Lattea domain are within a day's reach, such as the advanced sector at Sauze d'Oulx and the World Cup runs at Sestriere.

WeSki insider tip: For steep piste skiing on the Italian side of the mountain, lap the Col Boeuf chair above the village. It serves the fast black 99 straight back down to Claviere, and from the top you can also cut across into Montgenèvre. It's the one lift that gives you both the local steeps and a quick line over to the bigger advanced terrain in France.

Snowboarding in Claviere

Snowboarding is embraced at Claviere, and the mountain has a lot to offer riders. The long, rolling reds and blues are made for carving big turns, natural banks and rollers give you something to pop off, and the well-spaced trees above the village hold a playful powder line after a fall. It's an easygoing hill that rewards riders who like to cruise, carve, and dip into the woods. The one thing to watch is the flat traverses on the runs that link the sectors, so keep your speed up across them and you'll save yourself some skating.

Getting around is straightforward, too. Claviere's lifts are nearly all chairs, so there are few of the drag lifts that boarders tend to dread. For freestyle, there's a small park at Sagnalonga with a handful of jumps and rails, fine for a play. The bigger, better-built parks are over at Sauze d'Oulx and Sestriere if you want to session something more substantial, and the cross-border link into Montgenèvre opens up a whole second mountain on the same pass.

Off-piste skiing

The most accessible off-piste is right above the village, where the larch and spruce woods hold powder well after a fresh fall. The trees are widely spaced and sheltered, so you can keep skiing them when flat light makes the open slopes hard to read. For something more open, the best lines drop off Rocher de l'Aigle, Claviere's high point at 2,581m, well-pitched, rarely tracked, and running down the ridge back towards Italy. There's a little more off the back of Colle Bercia, too, though that one takes a short climb to reach.

Cross into France and the options widen. Montgenèvre has a strong freeride name, with marked off-piste zones and guided terrain, all on the same lift pass. Wherever you go, this is proper high-mountain terrain on an exposed border ridge, so take a local guide. A good one keeps you safe by reading the day's avalanche risk, and earns their keep by knowing where the best snow is holding.

Claviere ski school and lessons

Claviere has a couple of ski schools, including the Scuola Sci Claviere, founded in 1932 as the first ski school in Italy. Both run group and private lessons for all ages and levels in skiing and snowboarding, with English-speaking instructors available (worth requesting when you book so it's arranged ahead).

There's good specialist coaching on offer too. Instructors teach telemark and snowboard alongside regular alpine skiing, with technique and freestyle sessions for those looking to sharpen up. Claviere’s schools can also arrange guided off-piste and freeride days if you’re ready to head off the marked runs with someone who knows the snow.

Claviere terrain parks

Claviere doesn't have a snowpark of its own, beyond the occasional small set of features near Sagnalonga, so dedicated freestylers will want to use the linked pass. The proper parks are elsewhere in the Via Lattea. Sestriere has a couple of slopestyle lines with kickers, plus a jib line of boxes and rails, and there's a longer setup over the border at Montgenèvre with lines for different abilities. Closer to home, Claviere's natural terrain gives creative riders plenty to play on, with banks, rolls, and well-spaced trees to find your own hits and drops between the pistes.

1. Claviere Family ski holiday
2. Things to do in Claviere
3. Planning your trip in Claviere
4. How to get to Claviere
5. Claviere FAQs

Claviere family ski holiday

Claviere makes a relaxed, easy base for a family ski holiday. It's a small, traditional village with a calm atmosphere, welcoming locals, and a good ski school, so a week with children feels properly unhurried. The village is compact and walkable, with the slopes a short stroll from most accommodation and gentle beginner runs right at the edge of the village, which is handy for nervous first-timers and easy on parents ferrying little ones about. Childcare is on hand, and once the skis are off there's plenty to fill an afternoon, so the days stay full whether or not everyone's skiing.

For young children and first-timers, the setup is reassuring. Ski school starts little ones off on the gentle nursery slope above the village, and for the youngest there's a kindergarten and kids' clubs that take children from a young age. As kids grow in confidence, the long, gentle blue down from the La Coche chair gives them a proper run to progress onto, and it returns to the village each time. Children who already ski well, whatever their age, have the wide local reds and the rest of the mountain to enjoy alongside the adults, so a family of mixed abilities can ski together and meet up through the day.

Off the slopes, there's plenty to keep the whole family entertained. The village has a natural ice rink for skating, a small bowling alley, and an amusement arcade, and you can head out on snowshoes into the woods or take a snowmobile ride up the mountain for a change of pace and scenery. When you’re not enjoying meals in your accommodation, eating out is easy and family-friendly at Claviere with relaxed restaurants that welcome children. You’ll find familiar food, like pizza and pasta, alongside the local Piedmontese dishes, and the village bakery is the spot for pastries and a treat on the way past.

Things to do in Claviere

Claviere is a small village, so the off-slope scene is low-key, but its position opens up more than the size suggests. Sitting right on the French border, with Montgenèvre a short walk away and the historic Susa valley below, it's well placed for anything from a gentle morning on snowshoes to a day exploring a fortified French town. Whether you're taking a day off the skis or just want something different to round out the trip, here's what's worth doing.

Snow activities

• Cross-country skiing: Around 16km of groomed Nordic trails through the forest and meadows around the village, with more across the border on the French side.
• Snowshoeing: Guided walks through the larch forests and along the border ridge.
• Winter hiking: Cleared paths around the village, including the gentle pisted route over to Montgenèvre, kept safely off the main road.
• Tobogganing: A toboggan run in the area, popular with families.
• Dog sledding: Husky-sled outings, bookable locally through operators.
• Ski touring: Routes across the border ridge and into the surrounding peaks, for those with the kit and the experience.
• Ice skating: A small natural rink opens in the village in the coldest weeks of winter, with a more reliable rink a short drive away.
• Snowmobiling: Evening skidoo trips up the mountain to a café or mountain restaurant for dinner, some rounding off with a torchlit ski back down.

Non-snow activities

• Stroll across to Montgenèvre: About a 20-minute walk along a lit path off the main road takes you into France, where Montgenèvre is a bigger, busier town than Claviere, with more shops, crêperies, and bars, plus a bowling alley and amusement arcade for children.
• Wander the village: Claviere's handful of shops and café-bakeries make for a relaxed morning, and there's a local market every Friday selling Piedmontese produce.
• Ski museum: The Ski Lodge by the slopes has a small museum charting Claviere's history as Italy's oldest ski resort, a good stop on a lazy afternoon.
• Swimming and sports centre: Claviere has its own pool and sports centre, handy for a rest day or for burning off the children's energy.
• Spa and wellness: Several hotels have small spas with a sauna and steam room, and there's a larger spa-and-pool complex over in Montgenèvre.
• Local food and wine: With Italian and French cooking either side of the border and a village supermarket known for its wine and spirits, it's a fine spot to taste your way around and take something home.
• Day trips by car: With a car or a transfer, the Vauban-fortified UNESCO town of Briançon (about 20 minutes over the pass into France), the Olympic resort town of Sestriere (about 30 minutes), the Roman ruins at Susa (about 45 minutes), and the city of Turin (about an hour and three-quarters) are all within reach.

Claviere restaurants

Claviere's restaurants serve hearty Piedmontese mountain cooking, the food of the Italian Alps: polenta, often with a rich venison or game stew, boards of local cured meats and mountain cheeses, handmade pasta, and slow-cooked meats. Being on the border, you have French cooking within easy reach too. A short walk over to Montgenèvre brings tartiflette, fondue, and crêpes into the mix, so you can eat Italian one night and French the next.

• Kilt Ristorante Pizzeria: The most popular restaurant in the village, best known for its pizzas but with a broad menu of pasta and traditional dishes alongside. It's busy and family-friendly, so book ahead.
• 'l Gran Bouc: Claviere's long-running standout, a warm, smart dining room serving Piedmontese classics, charcuterie and cheese boards, venison, and truffle pasta, with a proper wine list.
• Lugara: The village café-bakery, and the spot for a morning coffee and pastry or an afternoon treat.
• Baita La Coche: A mountain restaurant by the slopes, handy for a lunch of polenta, pasta, and grilled meats between runs.
• Le Refuge (Montgenèvre): Across the border on the French side, the place for Savoyard classics, raclette, fondue, and tartiflette, a 20-minute walk away.
• Le Transalpin (Montgenèvre): A well-regarded French-Italian spot in the village for a relaxed dinner after a day on the slopes.

WeSki insider tip: Look out for polenta served with a slow-cooked venison or game stew, polenta e cervo, one of the great dishes of the Piedmontese mountains and exactly what the locals order on a cold night.

Claviere après-ski

Après-ski in Claviere is relaxed and sociable, built around a handful of village bars. The crowd is a mix of Italian families, French day-trippers, and skiers passing through the Via Lattea, and the bars have a friendly, easygoing feel. A few liven up later on, with live music, karaoke, and a glass or two of grappa (a strong Italian grape spirit traditionally enjoyed after dinner) though the pace stays gentle through the evening. For more choice, Montgenèvre is a short walk or drive over the border, with a bigger spread of bars on the French side. And for a proper night out, Sauze d'Oulx, the Via Lattea's party town, is about 20 minutes away by car.

Après-ski spots to know:

• 'l Gran Bouc bar: The most popular spot for an evening drink, with live music and shots of the local Genepì liqueur.
• Gallo Cedrone: A lively bar known for its karaoke and a local party trick, a sugar cube soaked in grappa and flambéed with your drink.
• Murphy's Igloo: The village's late spot, a disco-pub that keeps going into the early hours.
• Le Graal (Montgenèvre): The central hub of Montgenèvre's après and the busiest bar in town, with live music through the week.
• Le Refuge (Montgenèvre): The straight-off-the-slopes favourite on the French side, good for a drink as the lifts wind down.
• Sauze d'Oulx (about 20 minutes by car): For a bigger night out, the party town of the Via Lattea. Paddy McGinty's, a long-running Irish pub with live music, and the central Cotton Club, with DJs and live bands, are reliable bets.

Planning your trip to Claviere

Claviere accommodation

Accommodation in Claviere is small-scale and traditional, mostly self-catering apartments and B&Bs, with a few small hotels in the mix too. The places to stay are cosy, well-kept, and often family-run, with the warm, low-key feel of a proper mountain village. Some of the larger properties have a small spa or wellness area to unwind in after a day on the snow.

The village is compact, so getting around on foot is easy wherever you stay. Most accommodation sits along or just off the single main street, a few minutes from the lifts, the restaurants, and the nursery slopes, and a few places are close enough to the La Coche chairlift to be almost ski-in, ski-out. The border runs through the top of the village, so Montgenèvre is walkable too.

Claviere ski pass

Claviere sits within the Via Lattea, so the pass choice comes down to how far you want to roam. The local Monti della Luna pass covers Claviere and neighbouring Cesana, plenty if you're happy on the home slopes. Step up to the full Via Lattea pass and the whole domain opens up across the linked resorts of the Milky Way. Skiing across the border into Montgenèvre needs a pass that includes it, either the Via Lattea International pass or the Monti della Luna and Montgenèvre version. On passes of six days or more, that access is usually built in.

When you book your Claviere ski holiday through WeSki, we can help you find the pass that best fits your trip, local, full-area, or cross-border, along with any family and multi-day options.

Equipment hire

You'll find ski hire shops in the village, a short walk from most accommodation and the lifts. They stock the full range, skis, snowboards, boots, and helmets, from beginner sets through to higher-performance kit, and the staff have time to help you get the right fit. It's worth booking ahead over the Italian and French school holidays, when the village draws visitors from both sides of the border.

WeSki partners with SkiSet shops in Claviere, so you can add equipment to your package and collect it when you arrive. Browse our Claviere ski deals to build your trip.

Getting around Claviere

Claviere is tiny, so you can walk everywhere in the village. The lifts, the shops, the restaurants, and the border are all only a few minutes apart on foot. On the snow you don't need transport either: Montgenèvre is a short ski across the border or a 20-minute walk, and the rest of the Via Lattea links up on skis through the day. For a week's skiing based in Claviere, you won't need a car.

If you'd rather not drive, you can still get around. Local taxis serve the village, and a bus runs a few times a day down to Cesana and the train station at Oulx, the area's rail gateway. For an evening out in Sestriere or Sauze d'Oulx, or a day trip to Briançon or Susa, a taxi or a hire car is the easiest option, as the buses are infrequent. If you do drive, the road over the Montgenèvre pass is well maintained, and there's parking in the village.

How to get to Claviere

Claviere sits up at the Montgenèvre pass on the French-Italian border, at the head of the Susa Valley in Piedmont. The handiest airport is Turin, around 100km away and roughly an hour and a half by road. WeSki also flies into Chambéry in France (about two hours), and Milan Malpensa and Geneva (both around two and a half hours), so there's a good choice of gateways depending on where you're coming from.

Travelling by train works well too. The nearest station is Oulx, down in the valley about 20 minutes below the village, on the main Turin–Paris line, with direct TGV services from Paris. From Oulx, a local bus or a taxi brings you up to Claviere. However you arrive, the final climb is on mountain roads, so if you're hiring a car, ask for winter tyres and snow chains.

When you book your Claviere holiday through WeSki, we can arrange car hire from the airport, or a private or shared transfer, so you can travel straight from the airport to your door.

Claviere FAQs

Can you really ski into France from Claviere?

Yes. A marked piste crosses the border straight from Claviere into Montgenèvre on the French side, with no passport needed, as both countries are in the Schengen area. You can ski over for lunch in France and back to Italy for dinner. A Via Lattea pass that includes Montgenèvre covers both sides, and on passes of six days or more that cross-border access is built in, so most week-long visitors can ski freely between the two countries. It's one of Claviere's most distinctive features.

Is Claviere suitable for beginners?

Yes. There's a nursery area in the centre of the village, with a gentle slope and an easy lift for your first turns, and the La Coche chairlift carries you up to a long, gentle blue run that winds back down through the woods. The ski schools teach beginners of all ages. Claviere uses the European grading system, where blue is the easiest level, so the lack of "green" runs (a British and North American label) doesn't mean a lack of easy terrain. The main thing to know is that most links into the upper mountain are graded red, so early on you'll get the most from the nursery area and the blue runs back to the village.

How does Claviere compare to Sestriere and Sauze d'Oulx?

Sestriere is a larger, purpose-built resort and a 2006 Winter Olympics venue, with more facilities and accommodation. Sauze d'Oulx is a bigger town with the liveliest nightlife in the Via Lattea. Claviere is the smallest and most traditional of the three, with gentle, mostly intermediate local terrain, lower prices, and the cross-border skiing into France. All three sit on the same Via Lattea domain, so the wider skiing is shared, the choice comes down to village character and budget.

Is the snow reliable in Claviere?

Reasonably. Claviere sits high at 1,760m, and its north-facing, shaded slopes hold snow well, so it often opens earlier and closes later than the other Italian Via Lattea resorts, with a season running from early December into April. Snowmaking backs up the main runs, and January to March is the most dependable period. Over on the French side, Montgenèvre catches more sun, so its slopes can soften in warm spells, while the north-facing Italian runs stay firmer.

What is the Via Lattea?

The Via Lattea (Milky Way) is a linked ski area of around 400km across the Italian-French border. It takes in six resorts in Italy, Claviere, Sestriere, Sauze d'Oulx, Sansicario, Cesana, and Pragelato, plus Montgenèvre in France, making it one of the largest connected ski areas in Europe, with the resorts joined by lifts and pistes. A single Via Lattea pass covers the Italian sector, and the International version, or a pass of six days or more, adds the cross-border link to Montgenèvre.

Is Claviere good for advanced skiers?

Claviere is mostly a cruising mountain, but there's steeper skiing for stronger skiers, a handful of short black pitches in the trees off the Col Boeuf chair, and the steep top section of the Colletto Verde run off the border ridge. There's good off-piste too, in the forests above the village and off Rocher de l'Aigle. For more sustained black-run skiing, the wider Via Lattea delivers, with a strong advanced sector at Sauze d'Oulx and the World Cup runs at Sestriere, all on the linked pass. So while Claviere won't fill a week of steep skiing on its own, it makes a characterful, affordable base with plenty within reach.

Is Claviere easy to get to from the UK?

Reasonably. Turin is the nearest airport, about an hour and a half away by road, and budget airlines serve it from several UK airports. Chambéry, Milan Malpensa, and Geneva are alternatives, all within around two to two and a half hours. If you'd rather travel by train, Oulx station, about 20 minutes below the village, is on the Turin–Paris line with direct TGV services from Paris.